Catching Up With The Films of 2019: Late Night (dir by Nisha Ganatra)

Posted on December 25, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling) has just gotten a new job. A struggling comedienne who, up until now, has been forced to test out her best material on her coworkers at a chemical plant, Molly is hired to join the writing staff of late night talk show host, Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson). Even though Molly knows that she was largely hired so that the show could claim to have a diverse writing staff (all of the other writers are white males), she is still thrilled to be working for Katherine. Why wouldn’t she be? Katherine is a notoriously difficult boss who can’t even be bothered to learn the names of most of the people working for her but Katherine is also a legend, one of the first women to ever host her own late night talk show.

Of course, all legends have to come to an end and Katherine’s career as a late night talk show host appears to be in its final days. Katherine’s rating have been in a steep decline for several years and her nonthreatening monologues and habit of booking guests like Doris Kearns Goodwin are not doing much to reverse the trend. Safely hidden away in her mansion and continually worried about the health of her Parkinson’s-stricken husband, Walter (John Lithgrow), Katherine has grown out of touch. Making matters even worse, the president of the network (played by Mindy Kaling’s Office co-star, Amy Ryan) hates Katherine and is eager to replace her with an obnoxious, Dane Cook-style comedian named Daniel Tennant (Ike Barinholtz).

Molly’s new job is a struggle at first. The other writers dismiss Molly as merely being a “diversity hire” while Katherine often seems to be put off by Molly’s cheerful earnestness. Over time, Molly proves herself and soon, she’s inspiring Katherine to refuse to leave her show without a fight. Gone are bland monologues and boring presidential historians, replaced by politically charged humor and YouTube stars.

Late Night, as you may remember, was a huge hit at Sundance back in January. Amazon Studios paid 13 million for the distribution rights. The film was released in June to generally positive reviews and …. well, it made very little money. Despite an extensive advertising campaign and a deluge of think pieces that literally begged audiences to see the film, Late Night flopped at the box office and it is estimated that, taking into account the film’s ad campaign, Amazon lost about 40 million dollars on the film.

Why wasn’t Late Night a bigger success at the box office? At the time, the popular answer was misogyny. While one should never discount that, I think that the film’s failure had more to do with the fact that the ad campaign made Late Night look more like the latest Netflix series than an actual cinematic experience. Like a lot of movies about TV, Late Night was a film that seemed like it could wait for television. I mean, I am the film’s target audience and even I waited to watch the film on Prime.

As for the film itself, it’s flawed but likable. Along with co-starring in the film, Mindy Kaling wrote the script and the dialogue is consistently witty, even if the plot occasionally struggles to keep up. At its best, this is a fun movie to listen to. Visually, the film’s a bit flat and there’s a big third act development that feels a bit forced but, for the most part, the film works. Not surprisingly, Emma Thompson is perfectly cast as Katherine and she delivers her razor sharp lines with the right mix of scorn and pathos. Mindy Kaling effortlessly holds her own opposite Thompson and even John Lithgow, who can usually be counted upon to chew every piece of scenery available to him, is effective in his small but important role. In the end, it’s kind of a sweet film and there’s something touchingly naive about the film’s steadfast belief that a late night talk show can actually be worth all the trouble.

Late Night is available on Prime so check it out.

Lifetime Film Review: Recipe For Danger (dir by Lisa France)

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

What’s the perfect recipe for dangers in a Lifetime movie?

Well, you need a pinch of melodrama, a dash of empowerment, a tablespoon of a wimpy spouse, and a quart of psycho energy. Sorry, I’m not really much of a cook and you can probably already tell. Perhaps that’s why I’ve always been obsessed with cooking shows and movies about professional chefs. I watch and I think to myself, “How come they can do that when I can’t even make toast without nearly burning down the kitchen?” And, of course, I always take a bit of pleasure when Gordon Ramsay catches a professional chef trying to serve up raw lamb. “See!?” I shout at the TV, “It can happen to anyone!”

