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Boar [2017] The Body Snatcher [1945] Bohemian Rhapsody [2018]
Bokeh [2017] Bone Tomahawk [2015] Bonnie and Clyde [1967]
Book Club [2018] The Book of Eli [2010] Books of Blood [2020]
The Booksellers [2019] The Boondock Saints [1999] The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day [2009]
Borrego [2022] Boss Level [2020] The Bourne Identity [2002]
The Bourne Legacy [2012] The Bourne Supremacy [2004] The Bourne Ultimatum [2007]
Bowery at Midnight [1942] The Box [2009] Boys from County Hell [2020]
Braid [2018] The Brain [1988] Brain Damage [1988]
Braven [2018] Breakdown [2016] Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet [2021]
Breaking In [2018] Brick [2005] Bride of Re-Animator [1990]
Brooklyn 45 [2023] Brotherhood of the Wolf [2001] A Bucket of Blood [1959]
Bullet to the Head [2012] Bullet Train [2022] The Burning [1981]
Burnt Offerings [1976] Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [1969]
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations [2009] BuyBust [2018] Byzantium [2012]
Bullet Train [2022]

            
  
What starts out as a simple snatch-n-grab of a briefcase on the bullet train turns out to be the most wonderful display of absolute chaos that I have seen in some time. Combining a whole slew of supremely colorful characters, all with nefarious intent, into the confines of a train, made for some very entertaining and LOL moments I won't soon forget. Bordering on campy slapstick, the dialog is as sharp as a Honzo blade, the action is a delight and the writing is phenomenally complex and intricate without a plot hole to be seen. What a thrilling good time this was!
Burnt Offerings [1976]

            
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A couple, their son and the grandmother, rent a mansion that will only cost them $900 for the summer! They're about to find out what it will really cost them. Using the same themes as films like The Haunting and The Shining, this psychological horror film effectively portrays a family unit slowly disintegrating under the influence of a house that appears to be feeding off of them. Acting is exceptional all around. Pacing was slow but worked well for this type of film, although the climax was really drawn out, considering it won't be a surprise to most. Good film, though.
Boys from County Hell [2020]

            

Clearing a cairn in a field in the Irish area of 6 Mile Hill inadvertently releases an old vampire ...and he's hungry. This movie did not work for me at all. Tonally, it was all over the place; one minute it's serious, but not very tense or scary, the next minute they're doing a comedy bit ...that's not funny. Mix in sometimes overly long conversations about nothing, throw in a bunch of characters of which I didn't like any, add unnecessarily thunderous jump scares and we have one torturous view. The climax was ludicrous. Who would think of doing something like that? Blah!
Brooklyn 45 [2023]

            

Xmas, 1945, a Lt. Col. invites 4 military friends to a gathering and convinces them to conduct a seance to connect with his recently departed wife. Well, it works ...and things get ugly. This supernatural element actually has a minor role in this single room, deep character study of prejudice, paranoia and abject hate. The characters are intimately defined insuring that the viewer fully understands each of their mindsets. A bit long winded, I think a 45 min short film might have worked better, but the writing, acting and overall tension is excellent and well worth a watch.
Boss Level [2020]

            

A man must relive a day repeatedly with a multitude of assassins after him until he figures out what's going on. This was an enjoyable and exciting shoot 'em up with exceptional writing giving us lots of twists and turns in an ever evolving story line ..as well as a good dose of humor and a 'don't take this too seriously' attitude. They even managed a few truly somber moments. The film is driven by Frank Grillo's charisma, which works, but I would like to have known more about the truly colorful assassins. As it is, we get barely a glimpse. Still, this is great stuff.
Borrego [2022]

         

A botanist, conducting a survey of desert plants, witnesses a small plane crash. Upon helping, she discovers it's a drug mule and things go downhill from there. Rather than editing scenes to just the fine points and moving on, the scenes played out, in length, some far too long, and although this made the film more dramatic and realistic than sensationalistic, it deprived it of a lot of energy and, as such, it was one of the most casual thrillers I've seen in a while. Acting was very good all the way around and it played out nicely so it was good ...just sorta relaxed.
Braven [2018]

