tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37494179312769123862024-03-29T05:31:34.327-07:00www.chuckdixon.netThe Online Home of Writer Chuck DixonChuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.comBlogger224125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-42208785893048630252023-05-27T10:27:00.004-07:002023-05-27T10:28:20.018-07:00PUNISHER BEAT SHEET<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Found this in the files. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A beat-sheet for an extended Punisher arc that never went any farther than than this when Don Daley was fired at Marvel. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_u5yNaONqqNkHsEWB-1IyIKqktlUViczQAFGycDSQCPKT3yS4ywHdrdVSRe27GkMWioLoH0tPeFxv1x8GCjbxFaY0QMveOIMsy8EzdLrAgxjX_fWjCGToLvKXHTFyJilMdpztnFCWTrQxfQwCqWpyEt4Vp2hhe-XR8noQwKkhkjd_Cqff6qC6pB7q/s3580/punisher%20beat%20sheet.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3580" data-original-width="2829" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_u5yNaONqqNkHsEWB-1IyIKqktlUViczQAFGycDSQCPKT3yS4ywHdrdVSRe27GkMWioLoH0tPeFxv1x8GCjbxFaY0QMveOIMsy8EzdLrAgxjX_fWjCGToLvKXHTFyJilMdpztnFCWTrQxfQwCqWpyEt4Vp2hhe-XR8noQwKkhkjd_Cqff6qC6pB7q/w506-h640/punisher%20beat%20sheet.jpg" width="506" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-84673480703165680512021-12-12T12:15:00.003-08:002021-12-13T07:40:40.993-08:00Missives from Flint Henry!<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> Going through files looking for something else and I ran across this treasure trove of faxes, notes and address labels from the inestimable Flint Henry. Lots of in-jokes and peculiarities in Flint's own inimitable style.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9ingU05p0_xW8Lfx8DjfyWSrY342mg7l8Kf8ERC2KUEpSdKb8yw9todBAVJyan46_wNG63dJvONw382LHexLvpcwGkDSRDOu5k0zAms8QMRrn2pOVM1xuOIMZ4imICyi_6qQvl0lkeyLgvn1bzBSor4_Q9HwaFbnCJOXausz-_dU3lORIJVOnQkeb=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1205" data-original-width="2048" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9ingU05p0_xW8Lfx8DjfyWSrY342mg7l8Kf8ERC2KUEpSdKb8yw9todBAVJyan46_wNG63dJvONw382LHexLvpcwGkDSRDOu5k0zAms8QMRrn2pOVM1xuOIMZ4imICyi_6qQvl0lkeyLgvn1bzBSor4_Q9HwaFbnCJOXausz-_dU3lORIJVOnQkeb=w640-h376" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvfi62vjqXTGfLlnImzqxp-y_-gjqIznAvjxu2Goy0jSsgqbWOGDPzXNzD85kF4vnSElsd4zF0Mo9he8TYDlmCol4Mvh47MNeJXilD-aeGhSnUTUrEnCgEEDWXfTj1IatpibURCv-zPqEN2fAJ40_Evd7GhN530o4zEKS-2REMqmOn9sbY2oqm3N-Y=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1485" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXr-cXJBexeFk6s4Ev86K8kZ4qmQT99JT6ekbmgmddVeEugTGG2xl3huQyJYdhA5klnYS6iwGd9hwT5CQ2NK3WMM9Iclmm9S9suixfpvVQcrTryFi7NUQX2C4MsWlg7Xa8HhbuJS_7JywITrlU5c0HKosh65oiM7aaXhuEB1S7FZ47i5rzwdSR6y-O=w464-h640" width="464" /></a></div><br /></span><p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com221tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-68628199804478788762021-11-24T11:24:00.006-08:002021-11-24T11:28:19.193-08:00Movie reviews abound!<div data-block="true" data-editor="386b6" data-offset-key="bi311-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bi311-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="bi311-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>STUCK TOGETHER (2021) </b></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="386b6" data-offset-key="e6mg3-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="e6mg3-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="e6mg3-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It’s on Netflix.</span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="e6mg3-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="e6mg3-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="386b6" data-offset-key="7ulca-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ulca-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="7ulca-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An ensemble cast of Parisians are forced into each other’s company during the covid lockdown. </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ulca-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="7ulca-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="386b6" data-offset-key="57ron-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="57ron-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="57ron-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Dany Boon produced this comedy with Netflix and it’s a cause to rejoice. Boon is a huge star in Europe and a true comic genius. He makes well-crafted comedies that are pure escapism. Here he deals with the serious subject of the pandemic with a lighter touch than usual. It’s not quite as manic as his normal fare and has some touches of drama, even pathos. But this slight departure is