But to get back to my recipe. Here’s what you need to cook up some danger, Lifetime-style.

You need a protagonist who has a glamorous job and an attractive family. In the case of Recipe for Danger, Vanessa (Bree Williamson) is the head chef at a very successful restaurant. Vanessa has a super supportive husband (Adam Hurtig) and a super loyal best friend (Kate Yacula). Vanessa also has an adopted daughter named Lacy (Annelise Pollman).

You need to have a bit of a moral panic. In this case, Vanessa is warned that she’s oversharing on social media. She’s constantly posting pictures of her life and writing about Lacy’s accomplishments. She’s warned that, if she’s not careful, she’s going to end up with a stalker. Vanessa laughs off the danger. She’s proud of her daughter. She has a great life. Why shouldn’t she share?

And, of course, you need a psycho! In this case, that psycho would be Taryn (Sarah Lind). Taryn’s is Lacy’s birth mother and she wants her daughter back. Due to Vanessa’s habit of oversharing, Taryn has been able to track them down. (Who’s laughing now, Vanessa!?) Taryn manages to get a job working in Vanessa’s restaurant and soon, she and Vanessa are besties! Everyone tries to warn Vanessa that something is off about Taryn but Vanessa refuses to listen. Of course, eventually, Taryn kidnaps Lacy. Can Vanessa rescue Lacy and how many people will end up in the hospital before Taryn’s rampage ends?

This was a pretty standard Lifetime kidnapping film, though I did like the fact that, rather than passively going along with being kidnapping, Lacy was always looking for an opportunity to escape and she got a chance to prove herself to be considerably more clever than even her own birth mother gave her credit for being. Sarah Lind’s been in quite a few Lifetime films and she does a pretty good job as Taryn, providing a nice balance between charm and psychosis.

In the end, Recipe for Danger is a filling if rather traditional meal.

Lifetime Film Review: He’s Out To Get You (dir by Nadeem Soumah)

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, put yourself in the shoes of Megan (Samaire Armstrong).

You had a wonderful husband. You had a young child. You were out driving one day and, because you took your eyes off the road, you ended up having a head-on collision with another vehicle. You survived. Your husband did not. Your child is dead. What do you do?

Well, Megan decides to check herself into a mental hospital and it’s there that she stays for the next four years. Because she checked herself in, she can also check herself out. Eventually, she decides to do just that. Her doctor thinks that Megan isn’t ready to reenter society but Megan is determined to return to her hometown and reunite with her brother.

Her brother, Greg, lives in a house on a hill that overlooks the ocean. It’s a big house that towers over the otherwise dead end small town below. As Duke (Rob Mayes), the local bartender puts it, it doesn’t look like it belongs in the town. Greg has lived in the house since the death of his and Megan’s parents but when Megan arrives, Greg is nowhere to be found!

When Mega asks around town, everyone insists that they’ve never heard of this mysterious Greg. At first, Megan thinks that it might be because Greg was always a bit of a recluse. But, as the days drags on and she can still find no sign of her bother, Megan starts to think that something has happened to Greg. Could it be a conspiracy or could it all be coincidence?

Or ….. is it possible that Megan never had a brother to begin with!? That’s certainly what the unhelpful sheriff (Bart Johnson) seems to think. In fact, the only person who seems to have any faith in Megan is Duke but Duke has a shady history of his own. Duke not only is a former burglar but he has plans that require more money than he probably possesses. Is Duke to be trusted or is he lying about what he knows?

And who put that rattlesnake in Megan’s car!?

Yes, the plot of He’s Out To Get You raises a lot of questions. They’re all answered and some of the answers are more satisfactory than others. This is one of those films that sets up an intriguing mystery but which doesn’t quite come up with a satisfying solution. To be honest, though, none of that really matters because — OH MY GOD, THE HOUSE IS FREAKING GORGEOUS!

