Panic Button (1964, George Sherman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 23, 2016
Watching Panic Button, two adjectives came to mind repeatedly. Anemic and stupefying. It’s incredible the things the film can’t make funny–like Maurice Chevalier, Carlo Croccolo and Eleanor Parker dressed up as nuns trying to make it to a Venice film festival. Not the Venice Film Festival, because read more
Midnight Cowboy (1969, John Schlesinger)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 20, 2016
Midnight Cowboy gets to be a character study, but doesn’t start as one, which is an interesting situation. About forty-five minutes into the film, which runs just shy of two hours, Midnight Cowboy chucks the narrative urgency. Maybe not chucks, maybe just shuts down, because it does take the film read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel (1987, Christian I. Nyby II)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 19, 2016
Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel is a bit disappointing. It’s got a really lame script from Anthony Spinner. Spinner doesn’t have a good mystery, he doesn’t write characters well, he writes dialogue something awful. So there are no expectations from the script. However, Scoundrel read more
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (1997, Anno Hideaki, Masayuki and Tsurumaki Kazuya)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 18, 2016
Just over the first half of Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth is all right. It’s a compilation of episodes from the “Neon Genesis Evangelion” television show, expertly edited by Miki Sachiko. There’s very little exposition, with all the backstory on the giant monster fighting–but read more
Young Guns (1988, Christopher Cain)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 13, 2016
Young Guns is an Emilio Estevez vanity project, which was once a thing. Estevez lacks the screen charisma and acting ability, but it’s a confusing part. He’s Billy the Kid and he’s playing him like a manipulative but somehow still likable psychopath. For about half the film, John Fusco’s script read more
Seems Like Old Times (1980, Jay Sandrich)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 13, 2016
Seems Like Old Times is an enthusiastic homage to the screwball comedy. Most of the action takes place at Goldie Hawn’s house, where she’s trying to hide fugitive ex-husband Chevy Chase from current husband–and district attorney–Charles Grodin. She’s a public defender who takes in all of her read more
Young Guns II (1990, Geoff Murphy)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 13, 2016
In many ways, Young Guns II is an improvement over the first. Geoff Murphy knows how to direct a Western, at least until he has to do a showdown scene and then he’s in trouble, but if it’s general Western action, he can do it. And he’s got the same cinematographer as the first movie, Dean Semler, read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam (1987, Ron Satlof)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 13, 2016
I’m going to say something I never expected to say. Ron Satlof does a good job directing Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam. He’s a regular director on the series and he’s never directed one as well as this one. The showdown between Raymond Burr and guilty party is fantastic. Satlof does read more
Batman: The Movie (1966, Leslie H. Martinson)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 12, 2016
Burt Ward is really bad in Batman: The Movie. Sure, he’s just around to parrot Adam West, who’s a horny, kind of dumb, know-it-all. The problem is it doesn’t seem like anyone else is in on the joke because director Martinson does such a bad job. There are some okay scenes in Lorenzo Semple Jr.’s read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit (1987, Richard Lang)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 5, 2016
The Case of the Sinister Spirit has some problems. Mostly in the cast, some in the story. And cinematographer Arch Bryant really doesn’t make the haunted hotel sequences scary. There’s some okay lighting at times too–in the haunted hotel–but it’s never scary. Lang’s direction is trying for read more
Electric Dreams (1984, Steve Barron)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 5, 2016
Electric Dreams is a very strange film. And not just because it’s about a computer brought to life by champagne and electric fire. Not even because said computer has the voice of Bud Cort. It’s strange because it has no interest in having a conventional narrative structure, both in terms of the read more
Ghosts of Mars (2001, John Carpenter)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 4, 2016
Ghost of Mars has a lot of earnestness going for it. Director Carpenter needs quite a bit his cast and he supports them even when they’re clearly not able to succeed–especially lead Natasha Henstridge. He takes the project seriously, his cast takes it seriously. Sure, it doesn’t exactly work out, read more
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992, James Foley)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 2, 2016
The first half of Glengarry Glen Ross is phenomenal. David Mamet’s screenplay is lightning fast during this section, moving its characters around, pairing them off for scenes or moments–the brevity is astounding. Half the movie is over and it feels like just a few minutes. Then the second half hits read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love (1987, Ron Satlof)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 29, 2016
The Case of the Lost Love is a rather charmless Perry Mason outing. Jean Simmons is an old flame of Raymond Burr’s and he ends up defending her ungrateful husband (Gene Barry). Simmons and Burr have some chemistry as Lost Love establishes their history, but the movie’s so technically inept, it neve read more
Warning Shot (1967, Buzz Kulik)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 28, 2016
Warning Shot is almost successful. For most of the film, director Kulik and screenwriter Mann Rubin craft an engaging mystery. Then the third act happens and they both employ cheap tricks and it knocks the film off course. It’s a rather short third act too–the film’s got a peculiar structure, read more
Summer School (1987, Carl Reiner)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 27, 2016
There’s an almost magical competency to Summer School. It starts with the opening titles, which are expertly edited to showcase the eventual primary cast members. Not the adults–outside lead Mark Harmon–rather the students. There’s no audible dialogue, just a rock song playing, but there’s read more
Trancers 5: Sudden Deth (1994, David Nutter)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 22, 2016
There are no good parts to Trancers 5: Sudden Deth. The best parts, however, are when you forget you’re watching an actual motion picture–or even a direct-to-video release on a name label–and think you’re instead watching some terrible fantasy movie shot by the staff of a renaissance fair. At read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star (1986, Ron Satlof)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 22, 2016
There’s a lot of camp value to The Case of the Shooting Star. During William Katt’s investigation scenes, his clothes get more and more absurd. At one point he’s wearing a jacket with a tiger on it. Then he gets sidekick and flirtation partner Wendy Crewson, who wears really loud eighties pants, read more
Suddenly (1954, Lewis Allen)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 21, 2016
I’m sure there’s got to be some examples of well-written “Red Scare” screenplays, but Suddenly isn’t one of them. Writer Richard Sale’s got a lot of opinion about the dirty Commies, he just never gets the opportunity to have any one character fully blather it out. They’re too busy blathering read more
Trancers 4: Jack of Swords (1994, David Nutter)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 10, 2016
I’m not sure where to start with Trancers 4 except I don’t recommend anyone else ever watch this film. Especially not if you like Trancers or even Tim Thomerson. That definite discouragement aside, for a direct-to-video sequel shot in Romania and set in a different universe like an episode of the read more