Henry V (1989, Kenneth Branagh)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 19, 2015
Director (and adapter) Branagh splits Henry V into three sections. They aren’t equal, they don’t match the act changes (usually); Branagh lets photographer Kenneth MacMillan open up the film to (outdoor) light while Patrick Doyle’s score becomes essential. The first outside, dayli read more
One Week (1920, Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 17, 2015
One Week is pretty much perfect. Directors Cline and Keaton structure the short beautifully. It takes place over a week, the passage of days torn off calendar pages, as newlyweds Keaton and Sybil Seely set up their home. Literally, set up; they’re constructing their own pre-fab and things go read more
Little Big Man (1970, Arthur Penn)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 15, 2015
Little Big Man is episodic. It has to be. Director Penn knows he can’t reveal the tragedy of the film right off because it’d be unbearable but he also can’t avoid it. The film starts in a bookend with an incredibly aged Dustin Hoffman beginning to recount the story; he do so out o read more
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985, Danny Steinmann) (2)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 13, 2015
Someone–whether it be the writers, director, producers, studio, composer, whoever–someone tried really hard to make Friday the 13th: A New Beginning a comedy. It fails miserably, but the attempt is interesting if not admirable. Wait, it’s not because of the composer; Harry Manfred read more
[Stop Button Modells] The Best on VHS: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 13, 2015
An audiovisual essay about Danny Steinmann’s 1985 film, “Friday the 13th: A New Beginning,” produced by Timothy Silver for Paramount Pictures. read more
The Lady Eve (1941, Preston Sturges)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 12, 2015
Preston Sturges has a great structure to The Lady Eve. The first part of the film–the majority of the runtime–has wealthy oddball Henry Fonda returning home on a ship and falling in love with Barbara Stanwyck. Makes sense, as she’s wonderful, only she (and her father, Charles Cobu read more
[Stop Button Lists] The Ten Best Movie Marketing Campaigns Ever
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 11, 2015
source: WhatCulture Stop Button Lists is a new feature. When I thought of it, I wanted something flexible. Possibly scalable, definitely flexible. The first week’s post discussed a top ten list from thirty-five years ago, last week’s post looked at home video releases; those same films read more
Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953, Jacques Tati)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 9, 2015
A certain amount of Mr. Hulot’s Holiday is pure slapstick. Except it’s slapstick through director Tati’s decidedly careful lensing. Tati holds the shot on the slapstick punchline a beat too long, giving the viewer time to consider the joke, the punchline, and his or her amusement. read more
The Passenger (1975, Michelangelo Antonioni)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 5, 2015
The Passenger is an odd mix of existential crisis and globe-trotting thriller. Director Antonioni does far better with the former than the latter, which has Jenny Runacre trying to discover what happened to husband Jack Nicholson. What happened to Nicholson is he assumes a dead man’s identity read more
Jane Brown’s Body (1968, Alan Gibson)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 3, 2015
Jane Brown’s Body uses resurrection science to explore a melodrama. Anthony Skene’s teleplay isn’t bad, it’s just a little obvious in its plotting. But there’s a definite, subconscious patriarchy thing playing out and it makes for an interesting time. Stefanie Powers h read more
The Circus (1928, Charles Chaplin)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 29, 2015
The Circus has a melancholic tone it doesn’t need and one director Chaplin is never fully invested in. The first half of the film is a series of fantastic gags–well, except the stuff with ring master Al Ernest Garcia being abusive to his daughter, played by Merna Kennedy. But the rest o read more
The ‘High Sign’ (1921, Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 27, 2015
The ‘High Sign’ starts innocuously enough. Leading man Buster Keaton is out of work and answers a want ad to be a clerk at a shooting range. Maybe the tone of the short can be determined from Keaton stealing a cop’s gun to practice, because things don’t stay innocuous for lo read more
Drunken Angel (1948, Kurosawa Akira)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 25, 2015
Drunken Angel never hides its sentimentality. The film’s protagonist, an alcoholic doctor working in a slum (Shimura Takashi in a glorious performance), is well aware of his sentimentality. He resents it–Shimura has these great yelling and throwing scenes–but it’s what keeps read more
The Palm Beach Story (1942, Preston Sturges)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 22, 2015
The Palm Beach Story is a narrative. Director Sturges opens with a rapidly cut prologue showing stars Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea getting married, where he inserts clues for what will eventually be the film’s utterly pointless deus ex machina. Sure, Palm Beach runs less than ninety minu read more
A Day at the Races (1937, Sam Wood)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 18, 2015
Until the halfway point or so, A Day at the Races moves quite well. Sure, it gets off to a slow start–introducing Chico as sidekick to Maureen O’Sullivan and setting up her problems (her sanitarium is going out of business), which isn’t funny stuff. I think Allan Jones even shows read more
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 16, 2015
In Citizen Kane, director Welles ties everything together–not just the story (he does wrap the narrative visually), but also how the filmmaking relates to the film’s content. Kane’s story can’t be told any other way. That precision–whether it’s in the summary seq read more
College (1927, James W. Horne)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 15, 2015
The best sequence in College is also the longest. Protagonist Buster Keaton, after failing at baseball (he’s a bookworm who needs to get athletic to impress a girl), goes out for track and field. Keaton observes other men succeed at the various events, tries them himself, fails miserably (and read more
Eve (1968, Robert Stevens)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 13, 2015
For all of its problems, Eve rarely feels stagy. Director Stevens makes the most of his location shooting, whether it’s town or country, and there are enough scenes out doors to make up for the utter lack of establishing shots. It’s for television, it’s on a budget. It’s als read more
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984, Joseph Zito) (2)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 13, 2015
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter never tries to be scary. It tries to be gory… but not too gory. It saves the biggest gore moment for the last, when any number of the other ones throughout the film would’ve given Tom Savini better material. It’s supposed to be gory, but not too read more
[Stop Button Modells] Le Garcon Dans Le Lac: Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 13, 2015
An audiovisual essay about Joseph Zito’s 1984 film, “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter,” produced by Frank Mancuso Jr. for Paramount Pictures. read more