Abigail in 250 Words or Less

I don't watch movie trailers anymore and I especially don't watch horror movie trailers anymore, and yet I somehow still knew going into Abigail precisely one thing -- I knew that it is about a tween ballerina vampire. I can't imagine anyone going into this movie and not knowing at least that much. I suppose there are people recovering from comas as I type this, and perhaps the first thing they will do is stumble into a movie theather and just happen to walk into an Abigail screening -- anything is possible! And to them, I say enjoy!

For the rest of us however the exxxtremely drawn out first act of this movie is some seriously unwise plotting -- the revelation of tween ballerina vampire Abigail's tween-ballerina-vampirishness is teased for far, far, far too long, to the point of exasperation. And that milling-about languor mars the film's final act as well, when the film drops about four reasonable endings in a row. In short this movie should be half an hour shorter and it would be more fun. Because when it's fun, it's fun. Great fun. Game cast (Alisha Weir kills it), top-notch gore, and who doesn't love a dilapidated mansion full of dubious strangers plotline? Also lots of sly references to vampire movies of old like Fright Night and Near Dark for the nerds like me. There is a pretty perfect hour twirling smackdab in the middle of this movie, unfortunately smothered by one too many ruffles.

Thinking about him (what's new) pic.twitter.com/lpPMlw5iMK

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) April 18, 2024

Our New Cuckoo

You should write the word Cuckoo in your calendar on the date August 9th right now, because the forthcoming horror movie starring Euphoria's Hunter Schafer and everybody's favorite ex-Downton dandy Dan Stevens is one we should all be excited about. Why? Because the writer-director is named Tilman Singer and he's put out one movie to date -- Luz in 2018, and Luz kicked un holy ass. Here is my review of Luz -- I said that "it digs out a ragged little mark of flesh, the sort of scar you won't forget soon; I felt corrupted." 

Does that not sound like the mark of an excellent horror movie to you? (Our friends at Altered Innocence, always on the ball, put Luz out on blu-ray and you should snag yourself a copy ASAP.) Anyway it's been a bit of a wwait for Tilman to get another movie out but Cuckoo sounds like it's worth the wait; here's how Neon describes the movie:

"Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König, her father's boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen's mute half-sister Alma. Something doesn't seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family."

Happy 5 To Permission

Today we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the release of director Brian Crano's delightful rom-com Permission, which stars Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens as a couple who've been together since high school who decide to give each other "permission" (ooh there's the title!) to sleep around for a minute before they get married and never have the chance again. Dan Stevens ends up having a fling with a very very very funny Gina Gershon, while Becky ends up boning hot perfect François Arnaud, whose nudity in the film we're posting today as our form of celebration. I did post this once before but what the hell, when in Rome (and yes in this instance "Rome" is "inside of François Arnaud's underpants"). Oh and this movie also stars Rebecca Hall's ridiculously hot husband (and Gilded Age star) Morgan Spector as a gay and he has a hot gay sex scene in it too?

In other words this movie has everything you need and I don't know why it doesn't get more love. How has Crano not made another movie since??? Granted I'm slightly biased when it comes to the movie for selfish reasons as it marked the very first time I got blurbed in a trailer -- they took a little nugget from my review at The Film Experience when I saw it at the Tribeca fest that year. Anyway the movie got a very small physical media release in the US (DVDs of it are going for a hundred bucks!) but you can watch it on Tubi right now, as well as on Prime, and I recommend you do. It's a sweet and terrifically-acted way to spend a couple of hours. And you get to stare at François Arnaud's dick. If that ain't cinema!!! And speaking of, hit the jump for more gifs...

Body By Kumail

I don't know what the hell else I was doing on September 20th when the teaser trailer for the Welcome To Chippendales series dropped, but seeing as I've been following every whisper of every development of the series from Day One it seems truly bizarre that I just realized I'd never posted it. So I'm righting that right now, even though y'all have had weeks to watch it and I have nothing new to add to the conversation at this point. The series has an incredible cast with Kumail Nanjiani in the lead as the creator of the male stripping empire, alongside Murray Bartlett...

... Annaleigh Ashford, Juliette Lewis, Andrew Rannells, Dan Stevens, Roswell, and Robin de Jesús, and it will tell the story of the murder that rocked its g-string kingdom back in the 1980s. The series will premiere on Hulu on November 22nd -- you know, just in time to watch it with your Grandma and Grandpa after stuffing yourselves sick with turkey feast. The perfect holiday entertainment!

