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You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
King of the Rocket Men (1949, Fred C. Brannon), Chapter 6: Secret of Rocket Man
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 12, 2017
With the opening cliffhanger resolution once again being tepid, it seems like Rocket Men is never going to get out of the bad opening rut. Poor Mae Clarke is simply dismissed from the chapter, not very gracious considering she’s just around to be in danger. There’s some brief setup for Tristram read more
King of the Rocket Men (1949, Fred C. Brannon), Chapter 5: Fatal Dive
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 11, 2017
Not much happens in Fatal Dive before the action–i.e. fisticuffs–starts. Tristram Coffin gets out of the previous chapter’s cliffhanger, inexplicably abandoning the interrupted fight, and heads off to consult with scientist on the lam James Craven. Meanwhile, House Peters Jr. is h read more
Something for an Empty Briefcase (1953, Don Medford)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 11, 2017
For a while, it seems like Something for an Empty Briefcase is going to have some grit. It’s set in a rough New York neighborhood, albeit constructed out of cardboard (Briefcase is a “TV play”). Lead James Dean is a recently released ex-con who’s looking for one big score to read more
King of the Rocket Men (1949, Fred C. Brannon), Chapter 4: High Peril
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 10, 2017
One of King of the Rocket Men’s unintentional strengths is its brevity. The chapters never go on too long. They’re all just right, even when they’ve got lackluster events. Most of High Peril is lackluster. The opening cliffhanger resolution is lackluster, the group interrogation s read more
King of the Rocket Men (1949, Fred C. Brannon), Chapter 3: Dangerous Evidence
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 9, 2017
It’s another quick chapter, starting with a lackluster resolution to the previous cliffhanger–three chapters in, it appears King of the Rocket Men is going to just reveal something previously unseen in resolutions instead of the characters actually having to get out of anything. Unfortunately, Dang read more
King of the Rocket Men (1949, Fred C. Brannon), Chapter 2: Plunging Death
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 8, 2017
The coolest part of Plunging Death is a toss-up. It’s either when lead Tristram Coffin, who doesn’t get to participate in the chapter’s fisticuffs, pulls over to put on his rocket suit and take off to chase the villain or when Mae Clarke starts pursuing the villain in the first place. She and read more
King of the Rocket Men (1949, Fred C. Brannon), Chapter 1: Dr. Vulcan – Traitor
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 7, 2017
King of the Rocket Men’s first chapter, Dr. Vulcan – Traitor, opens with the mysterious Dr. Vulcan killing off members of the scientific establishment. The first couple just die in mysterious explosions, but the third has Dr. Vulcan taunting him with his impending doom. So far, not a great vi read more
Timecop (1994, Peter Hyams)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 7, 2017
Timecop is deceptively competent. Sort of. There’s often something off about it, but then director Hyams will do something else decent and distract. Hyams also manages to get a perfectly serviceable performance out of lead Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme’s unsure, cautious performance–he tries read more
The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 6, 2017
Despite the title, The Exorcist is about pretty much everything except the actual exorcist. When he does appear, kicking off the third act, it’s kind of a stunt. There’s a lot of implied mythology in the film, without much connective tissue–but nothing ruling out connective tissue. Director Friedki read more
The Brother from Another Planet (1984, John Sayles)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 6, 2017
Despite being about an alien who crash lands on Earth and finds himself stranded in New York City, The Brother from Another Planet takes its time getting to being a fish out of water story. Even when it does, it’s more like a fish being carefully transported in a cup of water to maybe some mo read more
Return to Glennascaul (1953, Hilton Edwards)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 4, 2017
Orson Welles stars in Return to Glennascaul as himself. He’s acting as a combination presenter and narrator. Amusing, he says he’s not going to be around for long, he’s busy making Othello after all. But then when star Michael Laurence starts telling Welles his story, Welles can’t let someone read more
Basket Case (1982, Frank Henenlotter)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 30, 2017
Basket Case is endlessly creative. Director Henenlotter doesn’t have the budget to execute anything, but it never stops him from trying; sometimes to mesmerizing effect. The film’s got these scenes requiring a lot of special effects and utilizes (obvious) stop motion to get them done. It’s all read more
All Is Lost (2013, J.C. Chandor)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 29, 2017
All Is Lost is the harrowing tale of an unnamed man (Robert Redford) on his damaged yacht in the Indian Ocean. The film runs 106 minutes. It’s harrowing for all of them. Director Chandor knows how to harrow. The film has a mundane reality about it. Redford has no back story, no character developmen read more
Madame X (1981, Robert Ellis Miller)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 29, 2017
Madame X never has good pacing. The movie starts with Tuesday Weld on trial, in old age makeup. She refuses to identify herself, hence the title, and won’t even assist her lawyer, Martina Deignan, in her own defense. Weld’s completely passive in the scene. Robert Hooks’s prosecuting attorney closin read more
The Curse of the Werewolf (1961, Terence Fisher)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 25, 2017
The Curse of the Werewolf has an absurd epic structure. Clifford Evans narrates; he eventually comes into the film, which means there’s no way he’d know about events he didn’t witness except everything does apparently take place in the same Spanish town. First is the story of a beggar, played read more
Hard Target (1993, John Woo), the unrated version
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 24, 2017
There’s nothing spectacularly wrong with Hard Target. It’s a competently executed early nineties action movie. There’s a lot of good stunt work and some amazing pyrotechnics. Lance Henriksen is great as the villain. Wilford Brimley is in it as a Cajun assault archer. Almost everything about it read more
Love with the Proper Stranger (1963, Robert Mulligan)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 24, 2017
Love with the Proper Stranger has a lot to resolve in its third act. There’s a somewhat sizable supporting cast, the act two cliffhanger for leads Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen’s romance is precarious–there’s a lot. So it’s striking when Proper Stranger just doesn’t do a third act. Director read more
Saw (2004, James Wan)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 23, 2017
I’m disappointed in Saw; I didn’t think I could possibly have any expectations for the movie where Farm Boy has to cut off his foot. I also didn’t know it wasn’t Danny Glover locked in the room with Cary Elwes. I wish Danny Glover had been locked in the room. He’s not. He’s a cop. And he’s read more
The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000, Des McAnuff)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 22, 2017
As a musical, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle might have worked. When there’s the big Pottsylvanian national anthem scene, director McAnuff finally seems comfortable. He needs a stage; Rocky and Bullwinkle is a road movie. There aren’t any stages. The occasional set piece hints at potential read more
Hans Brinker (1969, Robert Scheerer)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Sep 22, 2017
Hans Brinker is clumsy and charmless. It plods through its runtime. Once it becomes clear Moose Charlap’s songs aren’t going to be getting any better and there’s not going to be much expert iceskating on display, it plods even more. A lot of things would help–better writing, better acting, better read more