handled deftly and effectively as we become involved in this cast of engaging, well-delineated characters who are each having their own adventures during their forcibly shared experience. </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="57ron-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="57ron-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plenty of laugh-out-loud moments in a movie packed with solid</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"> material, seamless plotting, characters you’ll care about and </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">some twists and turns you won’t see coming. Good to see that </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">someone still knows how to construct a funny movie that can </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">deal with topical issues without indoctrination. </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3MukLWXgn3kI_QGIq4jSTlhQof_7nfkxXSHJwgdcF7sikpYCSY30CzzAyO36M8laLRX8NVGNSSsJ06FazjjR0XRP2dBf8OZjCIltLixIz8D8B96ilnavRLfvpgPij4VkeXxK59py_kiw/s1070/stucktogether.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="1070" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3MukLWXgn3kI_QGIq4jSTlhQof_7nfkxXSHJwgdcF7sikpYCSY30CzzAyO36M8laLRX8NVGNSSsJ06FazjjR0XRP2dBf8OZjCIltLixIz8D8B96ilnavRLfvpgPij4VkeXxK59py_kiw/w640-h390/stucktogether.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>RED NOTICE (2021)
</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Internationally
infamous art thief Ryan Reynolds is caught by</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> FBI agent Dwayne Johnson, but
both fall prey to Gal Gadot,</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> another internationally famous art thief. And a
series of fights,</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> chases, escapes, more fights, more chases, more escapes</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> follow for the next two hours before Netflix mercifully suggests</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> something else
to watch.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It's not enough
that the streaming service uses algorithms to</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> determine your tastes, Netflix
has now allowed their AI to write</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> a movie, and this is the result. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And the end
product is a movie in which Reynolds and</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> Johnson play characters they’ve played
before and say things</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> they’ve said before and do things they’ve done before in</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> service of a tired, contrived, simple-minded mess of a buddy</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> flick. The
characters live a life without consequence as they</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> are beaten, blown-up,
concussed and fall from great heights</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> without the slightest harm. If the MCU
was a germ that sent</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> Hollywood down this dead-end road, this movie is the
corona</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> virus. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">There is not
a single original exchange or line of dialogue in</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> this movie. The characters all
speak in the same voice as if</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> they’re at a production meeting. Worse than that,
it’s like the</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> notes on the script found their way into the actor’s mouths as</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> though mis-typed on the final draft by an inexperienced studio</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> typist. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The cast
exists inside a bubble with no interaction with the real</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> world. There’s no
sense of a larger universe. I suppose giving</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> life to anyone other than the five
main characters proved</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> problematic for the limited abilities of the program that
came</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> up with this. This claustrophobic effect in the writing is</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> heightened by
the painfully obvious use of greenscreen and</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> CGI effects that fail to convince.