            
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Father and son go up to a mountain cabin to discuss the father's Alzheimer issues unaware that some drugs have been stashed in the cabin and dealers are coming to get them. Somewhat typical siege film with a lot of story branches and few new characters to keep things evolving and pretty exciting overall. Some slightly over-the-top gags but executed well. To me, the whole Alzheimer subplot was only there to elicit as much sympathy and emotion as possible but otherwise completely unnecessary. Once we got past all the sad 'dad is sick' parts, it was quite fun.
Brick [2005]

            

A student tries to help an ex-girlfriend in trouble and things get really complicated. Rian Johnson's (Looper, Knives Out) feature film directorial debut is a delightfully complex story presented in a gumshoe film noir style with a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt masterfully playing a student who is really bright, completely fearless, and knows all the angles. The slightly otherworldly atmosphere and surrealistically mature students sets the stage for a truly entertaining experience. Even with no action, the tension and potential danger is explosive from start to finish. Bravo!
Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet [2021]

         

This documentary exhaustively discusses the nine boundaries that makes up Earth's stability, how they effect each other, and how many may already be past the tipping point of recovery. It doesn't offer much in the way of solutions beyond a few suggestions but that's not its purpose. What is does is present a fundamental understanding of how the planet works ...understanding the problem is halfway to solving it and this film does tremendous job with that. In fact, it's rather terrifying. The decisions made within this decade may determine our future ...or lack of one.
Boar [2017]

            

A monstrously large boar kills people ...and that's all folks. A cheap and entirely unimaginative knock-off of Razorback, with absolutely nothing new or original. It's so contrived, the moronic characters are simply placed into position for a kill regardless of whether it makes logical sense or not. Also, wasted time with long conversations, unnecessary activities, even the impending doom went from tension to annoyance to, "Just kill them already". Spec fx looked rather silly, although there were a few good kills that made it all a bit entertaining.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [1969]

         

Both one of the best American westerns and buddy films ever made, this biopic details the adventures of Butch and Sundance as they rob banks, trains, and become the famous 'Bandidos Yanquis' of Bolivia. With much dramatic license, this is still fairly historically accurate of our pair. Punched up with outstanding characterizations, a great soundtrack and brilliant dialogue, the screen comes alive with their presence as we cheer them on, despite the fact that they were ruthless criminals in real life. Certainly a must see film from the past.
Byzantium [2012]

         
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Centering around "16-year-old" Eleanore, her and her mother are actually 200-year-old vampires living in constant travel evading a past they can't hope to escape. Eleanore's greatest desire is to tell her story, which she writes constantly only to throw it away. Through these writings, we travel vicariously through her past in a personal and intimate way that few films manage to achieve. Saoirse Ronan is stellar as the tortured Eleanore and everyone else is exceptional, as well. Told with literate and exquisite grace, this is a story that must be felt as much as heard.
Bride of Re-Animator [1990]

            
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Sometime after the massacre at Miskatonic Hospital, Herbert West, and his former roommate and now reluctant partner, Daniel Cain, have begun Frankenengineering a new lady in the basement with an advanced formula that will re-animate separate body parts. Both in terms of multiple visual gags and sheer grotesque audacity, we are treated to several examples of body parts on the loose creating chaos and havoc all around. Jeffery Combs, once again, nails his role as West. Doesn't have the classic feel of the first film but still a treasure. Parts is parts!
The Brain [1988]

         
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High school student / pathological prankster, Jim Majelewski, is forced to undergo a psych evaluation by Dr. Blakely ...who has a large, mind-controlling brain in his lab. Conjuring up memories of Strange Behavior, Videodrome, and The Brain from Planet Arous, this goofy 80s creature feature features sub-par acting, lame dialog (although they do manage a few good one-liners) and plot holes as big as the Arizona crater and yet still manages to be grossly entertaining and just down right fun. Surprised I never ran into this one on my first time through the 80s.
Books of Blood [2020]

