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.
Lemonade (2016, Beyoncé Knowles, Dikayl Rimmasch and Jonas Åkerlund)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 7, 2016
A music video is not a short musical. Lemonade, identifying itself as a visual album, is not a music video (or a string of them) and it is not a musical. It borrows something from all of those mediums, with directors Knowles, Rimmasch and Åkerlund instinctively understanding how to mix and match. L read more
From Beyond (1986, Stuart Gordon), the director’s cut
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 5, 2016
I’m having a hard time with this one. The From Beyond movie poster and VHS box scared the crap out of me as a kid. Even now, having seen the movie and knowing there’s nothing as visually creepy in the film itself, the imagery disturbs me. Villain Ted Sorel apparently having his face mel read more
Mothra (1996, Yoneda Okihiro)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 31, 2016
Mothra has the arguably unlikely problem of having way too many good ideas at once. For over an hour, director Yoneda is able to keep all the balls in the air. Sure, things fall apart in the third act, but the pieces are still glorious and the first two acts are stupendous. It’s a kids movie read more
The Program (2015, Stephen Frears)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 31, 2016
The Program does not tell a particularly filmic story. It doesn’t have a rewarding dramatic arc. Telling the story of disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, with Ben Foster in the role–and as the film’s main character–does not offer many moments of joy. Foster’s spellbindi read more
[BASP] Audio Commentary: The Return of the Living Dead (1985, Dan O’Bannon)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 30, 2016
The Best of An Alan Smithee Podcast: Episode Twenty-five Audio Commentary: The Return of the Living Dead (1985, Dan O’Bannon) Originally posted: July 5, 2013 Subscribe via iTunes. read more
Murder, My Sweet (1944, Edward Dmytryk)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 30, 2016
Murder, My Sweet takes a peculiar approach to the detective story. Lead Dick Powell graciously lets everyone overshadow him in scenes; he doesn’t exactly fumble his way through his investigation, but he does befuddle his way through it. He’s the audience’s point of entry into the read more
Werewolf of London (1935, Stuart Walker)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 30, 2016
Werewolf of London. He actually does need a tailor, because he’s a gentleman and gentleman dress for the evening. For whatever reason, director Walker seems to spend more time on lead Henry Hull getting dressed while a werewolf than doing much else while a werewolf. There are a couple effects read more
Ant-Man (2015, Peyton Reed)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 30, 2016
Ant-Man is almost a lot of things. It’s almost a kids’ movie, but not quite–there’s a maturity to the material without it getting overly complex. It’s almost a heist planning movie, but director Reed can’t quite bring all the elements together. He does get them i read more
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016, Bryan Singer)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 30, 2016
X-Men: Apocalypse runs over two hours, which is surprising because–while the movie does plod along–I didn’t realize it plodded along for quite so long. I guess the first act is more successful in hindsight than while it plays out. This entry takes place, pointlessly, in the early read more
In the Mouth of Madness (1994, John Carpenter)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 29, 2016
In the Mouth of Madness is a rarity. It’s a film with some terrible, terrible parts, yet it needs to be longer. There needs to be more terribleness for it to be better. And it can’t even be much better, because those terrible parts break it, but it would be somewhat better. It would def read more
The Ewok Adventure (1984, John Korty)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 29, 2016
There’s a strange effectiveness to The Ewok Adventure during Burl Ives’s narration. With his voice, with the lameness of the script, Ewok Adventure feels like a storybook come to life. Much of the movie is exquisitely produced, whether Peter Bernstein’s score, director Korty’ read more
Phantom of the Paradise (1974, Brian De Palma)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 28, 2016
Phantom of the Paradise has all the trappings of a failed passion project, only not a lot of passion for the project. Director De Palma, with a couple notable exceptions, doesn’t have much interest in directing a musical. When I say couple, I mean two–there are two scenes where he seems read more
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992, Fran Rubel Kuzui)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 25, 2016
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is so technically inept, not even Carter Burwell turns in a good score. Most scenes are just trying to decide who’s doing a worse job, director Kuzui, cinematographer James Hayman or editors Jill Savitt and Camilla Toniolo. Overall, it’s obviously Kuzui, but the read more
[BASP] Caddyshack (1980, Harold Ramis) / Caddyshack II (1988, Allan Arkush)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 23, 2016
The Best of An Alan Smithee Podcast: Episode Twenty-four Caddyshack (1980, Harold Ramis) / Caddyshack II (1988, Allan Arkush) Originally posted: June 7, 2013 Subscribe via iTunes. read more
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015, Joss Whedon)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 21, 2016
There are no leads in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It is a collection of poorly staged Bond movie action sequences featuring different people in costumes doing outrageous things but never having much consequence to their actions. There’s no time for consequence, not when director Whedon has to ge read more
[BASP] Judge Dredd (1995, Danny Cannon) / Dredd (2012, Pete Travis)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 16, 2016
The Best of An Alan Smithee Podcast: Episode Twenty-three Judge Dredd (1995, Danny Cannon) / Dredd (2012, Pete Travis) Originally posted: May 3, 2013 Subscribe via iTunes. read more
The Mole People (1956, Virgil W. Vogel)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 16, 2016
I have a long nostalgic history with The Mole People, which I won’t get into, but there will be tangents. Because The Mole People’s one of the reasons I got into classic film. It’s one of the reasons I prefer watching black and white films for concise intellectual pleasure, usuall read more
Revenge of the Creature (1955, Jack Arnold)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 11, 2016
Revenge of the Creature has three parts. The first part involves Nestor Paiva (the only cast member from the original to return) and John Bromfield as the guy who’s going to capture the Creature, the second part involves Bromfield, John Agar and Lori Nelson all studying the Creature in captiv read more
[BASP] The Little Shop of Horrors (1960, Roger Corman) / Please Don&’t Eat My Mother (1973, Carl Monson)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 9, 2016
The Best of An Alan Smithee Podcast: Episode Twenty-two The Little Shop of Horrors (1960, Roger Corman) / Please Don&’t Eat My Mother (1973, Carl Monson) Originally posted: January 3, 2013 Subscribe via iTunes. read more
Trancers III (1992, C. Courtney Joyner)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 9, 2016
There’s a certain exhaustion about Trancers III. Director Joyner doesn’t have much chemistry with star Tim Thomerson, leading to way too much time spent on the evil super-soldiers. This Trancers sequel, in addition to a really lame Terminator 2 vibe with a novelty android, is all about read more