(Hint to filmmakers: stop</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> trying to fool us with those phony lens flares until
you figure</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> out how to do them)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">To call this
movie a train wreck is an insult to the old Ninety-</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">seven. At least train wrecks
are exciting and surprising. </span><span style="font-size: 22pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv4yyE3BwgTS66wiDZ38znR7Lzy-Mq75B-_wH_8oHVoIPVFyFfH5uweyLfb8kK9BIN0mxkJ4EwhZH2hHrVgvnaB5kYYp0FOjuYTFdRfbnHXzF_DyJN3I70AQIgWCtwbZcasS7HHy6uNcM/s1200/rednotice.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv4yyE3BwgTS66wiDZ38znR7Lzy-Mq75B-_wH_8oHVoIPVFyFfH5uweyLfb8kK9BIN0mxkJ4EwhZH2hHrVgvnaB5kYYp0FOjuYTFdRfbnHXzF_DyJN3I70AQIgWCtwbZcasS7HHy6uNcM/w640-h334/rednotice.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">THE TRIP (2021)</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It’s on Netflix.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Soap opera director Aksel Hennie plans what he believes is
the perfect crime. He’s going to murder his wife during a weekend trip to the
family’s summer cabin. Unfortunately for him, his wife is Noomi Rapace who,
film fans know, is virtually unkillable. Things go sideways, pear-shaped and
ass backwards in a big hurry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The kind of movie no one makes here anymore. What starts out
as a dark comedy gets grimly serious it the second act and winds up being a satire
on the state of current entertainment. Oddly, though essentially a bloody and
hyper-violent horror action flick, this movie follows the same basic plot development
as Preston Sturges’ SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS, the only other movie I can think of
that starts as a comedy, leaps to suspense film/tragedy in the second act and
comes back to offer a timely observation about human nature and the arts. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">But, like I said, it’s a bloody romp. Slickly made and
highly suspenseful with lots of highs and lows for the characters and a
bitterly satisfying conclusion. And, once again, Rapace does her best to
maintain her title as most physically abused woman in cinema history.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClDeA8Pf2yQqGSrAzK46C8hC1TGsRQdUVITprdcTARPhByRndvkIEz8lbO-KcCFYc9hS4HrYY2_DM4D0gLaYVGDfSQSF8rM1yUd1X8CWDQu1zuv7ACG3yVJvLjEbs5YXw7tQF8F7Zglk/s1132/tr7.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="1132" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClDeA8Pf2yQqGSrAzK46C8hC1TGsRQdUVITprdcTARPhByRndvkIEz8lbO-KcCFYc9hS4HrYY2_DM4D0gLaYVGDfSQSF8rM1yUd1X8CWDQu1zuv7ACG3yVJvLjEbs5YXw7tQF8F7Zglk/w640-h334/tr7.JPG" width="640" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">THE PRESIDENT’S ANALYST (1968) </span></b></span></p><div data-block="true" data-editor="canso" data-offset-key="flj4l-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="flj4l-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="flj4l-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Top psychiatrist James Coburn is tapped to be the private therapist for the leader of the free world. While the sessions help soothe the president’s psyche, they’re making a paranoid nervous wreck out of Coburn. When the good shrink goes on the lam every intelligence agency in the world wants to capture him to pick his brain for national secrets.</span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="flj4l-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="flj4l-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="canso" data-offset-key="d6t1s-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d6t1s-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="d6t1s-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A VERY 60’s satire of politics and American life in general that turns out to be precisely prescient about how the world of government and corporations were converging as they vied for power over one another. It’s also a sharp critique of the potential abuses built into our various intelligence agencies. Given what’s going on right now, this more relevant today than the day it was released.</span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d6t1s-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="d6t1s-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="canso" data-offset-key="b3m35-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b3m35-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="b3m35-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It’s also funny, cynical and has some fine comic performances. Godfrey Cambridge is terrific and it’s a real pity he didn’t make more movies. The standout is Coburn’s infiltration of a “normal” American family of self-proclaimed liberals who keep themselves armed because they fear their “right-wing” neighbors. The movie takes no real stand on party politics or ideologies beyond mocking them. Its real concern is with government overreach and the very real dangers of corporate corruption.