Welcome to BlogHub: the Best in Veteran and Emerging Classic Movie Blogs
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You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
Atom Man vs. Superman (1950, Spencer Gordon Bennet), Chapter 1: Superman Flies Again
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 4, 2018
Superman Flies Again establishes a few things I’m very curious to see if Atom Man vs. Superman keeps going with over the course of the serial. Firstly, is Pierre Watkin always completely wrong about everything. Playing newspaper editor Perry White, Watkin calls his staff–Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill, Tomm read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 3, 2018
The first chapter of Judex doesn’t get a chapter title; it’s just the prologue. While the action in the prologue leads directly into the action of the first chapter, throwing young, wealthy widow Yvette Andréyor into despair (financial and emotional), the first titled chapter ends up having less read more
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017, Rian Johnson)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 2, 2018
The Last Jedi is a long two and a half hours. It’s an uneven split between Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, and John Boyega. Ridley’s off with Mark Hamill–but really having a FaceTime via the Force arc with Adam River–while Isaac is doing his damndest to get everyone killed because he doesn’t want read more
Touched with Fire (2015, Paul Dalio)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 1, 2018
Somewhere early in Touched with Fire’s third act, it becomes clear there’s not going to be any performance potential from leads Luke Kirby and Katie Holmes. The movie doesn’t really want to be about them. Director (and writer) Dalio skips all the character development, leaving Holmes dulled and read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Epilogue
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 31, 2018
Judex’s epilogue further wraps things up for the cast. There’s some definite resolution for young René Poyen as far as his living situation, some humor with Marcel Lévesque, and some humility from Louis Leubas. René Cresté and Yvette Andréyor get a romantic send-off, with Cresté finally able read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 12: Love’s Forgiveness
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 30, 2018
The title of the episode is Love’s Forgiveness so there’s not much in the way of surprises. René Cresté risks it all by reuniting Yvette Andréyor with father Louis Leubas, then discovers mom Yvonne Dario has already told Andréyor all and she–Andréyor–is in love with him–Cresté. The multiple read more
Hot Biskits (1931, Spencer Williams)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 29, 2018
Hot Biskits refers to lead Thurston Briggs. He’s Hot Biskits, only he uses a pseudonym because he’s a con man. He’s got a cushy job as a miniature golf course manager; the owner is a crooked cop, who’s fine just so long as the managers don’t make any money on the side. Although Briggs can’t read more
Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: The Flying House (1921, Winsor McCay)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 28, 2018
The Flying House does a lot in its eleven minute runtime. First and maybe foremost–it’s questionable given where the film ends up–it’s a successful, ambitious format change for the Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend comic strip. Adapted by its creator, McCay–who’s got his twenty-five year-old son, read more
Johnny English (2003, Peter Howitt)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 27, 2018
Johnny English runs just under ninety minutes, which is one of the film’s secret weapons–nothing ever goes on too long, not the good stuff, not the bad stuff, not the mediocre stuff. There’s not a lot of bad stuff–more varying degrees of mediocre; when things then get better, when things finally read more
Naked Alibi (1954, Jerry Hopper)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 26, 2018
The first half hour of Naked Alibi–the film runs just under ninety minutes so the entire first third–is separate from the remainder. Set in a small city (shot on the backlot, but rather well thanks to Russell Metty’s glorious photography), chief of detectives Sterling Hayden has been getting a read more
DeepStar Six (1989, Sean S. Cunningham)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 25, 2018
DeepStar Six is a bad looking movie. There’s maybe one decent special effects moment–very limited, slightly gory–and it comes at the end, after the film has flubbed bigger effects sequences and other gore moments. Director Cunningham pretends he’s doing “Jaws at the ocean floor” for a while, read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 11: The Water Goddess
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 24, 2018
So while Yvonne Dario is still consoling Yvette Andréyor about deceiving her–again, it’s not clear how much of the blame Dario takes on herself, which should be a lot since she made René Cresté vow to kill Andréyor’s father–Cresté goes off to save Andréyor’s father. On the way, he meets read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 10: Jacqueline’s Heart
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 23, 2018
Jacqueline’s Heart is a very short episode. Nine minutes or so. And nothing much happens except René Cresté plays fast and loose with his multiple identities and Yvette Andréyor finds his make-up kit. Overhearing Andréyor wish his sweet old man persona would show up, Cresté obliges. A note from read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 9: When the Child Appeared
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 22, 2018
This chapter begins with the principals removed from their problems and living it up on the Mediterranean. Édouard Mathé and mother Yvonne Dario have taken Yvette Andréyor, Olinda Mano, and (of course) René Poyen away from the troubles in Paris to a beautiful seaside estate. Somewhere they can all read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 8: The Underground Passages of the Chateau-Rouge
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 21, 2018
The Underground Passages of the Chateau-Rouge shows the audience the most of Judex’s base so far. There’s a finished bedroom and some castle interior hallways. Not just the ruins and then laboratory. Some of it is revealed when brothers René Cresté and Édouard Mathé show their mom, Yvonne Dario, read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 7: The Woman in Black
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 20, 2018
The Woman in Black introduces the first new character to Judex since the first chapter. There’s the prologue and then the first chapter; The Woman is the first new character since the first chapter. It’s Judex’s mom, played by Yvonne Dario (mostly in some awesome old age makeup–Judex is great read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 6: The Licorice Kid
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 19, 2018
The Licorice Kid–René Poyen–gets his own chapter. Sort of. Poyen figures into it quite a bit, but it’s not his chapter. He doesn’t even save the day (he does help save the day). While Yvette Andréyor is safe, René Cresté is still very sad she doesn’t like him after he threatened to kill read more
Lifeboat (1944, Alfred Hitchcock)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 18, 2018
Lifeboat never feels stagy, which is one of the film’s greatest successes. The entire thing takes place in a single lifeboat, with director Hitchcock not doing many medium or long shots of the lifeboat exterior. All the action is with the actors, Hitchcock using distinctive composition–Glen MacWill read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 5: The Tragic Mill
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 17, 2018
The Tragic Mill earns its title. Villains Musidora and Jean Devalde kidnap currently sickly damsel in distress Yvette Andréyor and take her to an old mill. The kidnapping–Andréyor’s second in Judex (so far)–happens only before René Cresté arrives to protect her. While the villains bicker over read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 4: The Secret of the Tomb
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 16, 2018
I was wondering how Judex was going to move forward–the last chapter ended with villains Musidora and Jean Devalde foiled in their kidnapping of Yvette Andréyor. This chapter begins with Musidora suspicious of Judex’s warnings. She convinces Devalde to investigate and they head to the graveyard. read more