Dan is This Man

My opinion on the actor Dan Stevens tends to swing wildly around depending on the project -- if I'd gotten to know him circa The Guest we'd have been good, but I hated him on Downton and I think that gave us a shaky foundation upon which all else has been built since. That said Dan and me are in an upswing right now because that movie that had him speaking German and playing a robot (the movie called I'm Your Man) was an absolute delight and he was absolutely delightful in it -- if you haven't been able to see it yet I recommend you do! (It is on blu-ray and available to stream, FYI.) Anyway that's good news for him getting cast on Kumail Nanjiani's forthcoming limited series Immigrant, which is about the formation of the male stripper league called the Chippendales and that nasty business with the murder that happened. And even better was when I googled the real life dude he's set to play, named Paul Snider:

Oh my god THIS is the guy that Dan Stevens was just cast as in Kumail Nanjiani's CHIPPENDALES series pic.twitter.com/a9AYWIShPx

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 24, 2022

Dan Stevens is about to have some fun, you guys. DH describes Snider as "a hustler and serial schmoozer whose unlikely partnership with struggling LA backgammon club owner Banerjee (Nanjiani) led to the birth of the Chippendales." Snider is also best known for the 1980 murder of his wife, the Playboy model Dorothy Stratten (who'd been sleeping with Peter Bogdonavich), after which Snider killed himself -- all of this then got turned into Bob Fosse's movie Star 80...

.... where Snider was played with grand sexy sleaze by Eric Roberts. This is so much information. Anyway last we'd heard about Nanjiani's series was when mustache-king Murray Bartlett got cast in the series as the stripper-choreographer; actually scratch that I did hear a few weeks later that Andrew Rannells of Girls fame got cast as Murray's boyfriend. And DH says that charmer Annaleigh Ashford also has a role, which is always welcome; like Jake we love that lady!

Sing Imperfect Harmony

.

Heads up! No not like that, Dan Stevens. Sheesh. Can't take you anywhere. I mean "heads up" as in I have a brief announcement. That makes it sound much more serious than it is -- get your hearts out of your throats, everything's fine. I mean... nothing is fine, not really -- have you turned on the news lately? Everybody's wearing coke bottles on the sides of their faces, it's madness. Anarchy, I tells ya. Point being I'm going to take tomorrow, Friday June 19th, off from blogging. And of course the rest of the weekend, per usual.

I got word today that I'll be heading back to my IRL office this coming Monday for the first time since March -- funny enough Monday will mark exactly 100 days. Funny... not haha. Anyway I'm going to try and get some stuff done around the house for the last three days of this... experience... that I've been putting off for 97 days. And also just breathe deep and re-situate myself.  I'm honestly a little nervous -- I haven't been on the subway or out of my neighborhood at all for three months. So that's where I'll be until Monday. Breathing. Come Monday I'll be back at my dusty old desk and there will be plenty of time for blogging my nonsense then. So y'all have a good three-day weekend, and after the jump I'll share a few more shots of Dan Stevens here to fill the time with...

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Permission (2017)

Lydia: I used to be a dental hygienist. 

I could get a dog. I could travel.

Will: Can I ask you something? The table? 

Did you really like it?

Lydia: Oh my god. The table is so beautiful.

Will: Yeah?

Lydia: I love it. It's just so honest. And I can love 

the table and I can wanna fuck you -- 

one does not diminish the other. You know?

Will: Cool.

A very happy 58th birthday to Gena Gershon today! You'd think I'd quote Showgirls today to honor her what with the Showgirls doc You Don't Nomi having hit streaming yesterday -- read my review here -- but she's so absolutely terrific and funny in Permission, the 2017 romantic-drama (reviewed here) starring Dan Stevens and Rebecca Hall as a long-term couple who decide to open up their sex life before making that dreaded Final Commitment. Gershon plays a rich lady client of Stevens' furniture maker who he ends up going home with -- this scene is part of the funniest sequence in the film where the two of them take some drugs and spend the whole day together, spilling their guts in the process.