I have often stated on this site that one of the main things that I love about Lifetime films is seeing the huge houses in which they take place. I mean, Lifetime has featured a lot of truly stunning homes. But I don’t know if Lifetime has ever featured house quite as impressive as the one in He’s Out To Get You. Seriously, this house is huge and it’s tastefully decorated and it has a nice pool and, most importantly, the view is absolutely to die for! Would I kill to own that house? Well, maybe not quite but I’d definitely consider it.

As for the rest of the film, it’s well-acted and the villains are properly hissable. I liked Duke, the morally ambiguous bartender and I thought Rob Mayes did a great job with the role. That said, the house is definitely the star.

Seriously, it’s beautiful.

Lifetime Film Review: Most Likely To Murder (dir by Kaila York)

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh Hell Yeah! Now, seriously, this is the perfect Lifetime movie!

Welcome to Lifetime High School! It’s a school where students plot to win awards, the mean girls are at war with the one nice girl, the cheereleaders determine who is popular and who is a pariah, and where social media is both a great equalizer and a deadly weapon. It’s just like any other high school, except it’s a Lifetime high school. That means that everything is juts a little bit more extreme than usual. Whereas regular high school cheerleaders might inspire someone to develop an eating disorder, Lifetime cheerleaders plant drugs on their rivals and arrange for season-ending injuries. And, if that doesn’t work, there’s always murder….

Poor Casey (Madison McLaughlin)! She used to be popular. She used to be a cheerleader. She used to be the one making other people insecure and giving them eating disorders. But, things happens. Things change. Her father was killed in a housefire and now, Casey wears a wig to cover up her own scars. Casey’s mother (Heather McComb) now works as a waitress and is dating a loser named Harlen (Brendan McCarthy). Casey’s former best friend, Hailey (Ava Allan), is now her greatest enemy, which means that Hailey not only delights in stealing Casey’s wig but she also plots to make each and every one of Casey’s humiliations go viral.

(You can tell this is a Lifetime High School film because, whenever anyone looks at their phone, they immediately exclaim, “You’re going viral!”)

However, Reagan (Bayley Corman) wants to help Casey out. Reagan’s a cheerleader but, because she went through a lengthy “ugly duckling” phase, she still feels a lot of compassion for the downtrodden. Reagan befriends Casey. Regan encourages Casey to tell the entire school about the fire and to reveal that scars underneath her wig. Reagan defends Casey against the abuse of Hailey and she tells Casey that she shouldn’t be ashamed of her mother’s waitressing job. She even encourages Casey to believe that she might win the year-end award for “Most Inspiring” student!

Of course, Hailey and her friend, Clair (Ashlee Fuss), keep telling Reagan that Casey isn’t the perfect, shy person that she pretends to be. They say that Casey shouldn’t be trusted. Reagan refuses to believe them. After all, Clair’s just mad because she broken her ankle in a mysterious accident. And Hailey’s been upset ever since the cops discovered the stash of pills in her backpack. (Of course, Hailey swears that the pills don’t belong to her, which sounds like something a pill-popping cheerleader would say….) Reagan has no reason to believe Hailey and Clair but …. what if they’re right!?

Most Likely To Murder is a lot of fun, precisely because, for the majority of the movie, only the viewers are aware that Casey’s not as innocent as she pretends to be and there’s something undeniably enjoyable about watching her yank the wool down over everyone’s eyes. She may be a menace but she’s a clever menace and that makes her a lot of fun to watch. Madison McLaughlin does a great job in the role, making Casey not just dangerous but also sympathetic as well. I mean, as bad as Casey turns out to be, her tormentors aren’t much better. In the end, everyone’s kind of evil except for Reagan and her snarky friend, Taylor (Kara Royster). Needless to say, I’m a fan of any film where the snarky best friend is one of the heroes.

