"Bug"

[Magical Realist]

This was I think William Friedkin's last film which I saw in a theater in 2007. Creepy as hell especially if you have ever experienced drug-induced hallucinations and paranoia as I have. I highly recommend. Available for free on Tubi and Plex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMRljLE8gQA

[C C]

This was I think William Friedkin's last film which I saw in a theater in 2007. Creepy as hell especially if you have ever experienced drug-induced hallucinations and paranoia as I have. I highly recommend. Available for free on Tubi and Plex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMRljLE8gQA

Ah, Friedkin. I've surely seen it before, but am drawing a blank. Crowded out by too many rivals struggling for storage unit space over the years. They need to get the restored and uncut version of "Sorcerer" on one or all of those three (that's including Pluto TV).

And "Bug" is one that I missed on the partial list that I accumulated. The rest are these (some of which I've already recently watched and crossed off on paper).

Black Bear

The Descent (2005)

It Comes at Night (2017)

The Blackcoat's Daughter

The Beach House

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

The Machine (2013)

B'Twixt Now and Sunrise

The Cabin in the Woods

Daybreakers

The Impossible (incredibly, I've resisted ever seeing it)

Sisu (even "action-film" hubby just did not watch it over the three years prior)

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (watched this ages ago, but it's arguably an obscure flick, and I need to refresh memory on what the comic book slash pulp-art appearance of it was like)

Solomon Kane
- - - - -

Of course, there are ones like "Ex Machina" or "The Arrival" or "Minority report" that are out front and don't need to be dug up, or everyone has certainly watched before in years past.

[C C]

This makes Robert Altman's "That Cold Day in the Park", "Images" and "3 Women" look like a trip through Sanity Town. It's as if there was actually some "hidden hand" reason why I inexplicably waited until now to finally watch "Bug".

Yet another annoying coincidence, too. The movie that I randomly watched before this one was "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead", which also has Michael Shannon in it (playing a lesser role). I paid zero previous attention to the fact that he co-stars in "Bug" (Judd was the only cast member I noticed).

[Magical Realist]

I watched it again and realized how "playlike" it is. Driven by strong dialogue and characters, all generally happening in one setting. But then that's why I love films based on plays. The dialogue and the acting. So missing in today's CGI-driven blockbusters.

[C C]

I watched it again and realized how "playlike" it is. Driven by strong dialogue and characters, all generally happening in one setting.

Apparently Shannon even played Peter in some stage productions a decade prior. I've never seen Friedkin's "Jade", so that's something to add to my list (and maybe revisit more of his films).

But then that's why I love films based on plays. The dialogue and the acting. So missing in today's CGI-driven blockbusters.

Yah, it's ironic how the best movies don't make money like the "comic book" and "shoot'em slash blow'em up" box office champs. And as a result, the former should make it to the "free with ads" market faster or more frequently. And films from decades past are superior (excluding today's independent films).

Too bad that doesn't apply to top echelon TV programming. The free services do feature AMC shows like "Breaking Bad", "Mad Men" and so forth on their "live channels", but they're presented in that helter-skelter binge mode of multiple episodes in a row. If they're available in the "On Demand" section at all, that's usually limited to one or two seasons.

But occasionally there's an arguably good, low-ranker like "Mr Robot" or "Bates Motel" (at CW) deposited fully in "On Demand". And as old as it is, all seven seasons of "The Shield" had better be on Tubi. I'm surprised that "Lost" -- which wasn't even a cable-tv product, has never appeared on the free services. Is it really that revered all these years later? (But OTOH, formulaic "Supernatural" also has that status.)

Even though "Hemlock Grove" received poor ratings from critics, it's still a sick, twisted jaunt into "classic monsters" land (Frankenstein daughter, upiórs, lycanthropes). A kind of "Gilligan's Island" version of horror where the viewer is merely looking to mindlessly relax and not have to think about much.