FanFare

2023 horror flick in which a man wakes up confused in an empty family home with one arm bloody, then finds post-it notes scattered around saying things like "Don't stay in here too long", "Don't go outside", "Run?" and "Fight?" while water runs down the walls, something claws at a shower curtain and he has vague memories of a woman and daughter somewhere. The tension, confusion and horror build. Debut from director Alex Davidson clocks in at a quick 75 minutes. On Tubi with no ads.
posted by mediareport on Jun 30, 2024 - 6 comments

Streaming now through Friday, Nov. 24: The National Museum of the American Indian online Native Cinema Showcase. With eight days of online screenings, the program includes 35 films (six features, 29 shorts) representing 22 Native nations in six countries: U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and Colombia. [more inside]
posted by gudrun on Nov 17, 2023 - 0 comments

A sly, deadpan Canadian comedy about a team of non-astronauts sent into isolation in a desert on Earth because their personalities match the members of an actual ongoing Mars mission that's having interpersonal conflicts. The earthbound team is tasked with mirroring the real astronauts' behavior and coming up with solutions to the Martian team's psychological problems. 100% on RT with 9 reviews, free on Tubi and other options, mostly in French with English subtitles.
posted by mediareport on Oct 24, 2023 - 2 comments

Stephen Frears' 1988 adaptation of Laclos' 1782 French novel stars Glenn Close and John Malkovich as two awful aristocrats scheming to destroy morally upright Michelle Pfeiffer, with young innocents Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves as collateral damage. Nominated for Best Picture, it won 3 Oscars, including the costume and production design awards. 94/83 on RT. Includes rape and sexual manipulation. Also includes a Keanu/Malkovich swordfight. [more inside]
posted by mediareport on Oct 11, 2023 - 22 comments

Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani's 2019 debut is a quiet, understated exploration of the evolving relationship between 2 women in a poor neighborhood in Casablanca: the unwed, pregnant Samia, who's looking for work and a place to stay, and Abla, a widowed baker with a young daughter. Beautifully and sensually filmed, with excellent performances, a sharp sense of place and a neat thread about baking running through. Trailer. 87% at Rotten Tomatoes. [more inside]
posted by mediareport on Aug 3, 2023 - 2 comments

The daughter of a brilliant but mentally disturbed mathematician, recently deceased, comes to grips with her possible inheritance: his insanity. [more inside]
posted by Stuka on Feb 7, 2023 - 5 comments

Casey is attacked at random on the street and enlists in a local dojo led by a charismatic and mysterious Sensei in an effort to learn how to defend himself. What he uncovers is a sinister world of fraternity, violence and hypermasculinity and a woman fighting for her place in it.
posted by julthumbscrew on Jul 20, 2019 - 4 comments

A former secretary, newly appointed as a scriptwriter for propaganda films, joins the cast and crew of a major production while the Blitz rages around them. [more inside]
posted by elgilito on Aug 5, 2017 - 5 comments

A father tries to reconnect with his adult daughter. [more inside]
posted by elgilito on Dec 29, 2016 - 6 comments

Waking up from a car accident, a young woman finds herself in the basement of a man who says he's saved her life from a chemical attack that has left the outside uninhabitable.
posted by maxsparber on Mar 13, 2016 - 37 comments

The story of the 2007-2008 credit and housing bubble collapse, seen through the eyes of a handful of misfit financial investors who predicted it would happen. Based on the book by Michael Lewis.
posted by zarq on Dec 28, 2015 - 42 comments

Cult film club: Edward Woodward stars as Sergeant Howie, a naive young police officer sent to Summerisle, a secluded island off the coast of Scotland, to investigate the disappearance of a young girl named Rowan. When he arrives there, he finds a very tight-knit community that is mistrustful and hostile to outsiders. Soon, Howie begins to realize that the town might be a strange pagan cult, one given to unbridled sexuality and possible human sacrifice. Seeking an audience with the oddly civilized Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), Howie hopes to get to the bottom of the mystery, but instead he finds something more shocking than he could have ever imagined. [more inside]
posted by maxsparber on Oct 13, 2014 - 10 comments

The best film ever made, followed the following week by the remake of The Wicker Man, starring Nicolas Cage, which somehow manages to be terrible and wonderful at the same time. See you Monday. Summerisle, Summerisle, Summerisle, Summerisle.
posted by maxsparber on Oct 9, 2014 - 4 comments

Cult Film Club: Streetwise charmer and cardshark Eddy (Nick Moran) walks into the biggest card game of his life carrying a stake backed by the life-savings of his three best mates, Tom (Jason Flemyng), Bacon (Jason Statham) and Soap (Dexter Fletcher). Eddy is the sharpest player on the circuit but the game is a set-up, and Eddy leaves owing the underworld boss "Hatchet" Harry (P.H. Moriarty) half a million. Harry gives Eddy a week to come up with the money before he starts taking fingers as collateral. (Continued) [more inside]
posted by maxsparber on Oct 6, 2014 - 10 comments

Based upon Stephen’s riveting and suspenseful short-story from "Full Dark, No Stars", A Good Marriage tells the story of Darcy Anderson as she learns the inconceivable truth about her husband of 25 years. [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Oct 3, 2014 - 1 comment

Cult film club: "I like that. Turn it up!" Performance is the Altamont of '60s cinema; psychedelic and hallucinatory, decadent and depraved, polymorphous-perverse. And you can dance to it! Melding the sex, drugs, and rock & roll ethos of swinging '60s London with the gangster film, Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell's genre-bending cult classic is so mind blowing that star James Fox did not act in a film again for nearly a decade. [more inside]
posted by maxsparber on Sep 29, 2014 - 0 comments

Cult Film Club: Step back into the psychedelic ’60s in this sexy, hilarious parody of Valley Of The Dolls, co-written by Roger Ebert. When three fun-loving bombshells with a rock band head for Hollywood to make it big, they find themselves at a hedonistic love-in thrown by an eccentric music promoter. Soon, it seems, superstardom is within reach. That is, if their newfound distractions don’t get in the way! [more inside]
posted by maxsparber on Sep 8, 2014 - 3 comments

Cult Film Club: Lured by their dreams of fame and fortune, three ambitious young women enter the world of show business and discover how easy it is to sink into a celebrity nightmare of ego, alcohol and 'pills' - the beloved "dolls." A prim New Englander (Barbara Parkins) unexpectedly skyrockets from her job as secretary in a talent agency to a glamorous TV model. A determined singer (Patty Duke) finds that Hollywood success can also spell self-destruction. And a beautiful sex symbol (Sharon Tate) is torn between the money commands and the shame of feeling exploited. Based on Jacqueline Susann's phenomenal best-seller about the underside of Hollywood, this fascinating melodrama was once seen as a shocking behind-the-scenes look at how show business creates instant stars, destroys romances and changes personalities forever. [more inside]
posted by maxsparber on Sep 1, 2014 - 5 comments

Cult Film Club film of the week: Pink Flamingos is a 1972 American transgressive black comedy exploitation film written, produced, scored, shot, edited, and directed by John Waters. When the film was initially released, it caused a huge degree of controversy due to the wide range of perverse acts performed in explicit detail. It has since become one of the most notorious films ever made and made an underground star of the flamboyant drag queen actor Divine. The film co-stars David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Danny Mills, Cookie Mueller, and Edith Massey.
posted by maxsparber on Aug 18, 2014 - 6 comments

Eraserhead, David Lynch's early midnight hit. I will post this on Monday, lively discussion sure to follow.
posted by maxsparber on Aug 1, 2014 - 4 comments