mikedonn71 Reviews

Bombshell (I) (2019)

A deliciously partisan screed

[8/10 · 5 January 2020]

Roger Ailes and Bill "loofah" O'Reilly were/are as unpleasant on the inside, as on the outside. Apparently the powerful men and some women (Jeanine Pirro and others) were okay with these men slobbering over women like lions over pork chops. The women they salivated on were intensely attractive in real life and as played by Nicole Kidman, Charleze Theron and Margot Robbie. Some gave into Jabba the Hutt Ailes. Some resisted. Eventually they all found the courage to expose the sexual harassment machine at FOX News. It becomes even more twisted, when you realize how Republicans and Evangelicals constantly virtue signal about how wonderful they are and how disgusting liberal Democrats and the mainstream media is. But, as Megyn Kelly is reminded, FOX News IS the Establishment media today.

If you're a Republican, conservative evangelical or if you voted for Trump, you will reject the entire premise of the film just like you accept the flat earth or Jesus walking with dinosaurs like Fred Flintstone. If you're a pro-facts kinda person, it's a decent flick.

Cats (2019)

I took my gay, autistic, 8 year old cousin to see this

[10/10 · 21 December 2019]

And he loved every frame of it. No spoilers. Go see this. If you're sensitive, it'll get a reaction out of you.

Black Christmas (2019)

No spoilers

[1/10 · 15 December 2019]

Why was this film remade twice already? Go rent the original, 1974 Black Christmas. It's nearly a perfect film. John Carpenter and Debra Hill thought enough of the original Black Christmas to base much of Halloween's premise on Black Christmas. 1970s horror films are only boring, if you're dumb and can't pay attention to stuff for long.

Slayer: The Repentless Killogy (2019)

I came pus and bloody chunks

[10/10 · 7 November 2019]

The film was a short interview with the guys; then the NC-17 level, gory, revenge fantasy scored by Repentless tracks; and lastly a badass concert at the LA Forum. Slayer were amazing throughout. The sound was impeccable. Fans will raise the Slaytanic fist of Dio throughout. Teenage kids were thrashing in the front aisle. They reminded me of myself at 14, in 1985-86, 1st discovering Slayer. Bostaph is a machine gun behind the kit. The Neo-Nazis were brutally eye gouged, eviscerated, gutted, had their hearts torn out of chests and were beheaded by tow chain. Lots of stabbings, shootings and a prison riot developed. Plus, Danny Trejo was there being amazing. I love this film and Slayer, so this film made my dick hard. 11/10 rating earned. SLAYER!!!!

Joker (I) (2019)

Phoenix reaches Ledger and Nicholson level status

[10/10 · 6 October 2019]

If Phoenix doesn't win Best Actor, I'll be disappointed. I went in expecting a movie for teenage boys and came out riveted and stunned. It literally sent chills up and down my spine like the first time hearing "Eruption" by Van Halen or "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin. The Joker as reimagined by Phoenix was a tough act to follow. Yet, he equals Jack and Heath & surpasses them both in some ways. This film is worthy of viewing repeatedly. I'm a crusty, old 48 year old, who was 18, when the original Batman played by Nicholson was brand new.

Annabelle Comes Home (2019)

Scary but no Freddy Kruger

[6/10 · 21 July 2019]

I was expecting to see Freddy do a cameo. I left disappointed. However, the movie was eerier and more spooky than I had anticipated sans Freddy Krueger.

Us (II) (2019)

This movie scared the ever loving bejesus out of me

[8/10 · 26 March 2019]

Döpplegangers are twisted fruits. There's good gore in parts plus there's little to no virtue signaling & attacking Caucasoids to be found within. No spoilers. Go see it by yourself around midnight in the inner city. Tell me, if you get freaked out. I did, but it was in a good way. Chilling flick.

All in the Family (1971–1979)

The best, most daring, realest sitcom in network television history

[10/10 · 24 December 2018]

Simply no other show dealt racism, sexism, liberal elitism, class, homophobia, the generation gap and reality as it is on the ground in America better than "All In The Family" did. It blew the door off the hinges of any remaining concept of a sanitized "family hour" on television. The gritty, dirty, messy, tragic and yet hilarious lives of the working class in 1970s America was laid out and dissected with surgical precision. A lot of painful, infected boils were lanced, which had bee. laid bare by the Vietnam war and the race riots of the 1970s. Viewing AITF was and still is a form of socio-political catharsis. In the 70s, older adults and their children and grandchildren saw each other more honestly by sharing the laughter of this unique, groundbreaking sitcom. Nothing before or since has been equal.

