Darren
Celluloid Junkie
Member Since: 06 Nov 2010
Location: Canada
Bio: watch good movies or die
https://boringculture.substack.com/
Pop culture thoughts here if you feel so inclined :)
https://boringculture.substack.com/
Pop culture thoughts here if you feel so inclined :)
Recent Ratings
Check out Darren's...
Mr. Deeds (2002) - Rated 23 Jun 2025
"As a big Sandler fan you have to accept that a few of his movies are going to hit you in a way that’s normally described by his critics. I guess this one is less annoying and shrill and more just dull. The groundwork being laid for his later Capra esque escapades. Winona Ryder and Sandler are both great screen presences but it’s just not enough. I will say tho that poem almost got me! Almost"
A Monkey in Winter (1962) - Rated 23 Jun 2025
"By modern paces and morals this is iffy bordering on abhorrent but Belmondo and Gabin have a delightful little relationship with good chemistry. Plus there’s just so many beautiful shots of a beautiful place. You can just vibe out and wish you were in Normandy"
Flaming Star (1960) - Rated 22 Jun 2025
"I loved in particular how welcoming the NDN folks were to their old kin when it showed that the white folks held no such place for him (outside of his family of course). A rather hauntingly beautiful goodbye between white father and NDN son where a hug is given and those words of you’ll always been my boy pierce the soul but it’s not enough to change a decision that’s been caused by generations of pain and forced changes for “progress”."
Moderato cantabile (1960) - Rated 22 Jun 2025
"Moreau/Belmondo look as beautiful as one can possibly look on screen but ultimately this type of movie just isn’t my bag if it’s not asking anything deeper than a typical boredom with society. This became rampant in a lot of 60s American pictures where the sympathy is supposed to be felt for someone bored with having it all but the back and forth and eventual and obvious love between Belmondo and Moreau was infectious. Some great shadow work capturing Moreau in particular but ultimately a slog"
Freud (1962) - Rated 22 Jun 2025
"Huston captures Freud in an interesting way and the casting of Clift as Freud is an inspiring choice that connects the entire thing. The expressionistic while probing atmosphere clings to his entire being as an actor on screen. Sort of uses the biopic to examine what Freudian means with regards to the form of cinema than as an examination of just Freud himself. Some just beautiful photography but can’t say I wasn’t a little on the bored side when it came to this."
Our Dancing Daughters (1928) - Rated 22 Jun 2025
"maudlin and the overtly melodramatic in the end ( a literal falling to your death via your vices) but it’s still a rather complex look at the nature of the relationships. With the changing of society for women in relationships. How we view sexuality and the guilts involved with it still haven’t really changed in our more puritanical western society. About how women are at a constant push and pull with ambitions of work and family."
Navy Blues (1929) - Rated 17 Jun 2025
"Anita page is a delight but everything else is just more annoying than anything else. Williams Haines doesn’t really work for me as a lead especially in these talkies. The type of movie that is shocking that it’s even still available to idiots like me to at least get hope that their romantic movies could also be terrible in classical Hollywood era"
Bring Her Back (2025) - Rated 17 Jun 2025
"Very few movies have what it takes to be this mean spirited especially one as popular as this one. One of those movies where every new detail extracted is adding to the pile of misery for the characters but it’s not wholly misanthropic which actually makes it work. Sally Hawkins really does flip her entire shtick on its head to a wonderfully deranged degree. Some images still haunting me a week since I’ve seen it and probably won’t go away so. The true mark of a good horror"
Dangerous Animals (2025) - Rated 11 Jun 2025
"Needed it to be a little trashier for me to fully love it tho. Not nearly enough kills! The cat and mouse thing only works for so long with how repetitive it is in a confined space and one actor clearly being out of their element but I will say the end set piece is spectacular. Just gorgeous use of slow mo nature work as well and an added little voyeur perversion for the freaks out there. Those deaths are gnarly in the directors eye"
The Steel Trap (1952) - Rated 11 Jun 2025
"You’d almost want more tension or social pull if Cotten and Wright weren’t just amazing in this. They have great chemistry that just creates a world from their relationship where you can’t wait to see if Cotten’s secret can be kept. The first generation of American’s whose issues are middle class issues. Where there’s just a wondering if something better is out there even if everyone even a decade prior was literally killing for your lifestyle. A convincing inner monologue helps sell the sizzle"
