West of the Pesos (1960, Robert McKimson)
The Stop Button Posted by on Apr 3, 2012
West of the Pesos is a hideous cartoon, with terrible animation and McKimson ripping off Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. There’s not much to amuse oneself with during the insufferable six minute cartoon, but there are some places to try. First is the whole Speedy Gonsalez thing. I mean, W read more
Krull (1983, Peter Yates)
The Stop Button Posted by on Apr 2, 2012
From the director of Breaking Away and one of the many fine writers of the Adam West “Batman” TV show…. Krull is just as unwatchable now as it was the last time I tried to watch it, some eleven years ago. As a kid—assuming kids are the best audience for the film—Krull never registered as something read more
Get Out and Get Under (1920, Hal Roach)
The Stop Button Posted by on Apr 1, 2012
Like a lot of silent shorts, Get Out and Get Under has three distinct phases. The first phase involves Harold Lloyd as a suitor for Mildred Davis. He’s got to race to stop her wedding. This phase sets a certain expectation for Get Out‘s pace; the rest of the short doesn’t live up read more
A Broken Leghorn (1959, Robert McKimson)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 31, 2012
A Broken Leghorn never confronts its bleakness or meanness. It opens with Foghorn Leghorn doing a good thing, tricking a presumably barren hen into thinking she laid an egg. But then it turns out to be a baby rooster, so Foghorn spends the rest of the cartoon trying to kill the adorable little roos read more
The Muppet Movie (1979, James Frawley)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 30, 2012
The Muppet Movie takes it upon itself to be all things… well, two things. It has to be appealing to kids and adults. The film is split roughly in half between the audiences, with the adults having more to appreciate in the star cameos–some cute, some hilarious (Steve Martin in short sho read more
The Seafarers (1953, Stanley Kubrick)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 29, 2012
Only half of The Seafarers really feels like Kubrick. While he handled photography and editing on the entire film, the second half moves out of his comfort zone (or interest level). The film’s a promotional for the Seafarers International Union; the second half has most of that promoting. Kub read more
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988, Frank Oz)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 28, 2012
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels manages to have a full, three act plot–with all the twists necessary for a confidence picture–but it also is constantly funny. Oz juggles his two leads but mostly relies on Steve Martin for the more immediate humor. With Michael Caine, Oz and the screenwriters te read more
The Last Hungry Cat (1961, Hawley Pratt and Friz Freleng)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 27, 2012
I wonder if anyone involved in making The Last Hungry Cat ever owned a cat. The premise is (for a Freleng cartoon) quite good. Sylvester is haunted–by an Alfred Hitchcock-like narrator–after he “eats” Tweetie. There are a couple big logic problems. The major one involves cat read more
Saturday Afternoon (1926, Harry Edwards)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 25, 2012
Even though Saturday Afternoon is astoundingly bad on every expected level and a few unexpected ones, I guess I’m glad to know there were always terrible comedies. It’s not some recent invention, post-television. There was always tripe. The story is pretty simple. Harry Langdon is a mor read more
Martian Through Georgia (1962, Chuck Jones, Abe Levitow and Maurice Noble)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 24, 2012
Martian Through Georgia has three directors and no ending. It also has nothing to do with Georgia. It opens fairly well, with very expressionist mainstream cartooning showing life on Mars. A bored Martian then travels to Earth, which kicks off the majority of the run time. Even though the Martian&# read more
Woman Hater (1948, Terence Young)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 23, 2012
Woman Hater is an incredible mess. It’s a romantic comedy about the titular character, played by Stewart Granger, who wants to “scientifically” prove women will throw themselves at any man. Or something along those lines. Luckily, he’s a British royal, so he can engineer the read more
Among Those Present (1921, Fred C. Newmeyer)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 22, 2012
Newmeyer takes Harold Lloyd to a country house in Among Those Present and sets him loose in front of a bunch of snobs. Lloyd plays a variation of his regular character, but this time with additions. For much of the short, he’s posing as a British lord, which showcases Lloyd’s acting abi read more
Lucrezia Borgia (1935, Abel Gance)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 21, 2012
Gance has a real problem with Lucrezia Borgia… none of his characters are likable. Even Antonin Artaud, playing a friar who rallies against the Borgia regime, is unlikable and he’s the film’s closest thing to a good guy. Gance shoots Artaud like a lunatic. It’s also not a fi read more
Knighty Knight Bugs (1958, Friz Freleng)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 20, 2012
Besides Mel Blanc’s voice work, there’s nothing to recommend Knighty Knight Bugs. Actually, even with his voice work, there’s nothing to recommend it. It’s just the only good thing about the cartoon. Bugs, as a medieval jester, has to go get a sword. Yosemite Sam has the swo read more
La roue (1923, Abel Gance)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 19, 2012
Gance is very ambitious with La roue, only not so much technically. Even the second half of the film, which opens up considerably (the first half takes place in a train yard, mostly on one set, while the second half moves the action to a idyllic mountaintop), Gance is far more concerned his protago read more
Oranges and Lemons (1923, George Jeske)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 18, 2012
Jeske isn’t much of a director, which I feel weird saying as Oranges and Lemons has a really masterfully done sequence. Jeske holds the shot as Stan Laurel keeps confusing Eddie Baker, who’s pursuing him. It’s brilliant stuff, as Laurel is a great physical comedian. The directing read more
Birds Anonymous (1957, Friz Freleng)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 17, 2012
Birds Anonymous should be really good. Its failings so how tied animation technique and writing are when it comes to a cartoon. The narrative, down to the scenic plotting, is fine. But the animation is bad so Birds flops. The most startling problem is the backgrounds. A more generous person might c read more
Number, Please? (1920, Fred C. Newmeyer and Hal Roach)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 15, 2012
Number, Please? is split into three very different parts. First, Harold Lloyd is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend (Mildred Davis), who’s just an awful human being, from her current beau, played by Roy Brooks. The men have to find her missing dog. This section isn’t much fun as there read more
Fresh Airedale (1945, Chuck Jones)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 13, 2012
Fresh Airedale opens without titles and I’m a little surprised to see it’s Chuck Jones. The animation is rather weak for the most part and, while there’s inventiveness, it’s chaste. The cartoon has either a mixed message or just a depressing one. It’s all about a socio read more
The Devil’s Foot (1921, Maurice Elvey)
The Stop Button Posted by on Mar 11, 2012
To call The Devil’s Foot inept is too complementary. Some of the stupider story elements come from the Conan Doyle story, so one cannot really fault screenwriter William J. Elliott. Instead, the fault lies entirely with director Maurice Elvey. The short does show how important sound is to a p read more