            

Based on stories by Clive Barker, this anthology contains 3 stories - Jenna, Miles & Bennett - that all become part of a larger story. 'Jenna' was a long-winded affair with a depressing character and an equally depressing ending. 'Bennett' was simple and entertaining but ultimately unnecessary for this film. The prize was 'Miles' - an engrossing story with a climax truly befitting Barker's vision of horror and stapling the essence of the overall concept of the film firmly in mind. The interconnection between stories worked well and it was generally entertaining.
Bowery at Midnight [1942]

     
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Bela Lugosi leads a triple life as a psychology professor and as the owner of a soup kitchen which acts as a cover for recruiting criminals and committing crimes. Fairly typical crime thriller for that era along with the types of characters you'd expect. Pretty good, though, with Bela Legosi doing a good job without being over-the-top. I enjoyed it ...and everyone should have a graveyard in the basement. I mean, how convenient is that?
A Bucket of Blood [1959]

         
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In this classic early film by Roger Corman, a socially awkward simpleton becomes greatly admired by his peers when it's discovered that he's a master sculptor ...we'll disregard the fact that he actually just covers dead bodies with clay. Dick Miller is fantastic in this campy and totally absurd golden oldie full of very funny and extremely quotable lines and a whole club full of colorfully quirky characters. Get the popcorn!
The Body Snatcher [1945]

         
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Val Lewton (Producer) and Robert Wise (Director) at their best in this dark, atmospheric tale of a man who provides bodies to the local doctor for education. Great performances by Henry Daniell and Bela Legosi and, in a performance that rivals Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Boris Karloff as the evil cabman John Gray. For those of you who only know Boris for playing Frankenstein's monster, you have to see this one ...an insidious monster of a completely different kind.
The Boondock Saints [1999]

         
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Didn't know anything about this film until I happened to run across a trailer and thought I'd check it out. Except for the cat (which I hate to admit I found morbidly amusing), this was an exceptional movie. Basically about 2 guys who go on a vigilante spree to take out gangsters in South Boston. Conjuring up reminders of Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, this movie had some excellent shoot-em-up action and some very colorful characters (William Defoe was an absolute riot). Definite cult status film.
Brotherhood of the Wolf [2001]
aka Le pacte des loups
            
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The hunt is on for a huge beast that has been terrorizing a region in France for years in the mid 1760's. This is quite an epic film running 2 and a half hours and filling up every minute of it. Complex and elaborate story covering politics, secret societies, love triangles, class wars, and, of course, the hunt for the beast. Art direction, dialogue and acting are exceptional making this appear authentic and semi-surreal at the same time. Fight choreography was excellent. Quite a fun watch.
The Burning [1981]

            
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A prank at a summer camp results in a man being horribly burned and now he seeks revenge on summer camps in general. Typical gory teen exploitation slasher film done in the Friday the 13th style. Features about a half dozen very familiar actors back when no one knew who they were but that certainly doesn't help it from being tedious, cliche and boring. The respectable ratings confuse me a bit. Granted, slasher movies are popular but this one is pretty poor example of the genre and wholly unmemorable.
Breakdown [2016]

         
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A professional hitman is having a mental breakdown and wants out. We all know how that goes. I'm surprised at the low ratings on this one. I thought Craig Fairbrass was excellent as a man on the brink of being pushed a bit too far. The story was tight and personal, the action was good, the colorful characters were quite intense. It had its flaws - in fact, they dragged out the end a bit - but deserved a much better showing than it's gotten. This was a good film.
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations [2009]

         
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A man, who has the ability to jump back in time and change things, tries to alter the death of his girlfriend and creates a serial killer. The Butterfly Effect 2 was such a badly made example of the whole concept that I didn't expect much from TBE3. I was quite surprised. They found that element that made TBE work so well. There were a few time shifts that were hard to follow and some of it got redundant, but they constructed a story that works well with a good twist ...although I sort of saw it coming.
The Book of Eli [2010]

            

