Movies 2025 Movie Discussion Thread

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...not as much today.

Avatar: The Way of Water (Blu Ray) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

The Avatar series might be the last great Hollywood blockbuster series. This and Mission: Impossible series show the dreams of humanity on the big screen - Mission: Impossible is fantastical with the appearance of being grounded. Avatar is grounded with the appearance of being fantastical.

So much of the visuals in this is computer generated, animated, and more like a video game than a movie. Which shows how much video games have blurred the lines too - visually, it seemed a bit like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West than anything in the cinematic lexicon. Yet, Avatar: The Way of Water is abreast with film too - The Searchers play a bigger part in this. Star Wars too. Lawrence of Arabia definitely. This is basically a Western like John Ford would do except with blue skinned aliens that speak a language other than English.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) in the time passed with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) now has four children. He's the chief of the clan Omatikaya. Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) is the oldest and tries to be more like his father than anything. There's something practically Shakespearean, Biblical about Neteyam's relationship with Jake Sully. Neteyam is expected to do so much to lead his brother Lo'ak (Britain Dalton). Lo'ak feels like an outsider to even his own family - he bonds with a Tulkun, or a whale like creature on Pandora. (Several times, when the Tulkun was rescuing the kids I would shout "Free Willy!").

Their sister Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) is an outsider too. There's something almost queer-coded about Kiri. She's misunderstood and tells Jake that she can feel Eywa's heartbeat. She has an experience where she connects with the planet and meets her mother in both human and Na'vi form. It leads to her having a seizure. If she were human, Kiri would likely be in her room, drawing, listening to Joy Division and The Cure, and painting her nails black while rolling her eyes whenever her dad drones on about what he did as a Marine at dinner. She has a connection with Miles "Spider" Socorro (Jack Champion); Spider is an outsider too. He identifies more with the Na'vi than the humans. Although part of me wonder if they are planting seeds for a romance in the next movies than an actual queer friendship.

Which seems to be a theme with Avatar: The Way of Water - outsiders teaching those within a better way to connect. It's not quite 'white savior,' but it touches upon colonialism. Jake Sully and Neytiri learn to breathe underwater and relax in the water - and it's through their kids. It goes back to the almost Shakespearean, Biblical overtones of the story. Jake Sully loses his son, but they have a greater connection with each other. "Sullys stick together. It's our greatest weakness and our greatest strength."

What brings everything into conflict is the return of Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Quaritch now resembles a Na'vi too as a "Recombinant." Quaritch in this form begins to develop the same sort of abilities that the Na'vi has - he learns to connect with a flying animal and has a contentious relationship with "Spider." Quaritch says that Miles isn't his son - but he feels a sense of protection over him. He refuses to kill him and Miles saves him at the end of the movie.

Avatar: The Way of Water is visually so appealing to watch. I loved the sequence where Kiri is swimming around underwater and is more at home in the water than on land. There's a lot of split diopter shots, cross cuts, and other really great editing and cinematography choices made. I'm kicking myself for not seeing this in 3D during the re-release in theaters.

Avatar: The Way of Water is a complete spectacle.

Vampires (Criterion Channel, leaving on 12/31) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Vampires seems a bit "television pilot"-y to me than a full fledged feature. This seems like a movie that was intended to lead to a sequel with the same actors and maybe a different director or a TV show continuing with the same characters. Which is true - there were two sequels that had different people involved (including Jon Bon Jovi) but this movie is merely passable and average.

James Woods plays a complete douchebag, but after awhile, it begins to be part of his charm.

After In The Mouth of Madness, anything else would have been a let down, so may as well make it as cheesy as possible.

 

[odessasteps]

 

Edited December 14, 2025 by odessasteps

[Ace]

My old Rocky Horror cast would do a production of Clue once a year until Paramount bannned doing that sort of thing for any of their films.

 

[zendragon]

On 8/30/2025 at 9:03 PM, Andrew POE! said:

Where did you watch it so I can watch it (at some point)?

right now its free with ads on Fandango at home, its a pretty weird film so far...

[Curt McGirt]

@Andrew POE! (hey cool, we can tag people again! I've noticed that but haven't done it yet) since you're doing all the Carpenter, don't forget to do Body Bags. And unfortunately you have to do Ghosts of Mars but you're a hardy camper. More than most of us, that's for sure.

[Andrew POE!]

