Viewings: February 2025

The predictable winter doldrum and real life commitments took their stranglehold this month. Still, two oldies, but new to me films, earned my appreciation during this period. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's fantastic, psychological thriller Cure and Joseph H. Lewis's noir trendsetter Gun Crazy were my personal highlights.

I also reviewed Dellamorte Dellamore and Singapore Sling; two avant garde European flicks from the '90s that no self respecting genre movie fan should overlook.

Also managed to fit the entirety of the final season of Cobra Kai over the course of a weekend. A fitting farewell to Johnny Lawrence and a show which expertly appealed to generations old and new.

 

Film:

Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950)*

Streetwalkin' (Joan Freeman, 1985)

Singapore Sling (Nikos Nikolaidis, 1990)

Dellamorte Dellamore AKA Cemetery Man (Michele Soavi, 1994)

Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997)*

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (Junta Yamaguchi, 2020)*

Underwater (William Eubanks, 2020)

The Brutalist (Brady Corbet, 2024/2025)*

Companion (Drew Hancock, 2025)*

The Gorge (Scott Derrickson, 2025)*

 

Television:

The Avengers ‘The Positive Negative Man’ (Robert Day, 1967)*

Cobra Kai: Season 6 (Various, 2024/2025)*

 

*First time viewings.

 

Dada Debaser Notes:

• As entertaining as Streetwalkin' is, it pales in comparison to Vice Squad (1982), an even sleazier and more outrageous crime thriller, with Wings Hauser as the unforgettable Ramrod, the psycho pimp.
• Despite its flaws, I really like Underwater a lot. Sea monsters and K. Stew channelling Sigourney Weaver in her underwear, make this a very enjoyable ninety minute B-movie.
• Speaking of Sigourney Weaver, The Gorge attempts a mishmash of genres and winds up being a mess. Whose idea was it to shove a heavy romance plot in a sci-fi/horror plot and release it for Valentine's Day, I'll never know, but I did enjoy Anya Taylor Joy's Ramones look and sniping to Blitzkrieg Bop.
• Sophie Thatcher might be a rising star, but tedious millennial writing make Companion the most eye rolling and inferior entry in the recent spate of killer, lady droid films. Much prefer the M3GAN Fox one, to be honest.
• The Droste effect featured in Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is great conceptually, but the gimmick runs dry after multiple repetitions. Despite its short time, the film still manages to lose its steam.
• Brady Corbet's shameless Oscar bait, The Brutalist, is a three and a half hour slog I never want to revisit ever again. I wonder if the title meant Adrian Brody's architectural style, or Guy Pearce assaulting Brody's buttress, though. 

On a final note: R.I.P. to screen legend Gene Hackman!