I unabashedly love this movie, which isn't in my usual wheelhouse at all -- it just widens the scope of the typical navel-gazing enough, with strong enough performances from everybody involved (including the hot pieces of meat Morgan Spector and Francois Arnaud at their hot-meatiest), that it feels more truthful than what you necessarily expect going into it. (But then Rebecca Hall in particular couldn't play a false note if you tickled her while she recited Shakespeare.)

In Bruges 2: The Rebrugening

.

Ooh, I do love an excuse to re-watch In Bruges! Love that movie so very much. That said I do have to admit I'm still trying to gauge how excited I can allow myself to be about a new Martin McDonagh movie -- the news of which I'll get to in just a second -- after I really did not like his last one, the Oscar-nominated Three Billboards yadda yadda, at all. And I don't want to hear that it was that year's endless and brutal Awards Season campaigning that turned me on that movie -- I was real excited about seeing it and saw it real early and immediately hated it. I didn't need all the think-pieces picking it apart. I felt it in my gut from frame one. 

Anyway, that news. McDonagh is re-teaming with In Bruges' two leading men, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, for his next film. We don't have a lot of info, we don't even have a title yet, but we do have this:

"Film is set on a remote Irish isle and they will play two lifelong friends who find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship with alarming consequences for both of them. has a budget close to $20 million and will shoot this summer."

McDonagh's play The Hangmen is about to open on Broadway with Dan Stevens in the lead; I had considered looking for cheap tickets to that but now maybe I'll wait, store up good feelings, and spend them on this new movie instead. I'll just go google pictures of him with his girlfriend, one Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and get happy...

Slap That Ben in Some Fur Booties

.

Terrific news today as our boy Ben Whishaw has been added to the cast of the fourth season of Fargo, Noah Hawley's ace update on the Coen Brothers snowbound brand -- if there's word on who he's playing I'm skipping it for the time being, I'd rather be surprised.  (Especially after we never got the Ewan twins to make out like I'd been hoping for last time around.) Besides Ben other actors added to the previously announced Chris Rock in the lead are Jessie Buckley, Jack Huston, Jason Schwartzman, and the musician Andrew Bird. But Ben! Ben is big enough for me, yo.
.

LIVE FOOTAGE OF ME READING THE NEWS THAT BEN WHISHAW IS STARRING IN THE FOURTH SEASON OF FARGO pic.twitter.com/l9XTxpIpE6

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) July 18, 2019

.
On a sidenote this reminds me that I haven't watched a single episode of Hawley's Legion yet this year -- is anybody watching it? I swear I haven't heard a single word spoken anywhere from anyone. You'd think I'd see people tweeting or something? What is happening? I'm not the show's biggest fan (I far prefer Fargo) but I'm still invested enough to finish it up...

Great Gratuity of 2018 #6

.

I loved Brian Crano's film Permission before they went and gave me my first critic's quote in their movie trailer -- I mean that's how I got the quote in the trailer in the first place, duh. I reviewed it at Tribeca two entire years back now, and now having watched it a couple more times since I maintain it's one of the best rom-coms to come out this decade. All of the six main actors -- Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens, Morgan Spector and David Joseph Craig, François Arnaud and especially Gina Gershon (who I just gave a spot in my Favorite Performances of 2018), are doing terrific, funny, and emotionally complicated work. The film itself just missed out on my Top 30, but as I said then 2018 was a helluva year. And to top it all off Crano's smart enough to know that if letting Rebecca Hall act in front of us is a gift, letting Rebecca Hall act in front of us while François Arnaud gets naked right behind her is like a really, really big gift. Hit the jump for a couple of them gif(t)s...

Six Six Six Scary Movies in 150 Words or Less

.

I've gotten woefully behind on reviews again (the eternal drum-beat!), nowhere moreso than with a pile-up of horror flicks I've tried to catch up on as the year of 2018 ended. So here are six (natch) quick takes on six (natch) horror or at least horror-adjacent flicks...

The House With a Clock in its Walls -- It's really strange to realize that Eli Roth has now directed a film starring Cate Blanchett, isn't it? And I say that generally as a fan of Eli's work, a stalwart defender of both Hostel films. Do you think Cate sat down and watched Hostel II at some point to familiarize herself with her director? Maybe she's a secret Torture Porn enthusiast! I could totally see that being true. As with all of our great actors she's got a hint of madness in her eyes - it's not too far a stretch to picture Cate getting stoned and cackling as the infamous leg shaving scene happens in Cabin Fever. Does it seem as if I'm avoiding talking about The House With a Clock in it Walls? Yeah you ain't mistaken. Snooze, next. 