1 minute ago, Curt McGirt said:

@Andrew POE! (hey cool, we can tag people again! I've noticed that but haven't done it yet) since you're doing all the Carpenter, don't forget to do Body Bags. And unfortunately you have to do Ghosts of Mars but you're a hardy camper. More than most of us, that's for sure.

Funny you should say that about Ghosts of Mars....

I probably should do Carpenter's other movies (Assault on Precinct 13, Escape From New York, Escape From LA, They Live) but I have those on Blu Ray. They aren't as much of a priority as a result. Also, Halloween, Village of the Damned, and The Ward too (and sure, I'll do Body Bags and Suburban Scares). 

I tend to watch what's leaving Criterion Channel and Mubi every month - Netflix has a bunch that's leaving that I'll be watching as well. 

[Curt McGirt]

Tubi's got Body Bags so it's never going anywhere

[zendragon]

Ghosts of Mars has a pretty cool soundtrack

[elizium]

Super Channel, the Canadian movie channel, would only show one ending of Clue at a time when it first appeared on cable. Growing up we had a copy taped to VHS with the Mrs. Peacock ending. Probably watched it 50 times as a kid and never saw any of the other endings until Clue was released on DVD

[Shartnado]

Went to the theater to see SI2U on Saturday! Goddamn, I haven't seen a comedy like that since Deadpool and Wolverine! That was so awesome! I was laughing all the way through the action sequences! Yup, seems legit! Unlikely, but could totally feasibly happen. 

Also, it helped this evening when biking through the snow to gym and work for night shift. I was just thinking about Aatami Korpi and going "Do you have to walk barefoot over pieces of glass and a puddle of vodka? Then roll over that same glass? Only to have a mouse trap snap on your finger? No? Then shut up and keep biking! You've got it easy!"

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...

Ghosts of Mars (yup, I watched it) (Criterion Channel, leaving on 12/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Ghosts of Mars isn't John Carpenter's best and the ending lends itself to there being a Ghosts of Mars II (which never came), but it's so loaded with campy and early 2000s attitude/nihilism that it's unbelievable. The movie feels like something that would be a full motion video computer game rather than a straight ahead feature; it gets lumped with Red Planet and Mission to Mars, but maybe Event Horizon too.

The entirety of the movie consists of Lt. Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) recounting the events leading to her being handcuffed to a bed on a train - she and her team (which consists of Jason Statham as Sgt. Jericho Butler, Clea DuVall as Officer Bashira Kincaid, and Pam Grier as Commander Helena Braddock) are supposed to pick up a prisoner named James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube) and transport him for sentencing. It's very much like other prisoner / criminal movies (like Carpenter's earlier Assault on Precinct 13), but filtered through a sci-fi lens.

The "force" or "ghost" that's unleashed by Dr. Arlene Whitlock (Joanna Cassidy) turns some of those infected into castoffs from Mad Max. The overall feel for the movie seems to serve as inspiration for Red Faction series and one of the infected men looks like Higgs from Death Stranding 2 (Hideo Kojima may have subconsciously or consciously got the design from this).

The soundtrack (including Anthrax and Buckethead as musicians) add to the atmosphere.

There were a lot of cross fades, time lapse shots, and lower framerate shots (to depict the 'force' or 'infection' going into a person); I especially loved the drug induced sequence where Henstridge's character is trying to fight off the infection from overwhelming her and succumbing to it. It's also pretty rare to see Jason Statham in a movie where he doesn't live by the end of it (too bad about Clea DuVall's character getting killed).

Rogue (Criterion Channel, leaving on 12/31) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Rogue is very much like what would be shown on the Sci-Fi Channel on a Saturday afternoon. It's effective in its horror and has an ensemble cast where the characters show their humanity. Michael Vartan as travel writer Pete McKell, Radha Mitchell as tour guide Kate Ryan and Sam Worthington as Kate's ex Neil Kelly exhibit some relationship drama, but that takes a backseat to the giant crocodile that eats people.

A really tense moment has Mary Ellen (Caroline Brazier) freezing up while trying to shimmy across a rope and two other people including Sherry (Mia Wasikowska in one of her earlier roles) are trying to get across too. The rope breaks and they fall into the water, just to swim back to the shore where the rest of the group is. They were looking for bait for the crocodile and used fishes to escape the island. Personally, I think they should have used Mary Ellen; Darwinism should have taken over and the 'survival of the fittest' should have been more important.

Anyway, Pete finds himself separated from the group in a cave and battles the crocodile and impales it.

