THE DANMAN CAN

Eight years before the huge success of the first film in the  Pirates Of The Caribbean  series, when the public seemed to be ready to embrace pirate movies again, Cutthroat Island  (1995) was released. Famous for bankrupting Carolco Pictures  (though the company was already in financial straits), the movie is listed in the Guinness World Records as the biggest box office bomb of all time (adjusted for inflation). While I won't deny many of the criticisms that have been aimed at CI , it's still a fun, entertaining adventure picture, featuring a grand score, beautiful production design, gigantic sets, plenty of swashbuckling, and impressive stunts (and one incredibly enormous explosion), all practical and wonderfully devoid of CGI.  There's definitely something lacking in the final product, but it's due to many factors (including a number of production troubles). Geena Davis  does her best, but she just can't quite carry the film (her delivery isn't emotive e...

I finally got around to seeing  Ken Russell 's controversial The Devils (1971), albeit technically in truncated form. (The version streaming on The Criterion Channel  is the R-rated cut, which is what I watched; there is a longer X-rated cut, available on DVD only, and a "director's cut," with two deleted scenes reinstated, which has had very limited screenings, but has never been released on home video.) A wild, demented, frenzied political sexual religious masterwork which I hope will eventually (and really deserves to) be released totally uncut on 4K UHD or Blu-ray someday. Ken Russell Feature Films Ranked

Brandon Cronenberg 's sophomore feature,  Possessor   (2020), is a psychological body horror gender bender mindfuck that can hold its own against his famous  father 's films—a slow burn cyberpunk fever dream concerning a corporate assassin whose reality begins to blur as she fights for her identity. The almost-exclusively in-camera, practical effects are brilliant, brutal, disturbing, and disorienting. The bursts of violence don't arrive that often and don't last long, but leave an indelible impression. The production design, with its mishmash of styles, and the cinematography—where everything is slightly off-kilter—create a unique experience. On the acting front, everyone is good across the board, but if I have any complaints it's that star  Andrea Riseborough  is not on screen enough (this was also true for 2018's  Mandy   ( review ). Landing  Jennifer Jason Leigh , who starred in the senior Cronenberg's  eX istenZ   (1999) ( review ) ...

When  Walter Hill  finally got around to making his first actual western (as opposed to telling western-styled stories in other genres), it resulted in 1980's The Long Riders , a project that brothers Stacy and James Keach  (who also star and co-wrote the story for) had been attempting to produce for nearly a decade. The casting of four sets of brothers (the Carradines, Keaches, Quaids, and Guests) in the film's main roles never feels like a gimmick—there's a natural quality to their interplay and the on-screen chemistry is palpable. This filmic interpretation of the  James–Younger Gang  legend features an engaging story, wonderful performances, fantastic editing, an authentically regional score by  Ry Cooder , impressive stunts, and a bloody slow motion shootout to rival  Sam Peckinpah . Walter Hill Films Ranked