Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983, Jack Clayton)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2016
Nothing connects with Something Wicked This Way Comes, though Jonathan Pryce’s performance is probably the closest thing to a complete success. Jason Robards is often quite good, but he’s both protagonist and subject of the film, which neither director Clayton nor writer Ray Bradbury (adapting his read more
Flight of the Navigator (1986, Randal Kleiser)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2016
Flight of the Navigator works on a principal of delayed charm; eventually, it’s got to be charming, right? No, no, it doesn’t. The film’s a series of false starts. The only thing approaching a pay-off is Paul Reubens–voicing an alien spaceship–going into a riff on his “Pee-Wee” routine. read more
The NeverEnding Story (1984, Wolfgang Petersen), the international version
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2016
For most of The NeverEnding Story, director Petersen’s ability, the special effects, and active lead Noah Hathaway keep the whole thing going. It’s a gorgeous looking film, with great photography from Jost Vacano and exceptional editing from Jane Seitz. Hathaway’s character, a boy warrior, gets read more
The Last Starfighter (1984, Nick Castle)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2016
The Last Starfighter gets a long way on affability. Lead Lance Guest is nothing if not affable. Robert Preston plays an affable alien grifter. Dan O’Herlihy, completely covered in makeup, is affable as Guest’s alien co-pilot. And the whole concept of the thing–video game wunderkind Guest gets read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin (1989, Christian I. Nyby II)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2016
Right off, the big problem with Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin is clear. Maybe not altogether clear in the first scene, but certainly when director Nyby gets around to having to try to do a suspense sequence. He bungles it. But while he’s bungling the action, he’s also bungling the read more
Dead Silence (2007, James Wan), the unrated version
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 18, 2016
Dead Silence is pretty dumb, but it’s often incredibly well-made, which makes up for a lot of the dumbness. There are a lot of problems with the acting–lead Ryan Kwanten is particularly lacking when delivering the weak dialogue though he’s otherwise acceptable as a scream king. Or, in the case read more
The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975, Lawrence Schiller and Bruce Nyznik)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 17, 2016
The Man Who Skied Down Everest is a peculiar film. It’s straight, methodical narrative non-fiction. In 1970, Miura Yûichirô set out to ski down Everest. His expedition included a film crew. The resulting film doesn’t tell Miura’s story outside the present action–through narrator Douglas Rain, read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder (1989, Christian I. Nyby II)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 17, 2016
Raymond Burr does a fantastic job in Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder. He’s got it down. He even sells some of the sillier one liners in George Eckstein’s teleplay. At times, it seems like Eckstein is trying to goof on the idea of a Perry Mason TV movie. Or maybe he’s sincere and Nyby’s read more
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 11, 2016
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an excellent collection of very funny sketches on a theme. It’s really funny. It’s often exceptionally well performed–acted is a bit of a stretch–and it’s got a wonderful tone. It also lacks narrative momentum, which is kind of extraordinary since it’s read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson (1989, Christian I. Nyby II)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 10, 2016
The Case of the Lethal Lesson is a very strange Perry Mason TV movie. Not just because director Nyby actually doesn’t do an atrocious job, but also because Robert Hamilton’s teleplay is a jumbled mess. Lethal Lesson introduces two new regulars to the main cast, with one of them being the person read more
Champion (1949, Mark Robson)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 9, 2016
Champion is a boxing picture. It ends with a big fight, as boxing pictures are wont to do. However, as the fight starts and the film cuts between all the people Kirk Douglas’s Champion has wrong, the film isn’t asking the viewer to root for the protagonist. Douglas is a bad guy. The entire third read more
Journey Into Fear (1943, Norman Foster)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 5, 2016
Journey Into Fear has a number of insignificant problems, a couple significant ones, and one major one. The major one is Foster’s direction. It’s not bad, it makes good use of the sets, it even uses some of the supporting cast well, but it’s not frightening, it’s not exciting. Journey Into Fear, read more
Series | Superman (1978-1983, 1987, 2006)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 5, 2016
The Superman franchise started alongside, for the most part, the culturally redefining Star Wars and–sort of–Indiana Jones. But it had little in common with those franchises. It had a big studio feel to it. Superman is the culmination of the American epic. It just happened to coincide with the rise read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake (1988, Ron Satlof)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 3, 2016
There are many things wrong with Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake, starting with the title being a little long followed by the first red herring in the movie, which is in its first scene. Then the next red herring is in the second scene and so on and so on. Actually, I don’t think I re read more
Dreamscape (1984, Joseph Ruben)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 3, 2016
Dreamscape has a lot of subplots. The main plot barely gets any more time during the second act than the subplots. But I’m getting ahead of myself because I wanted to talk about the first act, which has Dennis Quaid getting reacquainted with mentor Max von Sydow. The film opens with this fast, fun read more
Arrival (2016, Denis Villeneuve)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 30, 2016
Stylist for hire. Stylist for hire. Denis Villeneuve is a stylist for hire on Arrival. He assembles a wonderful crew and they all do great work. Joe Walker’s editing is always assured, never flashy. Bradford Young’s photography is phenomenal. Arrival’s got a great color palette. Bored with its read more
Kiss of Death (1995, Barbet Schroeder)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 25, 2016
Kiss of Death takes place over four years, has eight to ten significant characters, and runs an hour and forty minutes. It skips ahead three years at the forty-five minute mark. And the last twenty minutes could have their own movie, as David Caruso returns to the city to face Nicolas Cage, who kno read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace (1988, Christian I. Nyby II)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 24, 2016
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace is a domino effect of lame. Lee David Zlotoff’s script is really bad, but director Nyby is also really bad, and then some of the performances are really bad. Some of the performances a Perry Mason TV movie needs to be okay aren’t okay here. Avenging Ace read more
Escape from Tomorrow (2013, Randy Moore)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 24, 2016
Director Moore snuck cameras into Disney World (and Disneyland) to tell the story of a creepy dad who goes insane while on the last day of the family vacation. Moore, who also wrote the tedious script, has reasons for the insanity, but they’re all nonsense because Tomorrow is more about showcasing read more