There's a lot of darken lighting and handheld camerawork to cover for the low budget filmmaking. I did like the nature cinematography near the start of the movie and it resembled a documentary at the start with how those scenes were filmed.

The lesson to be learned is to never smile at a crocodile.

Sense and Sensibility (1995) (saw in the theaters) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

There's something with Sense and Sensibility where the drama of the movie is more in what's said than in what's acted. The two main characters involved - Elinor Dashwood (Emma Thompson) and Marianne Dashwood (Kate Winslet) - do indeed look as those they are related due to both having curly hair. Yet Elinor and Marianne are completely different in personality.

The thing with it is the fact that their father Henry (Tom Wilkinson) dies and leaves his daughters and wife only 500 English pounds a year. Elinor and Marianne are shuffled from one place to another and have a sense of needing something - a lord, a military man, a man from a family of money - just to alleviate it. Elinor is quite reserved about it, while Marianne feels quite strongly. The first man that she takes a fancy to is John Willoughby (Greg Wise). Elinor fancies the equally reserved and shy Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant).

The way the movie unfolds is indeed melodramatic and it's amazing how much intermingling among the male characters there are. The man that fancies Marianne and Marianne takes for granted Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman) has an ex who had an illegitimate child with Willoughby while he offers a parish for Ferrars to run as a vicar. The movie is not so much about the standards of the time that women are expected to maintain, but the standards that the men cannot maintain either.

What I really loved is how every shot was framed. Dialogue in a lot of cases shows the full room - I loved the scene where Elinor tells Ferrars about the parish he will now run. It's a midrange shot as the two are sitting across from each other. Then, there's the famous scene where Marianne recites a sonnet in the rain while looking at Willoughby's house.

What's interesting is the role that sonnets take in the movie. Sonnets are meant to be communicative of private feelings through other people's words. Marianne has Willoughby read a sonnet to her and he seems nervous about doing so - until she has him read a line again, more forcefully. Sonnet reading appears towards the end as Colonel Brandon reads a sonnet to Marianne, her not bothering to correct his energy and displaying contentment.

The scene where Ferrars revealed that he isn't married is a wonder. Ferrars seems taken aback with Elinor's show of emotion as she breaks down and cries. Elinor never looks at Edward and her feelings are a mixture of happiness, sadness, and overwhelming relief. Throughout the movie, Elinor has felt pressure on herself from talking with Lucy Steele (imogen Stubbs) about Lucy and Edward's secret relationship. Edward Ferrars telling her that his brother married Lucy breaks open a dam for Elinor. Marianne, her mother (Gemma Jones) and their sister Margaret (Emilie Francois) watch as Edward proposes to Elinor from outside.

The ending scene is a bit bittersweet, Colonel Brandon and Marianne are married with John Willoughby having a sense of regret as he watches from afar. He rides away as the final shot has Colonel Brandon throwing money into the air (with a great shot of the coins in the air).

Ang Lee honestly is probably one of the most diverse directors ever. He doing a heritage film, a Peter Bogdanovich inspired love story, a kung fu movie, and a superhero movie as well as family dramas set with characters from Asia is an amazing variety of movies. Sense and Sensibility seems to have what is universal in its storytelling, even outside of the time period. Emma Thompson's script is witty and emotional with its characters too.

Sense and Sensibility makes sense as a classic.

Concerning Violence (Criterion Channel, leaving on 12/31) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Concerning Violence is absolutely tough to watch, but essential. With watching this, it calls into question everything that is built up in "Westernized societies." Those in Europe and those in America seek to subjugate black/brown people to maintain power; there's not an easy path towards change. For generations, centuries, and decades, black/brown people have been given the role of 'colonized people,' while whites from Europe given themselves the role of 'settlers.'

The documentary goes through various newsreel footage of African countries in 1960s and 1970s struggling against oppression and finding themselves having to react; white people playing golf while black people act as a caddy, a white man in Zimbabwe being interviewed about how he'll stay. The concepts of wearing shoes, walking on paved streets, and living in houses are even definitions of colonizers taking over.

To extend this to America, the documentary touches upon capitalism and how capitalism exerts pressure on police to maintain capitalism. Capitalism ends up exploiting those working for them; deportations are used as part of this. So those wearing "Make America Great Again" are indeed on the side of colonizers. They would let capitalism rule over them.

Concerning Violence is meant as a warning and a call to arms and shows how power will corrupt those having it, regardless of where they are.

