American Psycho (2000)

Of all the horrors on Netflix I hadn't seen, this was the one I'd heard about the most. Partly, I suppose, because it's relatively old. My visiting friend hadn't seen it either, so we chose our viewing quickly.

In 1987, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale, five years before he dropped the E from "Bateman") is a Wall Street investment banker with a luxurious lifestyle, often going to upscale restaurants with co-workers. That doesn't mean he enjoys it; as his first-person narration indicates, he can feel only greed and disgust, even toward ostensible fiancée Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon). At first, the only clear sign of something wrong with him is that he needs little provocation to make gory threats. Then his bloodlust grows beyond his full control, no longer reserved for envied colleagues and homeless people. How long can he hope to get away with murder?

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

I was a casual fan of the 1988 original, having regularly viewed the tamer TV adaptation before that. When I felt like going to a theater again, this sequel was the only feature to grab me. Ordinarily, I'd save its genre for next month, but that slipped my mind.

The decades have not been very kind to Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder). Her husband (Santiago Cabrera) died in an unlikely accident, and despite her success as a televised ghost whisperer, she hasn't been able to contact him. Disbelieving teen daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega, fresh off Wednesday) wants as little to do with her as possible. She still freaks out every time she sees someone wearing black and white horizontal stripes, rightly suspecting that the titular source of her PTSD (Michael Keaton) hasn't given up on coercing her hand in marriage so he can return full-time to the land of the living. In some ways, she has it together even less than her eccentric artist stepmother (Catherine O'Hara), who now reports that Lydia's father also died in an unlikely accident. At his wake, her unorthodox producer (Justin Theroux) aggressively talks her into an imminent Halloween wedding. And when Astrid gets involved with a local boy (Arthur Conti) who's not as harmless as he acts, Lydia fears that her worst nightmare has become her best hope.

Nightmare Alley (2021)

I had already heard of a 1947 film noir of the same title. This Guillermo del Toro project isn't a remake so much as a second adaptation of the novel. Alas, the original is more highly rated across sites yet much harder to find. Anyway, this is the only version that was nominated for Best Picture.

In 1939, shortly after covering up a murder, Stan (Bradley Cooper) finds work that will have no one inquiring into his background: a traveling carnival's barker. There he learns how to fake being a psychic, and he and stunt-performing girlfriend Molly (Rooney Mara) eventually leave for a classier venue. He then takes an unfaithful interest in a distinguished audience member, psychologist Lilith (Cate Blanchett), and asks her for confidential information that can help him fool a rich, widowed, somewhat unhinged ex-client of hers, Ezra (Richard Jenkins). Stan does not care about Molly's discomfort with his endeavors, nor does he heed the warning of his mentors (Toni Collette and David Strathairn) that moving from mind reading to seances is dangerous -- or Lilith's warning that Ezra is.

John Wick (2014)

Sometimes when traveling, I choose movies I expect not to get too invested in, just in case I miss part of it due to technical difficulties, lack of time, or tiredness. I had already heard this movie summarized as one man killing many men to avenge his dog, which probably wouldn't resonate with me. Nevertheless, it's pretty popular and will soon have a third sequel, so I thought there might be more to it than the summary suggested.

Well, yes, to a point. First, the dog killers also beat John (Keanu Reeves) up at his home and steal his rare fancy car. Second, the dog was a posthumous gift from his late wife (Bridget Moynahan) and thus something of an extension of her. Third, little did they know that John was a legendary hitman, an underworld bogeyman à la Keyser Söze, having retired only for the sake of settling down with his wife. Fourth, lead thug Iosef (Alfie Allen) is the son of a Russian mafia leader, Viggo (Michael Nyqvist), who tries to kill John preemptively to protect Iosef. Once you know all this, it's little surprise that John is willing to kill anyone who stands between him and retaliation.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Yeah, that's two consecutive theater viewings of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. And sadly, I've had only a dozen theater viewings in the nearly 2.5 years since the last Spider-Man movie. But a friend had an extra ticket and invited me mere hours in advance, so how could I put this off?

The action begins right where Far from Home leaves off: Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) has posthumously outed Peter Parker (Tom Holland) as Spider-Man -- and framed him for Mysterio's crimes and death. There is not enough evidence for a trial, but the public is divided on whom to believe. The bad publicity causes trouble for Peter's friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and tentative girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) by association. Peter asks Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a widespread amnesia spell, but by belatedly requesting exceptions, he distracts Strange to the point that the spell becomes too dangerous and Strange traps the workings in a container -- too late for it to have no effect whatsoever. Not only will everyone remember, but people from alternate universes who know Spider-Man's identity cross over, including five villains from the first two Spider-Man silver-screen series: the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Dr. Octopus (Alfred Molina), the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), the Lizard (Rhys Ifans), and Electro (Jamie Foxx). Guess it would've been tough to fit the rest in.

