Foul Play (1978, Colin Higgins)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 3, 2012
Foul Play ends with a celebration of itself. Over the end credits, clips of some of the film’s more memorable moments and characters play. It’s incredibly egotistical–I mean, Foul Play is director Higgins’s directorial debut, it’s Chevy Chase’s first leading man read more
The Adventures of Superpup (1958, Cal Howard)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 2, 2012
What better way to capitalize on the success of TV’s “The Adventures of Superman” with a kid’s show recasting the characters as dogs. What’s strangest about “The Adventures of Superpup”–not surprisingly, it never went past pilot–isn’t the read more
Three Amigos (1986, John Landis)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 1, 2012
Three Amigos is beautifully made. Whether it’s the silent era Hollywood scenes at the opening, the silent movie in the movie, or the Western the film quickly becomes… it all looks fantastic. Landis even brings in the singing cowboy genre–the scene with the animals accompanying the read more
Something’s Got to Give (1962, George Cukor)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 31, 2012
I wonder how Something’s Got to Give plays if you haven’t seen My Favorite Wife (Give was a remake). This thirty-seven minute edit of footage of Marilyn Monroe’s last–unfinished–film is a disjointed suggestion of what might have been. Monroe’s good in her part, t read more
House of Games (1987, David Mamet)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 30, 2012
House of Games is a very small film, but Mamet and cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchía manage to make it appear a lot bigger. When there’s no one in a shot, in a public place, except a principal, Mamet makes it seem stylistic instead of budgetary. It’s only during the final fifteen minutes, when there read more
Anemic Cinema (1926, Marcel Duchamp)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 29, 2012
I’m not sure how Anemic Cinema cinema is surrealist. Obviously for the time, but today the most surreal thing about it is the copyright notice. Director Duchamp slaps a copyright notice on the end. It feels completely out of place with Anemic, which is otherwise a direct communication with th read more
Tantalizing Disaster (1970, Piotr Kamler)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 28, 2012
Tantalizing Disaster is magnificent and wondrous, but it’s kind of dumb. Director Kamler is most enthusiastic about shapes, patterns and small movements. The film concerns a cosmic ball bouncing on some cosmic stairs. Inside the cosmic ball is a big, gelatinous fat guy in a fedora. He’s read more
Intervals (1969, Peter Greenaway)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 26, 2012
Intervals is a series of profile shots of Venice buildings. It’s unclear it’s Venice until the boats start passing. It’s impossible to tell when director Greenaway shot the film, but the light never changes much so one might assume he either did it every day at the same time. The read more
Bridge (1960, Janusz Majewski)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 24, 2012
Adapting An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge into a short film, if Bridge is any indication, is a terrible idea. Director Majeweski–who also scripted–gives the doomed protagonist more to do before he’s on the noose than after. There’s no time in a short to make the viewer care read more
Working for Peanuts (1953, Jack Hannah)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 22, 2012
As if Donald Duck couldn’t get weirder, he’s apparently got the hots for a female elephant in Working for Peanuts. But it’s not actually a Donald cartoon, it’s a Chip and Dale cartoon. The boys are after the peanuts–a delicacy they’ve just discovered–and th read more
The Hole (1969, Pitor Kamler)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 19, 2012
The Hole, though a precisely, beautifully animated little (two minutes, but that run time includes titles and a preface) piece, is just a cute exercise. Director Kamler comes up with a nice illustration of the futility of the human condition. But he’s too honest and Hole is predictable. The v read more
Susie the Little Blue Coupe (1952, Clyde Geronimi)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 15, 2012
Bill Peet, who came up with the story for Susie the Little Blue Coupe and co-wrote the final script, must have thought American kids didn’t have enough depressing classic Russian literature in their lives. It’s a seriously disturbed, if fantastic, cartoon. Susie tells the story of a hap read more
Sympathy (1929, Bryan Foy)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 14, 2012
Sympathy is a Vitaphone one-reeler about a married man (Hobart Cavanaugh) stepping out on his wife. It’s not his fault, of course, he was just responding to peer pressure. Harry Shannon plays the peer in question and he’s awful. He drags Sympathy down for the first half. Once he’s read more
Poltergeist (1982, Tobe Hooper)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 13, 2012
In a practical sense, one can just watch Poltergeist and be in awe of the technical qualities. Hooper’s Panavision composition and Matthew F. Leonetti’s photography alone are enough to make it a singular experience. But then there are Hooper’s additional touches–like how a s read more
Little Tiger’s Can-Can Bug (1950, Masaoka Kenzô)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 12, 2012
From the title, Little Tiger’s Can-Can Bug, one has to assume there is something lost in translation. The cartoon concerns two little tiger kittens who are working on a ship. They sing and they’re precious, but they don’t do much in Bug. There’s a grown-up tiger, a tuna boat read more
The Big Chill (1983, Lawrence Kasdan)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 11, 2012
With The Big Chill, Kasdan tries to be profound, heart-warming and cynical. He doesn’t succeed. For a film so much about introspection, Kasdan is surprisingly unaware at the inherent artifice. The film’s cast of characters are–if they’re male–extraordinary. There’ read more
Half a Death (1972, Leslie H. Martinson)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 10, 2012
Half a Death gets off to a troubled start thanks to Tod Andrews. He’s only in the episode (of “Ghost Story”) for the first scene, but he’s just awful. Watching Eleanor Parker act opposite him is painful. While Henry Slesar’s script is no great shakes in the dialogue de read more
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation (1989, Eric Zala)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 9, 2012
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation clearly shows all you need for rousing adventure is enthusiasm, a willful abandon for one’s physical safety and John Williams music. The film is an attempt at a shot-for-shot adaptation of the original, made by and starring children (over approximately seven read more
Duo Concertantes (1964, Larry Jordan)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 8, 2012
What do penguins and bees have in common? They both show up in Larry Jordan’s transfixing collage animation Duo Concertantes. I know, they’re also both animals too. I’ve never seen any Jordan before and Concertantes might not be the best place to start, but it’s a phenomenal read more
Batgirl (1967)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 7, 2012
I’m not sure the actual story, but I’ll just assume at the height of the “Batman” show’s popularity, the producers thought about doing a “Batgirl” series. The pilot, if it’s any indication of the prospective series, suggests the world didn’t mis read more