Unfriended: Dark Web -- Don't ask me how this franchise turned out actually pretty good, but here we are two movies in and the Unfriended movies have legit burrowed under my skin two times now. (Here's my review of the first one.) This one, as ever the case with horror sequels, feels the need to expand outward from the first one - speaking of Hostel II it kind of has the feeling of that, with a vast conspiracy of crazies (or... you might say... a Dark Web) turning tech on its dumb-dumb users. But conspiracies of crazy people are almost always fundamentally scarier to me than demon possession or ghost infants and this army of hooded google ghouls (Goo-Ghouls?) shiver me timbers. It's clever and mean enough to make you need the lights on later.

The Housemaid -- Jump-scares don't normally get me but there are a couple of fun jump-scares in this atmospheric South-Korean-directed Vietnam-set ghost flick that got me; mostly though it reads as kind of a wan mash-up of The Handmaiden and Ju-on. It's also comically unsexy when it thinks it's being sexy - there are a whole lot of humping scenes in here that're about as hot as swamp butt on a first date. It also suffers from hot fits of non-sensical plotting a la Karyn Kusama's Destroyer that only make sense at the end of the film, but which un-do the viewer's goodwill before the time you get there. You're so irritable at people doing what seem like dumb things at the time that it's hard to work up a care once their actual motivations get unfurled.

New Year, New You -- Not as glimmeringly unnerving as director Sophia Takal's 2016 film Always Shine with Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin FitzGerald was (here's my review of that) but, well, that starred Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin FitzGerald, after all. But Suki Waterhouse fares better here than she did in The Bad Batch I thought, and Mr. Robot's Carly Chaikan as her former teen tormentor turned lifestyle blogger is insidiously awful (thats a compliment - she's meant to be). Best in show is probably Melissa Bergland as the malleable hanger-on willing to go full psycho for web sensation status. Still I was a little turned off by the pile of dead lesbians by film's end, and the constraints of its format - this is a 90 minute episode of a Hulu anthology series Into the Dark - stay felt.

.

New Fetish: Michael Sheen Crazy Old-Timey Preacher pic.twitter.com/5bEicL3TAC

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 28, 2018

.

Apostle -- Starts out weird, gets way weirder - it's always a treat to see Michael Sheen (full stop) getting his nuts on (fuller stop) and his gig here as an old-timey preacher-man gone full woodland cult psychotic is a bonanza of bearded bug-eyed fun. The presence of Dan Stevens confusedly skulking about brings with it a whole meat-sack of reminders of his superhero TV series Legion though - these're both projects that often get lost up their own gobbledygook, and the more out-there their shenanigans the less invested turned my attention. Still it's kind of Baskin lite starring movie stars and, uh, that in itself is so crazy you can't help but be a bit impressed. 

Bird Box -- Our culture's become so infinitesimally fractured that we leap at any opportunity for something approaching a shared experience - anyway that's the only reason I can come up with for why this silly un-scary mash-up of ten things better things before it became such a meme generator and topic of conversation. Once we knew Netflix's numbers we grasped for what we could! Sandra Bullock does what she can - she is Sandra Bullock for a reason, after all - and there are lots of names here I have no doubt that Netflix's algorithms know we love watching (John Malkovich being John Malkovich! Tom Hollander being Tom Hollander! Trevante Rhodes... call me!) but like that SUV in Sarah Paulson's fickle hands it all just sort of crashes into the sky.
.

I Now Give You Permission...

.

Permission, a smart and atypical rom-com that played Tribeca last year and that I've been talking about ever since, is hitting about a dozen theaters scattered around the US tomorrow, and also dropping onto iTunes. Here's a list of where:

The movie stars Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens as high school sweethearts who decide to try strapping on some other people before they get married, just to make sure they're making the right decision. That sounds like a typical rom-com plot device but director and writer Brian Crano makes it more interesting than that, and he's helped out by a bevy of beautiful and talented actors at his command, including not just those two in the lead but also the dreamboats François Arnaud, Gena Gershon, and Morgan Spector.

.

.