Most Likely To Murder provides exactly what you want from a Lifetime film — melodrama, murder, and high school backstabbing. It’s a lot of fun and one to keep an eye out for.

Lifetime Film Review: My Mom’s Darkest Secrets (dir by Curtis Crawford)

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The special bond between mother and daughter is a theme to which Lifetime often returns. It’s actually one of the reasons why I love the station and its films. Whether it’s a case of the mother having to save her daughter from a bad boyfriend or a daughter having to prove that her mother isn’t actually a murderer, it’s rare that I can’t find something to relate to whenever I watch one of those films. I imagine that’s true for everyone but that seems to be especially true for me.

My Mom’s Darkest Secrets is the latest Lifetime mother-daughter film and, before I get too much into the film and its plot, can I just mention how much I love that title? I mean that title features everything that we love about Lifetime. You’ve got the mother-daughter bond. You’ve got secrets. And you’ve got darkness. In fact, the title promises us more than the typical Lifetime film. We’re not just learning about a mother’s secrets. And we’re not just learning about her dark secrets. No — this movie is about her DARKEST secret! It’s like, “I have many secret and they’re all bad but this one is the absolute worst.” How can you not find that intriguing?

As for the film itself, it’s all about Ashley Beck-Ford (Nia Roam) and her mother, Sara (Laura Fortier). When Ashley was born, Sara gave up her daughter for adoption. Ashley was raised by two wonderful women and Lifetime presents Ashley’s adoptive moms in such a positive and lovable light that, even though the film was inevitably made before the recent controversy, it still feels like a massive “take that!” to Hallmark. (As often as they’re compared, Lifetime has always been more progressive than Hallmark.) However, Ashley has now tracked down Sara and she soon discovers that her birth mother is into all sorts of drama.

For instance, Sara’s husband has been murdered and the police suspect that Sara may have been the one responsible! Even worse, because Sara has arranged for Ashley to eventually inherit the dead man’s fortune, the cops also think that Ashley may have been involved as well! It’s now up to Sara to dig around and discover the truth and, of course, that’ll mean uncovering some of “my mom’s darkest secrets!”

I enjoyed My Mom’s Darkest Secrets. Both Sara and Ashley had red hair, so I could relate to them both. Beyond that, though, Nia Roam and Laura Fortier were both very well-cast. They had enough in common that you could look at them or listen to the talk and think to yourself, “Yes, they could very well be mother and daughter.” The credibility of their relationship added some depth and some nuance to the film’s central mystery. You watch the film and you hope that things work out for them because Sara and Ashley really do seem like they deserve to have that type of relationship that so many other people take for granted.

My Mom’s Darkest Secrets was on the Lifetime Movie Network last night and, with Lifetime being Lifetime, it’ll probably air several more time. So, keep an eye out for it!

Run Lola Run

Posted on December 12, 2019 by casewright

Run Lola Run has been on my film bucket list since I had hair. It was one of those films that you heard about from the cooler people you knew. It was the movie that the cool girls who babysat you when you were little talked about. It was pure Gen-X and I always looked up to that generation. I’m not an X-er, but they were damn cool. Lola embodies that generation. She’s so self-secure and tough and cool and hip and if you don’t like her- Whatever!

Yes, Gen-X women had a go F-yourself streak that if you didn’t like them, piss off. I was the beginning of the Millennial/Y generation who I guess got into avocado sandwiches or whatever they say about us. X was the generation that knew they were getting passed over because there was a bigger generation coming and the boomers did not want to get out of the way, but X embraced the suck of it all.

It is really sucky that Lola is in love with Manni who is a really mediocre criminal. Manni also loses things; such as, a bag of 100,000 Marks (60,000 USD) that belongs to a gangster. Oopsy! He is like the Anti-Lola: whiny, dumb, insecure, and unlike Lola -NO screaming telekinesis powers AT ALL! Yes, when she screams, it destroys or moves objects. Honestly, I couldn’t figure out why she liked Manni so much – FFS she has superpowers.