</span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b3m35-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="b3m35-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="canso" data-offset-key="bb5qt-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bb5qt-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="bb5qt-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The ending, in particular, was very funny at the time but is more chilling given the evolution of technology since 1968. </span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="canso" data-offset-key="50h36-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="50h36-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="50h36-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And yes, as I said, it’s very much a product of the at 60’s because it has so many really groovy sequences, man. </span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="canso" data-offset-key="bmg8a-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bmg8a-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="bmg8a-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This was written and directed by Theodore J. Flicker who directed television for most of his career including an astonishing number of BARNEY MILLER episodes. </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bmg8a-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="bmg8a-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bmg8a-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="bmg8a-0-0" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiui4eD4Je2kBhVg5V6LZxLtCA_YRblsXrCcdcCnCh0GPmurAfio7A0LE5rhChchQDR1MfHRz6OLcJmSiyk6IhO14eveotyFftIH08CMpqUdG8aF8rUhFlaz_FDJJpnI_8qulGVX6KOoiI/s800/presidents.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="800" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiui4eD4Je2kBhVg5V6LZxLtCA_YRblsXrCcdcCnCh0GPmurAfio7A0LE5rhChchQDR1MfHRz6OLcJmSiyk6IhO14eveotyFftIH08CMpqUdG8aF8rUhFlaz_FDJJpnI_8qulGVX6KOoiI/w640-h470/presidents.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="canso" data-offset-key="afmmg-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD (2021)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Angelina Jolie is a smokejumper assigned to a remote
watchtower in the Montana wilderness. Her lonely days are livened up by the
arrival of a little boy with two killers on his back trail and an approaching
forest fire. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A pretty darn good action drama with some moments of high suspense
and a pair of truly despicable villains. Angelina’s proven her action star
chops in the past and doesn’t disappoint here or, more importantly, doesn’t engage
in the kind of superheroic antics that have infested the genre. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, it seems to be his foray
into action flick territory. While good, it’s very much inferior to his earlier
efforts like the two SICARIO movies, WIND RIVER and the YELLOWSTONE TV series.
And the MacGuffin, a hastily scribbled note containing information dangerous to
some powerful people is of of step with the times. The idea that a little boy
carrying around a piece of paper that could bring down a government or
corporation is beyond naïve in a world where a laptop filled with information incriminating
the president of the United States and his family is treated like a
nothingburger. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Still, one of the better thrillers I’ve seen recently with
some impressive set-pieces and a good cast. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An on a side note, does Sheridan love or hate Jon Bernthal?
The guy gets put through the grinder in every movie the director makes. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0y68yOmbgK9zgD19UIbxLh01MtHZtBFuq2_68-1E88iW2uwyuFXHsRe1iir925jPz8a6HdLfB0YxowK-N7oMPAYYpIr7whd7kU1i26VmOSMvXxQHjZEnMzzLxemOPRgIL7i6bToIDWI/s1024/thosewho.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0y68yOmbgK9zgD19UIbxLh01MtHZtBFuq2_68-1E88iW2uwyuFXHsRe1iir925jPz8a6HdLfB0YxowK-N7oMPAYYpIr7whd7kU1i26VmOSMvXxQHjZEnMzzLxemOPRgIL7i6bToIDWI/w640-h360/thosewho.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">SPEED (1994)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Dennis Hopper plants a bomb on an LA city bus that will go
off if the bus slows below 50 mph. It’s up to courageous Keanu Reeves and perky
Sandra Bullock to keep the bus at speed until a solution can be fond to save
the passengers from going boom. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This crowd-pleasing thriller still works after all this time.
