Shameless Self Expression

The story of Mark Felt (Liam Neeson), who served dutifully as #2 at the FBI for many years. However, when J. Edgar Hoover was replaced by Nixon-friendly outsider Pat Gray (Marton Csokas) and not him, Felt becomes increasingly disenchanted. He feels the Nixon administration is impeding the Watergate investigation in particular. Eventually he decides to blow the whistle, a very risky move. Diane Lane plays Felt’s unstable wife, Tony Goldwyn and Josh Lucas play FBI men, and Tom Sizemore plays the opposite side of the coin to Felt, a disgraced FBI man always skulking around. I was really rooting for this 2017 biopic from writer-director Peter Landesman (The quite good Will Smith sports/drama “Concussion” ). Unlike the overrated Spielberg pic “The Post” , I felt like this film might’ve found a fresh wrinkle to a story already told effectively in “All the President’s Men” . And yes indeed it has done that, telling us the story of the man known as ‘Deep Throat’ who helped journalist...

Claire Foy is a troubled woman who relocates to escape a stalker. Somehow a meeting with a therapist ends with Foy unknowingly signing herself in for a long stay as a patient at an asylum. Before long Foy is claiming that a bearded orderly (Joshua Leonard) is her creepy stalker come to do her harm. Jay Pharaoh and Juno Temple play inmates, Amy Irving plays Foy’s helpless mother. Out of the 42 directing credits listed on IMDb for Steven Soderbergh ( “Erin Brockovich” , “Traffic” ), I’ve only seen 14 so far, and out of those 14 I probably only like his debut “sex, lies, and videotape” , “Traffic” , and maybe “The Limey” and his Liberace biopic “Behind the Candelabra” . Otherwise I think he’s the most overrated filmmaker still frequently working today. Your mileage may and likely will wildly differ, as the man is extremely popular with both audiences and critics. I’m aware it’s just me. Even his forays into genre filmmaking thus far haven’t thrilled me, including the popular ca...

Corrupt businessman (Kenji Sahara) and his slimy cohort Yoshifumi Tajima stumble upon Mothra’s eggs that have washed up on the beach. They decide it’s a genius idea to profit off of it. Reporter Akira Takarada and annoying photographer Yuriko Hoshi team up with their professor pal Hiroshi Koizumi to aid Mothra’s twin guardians (Emi and Yumi Ito) in setting things back in order. Unfortunately the shit has already hit the fan anyway with Godzilla showing up to wreak things across Japan. Will Mothra be able to be used to counter Godzilla’s destructive forces? And did I mention there’s two perfectly healthy Mothra eggs laying about as well? Jun Tazaki as usual does grunt work playing the newspaper editor who is forever making fun of dopey journalist Yu Fujiki. Many a Godzilla/kaiju fan consider this 1964 entry to be their favourite Godzilla film. Being directed by the great Ishiro Honda ( “Gojira” , “Godzilla vs. Monster Zero” , and “Destroy All Monsters” - all great kaiju films)...

Four of Britain’s most respected actresses (Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Eileen Atkins, and Dame Joan Plowright) apparently get together from time to time. This is one time they let cameras in on the occasion as they talk about their careers, their partners, and getting/being old. Although this 2018 doco from Roger Michell ( “Notting Hill” , “Venus” , the excellent “Changing Lanes” ) likely has limited appeal, it personally appealed to me greatly. Film buffs, especially those who enjoy British cinema and its stars will get the most out of this fascinating, enjoyable, sometimes funny film about four of Britain’s finest. They never do drink tea though, which is a bit weird unless the title refers to ‘morning tea’ or ‘afternoon tea’, not the actual beverage. You may question on occasion the authenticity of the gathering this documentary is lensing, but there’s no denying the very obvious long-time friendship and respect these women have for one another. There’s...

Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd) is now a young man, but his big tussle with zombie-like killer Jason Voorhees has left him severely disturbed and pretty reticent to engage in any form of social interaction. He is sent to a kind of halfway house for all kinds of troubled youngsters somewhere out in the woods of Crystal Lake. Oh, that’s a good idea. Shortly after brooding Tommy’s arrival, a chubby guy named Joey (Dominic Brascia) gets an axe to the back from another troubled resident. Although the youthful offender is taken away from the premises by authorities, the killing doesn’t stop. Who could be responsible for the murders? It’s among the least popular films in the series, but I think this 1985 film from director Danny Steinmann (writer-director of “Savage Streets” ) and his co-writers David Cohen (writer-director of something called “Hollywood Zap” ) & Martin Kitroesser (co-writer of “Part III” of this series) is probably the third best in the original series behind “Th...