cult film freak: October 2018

Written by James M. Tate / 10/31/2018 / No comments / andrew hubatsek , cult , eighties , horror , jamie lee curtis , kathryn bigelow , nineties , profile , thriller , tom sizemore

PET SEMATARY "ZELDA" ACTOR ANDREW HUBATSEK IN 'BLUE STEEL'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>PET SEMATARY'S Zelda actor  Andrew Hubatsek as Cashier in BLUE STEEL</u></td></tr>
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Andrew Hubatsek is a name very few people know; even film freaks probably wouldn't put a face to the name. And what a face it is in the Stephen King adaptation of PET SEMATARY from 1989 that, centering on the titular woodsy location where cats and children are buried, and come back to life, it's a backstory about one of the main characters' relatives named Zelda that leaves the spookiest imprint overall...<br />
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Zelda is a female but she's played by a very skinny young male actor, who in real life spends most of his time, before, during and after his iconic horror fifteen-minutes on stage: by choice. But a year later, he turned up in the Kathyln Bigelow 1990 action/crime flick BLUE STEEL starring Jamie Lee Curtis as a rookie cop who thwarts a holdup at a convenience store where Hubatsek plays the aptly titled <i>Cashier</i>. And now there's proof that  Andrew Hubatsek has a life after PET SEMATARY, and looks kinda creepy even out of the nightmarish Zelda makeup.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> Andrew Hubatsek in BLUE STEEL as Cashier held up by Tom Sizemore and saved by Jamie Lee Curtis</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N2lN7s5Slkw/XJ5Jf9bTGII/AAAAAAABB4Y/THv7OzhM5g0J2I4C9wdYLu8bex25-XzLACLcBGAs/s1600/4.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="1161" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N2lN7s5Slkw/XJ5Jf9bTGII/AAAAAAABB4Y/THv7OzhM5g0J2I4C9wdYLu8bex25-XzLACLcBGAs/s1600/4.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u> Andrew Hubatsek in his legendary role as Zelda in  PET SEMATARY</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jamie Lee Curtis with  Andrew Hubatsek in BLUE STEEL from PET SEMATARY as Zelda</u></td></tr>
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andrew hubatsek, cult, eighties, horror, jamie lee curtis, kathryn bigelow, nineties, profile, thriller, tom sizemore

PET SEMATARY "ZELDA" ACTOR ANDREW HUBATSEK IN 'BLUE STEEL'

PET SEMATARY'S Zelda actor Andrew Hubatsek as Cashier in BLUE STEEL Andrew Hubatsek is a name very few people know; even film freak...

JOHN CARPENTER'S THE FOG

adrienne barbeau, eighties, george buck flower, ghost ship, horror, james canning, jamie lee curtis, janet leigh, john carpenter, john houseman, nancy loomis, thriller, tom atkins

JOHN CARPENTER'S THE FOG

THE FOG HAS MOVED TO THIS LOCATION CLICK HERE

SUTHERLAND WITH BACON & ROBERTS DIE IN 'FLATLINERS'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 1990</u></td></tr>
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The reason FLATLINERS seems like a Brat Pack flick despite having none of those particular actors on board is because the director was also behind the pivotal pack-classic, ST. ELMO'S FIRE... And Joel Schumacher has a style of filming great-looking actors in an ethereal glow, which literally fits here being they choose to die and come back again i.e. playing God with their own bodies... <br>
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Taking place in and around various classrooms and backrooms of some kind of steely, dystopic medical school, the shadow-filled, icky-green sets seem as if a neon Gothic explosion blew out most of the lights and took down half the equipment, like Dr. Frankenstein's lab dreamed-up by Tim Burton. Which is what FLATLINERS is going for aesthetically. But it turned out more like a glossy music video, especially the choppy extreme-closeups...<br>

horror, julia roberts, kevin bacon, kiefer sutherland, nineties, oliver platt, supernatural, thriller

SUTHERLAND WITH BACON & ROBERTS DIE IN 'FLATLINERS'

Year of Release: 1990 The reason FLATLINERS seems like a Brat Pack flick despite having none of those particular actors on board is beca...

HORROR NOIR RETROSPECTIVE OF JOE DANTE'S 'THE HOWLING'

action, belinda balaski, christopher stone, dee wallace, dennis dugen, dick miller, horror, joe dante, john carradine, kevin mccarthy, slim pickens

HORROR NOIR RETROSPECTIVE OF JOE DANTE'S 'THE HOWLING'

Belinda Balaski snooping around THE HOWLING Year: 1981 “I kind of cross this line where... I see it whether it's really there or no...

