2 thoughts on “Considering the Cinema Ep. 022: Blood on Her Name (2020), The Quarry (2020), Hunter’s Moon (2020)”

1. Another good ep, Jay!

   Glad to see you casting light on the ’84 Crossroads. I feel that’s a severely underrated movie and always happy to see it get some love.

   Coincidentally, I’ve seen all of the new releases you’ve mentioned, and actually agree more or less with your assessment on all three.

   I honestly wish I’d heard your review before watching Hunter’s Moon, because I likely would have skipped it. I do think you could probably venture a little more detail when discussing this one, because the poster and even the sound bite trailer you played seemingly give away more than you did here. It’s just a movie that doesn’t work as entertainment on any level; it’s as if you just piled stars, an interesting premise, and a formidable ‘beastly freak’ into a great heap and just left it there as is.This didn’t work for me at all, and truth be told, I’d be exactly the kind of person it should work for.

   The Quarry is like a short-form story or maybe Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ episode stretched into a full-length format that it just cannot support. I was less surprised to find it missing the mark, because I’ve also seen the original with John Lynch (from the late 90s/early00s) and it had roughly the same problems. The structure and later details of the story just don’t quite come together, and the performances, while good enough, don’t quite add enough interest to get you through a really tedious middle section.

   In complete agreement on ‘Blood On Her Name’, which is one of the best recent examples of a neo noir. If you look at the two other movies reviewed here, they take intriguing premises, and then just let them run on generic autopilot, while this sets up a compelling start and then allows it to spool out amidst organic, believable characters and you’re genuinely surprised where it goes even when the destination feels inevitable. My one difference is that I’d say it’s not so much a ‘slow-burn’ as it is very methodical, because the tension is present and keeps burning from the very first scene, it’s just that eventually it becomes a blaze. This will likely be somewhere amidst my end of the year list.

   Reply ↓

2. Great episode Jay! I just thought I’d quickly share a few of my thoughts on the future of movie going. I don’t get out to the theater often but I’m afraid that the future looks kinda bleak. Even if this virus calms down “social distancing” will still be fresh on everyone’s minds. As a movie collector I’m always afraid of physical media going extinct. With all the streaming and digital downloads available, I think many people will just decide to stay home. Hopefully people will remember the fun of the shared experience you get from seeing a movie together on the big screen. But I think theaters, and everything else, are going to take a big hit that hopefully they can recover from quickly. Hopefully all that made some kind of sense. 🤘

   Reply ↓