March | 2021 | MovieGeekBlog

The X-Files (S1 – Ep11) – “Eve”

March 24, 2021 Leave a comment

The X-Files – Season 1 – Episode 11 – “Eve” 1/2

Director: Fred Gerber Writers: Chris Carter, Kenneth Biller, Chris Brancato Cast: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Harriet Sansom Harris, Erika Krievins, Sabrina Krievins, Jerry Hardin.

Here’s the X-Files finally showing the potential of what the series could do. A Intriguing premise, a plot full of twists that keep you guessing and 2 creepy twins (or probably more than 2) in the best horror tradition of freaky children, who as we know can be more terrifying than any monster (just a bit of a shame they can’t act too well, but at least the look the part).The story crams a lot in it but the episode is pretty well paced and never really feels rushed. Equally creepy and unsettling is Harriet Sansom Harris who plays the doctor (or spoiler alert Eve 6), you might have recognise her from her later role in Desperate Housewife (I seem to remember she was pretty weird there too). A nice cameo from Deep throat keeps is all rooted (even if a bit remotely) into the whole mythology saga, which will eventually explore the issue of cloning quite a lot. Good to see Mulder and Scully doing some proper investigation too! Definitely one to add to the watch list.

Filed under Reviews, The X-Files, TV Tagged with 90s, Classic TV, Mulder and Scully, The X-Files, TV Series, Twins

The X-Files (S1.Ep10) – “Fallen Angel”

March 24, 2021 Leave a comment

The X-Files – Season 1 – Episode 10 – “Fallen Angel” ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

Director: Larry Shaw. Writers: Chris Carter, Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa. Cast: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Frederick Coffin, Marshall Bell, Jerry Hardin, Scott Bellis.

At this point in the series the X-Files started really to play with the ideas about government conspiracies. Of course it had all been there right from the start but this is where the show’s so-called “mythology arc” really gets into gear.This will reach great heights towards season 3 (arguably one of the best season not just of the X-Files but to any TV series) and unfortunately it will get itself a bit too tangled up towards the later seasons. It also introduces the shadowy idea that the X-Files could be shut down any moment (and as fans know, this is going to happened more than once) as well as the character Max Fennig, who will come back later on and play a crucial role in season 3. The X-Files is still trying to find the right formula to all these elements which it’s exploring, but even if a lot of this episode is rather unmemorable (in fact it’s as if I was watching it for the first time), a lot of what will make the show great can be seen here, even if in small doses.

Filed under Reviews, The X-Files, TV Tagged with 90s, Classic TV, Conspiracy, Mithology, Mulder and Scully, The X-Files, tv

The X-Files (S1.Ep9) – “Space”

March 24, 2021 Leave a comment

Season 1 – Episode 8 – “Space”

Director: William A. Graham Writers: Chris Carter Cast: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Ed Lauter

This is often regarded as the lowest point of the entire 10 year series and I can see why: I complete honesty I cannot find a single redeemable feature in it, from the uninspiring intro all the way to the terrible speeches at the end and everything that was in between.For a start it’s really boring, and that’s its greatest sin: it feels like a 10 minutes story stretched over 40-something. An untrusting story, with bland character and in which Mulder and Scully are basically left to do pretty much nothing but watch other people looking at screens: they bring nothing to the table, neither their experience, not their charm. The actual idea of dealing with real space exploration could have been quite a refreshing change from aliens but its execution is so lame (mixing stock shots of shuttles with a cheap-looking NASA station) that they should have dropped it. I gave this one enough time already, so enough talking about it.The only good thing about watching it today is that to erase it from my memory as quick as possible I can watch another one straight away without having to wait a week.

Filed under Reviews, The X-Files, TV Tagged with 90s, Classic TV, Mulder and Scully, The X-Files

Cured

March 24, 2021 Leave a comment

“Cured” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Directors: Patrick Sammon, Bennett Singer.

This very competently made documentary talks the fight to remove “homosexuality” as a mental disorder from the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual (it stood right next to “Pedophilia”)

It starts off with a very grabby pre-title, which is probably slightly in-your-face but very still very effective and which sets the tone for some of shocking things one is reminded off in the rest of the film. In a not too distant past, only a few decades ago, gay and lesbian people were sent to be “cure” with shock treatments, lobotomies and even castration. In some instances their memories were erased “It was like removing a chink of their”, “Like a horror movie” somebody says at some point. Needless to say, some of the archive mages from the film are hard to watch, but the stories are told with great warmth by some incredibly likeable people, most of whom lived through those times and are now the kind of grandpa or grandma one would like to have. It’s a fairly straight forward documentary, with beautiful evocative archive, talking heads and lots of graphics in the form of old photos and newspaper articles. It won’t set the world on fire, it probably runs out of steam in a few places feeling slightly repetitive but it’s still a real eye opener: an important documentary, especially when one thinks conversion centres still exists in America and in many places homosexuality is still outlawed.

Currently showing at the BFI Flare Festival

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/9YDXNHYCd9g

Filed under latest movies, Reviews

Poppy Field

March 23, 2021 Leave a comment

Poppy Field ⭐️⭐️

Director: Eugen Jebeleanu. Cast: Conrad Mericoffer, Alexandru Potocean, Radouan Leflahi

A potentially interesting idea gets wasted in a film that loses its way and forgets what should have been about more than once.

The story is inspired by a series of protests in a Rumania and particularly one in a bucharest cinema where a screening of a high profile lesbian film got essentially highjacked by a group of religious protesters. The film re-imagines the event placing a closeted policeman at the centre of the story, having to control the situation on one hand while at the same time dealing with his own ghosts.

The whole situation get trickier when one of the people in the cinema recognises the policeman as one of his past lovers.

With the backdrop of one of the most backwards country when it comes to recognising and accepting LGBT’s communities, this could have been a a really interesting story.

Instead the director seems to run out of steam and ideas in a film that’s already pretty short. His insistence to film everything on long continuous takes while on one hand makes the sequence when we first meet the protesters very real, on the other hand doesn’t allow the the editor to pace it or to control its dialogue, hence we are left with very long extraneous sequences (like one when 2 policemen are talking about a dog being abandoned) and the film loses its focus.

Instead the director seems to run out of steam and ideas in a film that’s already pretty short. His insistence to film everything on long continuous takes while on one hand makes the sequence when we first meet the protesters very real, on the other hand doesn’t allow the the editor to pace the film or to control its dialogue, hence we are left with very long extraneous sequences (like one when 2 policemen are talking about a dog being abandoned) and the film loses its focus.

Not a complete waste: some good performances and sporadic goo moments but I think the fact that such film comes out of Romania is more interesting than the film itself.

Screened at the BFI Flare Festival.