When Manni tells Lola that he lost the gangster’s money and says that he will rob a grocery store if she doesn’t get to him in twenty minutes, Lola literally RUNS into action. Yes, there is A LOT of running in this film. She runs in hallways, on sidewalks, on streets, away from cops, and accidentally towards cops. As she runs past people, we get a glimpse of the extras’ lives in THIS timeline and boy are these extras a bunch of cretins.

Timeline?! WHAT?! Yes, this movie is ALL about time travel. Lola needs to get the day right or she or her boyfriend or David Duchovny will die. I’m assuming Duchovny too because he was a 1990s GOD! She time trips three times to get it, to get it, to get it right child. I was going to reference some 1998 songs, but I looked them up and The Thong Song just sounds sad.

The movie blends light surrealism with action and really believable performances. You have this guttural feeling that this is a woman on her own, fighting her own fight, and you better get out of her way. Also, she’s the only person in the film who is pure-hearted. Her dad is a philandering banker asshat, her boyfriend is a milquetoast, and the people she bumps into show glimpses of their sinful lives. Lola is literally running around evil. She has great running form too; I ran track in high school and she’s got talent.

I hope she wins and saves her loser boyfriend.

Merry Christmas!!!

Lifetime Film Review: The Killer Next Door (dir by Ben Meyerson)

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Ah, the suburbs!

Listen, it doesn’t matter how big your house is or how nice of a career you’ve got going or how pretty your family might be. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a nice pool or a nice house or if your sister-in-law lives right next door. It doesn’t matter how friendly the neighbors seem to be or that there’s a really hot guy at your new job. If you live in the suburbs, you are screwed.

At least, that’s what I’ve learned from watching Lifetime movies. Now, I should admit that I live in a suburb and …. well, it’s pretty nice. But I’m guessing that my neighborhood must be the exception to the rule because, as I’ve learned from watching Lifetime, every other suburban neighborhood is a hotbed of murder, betrayal, and kidnapping.

Take The Killer Next Door, for instance!

Julie (Andrea Bogart) and her ten year-old son, Matty (Nicholas Borne), have just moved into a nice, big house in the suburbs. Julie’s been having a tough time ever since her husband was killed in a tragic auto accident. But, finally, it looks like things might be getting better! She’s got a new home and a new job as a personal trainer, where she meets big, handsome Blake (John-Michael Carlton). Living right next door, she’s get her sister-in-law, Alison (Hannah Barefoot). As Alison makes clear, she’s more than willing to help Julie in whatever way possible. Alison definitely wants to look after Matty whenever Julie can’t be there. In fact, Alison is so determined to be there for Matty that she even seems to get a little bit offended when Julie hires a nanny! Hmmmm, I wonder where this could be leading….

As Julie soon discovers, she’s moved into a very tight-knit and somewhat gossipy neighborhood. In fact, there’s even a website where everyone in the neighborhood can post comments about upcoming events, along with totally mean stuff about the newest member of the community! Julie quickly discovers — with Alison’s help — that her new neighbors apparently don’t like her! Little things — like taking the trash out on the wrong day — really set them off. And then there’s the time that Julie thinks Matty has been kidnapped and she gets the entire neighborhood to set up a search party, just for Alison to come driving up in her SUV with Matty sitting in the passenger’s seat. It was all just a misunderstanding! Needless to say, Julie’s neighbors are not amused. All that drama for nothing….

Anyway, no one should be shocked to discover that Alison isn’t exactly the benevolent sister-in-law that she pretends to be. In fact, she’s setting Julie up. But will Julie realize what’s happening or will she be too caught up in arguing with her neighbors to notice that Alison is stealing her son away from her? You’ll have to watch to find out….

