Naughty Nurse (1969, Paul Bartel)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 27, 2012
Naughty Nurse should be better. Bartel’s direction is outstanding–Jan Oonk’s black and white photography is particularly phenomenal–and he writes some funny material, but it should be better. Bartel seems to think because he’s funny, he doesn’t have to keep Nurse read more
Coffee and Cigarettes II (1989, Jim Jarmusch)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 25, 2012
Coffee and Cigarettes II stars twins Cinqué Lee and Joie Lee as twins having coffee in Memphis. Why are they in Memphis? They don’t know, but it seems like it’s Cinqué’s fault. Jarmusch le’s the twins bicker though most of the short, which is funny enough but then there̵ read more
Coffee and Cigarettes (1986, Jim Jarmusch)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 20, 2012
Technically, Coffee and Cigarettes is most impressive at the beginning. The short’s simple–Steven Wright meets Roberto Benigni for coffee. When Benigni makes room for Wright, Jarmusch’s handling of the process is amazing. It’s a quick series of shots; beautifully composed an read more
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986, Brian Gibson)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 17, 2012
There’s not much to recommend Poltergeist II: The Other Side, but it does promote family “values” while quite literally demonizing Christianity. That juxtaposing alone, however, does not make it worthwhile. The film is the perfect example of a bad sequel. There are budget issues, read more
China (1943, John Farrow)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 3, 2012
China has a lot to do. While it’s a propaganda picture meant to rally American support for the Chinese, it’s also propaganda for the future of China. Loretta Young plays a school teacher and her charges, in almost every one of their scenes, extol the virtues of Western democracy. There& read more
I Like Your Nerve (1931, William C. McGann)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 30, 2012
While I Like Your Nerve is urbanely genial, it’s a somewhat high concept romantic adventure comedy. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is a playboy–though not one of means–living it up in South America. He travels from country to country (they are, of course, so small he can drive) and stirs u read more
Adventures in Babysitting (1989, Joel Zwick)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 29, 2012
Given the abundance of terrible television sitcoms, seeing what kind doesn’t make it past pilot stage should be interesting. But it’s not. “Adventures in Babysitting” is a semi-sequel to the movie–with David Simkins, the original writer, co-writing the pilot. It recast read more
Sh! The Octopus (1937, William C. McGann)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 28, 2012
Sh! The Octopus is a painfully unfunny spoof of the “old dark house” genre. Instead of a house, though, it takes place in a lighthouse on a rocky island. That setting should be enough, but it appears Warner only budgeted for the lighthouse model. The action principally takes place inside the lighth read more
Black Widow (1987, Bob Rafelson)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 26, 2012
Black Widow is an odd film. Ronald Bass’s script starts being about Debra Winger as a Justice Department analyst who can’t get her male colleagues to take her seriously when she discovers a woman (Theresa Russell) killing her rich husbands. The film never discusses Russell’s motiv read more
Planet of Dinosaurs (1977, James K. Shea)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 23, 2012
Where does one even start with Planet of Dinosaurs? The only good thing about the film is some of the scenery… and maybe some of the music from Kelly Lammers and John O’Verlin. Most of the music is quite bad, but the film’s “theme” is this electronic piece and it adds both a sense of danger read more
The Most Dangerous Game (1932, Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 12, 2012
Running about an hour, The Most Dangerous Game shouldn’t be boring. But it somehow manages. Worse, the boring stuff comes at the end; directors Schoedsack and Pichel drag out the conclusion with a false ending or two. The film doesn’t have much to recommend it. That laborious ending wip read more
The Ghost Ship (1943, Mark Robson)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 9, 2012
Although the title suggests otherwise, The Ghost Ship is not a supernatural thriller. It is, however, a very effective suspense picture. Russell Wade (in a sturdy lead performance) is a new officer. On his first ship out, he begins to suspect the captain–Richard Dix, who steadily gets creepie read more
Slumber Party ’57 (1976, William A. Levey)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 7, 2012
I think Slumber Party ’57 is supposed to be a titillating sex comedy but the lame jokes invalidate the latter and the exploitative misogynistic creepiness hopefully nullifies the former. Before getting to the acting, I do want to mention director Levey’s transitions. At times, it’ read more
She Done Him Wrong (1933, Lowell Sherman)
The Stop Button Posted by on Nov 2, 2012
With her cane and big goofy hat, it’s hard not to think of Lon Chaney in Phantom of the Opera when Mae West breaks out into her first song in She Done Him Wrong. While West wrote the film’s source, a play, it seems like the film would play better as a silent. Her acting “style” doesn’t lend read more
Mademoiselle Fifi (1944, Robert Wise)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 31, 2012
Mademoiselle Fifi is split down the center, roughly, into two parts. The first involves Simone Simon on the trip to her hometown. The second is when she reaches the town. The film takes place in occupied France during the Franco-Prussian War, but it opens with a title card presenting it as an analo read more
Men of the Sky (1942, B. Reeves Eason)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 30, 2012
Men of the Sky opens with General Henry H. Arnold addressing a graduating class of air cadets. Charles P. Boyle’s Technicolor photography is glorious and Harold McKernon’s editing is outstanding and Sky feels like an almost too precious time capsule. Only then the realism shatters when read more
North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 26, 2012
North by Northwest seems a little like a Technicolor version of an early Hollywood Hitchcock–the regular man combating the bad guys against incredible odds (at an American monument no less), but it’s a lot more. The film’s a tightly constructed proto-blockbuster; there’s not read more
High Road to China (1983, Brian G. Hutton)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 25, 2012
Upon hearing John Barry’s beautiful opening titles music, I realized it was unlikely High Road to China would live up to its score. It does not. It does, however, at times, come rather close. The film takes place in the twenties, with Bess Armstrong as a flapper who hires WWI veteran Tom Sell read more
Lassiter (1984, Robert Young)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 24, 2012
Lassiter suffers from a definite lack of charisma. Not from leading man Tom Selleck, who looks a tad too tall to be a jewel thief, but from his leading ladies, Jane Seymour and Lauren Hutton. Seymour plays the girlfriend, which should give Lassiter an edge–if Seymour and Selleck had any chemi read more
Penguin Pool Murder (1932, George Archainbaud)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 22, 2012
Penguin Pool Murder, besides the peculiar title (and lack of a definite article), opens like almost any other early thirties mystery. A possible unfaithful wife, Mae Clarke, has a swindling louse of a husband, Guy Usher. When he ends up dead, there are multiple suspects. Only the murder occurs at t read more