But then I have said all of this before! I reviewed the movie at Tribeca - read it here - and then we rehashed all of this in December when the trailer for the movie dropped and I got my pull-quote cherry popped. See that above! And then go see the movie this weekend if you're in any of those cities, or watch it on iTunes - it's really pretty perfect for Valentine's; not at all sappy, but honest and true about the difficulties of love stuffs.

But wait hey did I just mention François Arnaud, Dan Stevens, and Morgan Spector? It's been awhile since we've been handed a right and proper threesome like this, which has got us thinking it's time for some right and proper "Do Dump and Marry" fun...

See more Francois Arnaud right here!

See more Dan Stevens right here!

See more Morgan Spector right here!

And hit the comments and Do Dump or Marry them!

.

Good Morning, World

.

A happy 44th birthday to Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Concords and et cetera et cetera fame - like his co-conspirator in low-key Kiwi sexual magnetism Taiki Waititi he's seen his star rise pretty exponentially since they made the vampire-comedy What We Do in the Shadows together back in 2014, at least among those who want a little more substance to their movie crushes. You can see Jemaine all over the place - in Steven Spielberg fantasies, in Sarah Jessica Parker televisual dramadies (that's what these gifs are from) - but my favorite thing from him as of late is probably his work on the X-Men series Legion, which was a show I found immensely frustrating save some saved-it casting-choices like Aubrey Plaza and Jean Smart and Dan Steven's Butt and Jemaine here. Anyway a happy birthday to he and hit the jump for a couple more gifs...

A Smile From François

.

Yes it is true I have now managed to write (including this post I am writing right now) four count 'em posts about the trailer for the film Permission, which uses a quote from yours truly. I am nothing if not a gigantic spazz. What can I say? You knew what you were in for. Anyway my point is I just did a little breakdown of the trailer over at The Film Experience today, with more details on the film, so go check that out. François says please and merci beaucoup.

.

Give Yourself Permission... To Love

.

Oh god sorry for this post's title, I couldn't help myself. Anyway yesterday I told you guys about the brand new trailer for the movie called Permission, which stars Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens and Gina Gershon and Jason Sudekis and François Arnaud (and little François Arnaud) and David Joseph Craig and Raul Castillo and Bridget Everett and Morgan Spector - I didn't mention all of those names because there are a lot of good people in this movie, it takes awhile. Also I was too busy mentioning my own name since I got my very first critic blurb in the trailer (I reviewed the film at Tribeca this past spring) and I was kind of excited about that. Kind of. Anyway today they released the film's poster, which you see up top, and they put the trailer onto YouTube, so I can share it that way. Like, now:

.

.

Permission is out on February 9th!
And if you guys see this trailer in the theater let me know!

.

Hey Ma My Name In Lights

.

It's a red letter day for your trusty movie blogger here, folks -- I just got my very first movie trailer blurb!  Over at The Film Experience I reviewed Brian Crano's fine romantic-drama Permission at the Tribeca Film Festival this past spring - it stars Dan Stevens & Rebecca Hall as a couple who've been together since they were little things who decide to open up their relationship before making things permanent - cue Gena Gershon & Francois Arnaud (swoon), who make that future very complicated. I thought the movie was surprisingly good; so good that in my review I actually called it...

Ahhhh! Official Blurb Whore in the house! The trailer just dropped on iTunes and you should've heard the yelp I made when my name popped up in the middle of it. This is kind of the movie-critic equivalent of those scenes in movies where a band hears their song on the radio for the first time, I guess?

The trailer's only on iTunes for the time being  so you have to click over there to watch it in full (once it's on YouTube I'll post the actual trailer here in this post). The movie is out February 9th so they're clearly gunning for the Valentine's dollars and as well they should. The movie has lots of sharp insight about relationships in it, and lord knows Rebecca Hall is literally always the best. And did I mention Francois Arnaud you guys...

For real. I hope they haven't cut anything out from the cut of this movie I saw. Ahem. Anyway can you imagine the sounds that will come out of me when/if I see this trailer inside an actual movie theater??? Happy day! ETA here it is via YouTube:
.

.

I Am Link

.

