Movie Review: Hunting Matthew Nichols

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A superior horror movie.

This film resembles a documentary and anyone who goes into this film blind make think it is a real documentary as it starts (the documentary filmmaker is so technically flawless and convincing). This "documentary" is being made by a woman who is still haunted by the unexplained disappearance of her brother 23 three years earlier. To get a sense of closure she decides to find out what happened for herself. However, the closer she looks the more it seems like something supernatural occurred. 

What makes this film work so well is that it is in no rush to scare you. It takes its time building things up slowly before anything scary actually happens. The early scenes of this film make you fully believe that you are in fact watching a crime documentary. The creepiness builds up slowly beginning with just little hints that something supernatural might me be happening. Because of this by the time we reach the climax, we are already fully immersed in the dark and eerie world of this movie putting us fully on the edge of our seats. Unlike many horror movies though, this climax fully lives up to the buildup. The climax of this film is truly terrifying, and you will leave the theater feeling very uneasy. The unease of this film is helped by the filmmakers using jump scares and gore sparingly, so that when they do see these, they are much more effective. 

As well as a horror film, this movie also functions as a character study. Our main character is very relatable character. She becomes increasingly obsessed with knowing the truth. She may know that she is putting herself in danger and may be scared but she is not capable of leaving well enough alone, even if she may know better. The character is expertly played by Miranda MacDougall. 

Markian Tarasiuk directed this film, and he plays the filmmaker who helps the main character make this film. He is also excellent in this role, and his presence helps blur the line between documentary and horror.  

This is a must watch for any horror fan and even for those who don't usually like horror but appreciate good filmmaking. 

  

  

Cowboy Church #262

 Hello, my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church.

Today’s musical selection begins with the King of the Cowboys and The Queen of the West, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with Jesus in the Morning. This song reminds us that we are not only to leave a small part of the day with Jesus as our focus but all day long as well as everyday. We should wake up each morning with Jesus on our mind and go to bed each night the same way. While few of us will succeed with this every day, we will find that each day we do it will be an enriching day that will makes us grow as a person. This song comes from Roy and Dale’s 1973 gospel album, In the Sweet By and By.

This is followed by Tammy Wynette with I'd Like to See Jesus (On the Midnight Special). This recording comes from her 1978 album, Womanhood. 

Afterwards is Conway Twitty with In Loving Memories. This comes from his 1973 gospel album Clinging To A Saving Hand / Steal Away.

Next is The Sons of the Pioneers with their 1937 recording of Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. . This hymn began with a man named Anthony Showalter. As a fan of gospel music and an elder in a Presbyterian church, he held many "singing schools" at various churches in the south. One day he received two letters from former students who were struggling after their wives had passed. To respond to these letters, Showalter consulted scripture. He came across Deuteronomy 33:27, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." After reading this verse lyrics for a song chorus went through his head and he wrote down, "“Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.” After using this in the letters to his former students he sent this chorus to his friend hymnist, Elisha Hoffman. In the letter he also wrote, “Here is the chorus for a good hymn from Deuteronomy 33:27, but I can’t come up with the verses.” Hoffman then wrote the rest of the lyrics to which Showalter put to music. The hymn was published in 1887.

Then comes Tompall Glaser with Where No One Stands Alone.  This song was written by Mosie Lister, one of the most influential and important gospel songwriters of the 1950's. Mosie was also one of the founding members of the gospel singing group, The Statesmen Quartet. Not long afterwards he left the band and performing to concentrate on songwriter and that is when he wrote many of his finest compositions, including this one.

Next is Johnny Cash with Seal it in My Heart and Mind. This song was written by John himself. It is unknown where John actually recorded this. However, it would be released posthumously in 2006 in a two-disc set called Personal File. This set was made up of previously unreleased recordings that include just John and his guitar. 

Today's musical selection ends with Roy Acuff with Jesus Died For Me. This comes from Roy's 1963 gospel album, Hand-Clapping Gospel Songs. 