I always enjoy a good, “evil in the suburbs” movie so I enjoyed The Killer Next Door. It’s pretty obvious from the start that Alison is not to be trusted but that’s actually what makes a movie like this fun. You know that Julie’s being set up and the suspense comes from trying to guess how long it’s going to take Julie to figure it out. Mostly, I liked the film’s portrayal of all of Julie’s gossipy neighbors. No matter what was happening, you could always be sure that one of them would pop up in the background with a disapproving look on their face. The Killer Next Door was a fun trip to Suburban Hell.

Lifetime Film Review: Stressed to Death (dir by Jared Cohn)

Posted on November 30, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Stressed to death?

Hey, I hear you, sister. We live in a stressful world. I mean, it’s the holidays. Not only do I have to make sure that all the members of my family have a merry gift-giving season but I also have to make sure that they know exactly what to buy me. On top of that, I’ve got a hundred movies that I still need to see, I’ve got Oscar season to keep up with, and I’ve got to keep this site updated with interesting information. Seriously, I can understand how you can get stressed to death….

Of course, the lead character in the Lifetime film, Stressed to Death, is suffering from maybe a little bit more stress than even I am. Having served in the middle east, Maggie (Gina Holden) has finally returned home and is now working as an EMT. She’s still haunted by flashbacks to one particularly harrowing firefight but she’s determined to get on with her life. She’s got a loving husband, Jason (Jason Gerhardt), and a daughter and a job that allows her to help people. But then, one night, she comes across a robbery taking place in a convenience store. An obviously deranged man has shot one man and is pointing his gun at a pregnant woman. When Maggie enters the store, she explains that she’s just an EMT and she’s here to save lives. She says that she just wants to take the man and the woman out of the store and get them medical attention. The gunman replies that she can only take one of them out of the store and he demands that she choose which one. Maggie chooses to save the pregnant woman. The robber than shoots the man to death.

Ten years later, Maggie is still haunted by that night. Her husband has a good job and they now live in a big house. Her daughter, Jane (Taylor Blackwell), is now a teenager and, while she’s somewhat of an outcast at school, she’s also extremely intelligent and appears to have a great future ahead of her. Maggie thinks that she’s ready to return to work as an EMT but, as her supervisor tells her, PTSD is nothing to take chances with.

Jason’s boss, Victoria (Sarah Aldrich), often complains that Jason isn’t ruthless enough. While Jason always wants to be a nice guy, Victoria insists that Jason should take no prisoners when it comes to making money. As critical as Victoria is, she also says that she appreciates the fact that Jane is tutoring her son. Of course, what neither Jason nor Maggie know is that Victoria is the widow of the man who was murdered in that convenience store. Victoria has waited ten years for vengeance and now, she’s determined to get it….

Stressed to Death starts with an interesting idea but then it eventually becomes a standard Lifetime abduction film, as two hitmen kidnap Jane and Maggie tries to rescue her daughter. The PTSD angle is never explored as much as the film’s title might lead you to expect. I mean, yes, Maggie is stressed but I imagine that even someone who has never served in the military would be equally stressed if their daughter was kidnapped by two hired killers. That said, Gina Holden did a good job in the role of Maggie and I liked that the character of Jane wasn’t just another typically perfect daughter. Instead, she was kind of quirky and easy to root for. As played by Sarah Aldrich, Victoria was an interesting villain. Though her plans were evil, you could sympathize with her pain and that’s an important thing. She wasn’t just a cardboard evil person. Instead, she was someone who was suffering just as much Maggie, Jason, and Jane.

It’s hard not to feel that Stressed to Death missed a few opportunities but it was still a diverting Lifetime film.

Lifetime Film Review: Instakiller (dir by Craig Goldstein)

Posted on November 30, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In a Lifetime film, the value of social media often depends on what time of year the film is taking place.

If it’s a Christmas film, social media is an amazingly helpful tool that helps single young women meet handsome carpenters and which also allows them to keep tabs on whether or not their hometown is going to be able to afford to put on the annual nativity pageant. Want to find the perfect Santa Claus? Well, just hop on Facebook and look up Kris Kringle! Want to discover that, because of a snow storm, you’re going to have to spend the Holidays in a Christmas-themed inn? Just check on twitter!

