Moose And The Movies

Blue Steel, 1990, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Lionsgate Films blu-ray (2023), 3.5 stars. Jamie Lee Curtis gets top billing in this gritty, intense, deliberately paced psycho-thriller about a rookie New York City street cop who finds herself the object of a serial killer's crazed, kinky obsessions. Ron Silver, who was in what seems like eight out of every 10 movies in the 1980s and '90s, is the formidable yuppie psycho who just can't quit her. Blue Steel isn't a mystery. All of its secrets are revealed right away. Rather, it's a simmering cat-and-mouse chase that keeps us tantalized pretty much start to finish. Kathryn Bigelow isn't afraid to brandish her influences in this, her third directorial effort. Blue Steel plays as an updated 1970s-style cops-and-crazies action thriller with more than a pinch of 1980s-era slasher-stalker vibes mixed in. It all blends together very well into an exciting, edge-of-your-seat ride. Of course, you know the whole time you'...

The Fog, 1980, directed by John Carpenter, streamed on Prime Video, 1.5 stars. That was painful. Movies that begin with an old sea captain telling tales about shipwrecks and ghosts and then, a few minutes later, have a character read a journal entry aloud to explain the convoluted back story do not work for me at all. I was zoned out of this from the get-go, and I never could find my way back. I had a hard time staying awake through this slog of a movie. I gave this one a shot, knowing it was a John Carpenter entry that came between Halloween and Escape From New York. I thought it would at least be interesting. It wasn't. Some credit because it was cool seeing Jamie Lee Curtis and Janet Leigh in the same movie and because the cinematography was a great leap forward for Carpenter. But it really was quite boring.    ---------------------- Purchase at Amazon on DVD or blu-ray (I am an Amazon affiliate, and your clicks help support this blog.)