Batman (1943, Lambert Hillyer), Chapter 1: The Electrical Brain
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Aug 5, 2017
The first chapter of Batman introduces the main cast–Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft as Batman and Robin (and their alter egos), villain J. Carrol Naish, damsel in distress Shirley Patterson–and establishes some of the ground situation. Naish is an evil Japanese agent (if Electric Brain is any indic read more
Alien: Covenant (2017, Ridley Scott)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Aug 5, 2017
Alien: Covenant is at its best when its pedestrian as opposed to anything else. Director Scott botches all of the big action set pieces; the more CGI vehicles involved, the worse it gets. The first false ending action sequence has “protagonist” Katherine Waterston suspended in mid-air from a careen read more
Waiting for Guffman (1996, Christopher Guest)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Aug 4, 2017
Waiting for Guffman is a story of dreams and dreamers. Director (co-writer and star) Guest opens the film with shots of a small American town, Blaine, Missouri. It’s a town with a lot of history and a lot of heart. Sure, it’s all absurd history, but those absurdities just make the heart beat strong read more
The Moon and Sixpence (1942, Albert Lewin)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Aug 4, 2017
The Moon and Sixpence has a number of serious problems, all of them the fault of director and screenwriter Lewin. As a director, while never spectacular, Lewin manages some competence and ambition. He tells Moon and Sixpence in a series of summarized flashbacks. Those flashbacks, narratively and bu read more
Kes (1969, Ken Loach)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Aug 2, 2017
Kes has a forecasted structure (so long as you can understand the Yorkshire accents). Teenager David Bradley is about to leave school and head into the workforce. His older brother, played by Freddie Fletcher, works in the coal mines and Bradley knows he doesn’t want that career. They share a bed read more
Dark Legacy (2017, Anthony Pietromonaco)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 26, 2017
Dark Legacy opens with a shot of a solar system. The “camera” descends to one of the planets. Then we find out it’s a Star Wars short. Because, until that point, director Pietromonaco could be doing anything. He’s just showcasing the visuals. Not showing off. Showcasing. It’s such a nice difference read more
Kong: Skull Island (2017, Jordan Vogt-Roberts)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 22, 2017
Kong: Skull Island has a deceptively thoughtful first act. Director Vogt-Roberts and his three screenwriters carefully and deliberately introduce the cast and the seventies time period (the film’s set immediately following the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam). The script’s smart in the first act, givi read more
John and Mary (1969, Peter Yates)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 21, 2017
Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow are John and Mary, respectively, and they’ve just woken up after spending the night together. They met at a singles bar. Is it going to be a one night stand or is it going to be something more? Both come with some baggage, though of different varieties. Farrow’s last read more
Undercurrent (1946, Vincente Minnelli)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 20, 2017
Undercurrent is the story of newlyweds Katharine Hepburn and Robert Taylor. She’s recovering from being in danger of old maidhood–despite being raised by two scientists, she’s content just cleaning up after widower father Edmund Gwenn’s home laboratory. Taylor is a captain o read more
Serials
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 16, 2017
Starting in August 2017, I’m going to be doing chapter-by-chapter posts on various movie serials. I’ll be posting about one serial a month, scheduled three months in advance, and the chapter responses will be posted daily. August 2017 Batman (1943) September 2017 Flash Gordon (1936) Oct read more
Quartets
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 14, 2017
Starting in August 2017, I’m going to be scheduling certain The Stop Button posts. Every month will have a different theme, scheduled a few months in advance; some themes will tie into the month (horror movies in October), some themes will be built around a particular actor, director, writer, read more
Surveys
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 14, 2017
A Stop Button “survey” is meant to be a comprehensive, mildly objective, mildly subjective recapping of a particular group of films, whether the films of an actor, director, or just films in a series. Films discussed: The Brothers McMullen, She’s the One, No Looking Back, Sidewalks of read more
Moana (2016, Don Hall, Chris Williams, Ron Clements, and John Musker)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 14, 2017
Moana takes a while to find its stride. Directors Clements and Musker and Hall and Williams aren’t at ease until the movie’s on the water. The film starts on a Polynesian island, with a young chief-in-training (Auli’i Cravalho) secretly longing not to be stuck on the island paradise, but out explor read more
Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Bergman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 8, 2017
Wild Strawberries is about a septuagenarian doctor (Victor Sjöström) being awarded an honorary degree. Sjöström’s narration sets it up in the first scene, before the opening titles. Director Bergman’s script, through the narration, lays out the entire ground situation before the titles, in fact. read more
Slaughterhouse-Five (1972, George Roy Hill)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 7, 2017
When Slaughterhouse-Five is just about World War II, director Hill can handle it. He doesn’t understand the humor, but he can handle it. The script doesn’t understand its own humor, as screenwriter Stephen Geller tries to force his own sense of humor on the source material, but Hill just makes it read more
The Phantom (1996, Simon Wincer)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 4, 2017
The Phantom has three distinct visual spaces, more or less corresponding to the three acts. First act is in the remote jungle, second act is modern age–New York City–third act is evil villain pirate stronghold. Underground evil villain pirate stronghold. The last half hour of the movie is the cast read more
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012, Marc Webb)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 4, 2017
The Amazing Spider-Man is melodramatic trifle, but not in any sort of bad way. I mean, it doesn’t succeed but it does try a lot. Director Webb really goes for a high school romance, with such saccharine effectiveness it probably ought to be an ominous foreshadowing for leads Andrew Garfield and Emm read more
Deadpool (2016, Tim Miller)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 3, 2017
Deadpool never gets to be too much. The film quickly goes into flashback–narrated by lead Ryan Reynolds–but not before going through an elaborate, effects and humor filled action sequence. Maybe even two. But I think one. It takes Deadpool over an hour to get the viewer caught up on Reynolds’s read more
Fright Night (1985, Tom Holland)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 2, 2017
So much of Fright Night is humdrum, with the occasional energy pulses whenever Chris Sarandon gets to be vampirish, I didn’t really expect it to get any better. I certainly didn’t expect director Holland to go all out on the special effects or even Roddy McDowall to get such good material. I also read more
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938, Michael Curtiz and William Keighley)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 2, 2017
The Adventures of Robin Hood gets by on a lot of charm. Charm and costuming (good and bad). The film opens with title cards setting the scene. Sherwood Forest, evil King’s brother, righteous nobel, beautiful damsel, insidious villain, and Technicolor tights–Claude Rains looking like a Little Lord read more