Halloween (1978)

Why is Halloween one of the best horror films ever made

[10/10 · 4 November 2018]

In a word, it's SYNTHESIS. Jamie Lee Curtis ups the scream queen factor made infamous by the shower scene in 1960's "Psycho," starring her mother, Janet Leigh.

Tension grows from the beginning scene of six-year old, Michael Myers murdering his nude sister with a butcher knife in a POV shot borrowed heavily from the 1974 film "Black Christmas." The music also created by the filmmakers, John Carpenter and Debra Hill, increases the fear factor and tension as remarkably as Bernard Hermann's score for "Psycho" had.

While a few other 60s and 70s, horror and suspense films are more original than "Halloween," none synthesized or perfected those elements as masterfully as "Halloween" has. The girls are real, rounded out characters, who are smart and funny. It hurts to see them in peril. In a way this film is an antifemist film with a pro-feminist bias.

If you have not seen it, you are missing out on something uniquely scary and foreboding. There is a reason "Halloween" is to horror movies what Nirvana was to Seattle grunge music.

Go see it again and again and preferably on a giant widescreen in the 2018 digitally remastered version. It will frighten it's way into your heart. I love "Halloween."

The Nun (2018)

Amazing Marilyn Manson video

[10/10 · 7 October 2018]

The beautiful people is a great video, but it's an even better as a full movie.

Terrifier (2016)

Creepy clown kills lots of mentally disabled victims

[2/10 · 16 September 2018]

Since others have alluded to the torture porn aspect, clowns basically binds and gags two scantily clad victims including the cute blond, who he strips nude and hangs upside down. Then instead of raping her with his penis, he saws her in half starting with her vagina and anus and ending up in her throat. If you're a necrophiliac, this is your film. If not, skip it.

GWAR: Phallus in Wonderland (1992 Video)

Without a doubt the best music video of the '90s by any band

[10/10 · 28 May 2014]

(Spoilers) Clearly this was the best music video by any band released in the 90s especially pedestrian stuff like Nirvana Unplugged in New York. As the entire country was about to launch into a fit of self-hating political correctness, GWAR lampooned everything that was sacred to liberals and conservatives alike. South Park, Beavis and Butthead and Family Guy were years in the future, and besides the Simpsons there was nothing going on in music or cartoons/clay motion (spell check won't accept the right spelling of the word) stuff with any blood, guts or male privates in it.

What GWAR did was put their best music of their careers together with satirical vignettes lampooning the elderly, child abuse, the war on drugs (especially crack), Italian Americans, feminists, the handicapped, gays, the LA Riots, the priest abuse scandals and everything else that Sam Kinison and Andrew Dice Clay weren't smart enough to lampoon nearly as viciously or intelligently. Every other figure in the media was scared to death to make fun of this stuff at the time, and NO ONE today would dare to make jokes about this stuff.

For that GWAR to me are like Norman Lear on crack. They took it on the chin (in more than one way ... ha ha ha) for all of us and made fun of self-righteous stupidity. This video may be a bit too blue and hilarious for kids today, who never saw shows like All in the Family or listened to George Carlin or Richard Pryor or even Eddie Murphy's hilarious stand up. I can't recommend this video highly enough to people who aren't humor impaired. It's a true classic. (/Spoilers)

The Christmas Bunny (2010)

very touching in the tradition of Bambi (1942)

[9/10 · 6 June 2012]

I really liked everything about this movie. Its lack of special effects and big budget make the characters more intimate. As other reviewers have said the little girl is a fine actress.

The rating is PG, as it contains some sad plot elements (a foster child missing her blood mother, animals being injured by BB guns, etc.) that a very small child would possibly find upsetting. The rabbit, Rumple, is adorable. Perhaps I have a bias, as I have a beautiful lop myself (Smokey). The rabbit's timidity made him seem more important to the little girl, who is also shy and afraid of her new, adopted family.

The family are nice, however. The mother's Christian faith isn't mocked or made fun of by the filmmakers either, which is refreshing. In a big budget, Hollywood production she'd be a lovable buffoon at best or a psychotic lunatic at worst for worshiping Christ.

It seems quite the opposite of a "dumb, made-for-TV movie" as another review put it. Most children would be delighted with the film for all of its charms. The rabbit lady is the most interesting adult in the film, but you should watch the film to find out why. As a middle aged adult male, I thought the film was nice.

A Horrible Way to Die (2010)

The film went quite well until the final scene

[15 September 2011]

I was actually compelled to watch the film, as it has a claustrophobic feel and was genuinely disturbing. The increasing feeling of dread reminded me of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).

