Mia is the heart and soul of this Stuckmannized horror flick

 SHELBY OAKS (2024)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I only wish the best for anyone debuting as a film director in this climate of repetitive remakes and endless comic-book movies. Of course, that is not all there is because recent horror films have raised the stakes for imbuing some originality and thought rather than just mindless remaking. Some of the best horror output is from Neon Pictures and A24 and kudos to them for seeking out fresher material. You Tube Movie Reviewer Chris Stuckmann has accomplished his lifelong goal of making a movie (and he still reviews movies except only the ones he likes). "Shelby Oaks" is not the most inspired horror film (it feels like the third or fourth sequel in a series) and hardly one that will scare many out of their wits. It does, however, bear the stamp of something personal that never ventures as deeply as it could have. Still, got to give credit to Stuckmann for giving it a go and succeeding only partially.

The opening of this movie features some found footage in news segments detailing the disappearance of the Paranormal Paranoids, a group of five YouTubers that have a vested interest in finding ghosts or paranormal activity in abandoned buildings or haunted homes. Almost immediately we are entering "Grave Encounters" territory and any number of other ghostly encounter TV shows or YouTube streaming channels that you've seen millions of times. This is not a found footage film - it is actually about finding the clues in found footage in the rarest of mediums nowadays - a mini-DV cassette. Camille Sullivan is Mia who becomes obsessed with her sister's disappearance and somehow knows she's not dead (the other members of the Paranormal Paranoids were murdered). This leads to numerous scenes with typical flashlight searches inside a closed "Shawshank" prison, the dark forbidden woodsy areas, an abandoned amusement park, and finally some log cabin with a mysterious, unhealthy-looking woman whose home is filled with moldy walls. Oh, yes, and we shan't forget the ravenous dogs with glowing eyes. Mia's sister, Riley (Sarah Durn), might have encountered foul play with that other horror trope - an occult group.

"Shelby Oaks" builds itself on atmosphere and many scenes inside these dreadful, underlit locations do rivet the attention and cause one to occasionally shake their shoulders. Stuckmann might also have a gift for personal matters including Mia's fondness and despair over her sister and dark forces that always seem to surround them in their upbringing. The found footage of the forlorn Riley sensing something ominous in daylight shots in some corner of an amusement park, or in some room where something nasty and unseen this way comes, can also shock the system. Stuckmann doesn't quite the nail the depth that Mia needs on this personal journey, and her relationship with her unemotional husband (Brendan Sexton III) is lacking a pulse. 

"Shelby Oaks" needed to be deeper and more entrenched in Mia's relentless pursuit of clues to her sister's disappearance. Camille Sullivan gives it her every ounce of regret and passion she can muster and the scene of the unveiling of a photo scrapbook had me on edge. Ravenous dogs? Not so much. Cracks on the window had me on the edge of my seat. It is doubly wonderful to see veteran actors like the charismatic Keith David as a prison warden and Michael Beach as a by-the-book detective, though I did miss them as soon as they were gone. Ultimately, Camille Sullivan is the heart and soul of this movie and you kinda wish there was more of each to really give this film a jolt.       

I-I-I-I am so sad and lonely, sad and lonely

 MAD DOG AND GLORY (1993)

An Appreciation by Jerry Saravia

"Mad Dog and Glory" is a smoothly made piece of entertainment with nicely textured performances and oodles of charm. Those are not words that usually describe a film about a Chicago crime scene photographer/cop faced with having a temporary spirited girl as a roommate who is indebted to a mobster. Or maybe it does. Either way, do not expect melodramatic fireworks from what could been a high-tech crime film or a police action thriller. You won't find any car chases here, not much violence either. This is a film about manhood, proving yourself in the streets as the guy with macho threats without moving too many muscles. There is also an unbelievable fight scene that I'll get back to.

