Son of Frankenstein (1939, Rowland V. Lee)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 14, 2016
Son of Frankenstein is a mostly wasted opportunity. For everything good, there’s something significantly wrong with it. The script is good, director Lee doesn’t direct actors well. The German Expressionist-influenced sets are great, Lee shoots it so stagy, the sets go to waste. Lee like read more
House of Frankenstein (1944, Erle C. Kenton)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 14, 2016
Just over half of House of Frankenstein is glorious. Kenton’s direction is outstanding, the sets are imaginative, the actors are doing great. Beautiful photography from George Robinson. House is a scary movie, what with physically but downright evil Boris Karloff running the proceedings. What read more
House of Dracula (1945, Erle C. Kenton)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 14, 2016
House of Dracula is immediately disappointing. The film opens on man of science Onslow Stevens as Dracula (played by a boring John Carradine) comes visiting, hoping for some cure to vampirism. Will Carradine try to seduce Martha O’Driscoll’s fetching nurse? Will something go wrong with read more
Mr. Right (2015, Paco Cabezas)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 14, 2016
Mr. Right has shockingly poor direction. Daniel Aranyó makes the shots look good, though the CG-assisted bullet time thing is bad, and Tom Wilson’s editing is perfectly competent, but director Cabezas is really bad. He shoots the film with a Panavision aspect ratio and does not know what to d read more
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 14, 2016
Vertigo is a nightmare. It starts with James Stewart recovering from a nightmare only to find himself in another one. Kim Novak finds herself trapped in a similar nightmare. There’s a lot of beauty in the nightmare, but it’s still a nightmare. And nightmares get worse before anyone wake read more
[BASP] Arthur (1981, Steve Gordon) / Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1987, Bud Yorkin)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 13, 2016
The Best of An Alan Smithee Podcast: Episode Twenty-seven Arthur (1981, Steve Gordon) / Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1987, Bud Yorkin) Originally posted: January 3, 2014 Subscribe via iTunes. read more
Knock on Any Door (1949, Nicholas Ray)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 11, 2016
Knock on Any Door opens with Humphrey Bogart, then heads into a lengthy flashback detailing the life of young thug John Derek. Bogart’s his attorney, defending him on a murder rap; Bogart’s opening statement leads to the flashback. It’s a lengthy flashback, introducing not just De read more
How We Met (2016, Oscar Rene Lozoya II)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 8, 2016
Okay, so co-star Brian Flaccus also co-wrote How We Met, which explains quite a bit in hindsight. In the first two-thirds of Met, Flaccus is a diversion. He’s playing an obnoxious British DJ (with a questionable accent) who helps out ex-girlfriend Christina Marie Moses and her erstwhile love read more
[BASP] Donnie Darko (2001, Richard Kelly) / S. Darko (2009, Chris Fisher)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 7, 2016
The Best of An Alan Smithee Podcast: Episode Twenty-six Donnie Darko (2001, Richard Kelly) / S. Darko (2009, Chris Fisher) Originally posted: September 6, 2013 Subscribe via iTunes. read more
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