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

A horror movie about making a horror movie? When I first heard about this, it sounded halfway comical, yet it clearly wasn't played for laughs. When I learned the focus more precisely much later, I became mildly intrigued.

In an assuredly alternate 1921, F.W. Murnau (John Malkovich again) is beginning to direct the classic Dracula knockoff Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. Many of the people involved had expected him to be highly controlling but are perplexed by his secrecy, followed by his unusual process for dealing with the vampire's actor, Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe, in the role that got him into Spider-Man), whom they never heard of before. Schreck is creepily eccentric, but that just means he's an ahead-of-his-time method actor, right? ...Right?

Aquaman (2018)

Mixed reviews kept me uncertain whether I would watch this—until I read a circa-New Year's column about the most important silver-screen superheroes of the last decade. Aquaman was the only one I hadn't seen in any movie. Anyway, this season isn't big on new superhero pics, so now seemed like the best time to catch up.

In this version, the title character (Jason Momoa), a.k.a. Arthur Curry, is the son of Maine lighthouse keeper Tom (Temuera Morrison) and Queen Atlanna of Atlantis (Nicole Kidman), Tom having rescued her when she fled an arranged betrothal. Arthur may be the world's only such cross, since most people have no idea that those who sank with the ancient city survived via advanced technology and have descendants to this day. His hybrid nature and mostly unsubmerged upbringing do nothing to hinder his Atlantean powers, which he studied under vizier Vulko (Willem Dafoe) and uses primarily to be humanity's high-seas hero of legend, but many Atlanteans think less of him for those reasons as well as his unlawful origin. He doesn't want the throne of Atlantis anyway, until the sympathetic Princess Mera (Amber Heard) urges him to try to take it because his half-brother, King Orm (Patrick Wilson), is about to launch a war against the "surface dwellers."

John Carter (2012)

I saw half of this on a plane and forgot most of it. You'd think that would be the end of my experience, but an acquaintance has insisted that the flick was underrated, thanks chiefly to a poor marketing campaign. Granted, dropping "of Mars" from the title was a big mistake: You should never try to hide your genre to draw in unsuspecting viewers, especially with something as bland as a common name. So when I had time to kill, I decided to stream the whole thing and judge whether I had been simply too jet-lagged to appreciate it before.

Most of the story is told in flashback as A Princess of Mars author Edgar Rice Burroughs himself (Daryl Sabara) reads the account of his uncle, former Confederate captain John Carter of Virginia (Taylor Kitsch). In 1868, Carter's search for gold leads him to alien technology, with which he unwittingly sends himself to Mars or, as the inhabitants call it, Barsoom. Being built for stronger gravity, he can leap farther and punch harder than either the green Martians, called Tharks, or the more human red Martians. Thark leader Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe), tho relatively friendly, wants to coerce him into being a personal champion, against the wishes of ambitious Tal Hajus (Thomas Haden Church). Red Martian princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) can think of a more pressing need for Carter's services: stopping Sab Than (Dominic West), another Red Martian leader, from conquering her city.

The Lighthouse (2019)

I don't think I'd ever seen a horror movie in a theater before, apart from a Rifftrax edition of Octaman, which made it more of a comedy. I had long assumed that horror, in contrast to comedy, was usually more effective when watched alone. It was high time I tested that theory.

Despite taking some inspiration from the Smalls Lighthouse Tragedy of 1801 in Wales, this story is set somewhere in New England around 1890. A young man who much prefers "Winslow" to "lad" (Robert Pattinson) starts a four-week job assisting old man Wake (Willem Dafoe) in tending a remote isle's lighthouse. Winslow's first sign that he's not going to enjoy it is how ill-kept the place is. His first sign of something strange going on is that Wake insists, against written protocol, that Winslow stay away from the light at the top. Most of the time, the two men have trouble getting along. Their stresses only get worse after bad weather prevents Winslow from leaving on time. At least one of them loses his grip on sanity....

The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

Am I on a romantic drama kick? No, these things just happen sometimes. I checked my Netflix queue to make sure the next delivery is different.

Modern Indianapolis teen Hazel has cancer in her thyroid and lungs. She shows signs of depression until she finally clicks with someone in her support group: slightly older teen Gus, whose bone cancer cost him a leg. Hazel has a policy against getting too close to anyone, since her condition limits how much they're likely to do together, but he's just so endearing....