The theme of the recovering alcoholic girlfriend was realized about as well as someone mostly unfamiliar with AA could make it. I imagine the screen writer and director spent a few evenings at a "high bottom" AA club, as the drunks were all pretty nice people and not criminalistic, rude and violent. You felt genuine concern for the fate of the alcoholic girlfriend.

The killer himself was largely ordinary looking and acting, which left you off guard, when he showed his true colors. The kill scenes are fairly graphic and paced well. Some things are done off screen like the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which for me added to the suspense.

The dialogue, pacing, non-linear plot and the stark Midwestern landscape (mid-Missouri it seems as the bar where one of the killings happens is off "old 63") complete the feeling of desolation. You actually could run into people like the people in the film and probably have. I don't see where Blair Witch comparisons are made by other reviewers.

My main problem with the film, however, is the terribly trite, Wes Craven-like ending. It seemed almost plagaristic of Scream, where you could tell where it was going but hoping they wouldn't be dumb enough to go there. A serial killer "fan club"? What? Why? I was glad to see the fan boys get offed, but that also was completely predictable.

The terrible last scene actually ruined what could have been an iconic horror film for the 21st Century like the Exorcist, Halloween and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre were for the 1970s. If I were the director of this film, I would remake the film with an alternative final scene.

The Last House on the Left (1972)

Like everything else in 1972, this film was politically charged - Spoilers below

[9/10 · 11 March 2011]

I have a love hate relationship with LHOTL (1972). In some ways, it is an iconic film on par with the Exorcist (1973) and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Oddly it's clear that Wes Craven was affected by the nascent feminism of the time. LHOTL works as polemic, because it makes the rapes seem at first titillating (bondage, lesbianism, etc.) and then excessively cruel. It plays on the sexism of the mostly hormonal demographic that watched grindhouse films.

In the early 70s, everything had sociopolitical and cultural significance. Craven by amplifying the sexism, drugs, irresponsibility, anarchism, criminality (Manson family parallels in Krug Stillo's "family") and violence of the 1960s counterculture actually subverts the 60s. Clearly the Woodstock nation was a carcass by 1972 like Mari on her 17th birthday. The curse follows her peace necklace to Junior Stillo.

The Exorcist (a critique of organized religion) and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (a vegan polemic) are both better films, but LHOTL came first.

Things to expect that may cause you to want to avoid LHOTL: 1) slow, drawn out, graphic rape, torture and mutilation of two young (as in jail bait) teen girls; 2) two disembowelments: one by hand; the other by chainsaw; 3)castration by mastication (the 1st in cinema); 4) the first horror film where someone is dispatched with a chainsaw. LHOTL is one of those experiences that you have to witness yourself in order to judge.

Don't be surprised if just the first couple of scenes make you want to take a long shower with Lava soap and a scrub brush. Even the film stock is grimy. Apparently people in the 70s didn't bathe or wash their clothes much.

Sophie's Choice (1982)

Easily Streep's best role - Best female role in film history?

[10/10 · 28 January 2009]

It's hard to believe that Meryl Streep went from the Deer Hunter playing a rather minor role to this in just four years. Also it's sad to think of her in Devil Wears Prada and other far inferior works today.

Perhaps Sophie's Choice was the best performance she will ever do. However I agree with most of the other reviewers that say that Streep's character in Sophie's Choice is the greatest role for an actress in film history. In short, everything else Streep does in her life will never measure up to this performance.

None of the modern crop of A-list actresses (or actors - a more pejorative term to me) like Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Charleze Theron or frankly anyone else could be taken seriously doing a role like this. You have to be able to have a range of emotion to pull this kind of a thing off.

Fellini Satyricon (1969)

Lots of sodomy. Less substance. Flawed yet good.

[7/10 · 30 July 2008]

There couldn't have been as much man-boy love in Rome as Fellini would have his audience believe, because humanity would have ceased to exist due to low birthrates. While there is plenty of shocking imagery and some gore, there are also sumptuous, extravagant sets and scenes so magical you'd expect they were created by the gods. The narrative itself is a mixed bag. I can't get if Fellini was saying that pederasty, rape and pedophilia were OK or not. He doesn't seem to have an opinion, which is probably true to the way the ancients thought of such matters. Today it's pretty disturbing. Perhaps he was attacking the rich, the old and the tyrannical in a manner remanecent of Pasolini's "Salo." Like I said it's a mixed bag. I gave it seven stars, because of way this disturbing stuff is filmed. How Fellini manages not to make the audience puke for over two hours is a wonder.