Kites (2008)

A little boy and an old man fly kites together, with innocuous music and the modern “computer-assisted” imagery that’s off-putting to me.

“Special thanks” to, among others, Brigham Young University Center for Animation, Pixar Animation Studios, Computer Aided Engineering Design and Manufacturing, Autodesk, HP, and Apple.

“Special no thanks” from me.

Verdict: NO.

♦ ♦ ♦

Kitty Foyle (1940)

Starting at age 15, Kitty Foyle has an affair with a married man. To get away from him, or possibly to lure him to follow, she moves to New York soon as she’s an adult. Once she’s ensconced there, another fellow shows up, and pretty soon asks her to marry him. That would be the vapid but expected happy ending to most movies, but not here.

Instead, Mr Married Man shows up again, and wants Kitty to run away to South America with him — while he’s still not willing to divorce his wife. WTF?

Kitty’s false dilemma is that she must choose between these two men. The idea that she might turn them both down and simply remain single never occurs to Kitty, but it was the only clear thought I could maintain, as this movie tried and tried to put me to sleep.

Ginger Rogers stars. Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo (Johnny Got His Gun, Lonely Are the Brave, Spartacus). Directed by Sam Wood (Goodbye Mr. Chips, Kings Row, The Pride of the Yankees). Solid pedigree, but the movie is nothing but yawns.

A few weeks later I watched Kitty Foyle again, because I’d always heard it’s very good, and OK, it is better than I’d first thought. I even laughed at a few jokes I’d missed in my crankiness. Too much puffy wide-eyed romantic rot, though, to recommend for anyone but the romantically rotted.

Verdict: NO, but a solid MAYBE on a second viewing.

♦ ♦ ♦

Kleptomaniac at the Magic Shop (2021)

The title says it all, but it’s set at a holistic healing center, not really a magic shop. If there’s a difference.

The film is strange, then spooky, then over. It’s only 4 minutes, and worth the time.

Verdict: YES.

♦ ♦ ♦

KM 31: Kilometer 31 (2006)

In the dark of night, a woman is driving a car a few miles from Nowheresville, when something darts onto the road near the signpost for kilometer 31. With screeching skids, the car comes to a stop, the woman steps out, and approaches a crumpled body of a little kid. The corpse opens its eyes, makes a scary face, so the woman freaks and walks into the road, where she’s hit by a car herself.

She’s rushed to a creepy hospital, where both her legs are amputated. She slips into a coma, but along the way she’s sent a psychic message to her identical twin sister, who comes quickly to St Creepy’s Hospital. Additional creepy things happen, at the hospital and especially when anyone drives to the scene of the accident, at that signpost for kilometer 31.

All the above is just the first ten minutes. Over the rest of the film, I counted eleven major goosebump moments, the kind that make ya shiver with cold despite being cozy warm under a blanket. At one point, I paused the film for ten minutes to let my heartbeat slow.

“Based on real events,” says a squib at the beginning, but I’d need to see references please.

Other than that obvious horseshit claim, no complaints. This is the best modern horror film I’ve seen in years, and all the goosebumps come with no gore to speak of, nobody reaching into anyone else’s intestines, no decapitations, and no AI.

Verdict: YES.

♦ ♦ ♦

Terror Above the Sunset Strip (2024)

Every shot of this is AI slop, full of AI glitches — not enough fingers, or too many fingers, billboards with unreadable text, on and on. On the surface it’s a playful mockery of horror movie tropes, while it’s also a study & celebration of the awfulness of AI. Something’s marvelously wrong in every frame.

Laughably bad on purpose, this is from Damon Packard, the master of laughably bad on purpose. You might remember him from Sun Ray Cinema Policy Trailer, reviewed yesterday.

In every way except politically, Packard is the most subversive moviemaker alive, and I’ve never yet seen anything he’s made that wasn’t a wonderful kick in the head. Terror Above the Sunset Strip has fair use stomping on everything and everyone from Coppertone to Carly Simon to the makers of Trog, with visual tricks and laughs all the way through.

After the closing credits comes this: “Please consider donating to The American Packard Fund. Paypal: spacedisco1@yahoo.com.” And I finally did!

Verdict: YES.

9/21/2026

Logo illustration by Jeff Meyer.
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If you can’t find a movie I’ve reviewed, or if you have recommendations, please drop me a note. And I mean it — if you ask, I will get you the movie.
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No talking once the lights dim, and only real butter on the popcorn, not that fake yellow stuff.