Robert De Niro is Wayne (also known as Mad Dog), the crime scene photographer who works the dreaded graveyard shift. He hasn't fired his pistol in years and is reluctant to when he confronts a crackhead killer at a grocery store. Wayne hilariously allows the killer to take candy and cash from the register in exchange for a man's life who is caught up in this robbery (Bill Murray). It turns out the man Wayne saved is no ordinary Chicagoan - he's a mobster named Frank Milo who is "the expediter of your dreams." And get this: Frank is a comedian at the Comic-Cazie comedy club, a club he owns of course. What comedy club would ever have a mobster do stand-up? More importantly, why would he do it? 

In some extended and frank discussions on marriage, loyalty, stand-up jokes, Frank and Wayne seem to hit it off despite being quite drunk. Frank issues a stern warning to Wayne: Treat him with respect or Frank's life becomes a raging sea. Ouch! It isn't often that we see a comedy about a mobster and a cop having an unlikely relationship. 

Then there's the matter of the klutzy bartender at the Comic Cazie, Glory (Uma Thurman), who owes a debt to Frank concerning her brother. Glory is positioned to live with Wayne for a week - a girl to keep Wayne "happy." What a trouper this Frank is. Still, things go awry when the crackhead killer who threatened Frank and Wayne shows up dead in a drum covered with a net! To make matters complicated, Wayne falls in love with Glory and won't let her go back to Frank. This eventually leads to a street bare knuckle fight that is impossible to believe. Wayne yells and points a gun at Frank, "Fight me for her!" Frank responds, "That's schoolyard, Wayne." The fight ensues where there is no clear victor and both of them are surrounded by cops and mobsters cheering on whoever lands a direct punch. "Raging Bull****" was one headline for a review I remember reading back in 1993. It seems this scene could have been dramatized with more conviction and dialogue than simply slamming fists.

"Mad Dog and Glory" is a comedic character study rather than a strict comedy (directed by John McNaughton in an unhurried fashion and written with street flavor by Richard Price). Everything is about as unobtrusive as you can imagine. No single actor is looking to make more of an impression than anybody else. De Niro in particular is at his most subdued playing a cop, and continued to downplay and minimize facial expressions in later roles. Equally unflashy is David Caruso playing a tough cop and Wayne's partner who sizes up to anyone he feels needs sizing up. Bill Murray oozes and relishes villainy without trying and does it with a refreshing laid-back style (I should try a pineapple cake slice and sour cream, only because Frank finds it so appetizing). And there's Uma Thurman, the object of affection for Wayne and just merely an object for Frank. She is able to show Glory as a young woman who wants and needs love yet she will not be bought and doesn't have a docile bone in her body. The last scene shows how much she loves Wayne that she will go back to Frank to resolve the friction between the two men - she can stand up to these men who may have guts but no glory. An unusual, quirky, underappreciated film that is not defined by genre - it plays by its own rules. If only more Hollywood films were like this.  

Great Pretender

 PAPER MASK 

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A case of mistaken identity or assuming an identity are always choice topics for psychologically driven character studies and/or psychological thrillers. "Paper Mask" is about a certain kind of young British man who pushes himself to assume an identity, though we never understand why or what he is truly getting out of it. Think of the amoral main protagonist, Matthew Harris, as a Tom Ripley-type.

From the start, something feels askew about Matthew (Paul McGann), a hospital orderly with bigger aspirations. Matthew hangs with his other orderly friends at pubs and sees a world where doctors have the women and are more economically secure. Matthew wants a piece of that and when a certain Dr. Hennessy is with Matthew's ex and they get into a car accident, chance seems to present itself. Hennessy dies, the girl lives, and Matthew decides to assume Hennessy's identity (he doesn't get the girl back). He applies for a job as a doctor in a hospital in Bristol, specifically the casualty (emergency) department, where he diagnoses and administers care to patients with injuries and medical issues that go beyond his limited knowledge. Matthew may have been studying medical books in his spare time, prior to Hennessy's death, but he is no doctor and he knows it. His first day is a disaster, and so is his second. Casualty nurses like the sympathetic Christine (Amanda Donohoe) know that doctors hitting the books without the hands-on practice are a dime a dozen (no one is aware that Matthew is not a doctor). Somehow the deceit continues and he improves while learning on the job (he practices doing stitches on a piece of clothing).