Now for the 6th episode of The Lone Ranger TV show. 

Now for a message from Pastor Greg Laurie. 

Psalm 89

A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

1 I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever;

    with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known

    through all generations.

2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever,

    that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.

3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

    I have sworn to David my servant,

4 ‘I will establish your line forever

    and make your throne firm through all generations.’”

5 The heavens praise your wonders, Lord,

    your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.

6 For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord?

    Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?

7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared;

    he is more awesome than all who surround him.

8 Who is like you, Lord God Almighty?

    You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

9 You rule over the surging sea;

    when its waves mount up, you still them.

10 You crushed Rahab like one of the slain;

    with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.

11 The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth;

    you founded the world and all that is in it.

12 You created the north and the south;

    Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.

13 Your arm is endowed with power;

    your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

    love and faithfulness go before you.

15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,

    who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.

16 They rejoice in your name all day long;

    they celebrate your righteousness.

17 For you are their glory and strength,

    and by your favor you exalt our horn.

18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the Lord,

    our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19 Once you spoke in a vision,

    to your faithful people you said:

“I have bestowed strength on a warrior;

    I have raised up a young man from among the people.

20 I have found David my servant;

    with my sacred oil I have anointed him.

21 My hand will sustain him;

    surely my arm will strengthen him.

22 The enemy will not get the better of him;

    the wicked will not oppress him.

23 I will crush his foes before him

    and strike down his adversaries.

24 My faithful love will be with him,

    and through my name his horn will be exalted.

25 I will set his hand over the sea,

    his right hand over the rivers.

26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,

    my God, the Rock my Savior.’

27 And I will appoint him to be my firstborn,

    the most exalted of the kings of the earth.

28 I will maintain my love to him forever,

    and my covenant with him will never fail.

29 I will establish his line forever,

    his throne as long as the heavens endure.

30 “If his sons forsake my law

    and do not follow my statutes,

31 if they violate my decrees

    and fail to keep my commands,

32 I will punish their sin with the rod,

    their iniquity with flogging;

33 but I will not take my love from him,

    nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.

34 I will not violate my covenant

    or alter what my lips have uttered.

35 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—

    and I will not lie to David—

36 that his line will continue forever

    and his throne endure before me like the sun;

37 it will be established forever like the moon,

    the faithful witness in the sky.”

38 But you have rejected, you have spurned,

    you have been very angry with your anointed one.

39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant

    and have defiled his crown in the dust.

40 You have broken through all his walls

    and reduced his strongholds to ruins.

41 All who pass by have plundered him;

    he has become the scorn of his neighbors.

42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes;

    you have made all his enemies rejoice.

43 Indeed, you have turned back the edge of his sword

    and have not supported him in battle.

44 You have put an end to his splendor

    and cast his throne to the ground.

45 You have cut short the days of his youth;

    you have covered him with a mantle of shame.

46 How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?

    How long will your wrath burn like fire?

47 Remember how fleeting is my life.

    For what futility you have created all humanity!

48 Who can live and not see death,

    or who can escape the power of the grave?

49 Lord, where is your former great love,

    which in your faithfulness you swore to David?

50 Remember, Lord, how your servant has been mocked,

    how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations,

51 the taunts with which your enemies, Lord, have mocked,

    with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one.

52 Praise be to the Lord forever!

Amen and Amen.

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy Trails to you until we meet again.

Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #274

 Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons. 

Today's cartoon selection begins with Sylvester and Tweety in Tweet and Lovely (1959). This is one of my favorite Sylvester and Tweety films. Voice actor Mel Blanc would later write, "Sylvester has always been a favorite of mine. He's always been the easiest character for me to play. When I was showing the first model sheet for Sylvester with his floppy jaws and generally disheveled appearance, I said to Friz Freleng, 'A big sloppy cat should have a big shthloppy voice. He should spray even more than Daffy.' While recording Sylvester cartoons my scripts would get so covered in sylvia I'd repeatedly have to wipe them clean. I used to suggest to actress June Foray, who voiced Tweety's vigilant owner Granny that she wear a raincoat to the sessions." 

