I wish The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar was a feature instead of a short. It has Wes Anderson's visuals, his aesthetic, sets, wardrobe & dialogue but something just feels like it is missing. I respect that Netflix let Wes make a Wes film without holding him back but i just wish Wes let Wes make a Wes film.
The Saw franchise is a mixed bag, most are forgettable, some are downright awful, i haven't really been huge on the series since part 2, and didn't really have an interest in Saw X after Spiral, but i am glad i checked it out. This is easily the best since the first and has some of the more tense kills and the story oddly has alot of heart, doing a prequel should make the plot feel like there are no risks but the story is tight enough that it does. Is an eleventh needed? No, but there will be, but until then atleast the franchise can go out on top.
As a teen i loved John Cassavetes, both in front and behind the camera. His son directed spottier films but i absolutely loved Alpha Dog, so him returning to crime films got me stoked. Along comes God is a Bullet....what a fucking mess. I love Maika Monroe, she is one of my favorite actresses but even her being solid here, did nothing. Overly long, dull, lacking style, it was the total opposite of Alpha Dog for me and another miss for Nick Cassavetes.
The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster is a unique twist on the Frankenstein tale. A girl's brother is murdered, she becomes fascinated with death and begins stealing bodies to bring her brother back but the monster goes on a killing spree, you know how it goes, but there is so much more to it. It tackles issues and has layers, you feel the atmosphere and admire the tension & acting. Probably Shudder's best film of the year.
It Lives Inside is one of the more effective horror films in recent memory. I don't know much about Indian folk lore or traditions so maybe it is the unknown, perhaps it is my own grief coming in to play but i found this film atmospheric, chilling and an all around tightly made. The end was a bit cliche but it still ended in a way that felt ominous.
Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game is a light & fun watch. It is overly glamorized and cliched....on purpose, it is told as an interview but with a "hollywood" touch to fabricate events....and honestly it makes the film quite critic proof. The entire cast does a great job, there is alot of heart here and it truly seems to be passionate about pinball. Video game movies are killing it in 2023!
Growing up with wrestling magazines i was aware of OVW, but i didn't keep tabs on them until about 2001. I was reading about The Prototype, Levithan, The Minnesota Stretching Crew, Randy Orton, and guess what, 4 of them are some of the biggest stars in wrestling history. Al Snow i was a huge fan of growing up, he had a unique style, look and was bonkers as fuck, then 2001 yet again comes around and he is the flip side of OVW, he is the lead trainer of Tough Enough. Fate happens and he winds up buying a portion of OVW and becomes the CEO, he practices Jim Cornette's process of doing TV, and later PPV. I watched some of OVW but it was at the time when wrestling was(and still is) over saturated. Now after watching one of the most riveting wrestling docs(series) i am wanting to start watching OVW once again.