"Paper Mask" is about that level of deceit and how long Matthew can keep fooling them all. He eventually admits the truth to Christine of whom he has a romantic relationship with. Matthew keeps his past hidden (he throws a parental gift, a watch, down the toilet) and Christine keeps pursuing him for some semblance of emotion and insight. The truth is that Matthew is a cipher, a man of no special ability other than using his charm to deceive, but to what end? The senior Dr. Thorn (the always exceptional Tom Wilkinson) is skeptical of Hennessy and was not keen with his other colleagues who unanimously hired him. Thorn rightfully deduces that Hennessy doesn't have the necessary empathy and patience to be a doctor.

The movie runs into some potboiler-ish thriller elements when one of Matthew's orderly friends (Jimmy Yuill) gets a position at the same hospital - the last thing Matthew needs is for his own cover to be blown. A psychological character study would allow fate to come in and crush Matthew, his lies and the world around him. As it develops, "Paper Mask" aims to be a Ripley tale of murderous impulses whereas the deceit itself would've been ample. As written by John Collee, the author of the book this is based on, my heart sank a tad when it went into this thriller terrain. I don't exactly mind the thriller mechanics but since the character is a cipher and has no real inner life, the result is the depiction is nothing more than some charismatic guy who wants to be a doctor (at one point, he almost leaves the hospital because he can't handle it). Fascinating and occasionally horrifying nonetheless with expert performances by all (Donohoe truly shines as always), "Paper Mask" is one of those films where an expanded running time would've helped. I think I now trust doctors even less.

Nexus is no Genesis

 STAR TREK GENERATIONS (1994)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Generations" is one of the black sheep of the Trek cinematic and TV universes, the other being the very much maligned "Star Trek V." "Generations" is silly and some of its story is incomprehensible and defies logic. Truthfully, I never look for logic in science-fiction unless the movie is so inert and badly-paced that asking logical questions becomes part of the fun. This is a fun, diverting movie but, boy, do questions abound after it is over. 

From the start, I felt I was in Star Trek heaven, a sort of nirvana of excitement, after a champagne bottle (a Dom Perignon, vintage 2265) is floating in space and is smashed on the newly minted Enterprise ship. Captain Kirk (the delightful William Shatner) is retired and merely there for a photo-op and as a casual observer! He is joined by reliable old Scottish engineer Scotty (James Doohan) and Chekov (Walter Koenig), whom are both presumably retired. Something goes ballistic immediately with the Enterprise when it is near a deadly energy ribbon (known as the Nexus) that destroys two El-Aurian ships (the El-Aurians are a Race of Listeners). The new captain from the Starfleet Academy (Alan Ruck, what weird casting) is unprepared for this maiden voyage since the ship has no torpedoes but they can simulate a torpedo to drive them away from the ribbon! The Enterprise gets bruised and reliable Kirk is killed, or at least floating in Nexus. 

Cue to 78 years later to the Next Generation cast having a ball celebrating Worf (Michael Dorn) as lieutenant commander, a celebration aboard a holographic 17th century ship where this Klingon is brought out with shackles and has to step into the plank.. Before long Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) has the tragic news that some of his family members died, thus causing much grief as he pores over photo albums. There are some truly intimate scenes between Picard and counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) where he breaks down crying over the loss - a humanity that anchors the best that Star Trek has to offer. Speaking of humanity and emotion, android Data (Brent Spiner) is implanted with an emotion chip that causes him to laugh at jokes from several years back. Levar Burton is back as Geordi La Forge, the engineer with a visor that allows him to see, and he is perplexed by Data's emotions. So is the whole Enterprise crew when Data starts singing about lifeforms as he's looking for any in other planets. 

The central plot has Dr. Soran (wickedly bulging-eyed Malcolm McDowell), an El-Aurian, who wants to be on Nexus, an energy ribbon that takes you to a state-of-mind place where you feel joy and time doesn't exist (think of it as memory implants that create a fake environment you can revisit over and over). However, Soran believes that by destroying the planets near Nexus, he can have a proper alignment on an iron bridge in the planet Veridian III where he can be immersed in the Nexus. Also on Nexus is Captain Kirk who is at his original domicile before leaving for the Starfleet (his wife is shown on a horse in a blurry long shot), but his memories can also shift based on his mood, I gather.