--- X Junior - Noah Hawley, who has delivered unto the world two phenomenal seasons of television with Fargo, is setting his sights on super-men next - he's executive producing Legion, an X-Men spin-off series that will star Dan Stevens as Professor Charles Xavier's previously unmentioned son. (thanks Mac) I've come to like Stevens very much thanks to The Guest, but the real casting coup here if you ask me is Jean Smart, who's co-starring. Designing Woman in the house! Seriously though she deserves awards for what she did on Fargo last year.
 .

--- Never Let Her Go - If one were to scour back through our archives one would 1) be nuts and 2) discover that for a very long time I did not like Keira Knightley. I found her jaw-centric acting style irritating. That changed with Never Let Me Go in 2010, which I think she's really very lovely in, and ever since I usually like her; indeed it made me go back and revisit stuff like Pride & Prejudice and see her work with new eyes. Anyway it makes sense to me then that it would be Never Let Me Go director Mark Romanek who'd come to her defense first in the wake of Begin Again director John Carney's nasty comments (he said she's no actress, just a model) and make me agree with the nicer side. Keira's good people - you leave her be, ya big meanie; I don't want to sour towards Once.

.

--- The Darko Boy - I'm not sure why they're chatting with Jake Gyllenhaal about Donnie Darko - its fifteenth anniversary isn't until October - but here's a clip of EW chatting with him as he reminisces on the film. I haven't watched it yet so somebody tell me if he has anything to say on the great big black hole that Richard Kelly's fallen into.

.

--- F Is For Fake - I knew I had posted about this project previously but it took me forever to find the previous post -- once upon a time Nicole Holocener was making a movie starring Julianne Moore as the real-world literary forger Lee Israel, based on her autobiographical book Can You Ever Forgive Me. Neither of those ladies are attached any more, but two other terrific ladies now are -- Melissa McCarthy is going to star and Diary of a Teenage Girl director Marielle Heller is going to direct! This could end up being a very different film? But probs still great.
.

--- Dying For Debicki - I don't recall having heard that Elizabeth Debicki had been cast in a role in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel but apparently she had been, quite awhile back, which is terrific news - I like Debicki very much. (PS I always call her "Debicki" in my head so I think that might become our short-hand from now on.) Anyway The Playlist has some info on who the Big Bad is going to be in the sequel (spoilery, obviously) and they think that this is the role that Debicki's playing, which makes sense, given the character's description. Debicki & Blanchett playing Big Bads in Marvel movies - well now I am impatiently awaiting Isabelle Huppert showing up in Black Panther to complete the Maids triumvirate.
.
--- Luck Be A Laddie - Showing a strange hardly-ever-adhered-to dedication to The Stage, the Tony-winning dude who directed a recent stage version of Guys & Dolls has been hired to direct the film version of Guys & Dolls. I know this isn't usually my wheelhouse (honestly I have never even see any version of G&D) but once upon a time Jake Gyllenhaal was rumored to want to make this movie so I still pay attention for some bizarre lingering reason. Last thing we'd heard casting-wise it was supposed to be Channing Tatum & Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the leading man roles but I'd be surprised if that's still the case.
.

--- Forever Glow - Slip into your brightest pink leotard and tumble into my heart - the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are coming back, kind of! The woman behind Orange is the New Black is staging a fictionalized comedy series based on my beloved childhood fave GLOW for Netflix. It will be ten episodes, and it will tell the story of an out-of-work actress in Los Angeles finding "one last attempt to live her dreams." And those dreams apparently include sweaty lycra. As most dreams do.

 .
---  Slaughter High - I've been saying for years now that the team producing the new Friday the 13th movies have got their collective heads crammed up their collective arses - making a Friday the 13th movie is not rocket science and nobody coming to see the movie is asking for rocket science. Put Jason Voorhees in a camp and commence slaughter of sexy teenagers, the end. Why they can't figure that out I have no idea. Anyway now they're saying it will be an origin film, but like a whole new origin, having nothing to do with the old origin. Because we care about Baby Jason or something? Ugh, fire all of these people.
.
--- And Finally there are far, far worse ways to spend a few minutes... which will inevitably turn into a few more minutes because you want it to... staring at pictures of Marlene Dietrich in the dastardly-delicious double-feature of Morocco and Blonde Venus, so head on over to The Film Experience for this week's episode of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," which does just that. She has a face meant to be studied. Of course if I'd chosen I might not have been able to help myself, what with prime Gary Cooper slinking around in that uniform the whole time...
.