Next up comes the Terry Toons short, The Hopeful Donkey (1943). Like When Mules Leave Home (1934) last week, this is also a Terry Toons adaption of the Brothers Grimm story Town Musicians of Bremen. However, this short borrows nothing more from the previous cartoon than the same source material. Both cartoons are charming takes on the classic children's story.  

Now for the Fleischer Screen Songs cartoon, I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles (1930). The title song was written in 1918 by composer John Kellette and lyricists James Kendis, James Brockman and Nat Vincent (under the pseudonym Jaan Kenbrovin) The song premiered in the Broadway musical The Passing Show of 1918 (Jul 25, 1918–Nov 9, 1918) where it was sung by Helen Carrington. In 1919 the song would become a number one hit for Ben Selvin's Novelty Orchestra. 

Now for the Terry Toons cartoon, Beanstalk Jack (1946). 

Now for a commercial break.

Next is the new Three Stooges cartoon, Kangaroo Catchers (1965). The Three Stooges not only appear in live action before and after the cartoon, but they also voice themselves in the animated cartoon.

Some of Disney's best and funniest cartoon shorts are those that teamed Mickey, Donald and Goofy as a comedy trio. Next up I have the second of these cartoons and the first one in color, Mickey's Fire Brigade (1935). This movie opens with the title card burning away in flames, a creative touch by effects animator Cy Young. In this short Mickey is the fire chief, a role he had played earlier in The Fire Fighters (1930). Two of the animators on this film are Bill Tytla (possibly my favorite Disney animator) and Grim Natwick, both of whom had joined the studio in 1934. They animate the majority of the scenes with Clarabella Cow. The scene where Goofy tries to take a coffee break is animated by Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, who would later become a specialist at animating the character. Jack Kinney, who would go on to direct some of the funniest cartoons to ever come out of the Disney studio, animated Donald's struggles with flypaper and pails of water. It is common for cartoon fans to think of the old Disney shorts as being slow moving and sentimental, however that is not the case here at all. This is a fast moving and very funny film that puts a smile on my face every time. The following is from an issue of The Film Daily (dated Sept. 5, 1935), " 'Mickey's Fire Brigade,' is to have its premiere in the New York theatrical sector this evening when it opens at the Rivoli Theater with the new Samuel Goldwyn production, 'The Dark Angel.'" A review in National Board of Review Magazine stated, "Noisier and less clever than most of this series but still better than most of its kind." A review in The Film Daily states, "This is one of the liveliest and funniest of the Walt Disney cartoon creations." The following is an exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, "MICKEY'S FIRE BRIGADE: Mickey Mouse—One of the best of the Mickey Mouse series. Running time, eight minutes.—M. H. Harrington, Avalon Theatre, Clatskanie, Ore. Small Town and Rural Patronage." This theatrical cartoon made its TV debut on an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club that aired on October 31, 1956.

Up next is the Mickey Mouseworks cartoon, Pluto Vs. The Watchdog (1999). This cartoon would later play in the House of Mouse episode, Donald and the Aracuan Bird (2002).

Now let us close with a song. 

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry. 

Resources Used

I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety by Jerry Beck.

Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History by David Gerstein and J.B. Kaufman

Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Mickey's_Fire_Brigade

https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/the-passing-show-of-1918-6965

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/mickeys-fire-brigade-1935/

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

 

Movie Review: They Will Kill You

 

Michael's Movie Grade: D

A rather bland and forgettable horror flick. 

This movie has a young woman go into a dangerous hotel to save her sister. The hotel is run by a group of immortal satanists, who wish to sacrifice her to the devil. 