A more clearly defined plot would've been welcome, just as it was for the planet Genesis from the earlier Star Trek films. Here, it seems Nexus can be anything and though its limitless possibilities are entrancing, they still confuse me with Soran's plan to destroy planets when Kirk and Picard do not have to engage in such evil acts to gain entrance. Or something like that. I am sure Trekkies have studied this ridiculous plot and made some sense of it.

"Generations" is still fun and engaging with the Next Generation cast (though many have abbreviated roles though it is a treat to see Whoopi Goldberg as the bartender Guinan) and it is a hoot to see Stewart and Shatner team up. It all comes down to a fistfight on that iron bridge with Soran and the two captains and, I suppose, I would not have it any other way when it comes to Star Trek.  

The More You Drive, the Less Intelligent You are

 REPO MAN (1984)
Reassessed by Jerry Saravia

"Repo Man" is a junkyard fight of a movie, a rambling cuckoo clock of low and high extremes. It is somehow the story of repo men, you know, those in the dangerous business of repossessing cars from owners who don't make their payments. We learn rich people never make their payments because they don't care. We learn regular, normal people are assholes. We learn repo men dress in business suits so they can look like private detectives. And there is some business about a stolen 1964 Chevy Malibu that has something "hot" in its trunk. Not "hot" as in a stolen car, just literally hot. So hot that no one dares open the trunk or else, well, it will be "Kiss Me Deadly" time. 

Emilio Estevez is Otto, a hotheaded 19-year-old kid trying to pass for 21 who wears a crucifix earring (in 1984, this was a big deal but, nowadays, many males wears earrings). He does not have a legitimate girlfriend, loses his supermarket job by cursing out the manager, and tries to get money from his pot-smoking hippie parents to no avail. One day, Otto walks around the streets of L.A. and ends up repossessing a car, unbeknownst to him, while helping out Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) who claims his wife has to go to the hospital. It is all a ruse and Otto reluctantly becomes a repo man. Bud teaches him the tricks of the trade, including how most repo men stay alert by taking speed. Bud teaches Otto that life of a repo man is intense and he doesn't like commies or Christians in his car.  

Meanwhile, that Chevy Malibu is stolen repeatedly, including by a punk gang that loves "to do some crimes" including eating sushi for free! Government agents are also interested in that Malibu that is fetching for twenty grand if found, and you can bet those repo men want to get their hands on it. A lot of this can get repetitious, and the inclusion of some wild crazy scientist who initially drives the Malibu can irritate after a while. When Estevez and Stanton are on screen, the movie's kinetic energy is back on and is often crudely entertaining. 

Alex Cox's freewheeling direction is everywhere and anywhere - there is a restlessness to the film that continually stops and gets revved up all over again like some sputtering car engine. I don't think there is any sense to be made from "Repo Man" and there are no concrete ideas or any focused themes - it is simply a cartoon movie, a cult comic come to life, with quotable lines delivered with an idiosyncratic tone. I have to say that I admire that - we sometimes needs movies that just exist in their own vacuum and invite us on unusual journeys. Other than Stanton's memorably raggy repo man Bud and the hilarious Sy Richardson as a fearless repo man who carries a gun with blanks, Estevez's Otto is the one I gravitate to - an animated character who doesn't care about anything except for Bud. Bud and Otto develop a mutual understanding without the philosophizing of a sullied mechanic (Tracey Walter) who believes in aliens and time-travel. When the film is over, there is nothing to take away from it other than you want to revisit the whole experience. 