Of course, any other time of year, social media is portrayed as being the tool of the Devil. Social media is how con artists steal identities and how psychotic children track down their birth mothers. Social media is how lies are spread and how revenge porn pics are sent to everyone on Sunday morning and how stalkers can keep track of your every move. With the exception of the films that air during Christmas, Lifetime spends most of the year telling us that we all need to get off the grid and consider learning more about the Luddites. Perhaps we should all go to a religious retreat in the French wine country. That’s something that my sister Erin and I have often discussed doing. I don’t drink wine but I do speak French. She doesn’t speak French but she does drink wine. A year living offline, we’d make it work and, by the standards of Lifetime, we would both be a lot safer.

Take Instakiller, for instance. Harper (Lizze Broadway) is an aspiring fashion designer and influencer and her account on …. wait for it …. Instapixer (!) has suddenly become very popular. (One thing that I always enjoy about these Lifetime films is seeing the names that they come up with for the movie’s version of real-life social media companies. Degrassi featured two of my favorites, Facerange and MyRoom.) Unfortunately, Harper also has a stalker. He sends her creepy messages. He follows her as she walks home from school and takes pictures. (When confronted by a bystander, he smashes the man’s face into a car hood.) When Harper’s mom, Layla (Kelly Sullivan), forces Harper to delete her account, the stalker sits in his car and screams. Soon, the stalker is attacking people with golf clubs and strangling them with jumper cables.

Who is Harper’s stalker? Could it be one of the customers at her family’s coffee shop? Could it be one of Harper’s coworkers or even one of her friends? There’s one obvious suspect but he’s so obvious that you know from the minute he shows that he’s going to turn out to be geeky but not dangerous. To be honest, the identity of Harper’s stalker is not that shocking, just because there aren’t that many suspects. Once you dismiss all of the obvious red herrings, there’s really only one possible suspect left.

But no matter! Instakiller is an entertaining Lifetime film, which is to say that if you enjoy Lifetime films, you’ll probably enjoy this one. Kelly Sullivan and Lizze Broadway are believable as mother-and-daughter and I imagine that a lot of moms will watch this movie and find themselves totally relating to Sullivan’s character and her confusion as to why Harper is willing to put her life in danger just to have an Instapixer account. Seriously, though, once you hit a thousand followers, the risks are totally worth it….

Insomnia File #45: The Pyramid (dir by Gary Kent)

Posted on November 30, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

What’s an Insomnia File? You know how some times you just can’t get any sleep and, at about three in the morning, you’ll find yourself watching whatever you can find on cable? This feature is all about those insomnia-inspired discoveries!

If you were having trouble getting to sleep at one in the morning, you could have turned over to TCM and watched the TCM Underground premiere of a low-budget oddity that was first released in 1976, The Pyramid.

The Pyramid is a collection of disjointed scenes, some of which are unsettling, some of which are rather amateurish, and some of which are oddly poignant. It’s perhaps as strange a film as a film about hippies in Dallas could be. The film opens in North Dallas, with a disturbing scene of an old man having a heart attack while driving his car and crashing into a school bus. (As far as school bus crashes go, it was almost as disturbing as the one that would later open Dennis Hopper’s Out of the Blue.) Two reporters show up to cover the carnage — supercool L.A. Ray (Ira Hawkins) and his cameraman, Chris Lowe (C.B. Brown). In the style of Medium Cool, they’re both detached from the tragedy and the carnage around them.