 

[Curt McGirt]

I just watched The Grey. 

Damn. 

Never wanna see that again, but I'm glad I did -- just glad I didn't see it in the theater like I wanted to when it came out. There were parts that I just couldn't watch, and parts that I unexpectedly wish I hadn't (specifically the look on Neeson's face when he first sits down at the bar and it is the deepest look of sorrow I can remember in any film right now). If you expect this to be some film drenched in machismo, you're howling (heh) up the wrong tree; it's filled with powerful regret and internal agony and external suffering. It's ROUGH. No clue how they made it either. You can't see the strings, that's for sure. 

[Curt McGirt]

2 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

"Desolation" Williams

"Tell me, how'd you get the name Desolation Williams?"

"I'll tell ya sometime. Got a smoke?"

[Andrew POE!]

4 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

"Tell me, how'd you get the name Desolation Williams?"

"I'll tell ya sometime. Got a smoke?"

If only there were a Ghosts of Mars II, we would have found out such riveting origins of his name!

[HarryArchieGus]

On 12/13/2025 at 10:39 PM, Curt McGirt said:

Was he talking about Lillard? I like Lillard. I thought he was talking about... who's the dude from those romcoms... Owen Wilson. That's it. 

I got a laugh hearing he took down Owen Wilson. I'm a huge fan of everything Wilson has done with Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Darjeeling, etc.), and feel the complete opposite of most everything else he's ever done. He's been taking the money for years, and (maybe) kinda deserves a bit of shit-slinging.  

Lillard was a lot of fun in Twin Peaks-the Return. He's very good in Serial Mom too. I see now that QT lumped Wilson in with Lillard as actors he doesn't like.

[Curt McGirt]

SLC Punk and, yes, Scream as well. Being in Serial Mom means I'll never not like him, no matter how many Scooby Doo properties he puts his face or voice on (hey, gotta pay the bills). Also I forgot he was in The Descendants which is one hell of a movie. 

[Zimbra]

I watched Wake Up Dead Man over the weekend and then immediately watched it again.  What a movie, what a hell of a thing.

[Technico Support]

5 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I got a laugh hearing he took down Owen Wilson. I'm a huge fan of everything Wilson has done with Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Darjeeling, etc.), and feel the complete opposite of most everything else he's ever done. He's been taking the money for years, and (maybe) kinda deserves a bit of shit-slinging.  

Lillard was a lot of fun in Twin Peaks-the Return. He's very good in Serial Mom too. I see now that QT lumped Wilson in with Lillard as actors he doesn't like.

The first dramatic role I ever saw Lillard in was the FX series "The Bridge" and he was so good in that.

[HarryArchieGus]

1 hour ago, Zimbra said:

I watched Wake Up Dead Man over the weekend and then immediately watched it again.  What a movie, what a hell of a thing.

Hearing some praise, and loved Johnson up until the Glass Onion - couldn’t make it more than 15-20 minutes in before the shut off, but my Mom thought it was delightful. Is this new one more of the cavalcade of stars and modern tropes, or does it resemble something from the guy who made Brick (to the first Knives Out)?

Edited December 15, 2025 by HarryArchieGus

[Log]

1 minute ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Hearing some praise, and loved Johnson up until the Glass Onion - couldn’t make it more than 15-20 minutes in before the shut off, but my Mom thought it was delightful. Is this new one more of the cavalcade of stars and modern tropes, or does it resemble something from the guy who made Brick (to the first Knives Out)?

I'd put it closer to the first Knives Out.

 

45 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

The first dramatic role I ever saw Lillard in was the FX series "The Bridge" and he was so good in that.

That's a really underrated show, and Lillard is brilliant in it.

Edited December 15, 2025 by Log

[Technico Support]

31 minutes ago, Log said:

Lillard is brilliant in it

Random scenes that stick with for for no damn good reason: Lillard’s character explaining to his friend from AA that he has a “system” to maintain sobriety: 2 beers, and that’s it.  Cut to both just shitfaced, doing coke, etc and Lillard screaming THE SYSTEM WORKS!!!

[odessasteps]

We all love Altman here. 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...

Shivers (Criterion Channel, leaving on 12/31) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

While Stereo and Crimes of the Future are David Cronenberg's first movies, it's interesting how Shivers and then Rabid really start the themes that follow Cronenberg throughout his career.

