Movies I Watched in July, Part 1

Given that August is half over and my week of vacation is almost completely over, I suppose it's high time I returned to this sadly neglected blog and shared my cinema viewing for the month of July. Let's make this quick, shall we?
One of my all-time favorites, rewatched for an episode of our Out of Theaters podcast . Great, gritty 1970s movie full of big laughs and small touches, the rare comedy that really creates a whole, believable world to showcase the jokes (and, given that this is a film about a dying hockey team in a dying steel town, more dramatic moments as well.) It's also arguably Paul Newman's greatest movie performance -- and it was his personal favorite, too. Listen to the podcast here and read way more about my thoughts on "Slap Shot" here .

Following up June's viewing of "The Guest," Amy and I checked out this smart little thriller, the previous film from writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard. Essentially a twist on the (excellent) 2008 horror movie "The Strangers," "You're Next" also takes place at an out-of-the-way residence where a gang of killers in creepy masks start murdering everyone. One of the twists in this movie is that Erin (Sharni Vinson), who's been invited to the anniversary party of her boyfriend's rich parents, is the only one who's able to handle things when the blood begins to spatter. The other twist I won't reveal, except to say that it all makes perfect sense and provides just the sort of third act jolt a movie like this needs. Bonus points for casting '80s horror icon Barbara Crampton ("Re-Animator," "From Beyond") as the mom.

Watched this one for a "family movie night," chosen mainly because, given Allie's love of sea creatures, she'd appreciate the whale angle of the plot. She was entertained, to be sure, but I think she got as much a kick out of the comedy stylings of William Shatner as she did from the whales. It's a very 1980s movie, but it holds up pretty well, though the damned story takes forever to get started. I do like the fact that, for once, the alien in a "Star Trek" movie (or, really, any science fiction movie) is genuinely alien -- we don't know what they look like, what they think like or even really what they're trying to do -- hence the need to travel back in time and snag some humpback whales.

This was an odd one, to be sure. For one thing, it was obviously a vehicle to launch the comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney, a sub-Abbott and Costello duo that lacks much in the field of personality, laughs or talent. To make things even stranger, the plot involves those guys traveling to a Caribbean Island to find a zombie, just so ominous nightclub owner Sheldon Leonard (who would play Nick in "It's a Wonderful Life" in a couple of years) can have a genuine zombie at his new club and not look the fool in front of a vindictive columnist. (This is the most far-fetched columnist-driven plot since "The Fountainhead.") Plus, the doctor on the island creating those zombies is played by none other than Bela Lugosi. And, topping off all that strangeness, as columnist Glenn Erickson points out over at his DVD Savant review , because the movie co-stars actor/musician Sir Lancelot  and Darby Jones AND uses bits of the score from Val Lewton's classic "I Walked with a Zombie," (plus the same song sung by Sir Lancelot) it's actually a semi-official RKO spin-off of that very serious and somber movie. It's no "I Walked with a Zombie," of course, but I have to admit, I enjoyed it, for all the reasons listed above plus the use of pop-out eyes when our comedic heroes get turned into zombies. Comedy!

Coming up next: An acclaimed romantic comedy about the news biz, a big-budget super-hero movie, a classic thriller and a really dull rock and roll movie.