Jaws 3-D (1983)
[3] The shark is back, this time working its way into Sea World in Florida where it threatens the tourists. Now, I'm okay if you want to keep bringing back the same shark for four movies, even though it is literally blown…
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
[7] Elia Kazan (East of Eden) made the jump from Broadway plays to feature films with this adaptation of the book by Betty Smith. The story centers around a young girl named Francie growing up in Brooklyn in the early 1900's. Her…
The Dunwich Horror (1970)
[5] Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee headline this so-so adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story. I gotta say, I've yet to see a Lovecraft adaptation I really like. The internalized dread and abstract horror just don't translate to film very well. Anyway,…
Mommie Dearest (1981)
[7] Mommie Dearest is something else. I can't tell if it's trying to be an earnest expose on the turbulent home life of legendary star Joan Crawford and her adopted daughter, Christina, or if the dark comedy and camp value were intentional. The film…
The Town (2010)
[7] Ben Affleck stars in and directs this drama/thriller about a bank robber who falls in love with the manager at a bank he recently took down while he plans his next heist and evades the FBI. Affleck is a solid director,…
Hot Rod (2007)
[4] Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg stars in this comedy about an aspiring stunt man trying to raise money for his step-father's heart transplant. I like Samberg, but he isn't quite charismatic or funny enough to carry this particular movie over the…
Strange Behavior (1981)
[4] Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters) co-wrote this low-budget horror flick that dovetails two storylines -- one involving a scientist medically experimenting on teenagers to turn them into controlled assassins, and one about a widower sheriff trying to solve the mystery surrounding…
The Beguiled (2017)
[7] Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides) tackles an obscure remake of a 1971 film based on a book by Thomas Cullinan. The Civil War-era story centers around a small group of women and girls who are living in a nearly-abandoned but still operational girl's…
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)
[4] American International Pictures uses Edgar Allan Poe's story as a backdrop for what is really an original mystery story about actors in a turn-of-the-century Grand Guignol theater who are being murdered one by one. Jason Robards headlines as one of the troup,…
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)
[7] Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. star in this odd hybrid of biopic and fable that mixes elements from the lives of photographer Diane Arbus and a hirsute freakshow performer named Lionel. Kidman plays Arbus, a woman who in the 1950s had…