Shivers has what is common in Cronenberg movies - science and corporations. A corporation run a luxury apartment complex called Starliner Towers. The introduction to the movie has an employee that works for the complex doing a tour while Dr. Emil Hobbes (Fred Doederlein) murders a woman named Annabelle (Cathy Graham). It turns out that Dr. Emil Hobbes was developing a parasite that turns people into sex craved zombies. (It also looks like a piece of poop as it barely moves and people are shown with it on their faces).

Nicholas Tudor (Allan Kolman) is apparently infected and spreads his infection to various people in the Starliner Towers, while Roger St. Luc (Paul Hampton) is investigating it (and kissing Nurse Forsythe played by Lynn Lowry). Other characters like Betts (Barbara Steele) pass the infection to Tudor's wife Janine (Susan Petrie) in a slow motion shot.

The movie at times is a bit amateurish, but, like a lot of Cronenberg's movies, is carried by its ideas. Some of the acting isn't that good, but it doesn't need to be. The scenes where Roger is running through the towers and everyone are grabbing at each other then at him is absolutely crazy to watch. The pool scene where he gets pushed in feels like something out of Night of the Living Dead.

One of the lines from Nurse Forsythe sums up everything about David Cronenberg's movies: "But then he tells me that everything is erotic, that everything is sexual. You know what I mean? He tells me that even old flesh is erotic flesh. That disease is the love of two alien kinds of creatures for each other. That even dying is an act of eroticism. That talking is sexual. That breathing is sexual. That even to physically exist is sexual."

The ending has everyone leaving in cars from Starliner Towers while a news report tells about the attacks - shot wise, it reminded me a bit of Scorsese's Taxi Driver as it's filmed inside a car. For the most part, Cronenberg has a lot of interesting camerawork, although it's a bit basic.

I know if I see a piece of poop on the ground and it starts moving, I'm getting the hell outta there.

The Lost King (Hulu, leaving on 12/16) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

At times, The Lost King seem to suffer from the same issues as Stephen Frears’ previous movie Victoria & Abdul: beautifully shot and beautifully filmed story that’s a bit lacking.

Thankfully, it avoids calamity by the end.

Sally Hawkins as Philippa is soft spoken and seems to bring humanity out of a character plagued with sleep paralysis and believing herself to be talking with Richard III (Tom Hiddleston looking Harry Lloyd) with the idea to find the true remains of the king. Helping her is her ex husband John Langley (Alan Partridge impressionist Steve Coogan). Coogan is a veteran of Stephen Frears’ previous works including Philomena.

Much of the movie is about the conflict between research in academic settings and “being a business” for universities. It’s perhaps a bit misguided - the University of Leicester is a public university that receives donations. It seems to suggest that Philippa ‘s search was due to her seeing Richard III everywhere.

At times, the movie drags a bit, but most of it is sustained due to Hawkins’ performance.

92 in the Shade (Criterion Channel, leaving on 12/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Did Thomas McGuane invent "mumblecore"? Because this seems like the type of movie Alex Ross Perry, Noah Baumbach, or Greta Gerwig would come up with and feature Josh O'Connor, Kentucker Audley, and Kate Lyn Sheil as the principal actors.

Peter Fonda as Tom Skelton just wants to pilot book tours and be left alone. He's friends with Faron Carter (Harry Dean Stanton) and they decide to bug Nichol Dance (Warren Oates) when that dude just wants to shoot his gun and lament about his ex-wife. I was surprised that Nicholas Dance didn't have brothers appear named Tencent and Fifteencent. Nichol gets pissed off and murders a guy (I think), but it turns out to be a joke.

Somewhere along the way, Tom Skelton blows up Nichol's boat, there's a discussion about self-cleaning ovens, Tom wants to get his own boat but his racist grandfather Goldsboro (Burgess Meredith) pays for it, and Tom's father (William Hickey) tells him about STDs he got. The movie is wild and nothing makes sense. Yet it absolutely somehow works.

Florida is wild, man.

Song Sung Blue (saw in the theaters) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

"How are you doing?"
"I'm huge."

"Sweet Caroline" as a song is about Caroline Kennedy. In that context, the song's lyrics have an utterly creepy quality - a grown 40 year old man singing about a pre-pubescent sire of the Kennedys - that the songwriter Neil Diamond had to shift to be about his ex-wife Marcia Murphey and "Caroline" was just used to fit the song. It was then taken on with the Boston Red Sox fanbase and every drunk at a bar who don't actually know the lyrics and just belts out the horn part.

