Jesus Christ Superstar – Live Arena Tour (2012, Laurence Connor and Nick Morris)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Apr 1, 2017
Besides having an unwieldy title, Jesus Christ Superstar – Live Arena Tour does have quite a few things to recommend it. Within reason. It’s still just a video taping of a live performance–albeit an occasionally rather decent one, albeit with the ability to do complicated shots. Lots of crane read more
Short Cuts (1993, Robert Altman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 30, 2017
Short Cuts is about a weekend in Los Angeles. It’s a Robert Altman ensemble piece with twenty-two principle characters (though at least six of them are questionable–it really has three stories and then some tangents). It’s “based on the ‘writings’ of Raymond Carver” (emphasis mine), but read more
The Blot (1921, Lois Weber)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 28, 2017
The Blot has a lot of plot. Lot of plot. Director Weber fills the film with characters and subplots–unfortunately, not many of the supporting cast get credited so I’ll just have to compliment based on their characters. The main plot is about rich college kid Louis Calhern who discovers–because read more
Director | Edward Burns
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 27, 2017
At multiple points throughout his career, Edward Burns has been a disappointment. He’s not currently a disappointment–in fact, his now five-year absence from feature filmmaking is distressing, given his last film’s success; Fitzgerald Family Christmas is great. But many times over his eleven film, read more
The Little Foxes (1941, William Wyler)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 25, 2017
The most impressive things about The Little Foxes are, in no particular order, Bette Davis’s performance (specifically her micro expressions), Patricia Collinge’s supporting performance, director Wyler’s composition, director Wyler’s staging of the narrative (adapted by Lillian Hellman from read more
Three (2016, Johnnie To)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 12, 2017
Three is about a dirty cop (Louis Koo), a determined doctor (Zhao Wei), and an injured criminal (Wallace Chung). It’s not real time, but its present action is probably seven hours–in an under ninety minute runtime–so it’s close. Zhao is supposed to be getting more and more tired because she read more
Never Say Goodbye (1946, James V. Kern)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 10, 2017
The first thirty-nine percent of Never Say Goodbye is phenomenally paced. It could be a short movie, if there were a little tragedy through in. A little melodrama. Seven year-old Patti Brady is moving back in with mom Eleanor Parker after living six months with dad Errol Flynn. They’re divorced. Fl read more
Director | John Carpenter, Part 1: The Wonder Years
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 4, 2017
Between 1974 to 1981, John Carpenter directed five independent feature films–Dark Star, Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, and Escape from New York. Three of those first five films–Dark Star, Precinct 13, Escape–are phenomenal motion pictures and should have established Carpenter as a read more
Joe Bullet (1973, Louis de Witt)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 4, 2017
Joe Bullet is a set in the corrupt, dangerous world of South African football. Cocky Tlhotlhalemaje and Sydney Chama play the star players for one team in competition for the Cup. The other team is apparently trying to kill off their teammates, their coach, and their club president in order to sway read more
Logan (2017, James Mangold)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Mar 4, 2017
The strangest thing about Logan, at least in terms of the plotting, is how director Mangold is desperate to reference a film classic–one with a plot perfectly suited to what he’s purportedly trying to do with Logan–and he doesn’t follow it through. In any of the neat ways he could. Instead, read more
The Great Silence (1968, Sergio Corbucci)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Feb 27, 2017
The first act of The Great Silence at least implies some traditional Western tropes. Jean-Louis Trintignant is a gunslinger who fights with evil bounty hunters. Frank Wolff is the new sheriff. Klaus Kinski is one of the evil bounty hunters. Wolff’s got political stuff, or at least the script implie read more
Director | John Carpenter, Part 2: The Studio Quartet
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Feb 26, 2017
With the summer 1982 release of The Thing, John Carpenter finally fully arrived in Hollywood; he’d made a studio picture. And he didn’t come alone. He brought cinematographer Dean Cundey, who shot all of he and Debra Hill’s films, and at least three from Escape from New York: editor Todd C. Ramsey, read more
Sunburn (1979, Richard C. Sarafian)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Feb 19, 2017
Sunburn is a Farrah Fawcett star vehicle. It’s really Charles Grodin’s movie for the most part, but it’s Farrah Fawcett’s vehicle. She can be down home, she can be glamorous, she can be faithful when playing Grodin’s fake wife (which Grodin can’t), she can be adventurous, she can be dumb, read more
Paris Blues (1961, Martin Ritt)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Feb 18, 2017
It’d be easily to blame Paris Blues’s lack of success on the screenplay. With three credited screenwriters and another with the adaptation, there’s literally not enough going on the film to keep it going for the ninety-eight minute runtime. There’s filler, whether it’s a jazz number or a scenic read more
Director | John Carpenter, Part 4: The Mundane Years
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Feb 16, 2017
In the four phases of John Carpenter’s career, the final one–starting in 1992 and going on eighteen years–contains almost forty percent of his theatrical output. This final period is almost an afterthought’s afterthought. While Sandy King produces most of the films, Gary Kibbe photographs most read more
Newlyweds (2011, Edward Burns)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Feb 10, 2017
Newlyweds is an exceptional disappointment. Not really because of the concept–upper upper middle class New Yorker whining–or the execution–Burns has his actors speak into the camera, the characters giving interviews–but because it’s always shaking and Burns, as writer and director, always read more
Colin Hay – Waiting For My Real Life (2015, Nate Gowtham and Aaron Faulls)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Feb 6, 2017
Even though the film’s called Colin Hay – Waiting For My Real Life, it’s not entirely clear what relationship the documentary is going to have with its subject. There are various people interviewed, ranging from Australian movie stars to record execs to sitcom stars to Mick Fleetwood. Directo read more
Director | John Carpenter, Part 3: The Alive Duet
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Feb 4, 2017
Following Big Trouble in Little China’s disappointing box office returns, director John Carpenter returned to low budget filmmaking. For Alive Films–and distributed through Universal, back in the Carpenter business following the failures of The Thing and Halloween III–Carpenter wrote and directed read more