Viewing Journal: 6/13/2022

383) 

LAST SEEN ALIVE [CHASE]

(2022 dir. Brian Goodman) Date Seen: June 13 2022

essentially an ineffective riff on BREAKDOWN (1997) & lacking that film's strongest asset; the slick staging & direction of a genre heavyweight like Jonathan Mostow.. P.S.A.: if you want to see a far more thrilling Gerard Butler Racing to Save His Family movie, check out GREENLAND (2020)

Viewing Journal: 6/14/2022

384) THE  

PHANTOM OF THE OPEN

(2022 dir. Craig Roberts) Date Seen: June 14 2022

↓ there's a zen philosophy behind golf ↓

Viewing Journal: 6/10/2022

380) THE OUTFIT

(2022 dir. Graham Moore) Date Seen: June 10 2022

379) CAVEAT

(2021 dir. Damian McCarthy) Date Seen: June 10 2022

Viewing Journal: 6/11/2022

381) MY LOVE 

   AFFAIR WITH MARRIAGE

(2023 dir. Signe Baumane) Date Seen: June 11 2022

Viewing Journal: 6/8/2022

377) WATCHER

(2022 dir. Chloe Okuno) Date Seen: June 8 2022

With her "Storm Drain" segment from V/H/S/94 and now this, Chloe Okuno just became one of the more exciting up-and-coming filmmakers.. She's got a sharp eye for visual details & a Hitchcockian ability to ratchet up the suspense of any given scene. It also bares mentioning how good Maika Monroe is in this + how she's able to carry entire lengthy wordless scenes with only her face. Like a star from the silent era.. & Burn Gorman is Peter Lorre in M levels of spooky here.  

big spoilery twist in this movie: she's actually being stalked by a disgruntled ex-Blockbuster employee for her late fees on that terrible movie "THE WATCHER" (2000)

Viewing Journal: 6/12/2022

382) BRIAN AND CHARLES

(2022 dir. Jim Archer) Date Seen: June 12 2022

Viewing Journal: 6/9/2022

378) JURASSIC WORLD: 

              DOMINION

(2022 dir. Colin Trevorrow) Date Seen: June 9 2022

As kids, my siblings and I thought THE LOST WORLD '97 and part III (2001) were less than stellar sequels.. We didn't know how good we had it

Viewing Journal: 6/7/2022

376) HUSTLE

(2022 dir. Jeremiah Zagar) Date Seen: June 7 2022

What at first seems like boilerplate underdog material slowly evolves into quality sports uplift with the help of Adam Sandler, the ensemble cast, & good directing (artist Isaiah Zagar's son Jeremiah!). Sandman really sells the Jiminy Cricket hype man archetype (think Giamatti in CINDERELLA MAN or Burgess Meredith in ROCKY) & brings a much needed warmth & humor to the film.

Viewing Journal: 6/6/2022

375) THE WITCH: PART 1. 

    THE SUBVERSION 마녀

(2018 dir. Park Hoon-jung) Date Seen: June 6 2022

"Witch? WITCH! I hear that BITCH!"

- Coach, L4D2

Viewing Journal: 6/5/2022

374) ALLIGATOR 2: 

               THE MUTATION

(1991 dir. Jon Hess) Date Seen: June 5 2022

a disappointing sequel for sure.. but it could've been way worse. Like HOWLING II or PIRANHA II worse. 

373) 

SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON

(1960 dir. Ken Annakin) Date Seen: June 5 2022

outside of the hurtful antiquated depiction of pacific islanders, this was an okay book to film translation. I feel like my pops rented it for me in elementary school when I was obsessed with survival in the wilderness stories, but I turned the VHS off after a few minutes; probably either because I wasn't used to the stagey way everything looked or the tape had tracking problems. + it was most likely a washed out pan & scan VHS that barely resembled the colorful film kids in 1960 actually got to see at theaters. It would've been indistinguishable from a Gilligan's Island rerun to my dumb child brain.. Even though I preferred books like Hatchet and movies like FAR FROM HOME (1995) during that phase

because I perceived them to be more "realistic" & "gritty" 

(😂 which seems laughably delusional now), I think I would have appreciated this version of Swiss Family Robinson had there only been a better looking home video representation back then. As there is now: full HD on Disney+