The earnest performances, fast pace, masterful editing and the entirely
CGI-free effects help lift this above the endless spate of DIE HARD knock-offs
the studios churned out for ten years following the events at Nakatomi Plaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Hopper is creepily effective as a psychopath with a twisted
worldview and warped sense of entitlement. Reeves is properly heroic and
self-effacing. But the standout here is Bullock providing humor and heart into
what could have been purely a shrieky victim roll. This is the movie that made
Sandy a star and where audiences first fell in love with her. I recall seeing this
at a packed house multi-plex and her effect on the audience was palpable as she
drew laughs and cheers from all. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The only flaw in the flick is the obviously tacked-on ending
that takes place after they finally get off the bus. We’re “treated” to the
kind of one-liners Stephen DeSouza might inflict on us as well as expected to believe
that disabled Dennis Hopper could hold his own against Keanu Reeves atop a speeding
subway car. But, by the time the movie turns silly, we’re all too giddy to
question what happens next.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Still, I’d much preferred to see Hopper go down in a hail of
bullets from the SWAT team than the ludicrous series of events that close out
this solid actioner. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-7uu7qn-sfNHX7WoQRo4_i2KfLOvgW74VfdWXvOJK5P_3gMX1pnOYS3W01FBmr1pLAB8Hl6XXx5oXdhY7rza4k_JXCRPhspoAFRH7tMEjsa7PGcTRCwh4uNZ8-qXkz1EK_26DTnJ5aIc/s2000/speed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-7uu7qn-sfNHX7WoQRo4_i2KfLOvgW74VfdWXvOJK5P_3gMX1pnOYS3W01FBmr1pLAB8Hl6XXx5oXdhY7rza4k_JXCRPhspoAFRH7tMEjsa7PGcTRCwh4uNZ8-qXkz1EK_26DTnJ5aIc/w640-h320/speed.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">THE GUILTY (2021)<o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It’s a Netflix thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Jake Gyllenhaal is a cope working overnights as a 911 operator
while on probation for a shooting incident. At his rope’s end in his persona
and professional life, he gets too involved in a woman’s call for help risking
all involved as he responds to the mystery voice. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This was a tough one to pull off on so many levels. The movie
primarily takes place in the LAPD call center and Gyllenhaal is on screen for almost
the entire running time. It’s essentially a one-man play though there are few
ancillary characters. But the most important members of the supporting cast are
the characters on the calls. Obviously, the lead actor carries a movie like
this on his shoulders and Gyllenhaal is more than up to the task. Thanks to his
performance, the movie is riveting beginning to end. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">On the writing side, it’s quite a task to make a story like
this compelling but the work here is superior, and we’re drawn into the story
even though we only experience much of it through voices over a phone line. The
reveals are well placed and presented without contrivance. They are also played
out in such a way as we begin to get a really bad feeling about where things
are going long before Gyllenhaal’s character begins to realize he consequences
of his actions. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Good stuff.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCZdYsG2z7Wlvjlr2XF4d4gcOtzz9PFNpmKLn_omO-WvA9iULfB69Ghgpko6EaDq3R3AEw7GvQnl6crKfsXHdBoAnSqV6JE47dSu5nbTJM-eWeWrqyksjrj3V-3D6ekTCEZspwv__9pI0/s1200/guilty.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCZdYsG2z7Wlvjlr2XF4d4gcOtzz9PFNpmKLn_omO-WvA9iULfB69Ghgpko6EaDq3R3AEw7GvQnl6crKfsXHdBoAnSqV6JE47dSu5nbTJM-eWeWrqyksjrj3V-3D6ekTCEZspwv__9pI0/w640-h360/guilty.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>STARSHIP TROOPERS (1997)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Earth is in danger of annihilation from a distant planet
populated by an insect race. Johnny Rico and his school friends enlist to go to
space and face the alien threat head-on. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This is the rare film that works as a parody, a pastiche and a straight-up