A man with the last Bible is trying to make his way West across a post-apocalyptic U.S. landscape. I've never watched this movie until recently as I've been told more than once that the ending is lousy. Then I found out how it ended and decided to watch it. This is a good movie and, strangely enough, knowing the big twist at the end beforehand, I feel, actually benefited the viewing. Denzel Washington is great, as usual, and the pacing, characters, scenarios and action were all well executed and realistic. Nice job!
The Bourne Identity [2002]

         

After being found floating in the ocean, with two bullet wounds, by a fishing boat, a man wakes up to find he has no memory or identity and his only possession is an account number in a Swiss bank. Arguably the best cat and mouse spy game ever put on film, Matt Damon IS Jason Bourne. I simply can't see anyone else playing this role. If you haven't seen it, I would greatly encourage it ...along with the sequels, which just get better. This is not a ride to be missed.
The Bourne Supremacy [2004]

            
  
Framing Bourne for the assassination of two agents and killing his girlfriend was probably not the wisest things to do. This follow-up to The Bourne Identity is a near perfect film; the story is highly intelligent, complex and tightly woven with everything precisely placed, the performances and dialogue are perfect, the pacing is edge-of-your-seat tense and the action, although a bit shaky to watch at times, is adrenaline inducing mayhem. Awesome!
The Bourne Ultimatum [2007]

         
  
In his search for the truth, Bourne comes out of hiding and is, once again, the center of a man hunt. But this time, he's putting an end to it. It's a rare thing to have 3 films that not only make up a single story this eloquently but to also have each film get better. I was glad to see the continuation of the franchise beyond this one but they could have stopped it here as the story is now complete and the rest is just for fun. Phenomenally well made film that puts all the pieces together into a perfect fit.
The Bourne Legacy [2012]

            

Because of Bourne's exposure of covert agencies within our government in Ultimatum, these same agencies decide it's best to shut them all down. Aaron Cross, an agent from the Outcome operation isn't too happy about that. Much more a simple chase film and less an espionage / political subterfuge film, Jeremy Renner does a great job as our star agent and it still works as an exciting international action thriller. In fact, I'd like to see more Aaron Cross but that's probably not going to happen.
Breaking In [2018]

            

A woman and two children go to a country estate she just inherited to prepare it for sale. The house already has visitors ...some thugs who want $4 million dollars in a safe. Now they have her kids and she's on the outside. This a very well paced thriller in which they made the two leads smart making this an effective battle of wits. Similar to Stash House, this movie has the usual contrivances you'd expect and the story is familiar but they did it well maintaining a solid sense of danger and tension that made it quite fun. Great acting by Gabrielle Union and Billy Burke.
Bokeh [2017]

         
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A couple, on holiday in Iceland, wake up to find all the people are gone. The couple was likable, their confusion was genuine, and I settled in to see what would happen next ...and nothing does. They went through their various phases of exploring, disagreements, fun, anger, etc., just like any of us would with nothing beyond that ...except meeting an old man that dies on them within hours. After 90 minutes of now total boredom, I'm presented with an ending that is so pathetic and depressing, I actually got angry. Visually stunning, though.
Book Club [2018]

            

A light (despite the subject matter) romantic comedy about 4 elderly women whose lives are changed when they read '50 Shades of Grey' as a selection of their self-created book club. All the characters are extremely likable and sincere with most being actors we've seen all our lives and the situations and relationships are very funny and handled realistically. This isn't the type of movie that I generally watch, and my wife liked it more than me, but it was quite enjoyable entertainment and I really have nothing negative to say about it.
BuyBust [2018]

            
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Reminiscent of Black Hawk Down, Hard Boiled and The Raid, nearly the entire film is about a Philippines drug enforcement squad fighting their way out of a Manila slum after a botched drug raid. Although long in the tooth, you certainly can't accuse this film of being boring. The action simply never stops maintaining a high level of tension that actually wears the viewer down. There's a single-shot scene that runs over 3 minutes that has some amazing choreography involving over 60 people. The body count is off the scales!
Bone Tomahawk [2015]