POST WEEKEND REVIEW OF THE NEW 'HALLOWEEN' MOVIE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Review of the new Halloween YEAR: 2018</td></tr>
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The new HALLOWEEN sets out to make a few things clear. Michael Myers is a human being, not an unstoppable monster that can't be killed. And if you and your date dress up as a doctor and nurse (or vice versa), like the victims of the first sequel, HALLOWEEN II, absolutely no harm will come. Because all those other incarnations mean nothing. This is the one and only followup to the John Carpenter classic...<br>
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And here's a dirty little secret not everyone agrees with. The sparse 1978 blockbuster is extremely far from perfect. But... it <i>was</i> a solid, good horror movie, and <i>was</i> genuinely groundbreaking for a body count slasher flick involving a handful of doomed teenagers, which started off an endless chain of copycats including FRIDAY THE 13TH. So where new director David Gordon Green succeeds is making a simple slasher yarn without too many extravaganzas... <br>

2018, body count, franchise, halloween, horror, jamie lee curtis, new, sequel, thriller, will patton

POST WEEKEND REVIEW OF THE NEW 'HALLOWEEN' MOVIE

Review of the new Halloween YEAR: 2018 The new HALLOWEEN sets out to make a few things clear. Michael Myers is a human being, not an uns...

BLOODY BAGFUL OF CHUCK NORRIS MOVIES REVIEWED

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Chuck's famous windshield kick from Good Guys Wear Black</u></td></tr>
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Here's a score of Chuck Norris movies from the late seventies all through his kicking-ass eighties reign. These summary-size, one or two paragraph-long reviews are a decade in the making as... <br>
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Chuck Norris took Karate films to an entertainingly mindless and guttural, testosterone-driven level, and having appeared in RETURN OF THE DRAGON opposite/verses Bruce Lee, who knows where Chuck's career might have gone had the Chinese Kung Fu Master lived past ENTER THE DRAGON, but like comparing Edgar Rice Burrough's more realistic, cerebral and literary Tarzan to the spontaneous and fun theatrical Johnny Weissmuller adaptations, it's not as if Chuck took Lee's place. Instead, there was a phantom zone that desperately needed filling: Norris successfully delivered and, unlike most, maintained his American Brand of Karate to the large and small screen for nearly three decades... <br>

action, adventure, chuck norris, david carradine, donna gordon, eighties, jack o'halloran, karate, m. emmett walsh, mary-louise weller, richard lynch, seventies, sport, stephen furst

BLOODY BAGFUL OF CHUCK NORRIS MOVIES REVIEWED

Chuck's famous windshield kick from Good Guys Wear Black Here's a score of Chuck Norris movies from the late seventies all throu...

NATHAN FILLION SERIES 'THE ROOKIE' QUICK SUMMARY REVIEW

2018, action, cop, nathan fillion, series, TV

NATHAN FILLION SERIES 'THE ROOKIE' QUICK SUMMARY REVIEW

Nathan Fillion just kinda headlines THE ROOKIE Year: 2018 Grade: F— Seconds can feel like minutes, and minutes like hours on TV, or cin...

JACQUES TOURNEUR'S 'WAY OF A GAUCHO' WITH RORY CALHOUN

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Rory Calhoun rarely looks behind Year: 1952 Rates: ***</u></td></tr>
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Jacques Tourneur makes stylish Westerns, from CANYON PASSAGE before to WICHITA after, and WAY OF A GAUCHO is about the "original cowboys," the titular Argentine bandits who "Go with God" and are as patriotic as they come, and go: Making the famous "last refuge of a scoundrel" quote more pro than con: at least for one in particular who rides in the glory of the Old Days...<br>
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That we never really learn about so we can only follow the intrepid horse-clopping footsteps of Rory Calhoun's "condor-eyed" Martin Penalosa as the best scenes have our anti-hero breaking the law, sent under Richard Boone's harsh military command and eventually finding his own way. This is where things slowly collapse upon an overly grandiose soundtrack and a maze of plotlines marring what should've been a more simple, honest Western that Tourneur's good at...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gene Tierney in Way of a Gaucho RATES: ***</u></td></tr>
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Painted with broad strokes, the surrounding countrysides feel like another world entirely, so there's a Fantasy element underneath the deep brown saddles and painted red scarves, as if Penalosa's more a lean Barbarian than maverick horseman, and with Tourneur, a Gothic undertone lurks as well...<br>
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But our man needed more of a goal, an urgency, than to ride along (with forced ingenue Gene Tierney when guitar-strumming Everette Sloane would've made a terrific sidekick) full of stubborn, woeful pride. Which doesn't mean the battle scenes with horses flowing along the sweeping camera isn't worthwhile. Above and beyond everything else, this GAUCHO <i>looks</i> fantastic. <span><span>And "Who is the gaucho amigo?" to look anyway else.</span></span>
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everette sloane, fifties, gene tierney, jacques tourneur, richard boone, rory calhoun, western

