Welcome to BlogHub: the Best in Veteran and Emerging Classic Movie Blogs
You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
Spider-Man (1977, E.W. Swackhamer)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 10, 2017
Someone is mindcontrolling upstanding citizens and making them commit daredevil bank robberies in broad daylight. While New York’s finest detectives–cigar-chewing Michael Pataki and his nitwit sidekick Robert Hastings–are on the case, they soon get some valuable assistance from Spider-Man! This read more
King Kong Escapes (1967, Honda Ishirô)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 10, 2017
Despite lacking special effects and a phoned in score from Ifukube Akira (reusing his previous Godzilla themes to various effect), King Kong Escapes has quite a bit of charm to it. The film opens with Kong enthusiasts–really, they’re sitting around drawing pictures of him–Rhodes Reason and Takarada read more
The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 8, 2017
By the time the door opens and Dorothy (Judy Garland) finds herself over the rainbow, The Wizard of Oz has already completed one full narrative arc and is starting another. The film opens with Garland in a crisis–she’s a teenage girl on a farm where no one has time for her (it’s a busy farm, after read more
The Untouchables (1987, Brian De Palma)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 5, 2017
There are few constants in The Untouchables. Leading man Kevin Costner comes in after nemesis Robert De Niro (as Al Capone) opens the movie; only the Chicago setting and Ennio Morricone’s grandiose, bombastic, omnipresent score are unabated. Director De Palma embraces the film’s various phases, read more
Maybe I’ll Come Home in the Spring (1971, Joseph Sargent)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 2, 2017
Maybe I’ll Come Home in the Spring opens with a montage sequence. Sally Field is hitchhiking cross country (supposedly, it’s all California) while audio of her calling home to her parents–after running away to become a hippie–and letting them know she’s all right. The exact amount of time read more
Wonder Woman (2017, Patty Jenkins)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 2, 2017
Wonder Woman has one set of official, awkward bookends and one set of unofficial ones. The former does lead Gal Gadot no favors–after spending a moving building a character, it goes all tabula rosa and turns Gadot into little more than a licensing image. The latter does the film no favors. The latt read more
The Mean Season (1985, Phillip Borsos)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 31, 2017
Somewhere in the second act of The Mean Season, the film just starts slipping and it never corrects. The opening titles, set against stormy Miami weather and a vicious (though not graphic) murder, establish the film’s momentum. Everything moves fast, whether it’s establishing unsatisfied reporter read more
Oscar (1991, John Landis)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 31, 2017
Excluding prologue and epilogue, Oscar has a present action of roughly four hours. The movie runs just shy of two hours. A lot happens with a lot of characters. And, while the film’s based on a play–which explains the limited setting–and even though it’s not like director Landis does anything read more
Duck Soup (1933, Leo McCarey)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 29, 2017
Duck Soup is madness. It’s not divine madness or sublime madness. It’s comedic madness, which is fine, but it’s a tad frantic and a tad distracted. The film opens with Margaret Dumont’s wealthy widow getting Groucho Marx installed as a head of state. Turns out evil Louis Calhern–a neighboring read more
Love & Friendship (2016, Whit Stillman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 29, 2017
Love & Friendship opens with some non-traditional portrait cards for its cast of characters. The actors all appear in the opening titles, but then director Stillman breaks out introductions to the characters. Along with some narration. There’s some narration early on, which goes away almost imm read more
A Connecticut Yankee (1931, David Butler)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 28, 2017
A Connecticut Yankee fumbles on pretty much every level, including wasting lead Will Rogers. The big problem is the script, from William M. Conselman. It doesn’t help any director Butler can’t mount an action or comedy sequences, because there’s nothing else in the picture. It doesn’t even work read more
The Wind in the Willows (1983, Mark Hall and Chris Taylor)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 27, 2017
The Wind in the Willows has an undeniable charm about it. Directors Hall and Taylor send the first act of the film focusing on lovely details. Wind is stop motion, with a lot of intricate “set” decoration. And they do occasionally utilize their control over performers and location to get some excel read more
T2 Trainspotting (2017, Danny Boyle)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 27, 2017
T2 Trainspotting is a victory lap. John Hodge’s screenplay is thorough, thoughtful, cheap, and effective. It goes so far as to integrate unused portions of the original Trainspotting novel to try to get build up some character relationships. Because T2 is an expansive sequel. It’s got a contrived read more
Voodoo Black Exorcist (1974, Manuel Caño)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 26, 2017
Voodoo Black Exorcist is exasperatingly dull. In the first scene, which is before the opening titles, after a few seconds it becomes clear seventh century Haitian lovers Aldo Sambrell and Eva León aren’t just star-crossed, they’re also in blackface. Voodoo Exorcist Black is not a Blaxploitation read more
The Meaning of Life (1983, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 21, 2017
Terry Jones’s The Meaning of Life is a seven-part rumination on The Meaning of Life. At least the title cards for each part suggest its a seven-part rumination on the Meaning of Life. Not to spoil anything, but if the film does get around to addressing said meaning… well, it acknowledges you don’t read more
Valentino (1951, Lewis Allen)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 19, 2017
Valentino opens with lead Anthony Dexter (whose resemblance to Valentino got him the job, not his acting abilities) doing the tango. It’s the trope’s rehearsal and it’s fine. It’s not concerning, which is sort of cool for the film, because most of the scenes are concerning. George Bruce’s read more
Private Benjamin (1980, Howard Zieff)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 14, 2017
Quite a bit works in Private Benjamin, which makes all the creaky parts stick out more. Even though the film runs 109 minutes, a lot seems cut out. Characters just fade away, especially as the film rushes in the second half. But even lead Goldie Hawn just ends up staring in various montages–happy read more
xXx (2002, Rob Cohen)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 13, 2017
Maybe if there were anything good about xXx–there are a handful of things not bad about it–but if there were anything good, the sky’s the limited compared to the mess director Cohen finishes with. As is, xXx is an overlong, boring, James Bond-knockoff. It starts with a James Bond stand-in getting read more
The Bridges of Madison County (1995, Clint Eastwood)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 12, 2017
The Bridges of Madison County is many things, but it’s definitely an adaptation of a best-selling novel. Thanks to director Eastwood, it’s not a cheap adaptation of a best-selling novel, but it’s still an adaptation. There’s still a frame. No matter how much Eastwood deglamorizes it, no matter read more
Tunnel (2016, Kim Seong-hun)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Apr 30, 2017
Tunnel is a small scale disaster movie. It’s also not. It’s about a small scale response to a big disaster. Writer and director Kim takes some time introduce threads about craven reporters, craven government officials, craven capitalists, but most of the movie is lead Ha Jung-woo stuck in a tunnel. read more