“—All You Zombies—”
I can’t remember if I posted about Cronos.
So this was the first work of director Guillermo del Toro, which he directed at the tender age of 27, in case you don’t feel bad enough about yourself. And it’s a Mexican film about a vampire. The film repeatedly strikes you on the head with addiction symbolism.
This has to be the lowest-key horror movie ever made. The guy who stumbles into vampirism is this sweet old grandpa with a little girl who never talks, following him around everywhere. He unwittingly picks up some kind of golden bug device that stabs you, filters your blood and makes you undead. Inside the bug-shaped device is…a bug. A really ugly and gross bug.
The villain reminds me of one of the Grandpas from Charlie and the Chocolate factory, he’s just sort of old and grouchy more than evil. And he has this asshole nephew (Ron Perlman) who does everything half-assed, including his killing. His heart’s not really in it. The “final showdown” at the end, featuring half-hearted combat from a great height, reminded me so much of the abduction of Annie the little orphan girl I could not unsee it.
It’s all very quaint and campy, but I did enjoy it quite a bit. A simple story well told, and featuring a vampire who chose a different way. I did find it moving. Some of the cinematography was really neat, too, especially the perspective shots of the old man.
The thing is I was a Spanish major in college and I remember this film making it into many lectures in my Mexican economy class, but I don’t actually remember the film. I must have skipped it. Watching it was like making all these half-remembered connections in my head 25 years after I heard the lecture. “Oh, so that’s what he was talking about.” I’m sure my professor would be thrilled.
I just watched Tampopo a couple of days ago. It is such a fun and charming movie. Do not watch the movie if you are hungry.
Rolling Like Thunder
Somewhat recommended.
I am fascinated and curious about train graffiti. It’s always been there, is often very well done, and hardly any train cars in America seem to be without it.
How do people graffiti them? How is it so widespread?
This movie attempts to tell the story of train graffiti, but I think it is missing some foundational information that would have very interesting. I would love to see a full 6+ part story of the history of train graffiti.
It still just blows my mind that even today, the security is apparently not good enough to stop these people from putting graffiti on every car.
Possibly originating with the hobo culture?
No doubt! I have had this move on my DVR for about 8 years and would never delete it. “Fun and charming”, short, pithy and to the point: well said.
A Time to Kill 1996
Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson,
Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Spacey,
Charles S. Dutton, Donald and Kiefer Sutherland
Based on John Grisham’s book
Matthew McConaughey is very good as the defense attorney. Samuel L. Jackson is excellent as the vigilante father avenging his daughter’s beating and rape.
Sandra Bullock brings a refreshing cockiness to the role of a graduate law student assisting the defense.
I enjoyed the film. It does have a predictable sequence of events. Of course the Klan gets involved in a Mississippi homicide trial featuring a black defendant.
The NAACP sees a opportunity to make National headlines and exploit the case. Samuel L. Jackson quickly sees through their insincere interest in his family’s welfare.
Very good film. I’m not a attorney, but the defense closing arguments seems invalid in a real court.
I’m pretty sure the jury can’t be urged to ignore the burdon of proof and a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Hey jury, vote purely on raw emotion, based on what the murdered men
allegedly did.
There are some anachronisms. The trial is set in the mid 80’s. Why are people drenched in sweat and living in houses without air conditioning? My family in the 60’s couldn’t afford central air. But, we had a window AC in the den that was turned on after the family came home from school & work. The bedroom also had a window AC that was turned on just before bedtime.
I Recommend the movie. Just remember it is a fictional criminal trial
8 out of 10
Well, you should!
Of course, just from the words “he meets someone in a bar” I knew right away which Heinlein it was.
No it hasn’t. Us olde fartes remember when it didn’t make eyesores out of trains. Makes me wish people like Ernest Borgnine’s Shack still ran the trains.
I mostly want a middling 20% Rotton Tomatoes action film with Milla Jovovich killing zombies and Umbrella Corp execs with iconic characters from the videogames 
When did it start? I remember it from the 1980s.
Tagging with mindless swirls, names, and of course hobo marks go back. But the real era of train “art” (I would not use the term) began in the 90s. Probably with the advent of high volume replacement nozzles for spray cans. Makes painting a car a doable adventure. Probably takes 2-3 dozen cans, too.
Those damn engineers. Just because you “can” doesn’t mean you “should”. 
Heart of the Beast (2026)
Very workmanlike and watchable survival-adventure/man-and-his-dog movie, I enjoyed it! Great performances IMHO from Brad Pitt and J.K. Simmons (whom I had previously never been aware of though I guess I had seen him in lots of supporting roles).
The canine actors (all playing the title character, though I guess there were also some canine actors in cameo roles as wild canines?) did an impressive job too. I’d watch a “Making Of” documentary about how they did the dog training and handling during filming.
And I learned that wolf packs often hunt nocturnally. Huh, never realized that.
I agree. It had a Jack London vibe, Refreshingly, the dog doesn’t die, but the human does.
Yes, that was a big spoiler. That’s why I used spoiler text!
A couple of others from this weekend.
Forgotten Island A DreamWorks animated picture, but with a distinctly anime approach to the story. Themes of friendship and choosing your path in life make this aimed at more of a tweens-teens demographic, but I enjoyed the characters and the humor.
Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! A Japanese rom-com about dealing with profound grief. Expect to see it in the discussions during Oscar season. It’s set in Japan in the world of competitive ballroom dancing, with a pretty nifty set of global songs (primarily pop and standards) as the soundtrack. It mixes the real and the surreal effectively, anchored by a great central performance by Rinko Kikuchi, The dialog caroms from Japanese to Spanish to English, so subtitles are
This is where I’m gonna recommend Whiplash.
He was outstanding in it.
J.K. Simmons is outstanding in everything. One of the absolute best actors working right now.
An Academy Award-winning performance.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s a movie about a brilliant young drummer and his abusive teacher that is filmed like a thriller. Edge of your seat suspense about jazz drumming.
IIRC it also won an Academy Award for film editing which was completely deserved. On rewatch I’ve been unable to find a single line of unnecessary dialogue.
Whiplash is one of my all-time favorite movies, full-stop.
This is wrong…I used to travel to NYC in the mid-80s and remember it. But then again, just look to The Warriors (1979) for an example if that’s not cite enough.
For those willing to shell out the bucks (I don’t think it streams free in the US anymore), I thought the TV series Counterpart was excellent. Only two seasons before it was cancelled, but the ending could be easily taken as either a cliffhanger OR finality. So I think still worth watching if you can find it.
I lived in Manhattan between 1977 and 1981, and while I was just a little kid at the time, that’s what I remember the subways looking like. When I moved back to the city in 2000, all the graffiti was gone, although vandals still scratched their tags on the windows.