         
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A unique western, pseudo-horror story taking place out west in the 1890's. A robber, followed by an ultra-savage, cannibalistic tribe of Indians, drifts into the peaceful town of Bright Hope. After the savages kidnap a couple of the townsfolk, the sheriff gets together a posse to go after them. This is basically a 75 min story taking over 130 min to tell. The characters, personalities and authentic dialogue was entertaining and kept me interested but the film is excessively long-winded. Not bad if you have the patience.
The Box [2009]

            

I read the story, "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson, that this is based on, years ago, as well as saw the Twilight Zone episode. The first 30 minutes followed that story exactly so the rest of the film is basically an extension to the story ...but one that took off on a tangent and really never came back. Equal parts fascinating, mystifying and ridiculous, they introduced so many new elements without any proper context or explanation that it no longer had anything to do with 'the box' and what it did have to do with never become very clear or logical. Bizarre!
Brain Damage [1988]

            
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Form the creator of Basket Case comes this film about a parasitic, slug-like creature, with a jovial personality, that hooks slaves into providing it with brains in exchange for an addictive "juice" that provides total euphoria. It's bizarre, twisted, gross, and delightfully wacky. Rick Hearst is perfect playing an obviously absurd role as the victim in a completely straight manner making it all the more amusing. There was a long time period in the middle that was dragged out pretty good - certainly enough time for a couple more gags - but good sick fun, nonetheless.
Braid [2018]
aka Dying to Play
         
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The epitome of co-dependency, this is a nightmare journey into the psychologically twisted relationship of three friends (since childhood) where two of them put up with the third's fantasies in hopes of finding her money somewhere in the house. Fascinating and disturbing, don't expect it to make sense ...it wasn't made that way. The film takes you towards destinations only to jerk you away with these strings of travel left unfulfilled, impossible, or dismissing the trip entirely. In the end, you're left with, 'What the hell did I just watch?' Very subjective and weird.
Bonnie and Clyde [1967]

         

A fictionalized (but fairly accurate with the main points) depiction of the short career of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow as notorious bank robbers and killers during the depression years of the early 30's. All the actors in this did stupendous jobs giving their characters a wealth of personality, humor, and depth making them likable and someone to cheer for despite their sociopathic ruthlessness. If you're unfamiliar with their tragic story, this is a good place to start for some broad information ...as well as damn good entertainment.
Bullet to the Head [2012]

         


If you like Sylvester Stallone, you'll probably like this hitman / cop buddy movie. A few good action scenes, some interesting character moments, humorous banter, I found it rather entertaining despite it being pretty run-of-the-mill and Sly starting to show his age.
The Booksellers [2019]

         
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This pleasant tour through the business of books from the collectors of rare, antiquarian, oddities to the dramatic changes of the modern age, is a real joy. As a big book reader and previous seller myself - who has not progressed over to the electronic format of today - I found this documentary to be informative, full of colorful people, occasionally quite funny and fascinating. You'd think at over 90 mins of talking about books, it'd be boring but far from it. If you've ever had any interest in books at all, I would highly recommend the journey.
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day [2009]

            

After their rampage against the mob bosses in the first film, the brothers hideout on a sheep ranch in Ireland. When someone kills a priest and tries to make it look like the Saints, they come back to clean things up. Besides the dialogue not being as crisp as the original - and the miscasting of Judd Nelson, imo - this is a very nice follow-up that I'm sure will be enjoyed by the cult following it's generated. Great action, ridiculous but believable situations and shootouts, colorful characters ...all the elements are there.
Bohemian Rhapsody [2018]

         
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Well made film chronicling the life of Queen's lead singer Freddy Mercury and I would recommend it to those who have an interest in who he was. Now... let's get critical. I was 14 when Queen hit the charts and followed Freddy's career right up to his death in '91. As such, two things bothered me about the film. At no time did Rami Malek make me feel like I was watching Freddy Mercury. The music was wildly out of chronological order; song depicted on their first tour ('71) wasn't made until '78. In the studio making a song in the '80's that was released in '77, etc.
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