“Suspiria”
A re-make of the cult horror classic from 41 years ago, originally directed by Asia Argento’s dad, Dario. The original starred Jessica Harper who has just a small role here. Dakota Johnson plays a ballet student who joins a prestigious dance troupe in Germany, which happens to be run by men-hating witches- including Tilda Swinton (who actually has 2 roles in this movie). It’s pure arthouse, which means long (2 hours 40 minutes) and confusing as hell. In fact, I call it this year’s “Mother,” the Darren Aronofsky horror from last year starring Jennifer Lawrence, who was his gf ‘til the movie bombed- no one understood what the f was going on!
“Suspiria” is a “gorgy”- a gore orgy. It’s sexy, bloody, stylish and incomprehensible. Surprisingly, the director gave us last year’s award winning “Call Me by Your Name,” Luca Guadagnino. Props go to Johnson for doing 90% of the dancing and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke for his terrific score- it’s probably the best thing about the movie! Oh- Chloe Grace Moretz has a small role- you might not even know it’s her. BTW, original director Dario Argento was opposed to re-making his cult classic, which bombed when it first opened.
1 ♥
“Weed the People”
A doc about pot as a cancer CURE debuts. Producer Ricki Lake (yes, as in “Hairspray” and the youngest TV talk show host ever at 24) joins me on “Sonstein Sunday” along with director Abbie Epstein.
4 ♥
“Hunter Killer”
I was spared sitting through this one, which gets just 31% on Rotten Tomatoes. Gerard Butler (“Olympus Had Fallen”) basically does “Olympus Has Sunken”- starring as a submarine captain trying to save the world from WW3, thanks to a Russian coup. Common, Gary Oldman and Linda Cardellini (“Mad Men”) co-star.
"Johnny English Strikes Again"
Rowan Atkinson returns as the accidental secret agent, brought out of retirement. I didn’t see it but it gets just 36% on Rotten Tomatoes.
“The Oath”
The Tiffany Haddish political satire I loved is still in theaters and writer/director/producer/star Ike Barinholtz joins me on “Sonstein Sunday” this week at 7 am.