Defending the freedom to not snitch

 GUILTY BY SUSPICION (1991)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia 

Other than Martin Ritt's brilliantly intoxicating "The Front" with Woody Allen, the 1950's McCarthyism era doesn't get much cinematic treatment at all, largely because it was such a dark period in American history and there were no happy endings, no happy results and people's lives were ruined. Debuting director (and sometime producer) Irwin Winkler doesn't sugarcoat or sentimentalize this turbulent period at all and that is one of the strengths of the watchable and fascinating "Guilty By Suspicion" that succeeds at finding the heart and freedom of any American citizen - to practice the idea of independent thought on any principle or system outside of a democratic, capitalist one. It is also about the right to not snitch on anyone based on such principles. Ethics, imagine that.

That doesn't describe the restrained, workaholic Hollywood movie director David Merrill (Robert De Niro) who has come back from a European vacation to an America where a Communist witch hunt has commenced. David sees his friends have either named those affiliated with Communism or they have fled the country to escape their subpoenas. The bitter screenwriter Larry Nolan (Chris Cooper) names names for the committee, the dreaded HUAC, and this affects his alcoholic wife, Dorothy (Patricia Wettig), whom he names as well. It is not clear from the start if David is keenly aware of what is happening around him until his boss, producer Darryl Zanuck (Ben Piazza), tells him to meet with a lawyer (Zanuck is the only actual real producer/Hollywood affiliate in this movie; everyone else is a fictionalized combination of actual people). David has been named as someone with Communist leanings from having attended a couple of past meetings, and maybe he can name those he associates with or is friends with. One gregarious film director flees to England (magnificently played by the fast-talking Martin Scorsese, who shaved his beard to play this role) and now David is faced with an unenviable task - should he snitch in the name of alleged patriotism or will he be blacklisted? David chooses the latter, though one wishes director Winkler let the blacklisted screenwriter Abraham Polonsky keep the original idea of David as a strict Communist intact (Winkler took over the writing duties). As the movie stands, David is simply a guy who attended a couple of meetings.

"Guilty By Suspicion" doesn't let anyone off the hook when it comes to the clutches of McCarthyism. It wasn't just that you couldn't get a job anywhere if accused - your dignity and your freedoms were being oppressed. David moves to New York to get a job and can't stay long enough at any job (including one at a camera store) with the Hoover boys watching his every move. Consequently, Ruth, his ex-wife (a woefully underused Annette Bening), moves out of her house with their son to an apartment and David ends up moving in with her. Ruth resumes teaching and you feel that the FBI can also ensnare her since she attended radical anti-nuclear bomb protests. Nobody is safe, not even a writer named Bunny Baxter (George Wendt), David's best friend, who feels the pressure of giving up David's name so much that he even asks him for permission!

"Guilty By Suspicion" moves along at an adequate pace with tensions filling the air of discontent. It is not a movie about the thrill of moviemaking or the victory lap of doing the right thing and showing McCarthyism in and of itself was on the wrong side of history. It is about ratting out your friends in the name of political freedom from anything un-American. If you are an American, you bear witness to Communism as an evil threat and it shan't be practiced on the streets or in the comfort of some secluded place for a meeting. The truth is that many Communists saw value in such a system, or at least a new way of looking at our system of democratic values. "Guilty By Suspicion" is not invested in that complexity but it is a film of dread, pessimism and unhappiness where one character would rather commit suicide than keep living through this pressurized nightmare.  

Divinely Absurd Days of Rage

 ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

P.T. Anderson has held my interest since 1997's "Boogie Nights" and, after seeing his terrifically sharp 1996 directorial debut "Hard Eight," he has grown on me rapidly like fern moss. None of his films seem like anyone else's and we can be grateful for that (although "Magnolia" is his most Altmanesque). "One Battle After Another" is quixotic, highly flammable filmmaking where I could feel the edges of the screen getting tighter and practically burning and peeling away. The movie operates on pure adrenaline, clocking in at an acidic 2 hours and 42 minutes replete with kinetic action and a completely absurdist momentum of surprises that never lets up. It is one of the few exciting movies I have seen in recent years. 