The film moves on from the school bus crash, which is never again mentioned once L.A. and Chris file their story. We get a series of scenes that may or may not be connected. L.A. argues with a woman who might be his wife. Chris wanders around Dallas and tries to film people talking about their lives. At one point, Chris and L.A. drive through Dealey Plaza and Chris stares back at the Book Depository Building. At a party, Chris tells a random woman that both Jesus and Richard Nixon were Capricorns. L.A. and Chris smoke weed while driving around. Later, they take part in a slow motion flag football game with a group of hippies. An old man in a steam room suggests that everyone should imagine being dead.

Chris and L.A. stumble across a shoot out involving the police. A young black man is gunned down by the cops. L.A. spends several minutes loudly vomiting. They go to an abandoned church that is sitting in the middle of the countryside and talk to an old man who says that he’s had religious visions. Back at the station, Chris’s boss accuses Chris of shooting out-of-focus footage and accuses him of being pretentious. Chris is fired.

L.A. disappears from the film for a while as Chris wanders around with his camera. Chris interviews a hog farmer who is worried that he’s going to lose his hogs. He covers a vacuous fashion show in the backyard of a Highland Park mansion. In Oak Cliff, he stops to stare at a rooster. (For the record, the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas is famous for its roosters.)

Chris meets a “confrontational therapist” named Merleen (Tomi Barrett). Merleen screams at a middle-aged man until the man starts screaming back, his entire body shaking as if he’s become possessed. Chris meets with his friend Bubba and asks if this is the way that we want the world to be. People gather underneath a makeshift pyramid. An astronaut is interviewed about conducting ESP experiments in space. The real-life suicide of newswoman Christine Chubbuck is crudely recreated and then not mentioned again. The entire cast appears gathered around a pyramid and starts to sing. Meanwhile, the sun rises over the Dallas skyline….

The Dallas skyline and the sun rising over it is a sight that’s often seen in this film. As a Dallas native, I enjoyed that part of The Pyramid. Even though the film was made long before I was even born, I still saw plenty of familiar sights in The Pyramid. It’s rare that I get to watch a movie and yell out, “Hey, I’ve driven through that tunnel!” That part of the movie was fun.

The Pyramid was an odd film. Just from my own research, I discovered that The Pyramid was filmed over the course of at least two years. If nothing else, this confirmed one of my main suspicions about the film. Though production on the film started in either 1972 or 1973, it still features a recreation of Christine Chubbuck’s 1974 suicide. That would seem to suggest that the film itself was kind of “made up” as things went along. (It also potentially explains why the suicide is never again mentioned after it rather abruptly happens.) That certainly explains why the film is such an episodic and disjointed experience.

What’s the film really about? Your guess is as good as mine. In many ways, it feels like a Texas version of Medium Cool but it’s also obvious that the filmmaker’s had grander goals in mind than just paying homage to Haskell Wexler’s classic portrait of alienation. As you can tell by looking at the advertisement at the bottom of this review, The Pyramid was advertised as being “a positive mystical experience.” The ad also states that “For this engagement, the theaters have been energized with pyramid power.” The film suggests that we’re all connected to each other and that we need to seek out and embrace the positive, lest we become so consumed by all the negative and hate that we end up like Christine Chubbuck. It’s a message that’s both naive and kind of sweet. Whatever else can be said about this movie, it can’t be faulted for a lack of sincerity.

The Pyramid‘s a mess but I kind of liked it. Of course, I have a weakness for low-budget passion projects. Whatever flaws this film may have (and it has many), it’s obvious the someone really felt that they had something important to say with this film. It’s not necessary to agree with the film’s conclusion to respect director Gary Kent’s commitment to bringing to life his own vision. That said, it bears repeating that The Pyramid is definitely a flawed film. The acting is frequently amateurish. The sound quality is far from perfect. The narrative momentum starts to seriously drag during the 2nd half of the film. But it has its strengths too. The shots of the Dallas skyline are impressive and there are a few cinema verite sequences that are interesting from a historical point of view. (This film basically is a time capsule of the early 70s.) In the end, it stays true to its own bizarre vision and there’s definitely something to be said for that.