This story offers nothing that you have not seen before. In fact, the story even has many similarities to Ready or Not 2, which is still in theaters. This movie tries to do many of the same things that the other film did, but it just doesn't pull it off. While the violence is still very over the top here, it lacks the sense of fun that the gore in that other film has. Here the gore is often used for gross out humor. Unfortunately, that humor is often more gross than it is funny. Despite this being a horror/comedy, there is not a single moment that actually comes off as funny. Every comedic moment seems to be trying too hard to be funny and just simply missing the mark. When it comes to the horror, there are a couple creepy moments early on in the film but after this the movie is devoid of any real scares. I got the sense that the climax was supposed to feel creepy but it frankly it looked and felt too fake to garner any real scares. Like Ready or Not 2, this movie revolves around the relationship between two sisters. Unfortunately these sisters are bland characters and their relationship never feels as real or believable. 

Skip this movie. 

Movie Review: Forbidden Fruits

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A fun and campy horror-comedy. 

In this film a new employee at the mall, gets a chance to work with the coolest girls in the mall. She soon stumbles onto that these girls are witches and that is the least of their dark secrets. 

This movie has a campy and self-aware aesthetic that is simply a lot of fun. This movie has a great look to it from everything to the sets to the appropriately flamboyant outfits the girls wear. The look perfectly mixes campy over the top fun with a sense of foreboding, which captures the feel of the film perfectly. The four main characters are all perfectly cast. The four leads (Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp) have such great chemistry together and it is a joy to watch them play off each other. This is an asset in both the film's more serious and comedic moments. Speaking of the comedic moments, there are plenty of really funny jokes here. The best are the ones about a girl's favorite movie being Psycho, while she is dating a guy named Norman. While a few of the comedic moments may fall flat, the humor certainly hits more than it misses.  

Unfortunately, this movie falls into the same trap as many horror and suspense films. It does a great job building up a sense of dread and darkness. However, all this lacks a payoff that lives up to the buildup. The payoff here simply is not dark, twisted, fun, creepy or shocking enough to feel like anything but a letdown compared to what came before. 

Even if the movie doesn't fully stick the landing there is still a lot of fun to be had here. 

Charlie Chaplin Minus the Makeup

 Here is a fun little page from a 1919 issue of Film Fun magazine, showing some nice pictures of Charlie Chaplin outside of his Little Tramp costume on set. Enjoy these very cool images. 

From another 1919 issue of Film Fun magazine here is an enjoyable comic featuring Chaplin's Little Tramp character. 

Now for a film Charlie Chaplin made the same year these issues were released. A Day's Pleasure (1919). This is often considered to be a lesser Chaplin film because it bears a great resemblance to Charlie's cruder early work than to the more mature work he was making at this time. However, as you will see here lesser Chaplin can still make a pretty good comedy. 

Movie Review: Project Hail Mary

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A very engaging sci-fi flick.

This movie involves a scientist and schoolteacher who is sent to space to help save the sun. He meets an alien whose sun is also dying and the two work together to save the universe. 

What makes this movie work so well is the relationship between our main character and Rocky the alien. This relationship is surprisingly quite touching. The first scenes with them together are played comedically with the two characters having trouble communicating with one another. Though this comedy persists, the filmmakers masterfully move from broad comedy to very touching emotional moments very gradually. When we reach the finale, we care about these characters and their friendship so much that we are genuinely moved by it. Rocky is also simply a great character. He has a great design and his ways of communicating in the characters' early scenes together are very clever. 

This movie also makes great use of flashbacks, going back and forth from him in space and everything that led up to him being there. These flashbacks are fantastically paced throughout the film, revealing to us little by little why he is actually up there. As we learn these various things about his life on Earth, the emotional impact of the film becomes more effective. These flashback scenes also include a rather touching romance that makes the conclusion to these flashback scenes all that much more emotionally effective. 

This movie is filled with humor. One can argue that there is almost too much humor here and that sometimes it shows up in scenes that should be played straight. On the other hand, a lot of the humor is really funny.    

On the downside, this movie is full of plot holes and little things that don't make sense and the runtime is simply longer than it needs to be. 

Overall, a very strong movie.