JACQUES TOURNEUR'S 'WAY OF A GAUCHO' WITH RORY CALHOUN

Rory Calhoun rarely looks behind Year: 1952 Rates: *** Jacques Tourneur makes stylish Westerns, from CANYON PASSAGE before to WICHITA af...

ROBYN HILTON AS LINDA LOVEMAN IN 'THE LAST PORNO FLICK'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tom Signorelli presents Robyn Hilton on set YEAR: 1974</u></td></tr>
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Robyn Hilton, the BLAZING SADDLES redhead, co-starred in THE LAST PORNO FLICK (aka THOSE MAD, MAD, MAD MOVIEMAKERS), which is as bad as it gets: yet the actors are... pretty decent... <br>
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Another alternate title is CABBIES as bickering blue collar buddies Michael Pataki and  Frank Calcanini team up with their cab company boss Mike Kellin to produce a porno, which could<i> really</i> lead viewers to think there's some nudity. That'd be too good a thing as Hilton's a satirical take on Linda Lovelace, named Linda Loveman as Sinthia as in "The Seduction of Sinthia." Tom Signorelli as that film's spaced-out hippie director nicknamed O.D. is about the only partially funny character while another backer, an extremely Catholic Italian mom, is by far the worst. But it's Hilton in her usual airhead role who stands out, and not only for the obvious reasons. She's the only person who fits the bubbly mold: but with a price. In practically every shot she's standing beside mackerel-faced character-actor Kellin, pretending to be a famous acting coach and she's really nuts about him — proving that she <i>can</i> act after all. <br>

comedy, exploitation, michael pataki, mike kellin, robyn hilton, satire, seventies

ROBYN HILTON AS LINDA LOVEMAN IN 'THE LAST PORNO FLICK'

Tom Signorelli presents Robyn Hilton on set YEAR: 1974 Robyn Hilton, the BLAZING SADDLES redhead, co-starred in THE LAST PORNO FLICK (ak...

FINALE OF 'BETTER CALL SAUL' IS STILL MILES FROM GOODMAN

bob odenkirk, cable, crime, jonathan banks, neo noir, rhea seeborn, rhea seehorn, series

FINALE OF 'BETTER CALL SAUL' IS STILL MILES FROM GOODMAN

Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn on Better Call Saul: Winning Turns out BETTER CALL SAUL, at least concerning Season Four, isn't follo...

SCOTT WILSON 'THE GYPSY MOTHS' REVIEW & EXTERNAL TRIBUTE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Scott Wilson's yellow suited character's jump YEAR: 1969 </u></td></tr>
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John Frankenheimer's THE GYPSY MOTHS has some incredible aerial shots, and it's a shame they had to, right off the bat, provide studio inserts of two of the actors: one who should have been famous from IN COLD BLOOD and the other soon to make his breakthrough in THE FRENCH CONNECTION...<br>
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When Scott Wilson and Gene Hackman, as the gold and white suited jumpers, are shown in an obviously contrived setting with a counterfeit sky-blue backdrop, supposedly far up and descending with their own colored parachutes open, it's impossible <i>not</i> to tell we're watching a motion picture... But Frankenheimer, in what's his personal favorite film, and, despite a dated made-for-television style main theme, gives us the impression, otherwise, that these guys are the genuine article: not only by the myriad of actual footage, but in a more harmonious, less obvious rhythm, combining these with close-up expressions of each actor, about to jump for what may be their very lives...<br>

action, burt lancaster, deborah kerr, drama, gene hackman, john frankenheimer, romance, scott wilson, sheree north, sixties, sport, suspense, william windom

SCOTT WILSON 'THE GYPSY MOTHS' REVIEW & EXTERNAL TRIBUTE

Scott Wilson's yellow suited character's jump YEAR: 1969 John Frankenheimer's THE GYPSY MOTHS has some incredible aerial sho...

