Category: CPE
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Forgotten Gem: Catch Me If You Can is looking for home (*****)
It’s a glamorization, but it is a damn good one.
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Criterion: Housekeeping (*****) – Throw something over her…
It’s a remarkable story that presents the facts with no indication of a position being taken. In doing so, Forsyth allows Robinson’s work to forge its own path through our soul.
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Criterion: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? – Idols lost to time (****)
This is not a brilliant film. It’s a great film for its time, and it has a sobering message for those wondering how great entertainers have it when the limelight fades and the jealousy has time to grow.
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Criterion: The Brood (***) is every mother’s little helper
Overall, this is an effectively creepy story that is more contained than his other stories of horror breaking out everywhere. The explanations behind it all are interesting enough. The gore is grotesque enough. Still, it’s only slightly better than an average film.
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Criterion: The Driller Killer (*) is no one you want to know
Absent the reputation this film has acquired, there is little reason for one to watch this film. I may stumble into Bad Lieutenant someday and think, perhaps I misunderstood all along. I won’t hold my breath while I wait to find out.
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Criterion: The Long Weekend (*) – Preoccupation Blues
By the time we get to the last act, we are tired of the couple and find sympathy for anything that crosses their path, especially their dog
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Criterion: Coma (***1/2) is a compact thriller
Crichton understands well enough how to keep the viewer involved, even if the story is compacted to get the viewer in and out in standard time.
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Criterion: Rabid (***) has the makings of stardom
If you want to see the state of low to mid-budget horror in the late 70’s, this is as good a place as any to start.
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Criterion: The Hills Have Eyes (**) clunking through legends
The film would be better if there were more characters like the dog The Beast. At least that character knows when to stay quiet and when to sneak up behind an idiot savage and push him off of a high place.
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Criterion: The Witch Who Came From the Sea (*1/2) Swings and misses at pop psychology
We’re supposed to connect dots that have since been shown to be tentative at best. It feels like an irresponsible stab at cheap entertainment.
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 