Superman II (1980, Richard Lester)
The Stop Button Posted by on Oct 1, 2010
There are, now, three versions of Superman II. The theatrical, an extended television version (not officially released) and original director Richard Donner’s take on it. Unfortunately, Superman II is–as a narrative and a sequel–rife with problems. Drawing attention to these probl read more
In the Heat of the Night (1967, Norman Jewison)
The Stop Button Posted by on Sep 29, 2010
Warren Oates can be affable. I had no idea. In the Heat of the Night is a bit of a disappointment–not the acting, not the directing, just the script. The film plods as the script tries to come up with excuses to keep going. Stirling Silliphant’s dialogue is good, there’s no problem with it read more
Manhattan Tower (1932, Frank R. Strayer)
The Stop Button Posted by on Sep 27, 2010
Manhattan Tower opens with the Empire State Building and closes with it. I’m not entirely sure they ever call it by name in the film but it’s not supposed to be “real,” I don’t think. Tower‘s Empire State is a world onto itself, so much so, it’s a shock peo read more
Superman (1978, Richard Donner), the director’s cut
The Stop Button Posted by on Sep 24, 2010
If watching Richard Donner’s director’s cuts have taught me one thing, it’s Donner probably shouldn’t have final cut. His director’s cut of Lethal Weapon, for example, is atrocious. He adds about nine minutes to Superman and, much like Coppola’s revision of Apoca read more
Murder at Glen Athol (1936, Frank R. Strayer)
The Stop Button Posted by on Sep 22, 2010
Murder at Glen Athol should be just a little bit better. The script has a number of twists, with Strayer handling them ably, but it’s just too short as it turns out. The film runs under seventy minutes, which would be fine for a B mystery, but Glen Athol (the title is problematic–Glen Athol read more
The Mummy’s Curse (1944, Leslie Goodwins)
The Stop Button Posted by on Sep 15, 2010
The Mummy’s Curse feels like a Universal attempt at a Val Lewton picture. It’s from 1944, so Lewton’s modern horror pictures had already come out. It’s hard to believe Universal changed their approach to monster movies so radically between this picture and the previous Mummy read more
Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet)
The Stop Button Posted by on Sep 8, 2010
Besides Al Pacino, there are other actors in Dog Day Afternoon. Some of them give fantastic performances too. But, even with those fantastic performances, every time Pacino is alone on screen, whether closeup or not, monologue or not, it feels like there’s no one else in the film besides him. read more
Criminal Court (1946, Robert Wise)
The Stop Button Posted by on Sep 3, 2010
If you took a film noir and removed the noir, you might have something like Criminal Court. The plot is noir. An upstanding attorney (Tom Conway) accidentally kills mobster (Robert Armstrong) and runs off, unknowingly leaving his girlfriend (Martha O’Driscoll) to take the wrap. What does Conw read more
The Mummy’s Ghost (1944, Reginald Le Borg)
The Stop Button Posted by on Sep 1, 2010
The Mummy’s Ghost is, with a couple problems, really good for a monster movie (and leagues ahead of Universal’s other 1940s Mummy features). It’s not so much about the Mummy as the victims and the investigation (but the police investigation, not the scientific–and everyone b read more
Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937, Hanns Schwarz)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 30, 2010
As Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel enters its third act, there’s this startling suggestion… one of the good guys has been sleeping with Robespierre to get in his good graces. I’m unaware of such an overt implication in any Hollywood films of 1937. Unfortunately, that singularity i read more
Homicide Bureau (1939, Charles C. Coleman)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 27, 2010
Oh, those silly liberal apologists, not letting police detective Bruce Cabot beat confessions out of suspects. Don’t they understand these criminals are really working for the Nazis? Okay, Homicide Bureau never actually says Nazis, just warring foreign powers, but they mean the Nazis. The fun read more
Ghost Ship (1952, Vernon Sewell)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 9, 2010
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a horror film not interested in being scary before Ghost Ship. It seems like a strange concept, but certainly one with a lot of possibilities. Unfortunately, I’m not sure Sewell knew he was making a scary movie without a single scare. I don’t real read more
The Ghost Walks (1934, Frank R. Strayer)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 6, 2010
I’m not sure when the “old dark house” mystery film started–I haven’t seen any silent entries in the genre but I imagine there must be some, especially since the genre also appears to have been popular on stage. The Ghost Walks, in 1934–five years into talkies read more
Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 4, 2010
For the majority of Brief Encounter, I had very little opinion of Lean’s direction. It’s incredibly dispassionate and functional, but very solid. I think I assumed it’d be innovative (along the lines of the Archers) but it’s not. Very realistic, very British. Until the secon read more
The Italian Job (1969, Peter Collinson)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 2, 2010
What a strange film. I’d never really heard of it, past the title, so… I didn’t know what to expect, but even if I’d known something about it, I doubt I could have expected it. Collinson is a fantastic Panavision director, so the Italian Job is always watchable, even through read more
The Four Seasons (1981, Alan Alda)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 14, 2010
I didn’t read anything about The Four Seasons before watching it–I didn’t even know it was Carol Burnett in a dramatic role (she’s fantastic)–and if I had, maybe I would have had some idea where Alda was taking the film. Because he doesn’t take it where I was exp read more
Young Frankenstein (1974, Mel Brooks)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 7, 2010
Young Frankenstein does not feel like a Mel Brooks film. It’s so startlingly well-directed, one could almost believe he didn’t direct it himself. Brooks, for the film, has this way of keeping the camera mostly stationary and letting his actors and the sets do all the work–one can& read more
Clue (1985, Jonathan Lynn)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 5, 2010
I didn’t see Clue in the theater, so I haven’t got a… I have no idea how it played without the multiple endings. While it’s a cute idea–a different ending depending on where you see the film, all of them together on home video release–it gets tedious, especially read more
The Innocents (1961, Jack Clayton)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 2, 2010
I don’t get it. When I watched the film, I had no idea The Innocents was considered some masterpiece of British cinema. I’m actually rather surprised by the acclaim. Similarly, I’m shocked Deborah Kerr considered her performance in this film her best. It’s not a bad performa read more
Dr. Strange (1978, Philip DeGuere)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jun 16, 2010
Dr. Strange aired in September, Superman came out in December… and they both have the same flying techniques, at least for couples, though Superman does have a longer flying sequences… Dr. Strange just kind of hints at it. A number of things put Dr. Strange above the standard seventies read more