Neil Diamond's music speaks to those in the 1960s, that were around in Vietnam, went to Vietnam, burned their draft cards and their bras, and stared at his records. It's "Baby Boomer" music.

Song Sung Blue is an ode to those "Baby Boomers." It will not appeal to people born outside of that generation. At its worse, it's trying to be for the Kleenex users, so we can forget about how the United States has gone to shit due to a failed reality TV show host and real estate con man as President. Who today claimed that a director that was murdered by his son died due to Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Mike (Hugh Jackman) starts the movie with an extreme close-up (where you can see his gray hair and missing tooth) about his 'sober birthday.' Mike, as a character, is like a lot of a drifter, down on his luck sorts that were in 1960s and 1970s cinema; he is an Elvis impersonator, but is very much a Neil Diamond fan. He doesn't find himself worthy to sing the music. One night for a gig that went horribly, he meets Claire (Kate Hudson). Claire sings Patsy Cline songs and is drawn to Mike.

While Jackman's performance has him being "Wolverine except he sings," Kate Hudson embodies the Midwest, "Minnesota Nice" and Wisconsin-ness of every woman you'll ever meet from the region. You can sense the Schnucks store card in her purse and the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor membership in her words. Hudson is really where the movie shines, as her character goes through the roughest cycle out of everyone. Claire loses her leg and, as she acknowledges later, the problem with her recovery was all with her. Claire is not quite the emotional wringer that Jennifer Lawrence did in Die My Love (which the Regal Mystery Movie audience really needed to have seen), but it's close.

The movie has the characters go from one emotional impact to another in an almost Lars Von Trier like fashion. Claire and Mike see their teenage daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson) get pregnant while Claire is in rehab over drug dependency and Mike is dealing with heart issues. Angelina (King Princess) is seemingly gone at times and, in a nice scene, connects with Rachel over their shared emotional screwed up history with their parents. The movie hints at something more between the two step daughters, but, because this is for the "Baby Boomer" crowd, we don't see it. The story's focus is on Mike and Claire and their love for each other.

At one point, it's almost darkly comic, as Claire is standing outside her yard then moves to the front steps before a dumbass driving a car and drunk hits their house and breaks their windows.

The climax of the movie is a bit like Freakier Friday's climax; nostalgia brings the band back together as Thunder & Lightning do a sold out performance in Milwaukee. They go to a frozen custard shop to meet the real Neil and....Mike is gone. The next is mis en scene as the family prepare for a funeral. Mike is remembered through a little known Neil Diamond song and Mike & Claire's son Dayna (Hudson Hensley), sipping on coffee, finds a tape where "Song Sung Blue" is sung again to mark Mike's sobriety before his fateful show. I half way expected during "Song Sung Blue" to see Claire while she's standing in front of her house and admiring the garden, to get hit by a car...again. I guess my humor is a bit too dark.

Craig Brewer as a director is known for movies that use music (like Black Snake Moan, Hustle & Flow, the Footloose remake) and nostalgia (like Dolemite Is My Name and Coming 2 America). Song Sung Blue combines both - it's not going to be among this year's best and part of me hopes a Best Actress nomination would go towards Kate Hudson, but there may have been too many standout performances for that.

Song Sung Blue is simply just okay. It's not terrible, it's not great, but it's not demonstrably bad. It's a well executed story and a well executed movie that's mechanical at times, much like its main character Mike.

 

Edited December 16, 2025 by Andrew POE!

[odessasteps]

 

[Curt McGirt]

I love Shivers, especially in comparison to Rabid which really feels like amateur hour even though they have almost identical themes. It's a far cry from the practiced iciness of The Brood (great winter movie, btw) but it has both humor and a sleazier kind of B-horror grossness to it. The oral turd exchange with the bulging throat is awesome... and kinda hot... the scene where the parasite lands on the old lady's face and one lands on the transparent umbrella from above is hilarious, the old lady yelling "I NEED LOVE!" while she attacks someone; there's a lot of cool stuff in the movie. Even if the doc kisses Lynn Lowry he seems totally asexual, so is kind of the perfect final victim. And the pool demise is real creepy. As much as I like it I'd honestly give it 4/5 myself. 

Also, Lynn Lowry shows up as another infected person as a rabid Manson family member in the awesome '70s cheapo gorefest I Drink Your Blood! 

NSFW 

Spoiler

 

The funny part it was billed with I Eat Your Skin, which was a tame B&W voodoo picture Jerry Gross had put out prior.