JOHN PAYNE/PHIL KARLSON 1950'S FILM NOIR DOUBLE FEATURE

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Peggie Castle w/ Brad Dexter in 99 RIVER STREET Year: 1953 </u></td></tr>
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<u>99 RIVER STREET</u>: An excellent Film Noir, the second of three directed by Phil Karlson and starring John Payne, is bookended by two boxing matches: one in the ring, playing on television in a cheap apartment, and another in a shipyard between is a stark, mazy tale of defeated slugger/cabbie John Payne, a the stock bad girl  and then tricked by the nicer dame (Evelyn Keyes), a would-be actress proving her worth on stage in a clever scene with a big twist...<br>
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But Payne, who's the good guy but no nice guy since "he broods about things... then he explodes!" says Peggie Castle as his extremely gorgeous/and extremely cheating double-crossing wife. Although he's got far more than woman trouble with niche heavies Brad Dexter and Jack Lambert on his trail... Not to mention the law for both a murder he didn't commit and a perfectly-landed punch as the pace doesn't falter and the camerawork's topnotch. And the finale fist fight at a murky shipyard, as Payne flashes back to his fighting days, is a standout. While not a boxing Noir the likes of THE SET-UP, the character's boxing champion past is part of the essence of the story deeper than most pictures connected with the sport. It's in his mind, memories, soul. "I gotta hit... I gotta hit... I gotta go back to the one thing I know how to do!"  <br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Heist Date: 1952 Overall Score of ***</u></td></tr>
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<u>KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL</u>: The actor and director's first collaboration is a Wrong-man/Film
 Noir involving John Payne trying to redeem himself after being blamed 
for a successful armored car knockoff...<br>
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Featuring famous heavies Jack 
Elam, Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef, it's Preston Foster's character, 
as the mysterious leader of the thugs, all gathered together in South 
America to retrieve the loot and, since they wore masks during the 
robbery don't know each other, adding dimension as he keeps the truth from
 beloved lovely daughter Colleen Gray, a law student who (along with 
Payne) figures things out: except her father's involvement. At times a 
bit sluggish, meandering within the sheer inevitability of hiding out and getting edgy and stir crazy because of it, this is a minor classic for the cast alone.<br>
</div>

fifties, film noir or melodrama, jack lambert, john payne, phil karlson

JOHN PAYNE/PHIL KARLSON 1950'S FILM NOIR DOUBLE FEATURE

Peggie Castle w/ Brad Dexter in 99 RIVER STREET Year: 1953 99 RIVER STREET : An excellent Film Noir, the second of three directed by Phi...

JAMES STEWART & ARTHUR KENNEDY IN 'BEND OF THE RIVER'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GiDKJYFtZ0s/W7mhTEFM4hI/AAAAAAAA6Tw/yzq3YFJLJeon-_YE3wkXZxhvPo20lFbiACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-10-06%2Bat%2B4.11.12%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1526" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GiDKJYFtZ0s/W7mhTEFM4hI/AAAAAAAA6Tw/yzq3YFJLJeon-_YE3wkXZxhvPo20lFbiACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-10-06%2Bat%2B4.11.12%2BAM.jpg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Arthur Kennedy and James Stewart in Bend of the River directed by Anthony Mann YEAR: 1952</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Of James Stewart's "Cowboy Pictures" under the direction of Anthony Mann, WINCHESTER '73 is the most famous, THE NAKED SPUR his edgiest, THE MAN FROM LARAMIE the most underrated, THE FAR COUNTY the most picturesque, and the most uneven is BEND OF THE RIVER, starting out as one of many wagon trailer adventures until leading to Portland, Oregon, making this a North Western much like Jacques Tourneur's CANYON PASSAGE, which this uses chopped-tree-falling stock footage of...<br>
<br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yMxa3evXSXo/W7mfbC8jwCI/AAAAAAAA6Tg/CNMAg12gMKwxgkcb1NMYdjN1nBZbggwNQCLcBGAs/s1600/43380639_581820748913772_7633903377608343552_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="960" height="312" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yMxa3evXSXo/W7mfbC8jwCI/AAAAAAAA6Tg/CNMAg12gMKwxgkcb1NMYdjN1nBZbggwNQCLcBGAs/s400/43380639_581820748913772_7633903377608343552_n.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Julia (Julie) Adams takes a while to get the point RATES: ***</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At first Stewart, helping a group of mobile settlers, has a distracting voice. Not the usual alum-jawed, slow-paced drawl, it's more like he's imitating Edward G. Robinson. Which kinda fits. Stewart's Glyn McLyntock is a former outlaw, something we learn later after an outlaw friend, saved from a kangaroo court's noose and played by Arthur Kennedy who turns... well... that's a spoiler: What's important is that with Kennedy's initially friendly charm turned cocky bravado, BEND wouldn't be much at all. Rock Hudson as a handsome gambler adds very little...<br>
<br>
It's about Kennedy and Stewart — the latter turning into what we'd later refer to as the "Rambo" character or, before that, MR. MAJESTYK: an underrated guy who shows his resilient worth against a ton of odds and proves he's more cunning and badass than any other badass within an untamed terrain that he's become used to. A shame that it took so long for this too happen, before which we got otherwise good actress Julia Adams reacting hilariously slow to an arrow through her chest, and too many familiar character actors talking about what's about to happen. When it finally does — blink once and it's gone.<br>