A leftist revolutionary movement known as the French 75 have infiltrated a detention center where illegal immigrants are being held (boy, this film can't get more on the nose in terms of today's heated, divisive climate on immigration). The French 75 are all armed revolutionaries, including "Ghetto" Pat Calhoun aka Bob Ferguson (a hirsute, wacky Leonardo DiCaprio) and his tough, practical girlfriend Perfidia Beverly Hills (a truly scene-stealing role by Teyana Taylor) and they release all the immigrants. Perfidia is the one who confronts the malicious, patriotic-to-the-bone Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (a malevolently cartoonish performance by Sean Penn). She tries to embarrass the colonel (and they later have a sexual rendezvous or two) and he is drawn to her and loves her. All this is unbeknownst to Bob Ferguson as the French 75 continue on their plans to bomb politicians' offices, rob banks to finance their artillery and way of life, etc. One particular bank robbery results in Perfidia killing a security officer, where she later gets arrested and names the members of her group in exchange for witness protection.  She is too rebellious to live a cozy suburban life and runs for the hills somewhere in Mexico. Oh, I neglected to mention the fact that she's pregnant, delivers her child, and has Bob nurturing their daughter while she does her thing prior to her arrest. One strikingly bold image has Perfidia doing target practice while exposing her pregnant belly - this could be a propaganda poster for French 75's cause.

Cut to 16 years later and Bob is living with his practical teen daughter, Willa (an auspicious turn by Chase Infiniti), in some sanctuary in the middle of the woods. Bob is a paranoid wacko drug addict, sleeping late and uncertain of Willa's friends. Bigger fish to fry when word gets out of Bob and Willa's hideout with Willa running with one French 75 member to a nunnery that is anything but. Meanwhile, Bob runs from the military and makes calls to French 75 without knowing the crucial passwords. To make matters worse on this elongated chase picture is the Colonel who wishes to join a white supremacist organization called The Christmas Adventurers! I almost wanted to laugh at such an absurd name - they may as well called themselves the Polar Express. One major caveat for joining - to maintain purity, you can't date or have sex with a black woman and certainly can't impregnate one! The trouble is that Willa may not be Bob's daughter. Uh, oh, it is the Colonel's time for killing just to be a member. 

What I found fascinating about "One Battle After Another" (extremely loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's novel "Vineland") is that some of the male characters are dumb and make stupid mistakes yet the women know how to survive in a contentious, malicious, nihilistic world. Bob Ferguson is not exactly a hero or an antihero in this movie - he is unsuited to be any meaningful revolutionary but he cares about Willa and has to save her from the Colonel's iron grasp. Even the Christmas Adventurers own hitman can't quite hit its intended target right. And what of Perfidia? We never see her again, only a letter sent to her daughter. It is a touching final scene done with elegance, much like most of "One Battle After Another."

Do I have any probing issues with the film? Sean Penn is memorably disgusting to watch in this movie and he filled me with complete revulsion - I just couldn't stand him and wished to see less of him (the Christmas Adventurers seem more normal by comparison). That is not the fault of the actor who gets to show off his arms with bulging veins but he is far more cartoonish than I expected. Still, this is an absurd film with a capital A yet it has velocity and feels startlingly alive from the start. The purposely intrusive music score by Jonny Greenwood is propulsive and guides us through one crazy sequence after another. From the rooftops at night with Bob running with ridiculous shades and a robe, to the desert sequences that truly enrapture including a final chase scene that feels just right, to Bob's hideout off the grid, to the remote nunnery where they have no wifi and, finally, the actual lair of the Christmas Adventurers which has to be seen to be believed.

"One Battle After Another" intermittently shows the pain, the fatigue and the soul of a broken family living in a chaotic world. I would not mistake this film as political or lending much of an insight into a revolutionary group akin to the real-life Weather Underground group, though it is clear that the French 75 doesn't believe in holding illegal immigrants in cages. It is all aces as an action picture yet it also has gravitas, style, absurdist humor, histrionic acting by Leonardo DiCaprio and a very capable turn by newcomer Chase Infiniti as Willa who can hold her own like nobody's business. Bordering on satire with bold strokes of dramatic conflict and suspense (the DNA test on Willa scene made me nervous), "One Battle After Another" is a cinematic marvel that kicks your butt hard. A welcome change from the norm.