action, adventure, anthony mann, arthur kennedy, fifties, james stewart, jay c. flippen, julie adams, rock hudson, western

JAMES STEWART & ARTHUR KENNEDY IN 'BEND OF THE RIVER'

Arthur Kennedy and James Stewart in Bend of the River directed by Anthony Mann YEAR: 1952 Of James Stewart's "Cowboy Pictures&q...

GEORGE C. SCOTT DRIVES RICHARD FLEISCHER'S 'THE LAST RUN'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t--9nAfRu7c/XX9rnOJdbLI/AAAAAAABHns/Kw4JmzmM3L86OfzFvgnWsvLLhu49ImNxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-09-16%2Bat%2B3.42.54%2BAM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="1118" height="263" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t--9nAfRu7c/XX9rnOJdbLI/AAAAAAABHns/Kw4JmzmM3L86OfzFvgnWsvLLhu49ImNxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-09-16%2Bat%2B3.42.54%2BAM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>George C. Scott & Tony Musante in The Last Run Year: 1971 </u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There's something about Tony Musante that makes you want to punch him in the nose. Perfect for an actor like George C. Scott, who didn't suffer fools, on or off the set, including original director John Huston replaced by Richard Fleischer...<br>
<br>
In THE LAST RUN Scott plays an aged getaway driver hired to take an escaped convict (whom he helped escape) on a score, and the entire Spain setting harbors either the painted landscape countrysides or, there and back along a winding road, a deep blue fisherman's beach. The tagline states, "In the tradition of Hemingway and Bogart," but with a Jerry Goldsmith score detailed by a haunting, reposeful harpsichord, it's more Spaghetti Western with random bursts of action throughout an edgy road trip from one double-cross to another chance to score, and with some twists and turns that shouldn't be spoiled in-between...<br>

action, caper, chase, colleen dewhurst, crime, george c. scott, getaway driver, neo noir, richard fleischer, seventies, tony musante, trish van devere, warner archives

GEORGE C. SCOTT DRIVES RICHARD FLEISCHER'S 'THE LAST RUN'

George C. Scott & Tony Musante in The Last Run Year: 1971 There's something about Tony Musante that makes you want to punch him ...

NEO NOIR DARK COMEDY CHAOS OF 'A SIMPLE FAVOR'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QTcehE4EbNg/W7M0LM7meSI/AAAAAAAA6PA/tbDXuzEN8kYmxN5K6u208csBO1uezWZxQCLcBGAs/s1600/A-Simple-Favor-2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="508" height="252" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QTcehE4EbNg/W7M0LM7meSI/AAAAAAAA6PA/tbDXuzEN8kYmxN5K6u208csBO1uezWZxQCLcBGAs/s400/A-Simple-Favor-2.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year of Release: 2018</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Whoever gets in the middle of a husband and wife in any kind of Film Noir... old or new, serious, comedy or somewhere in-between... is gonna go through the ringer, and that ringer is much stronger during the setup of A SIMPLE FAVOR than when Anna Kendrick's nice single widowed mother starts to figure things out about a beautiful mystery woman who mysteriously goes missing...<br>
<br>
Basically, you don't realize how good it is during the first half since it's rather dizzying figuring things out: A character-driven dark comedy by director Paul Fieg that's more SPY than BRIDESMAIDS in its maze-like plot-shifts and unpredictable twists and turns, although, like both, it centers on an unlikely friendship between two polar opposite women thrust into a circumstance beyond their control, and...<br>
<br>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l-I_YB7roqE/W7M1ABFSh1I/AAAAAAAA6PM/qcgNy_h2yGY3jqMM5x2C3A-WXsPiW9aiwCLcBGAs/s1600/A-Simple-Favor-Anna-Kendrick-Blake-Lively.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="329" height="273" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l-I_YB7roqE/W7M1ABFSh1I/AAAAAAAA6PM/qcgNy_h2yGY3jqMM5x2C3A-WXsPiW9aiwCLcBGAs/s320/A-Simple-Favor-Anna-Kendrick-Blake-Lively.jpg" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Simple Favor Score: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Well there's a lot <i>not</i> to spoil here, which is the point of these kind of Thrillers that are equally of the Mystery genre without a handful of culprits to choose from. There are only three here that matter, and the man in the middle of these two sharp, savvy dames is much too young-looking, standard-handsome and, supposedly a once gifted writer, he doesn't seem experienced or timeworn enough to be a has-been at anything. So the girls have twice the work despite one being off screen for way too long...<br>
<br>
And with all the running around, whether A SIMPLE FAVOR needs a longer, more fleshed-out first act; a stronger, tighter second act;
 or a shorter, less meandering third act can be figured out after more than one viewing. And it's a fun, suspenseful, entertaining enough picture to catch 
again sometime. The main problem is these two very important characters, who are not only friends, but supposedly <i>best friends</i>, never had a chance to get to know each other deeply enough to make their eventual rivalry matter like it should. And as an audience, we can only care as much as they do.<br>
<br>

2018, anna kendrick, blake lively, dark comedy, neo noir, new, paul feig, thriller

NEO NOIR DARK COMEDY CHAOS OF 'A SIMPLE FAVOR'

Year of Release: 2018 Whoever gets in the middle of a husband and wife in any kind of Film Noir... old or new, serious, comedy or somewh...

JMT

Written by James M. Tate / 10/31/2018 / No comments / andrew hubatsek , cult , eighties , horror , jamie lee curtis , kathryn bigelow , nineties , profile , thriller , tom sizemore

Written by James M. Tate / 10/28/2018 / No comments / horror , julia roberts , kevin bacon , kiefer sutherland , nineties , oliver platt , supernatural , thriller

Written by James M. Tate / 10/27/2018 / No comments / action , belinda balaski , christopher stone , dee wallace , dennis dugen , dick miller , horror , joe dante , john carradine , kevin mccarthy , slim pickens

Written by James M. Tate / 10/22/2018 / No comments / 2018 , body count , franchise , halloween , horror , jamie lee curtis , new , sequel , thriller , will patton

Written by James M. Tate / 10/19/2018 / No comments / action , adventure , chuck norris , david carradine , donna gordon , eighties , jack o'halloran , karate , m. emmett walsh , mary-louise weller , richard lynch , seventies , sport , stephen furst

Written by James M. Tate / 10/18/2018 / No comments / 2018 , action , cop , nathan fillion , series , TV

Written by James M. Tate / 10/13/2018 / No comments / everette sloane , fifties , gene tierney , jacques tourneur , richard boone , rory calhoun , western

Written by James M. Tate / 10/11/2018 / No comments / comedy , exploitation , michael pataki , mike kellin , robyn hilton , satire , seventies

Written by James M. Tate / 10/10/2018 / No comments / bob odenkirk , cable , crime , jonathan banks , neo noir , rhea seeborn , rhea seehorn , series

Written by James M. Tate / 10/07/2018 / No comments / action , burt lancaster , deborah kerr , drama , gene hackman , john frankenheimer , romance , scott wilson , sheree north , sixties , sport , suspense , william windom

Written by James M. Tate / 10/06/2018 / No comments / action , adventure , anthony mann , arthur kennedy , fifties , james stewart , jay c. flippen , julie adams , rock hudson , western

Written by James M. Tate / 10/03/2018 / No comments / action , caper , chase , colleen dewhurst , crime , george c. scott , getaway driver , neo noir , richard fleischer , seventies , tony musante , trish van devere , warner archives

Written by James M. Tate / 10/02/2018 / No comments / 2018 , anna kendrick , blake lively , dark comedy , neo noir , new , paul feig , thriller

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