badass action extravaganza all at the same time. Paul Verhoeven set out to make
a movie that simultaneously glorifies and mocks fascism and the military. What
makes it work is that he allows both sides of every argument to establish their
points logically and earnestly. I mean, you can be appalled by Michael Ironsides’
stated world view or be nodding along. This is much the same approach that Stanley
Kubrick took in DR, STRANGELOVE; presenting opposing views while not telling
you how to think about each even though he filmmaker’s point of view was clear.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">All that said, though clearly a pastiche, all care is taken
to give the movie a clear, compelling through line, a logical (if often
coincidental) series of events and a cathartic ending meant to evoke a wide and
varied range of emotional responses from viewers. The cast is terrific as they fearlessly
lean into the cartoonish aspects of their characters. The end result is that we’re
drawn into their lives despite the fact that their characterization is as thin
as the ensemble in an Archie comic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And Verhoeven delivers on the action in spades. This is the
mankind versus aliens movie I’ve wanted to see since I was eight and no one’s
yet topped it even though there’s some excellent efforts in recent years. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Sidenote: I saw this in the theater with my buddy Flint
Henry who was not a STAR WARS fan because that franchise didn’t have enough
nudity or gore. I’m cleaning up his actual remark here. As the end credits
rolled on STARSHIP TROOPERS I turned to him and said, “This is <b>your </b>Star Wars.”<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFpnbEfVduMUh_nCQlOvfAy8UKit6OtZ3-gdilaGHPaBdKdvWpvrdcYqjuAmE8V6WrW5vjYNXQkgqw_rl-2EXF966aSSFuNpExUvJmbyO7PdJS2bJbduX0n9BgBgdrEFEr5nqDDlQeV8/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFpnbEfVduMUh_nCQlOvfAy8UKit6OtZ3-gdilaGHPaBdKdvWpvrdcYqjuAmE8V6WrW5vjYNXQkgqw_rl-2EXF966aSSFuNpExUvJmbyO7PdJS2bJbduX0n9BgBgdrEFEr5nqDDlQeV8/w640-h360/starship.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-36394924217841488282021-10-09T15:16:00.005-07:002021-10-09T15:16:39.923-07:00DR. WHIZZER!<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A rare instance of me penciling, inking and lettering comics. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This appeared in an issue of <i>Frisbee World</i> back during the Frisbee craze of the 70's. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-TdZIKBVO8ZTBG3JQqJ0nQANxmgc2qsy2p-ByW_sCxLlPpmGVT90yHrbCOITvywOHk68m3KVyCGGfCAZ-3aEMHbQJeiHbhQSATomUH600SeGvWev0Y67n2zaNw7IHdzByB_fXvMYJaPo/s735/frisbee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="735" height="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-TdZIKBVO8ZTBG3JQqJ0nQANxmgc2qsy2p-ByW_sCxLlPpmGVT90yHrbCOITvywOHk68m3KVyCGGfCAZ-3aEMHbQJeiHbhQSATomUH600SeGvWev0Y67n2zaNw7IHdzByB_fXvMYJaPo/w640-h570/frisbee.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirRIXxjBQguoEkXKWtk3fJA6_SssT4zur-YC8icMxl_KXcjJS-7BBNN4DNuoCGTcSvhtJ9HfzwB2KTQmWYG0g6oX5lp7y4PGOuLDnjOm0hFWzjKdLQULy6N_Q-aD-tBdenc4KyzhosWo/s2048/drwhizzer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1403" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiirRIXxjBQguoEkXKWtk3fJA6_SssT4zur-YC8icMxl_KXcjJS-7BBNN4DNuoCGTcSvhtJ9HfzwB2KTQmWYG0g6oX5lp7y4PGOuLDnjOm0hFWzjKdLQULy6N_Q-aD-tBdenc4KyzhosWo/w438-h640/drwhizzer.jpg" width="438" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-62526531174389552912021-10-03T11:15:00.006-07:002021-10-03T11:15:45.977-07:00<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">MALIGNANT (2021)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A young woman is psychically bonded to a mysterious killer responsible
for a spate of brutal murders. Or is the connection between them closer than
that?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">I won’t spoil the reveal in this film except to say that this
latest James Wan horror flick explores a subject that’s rich with scary
potential. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Though slickly made, this movie didn’t work for me the way
Wan’s CONJURING franchise does. And for the same reason that most recent horror
fare falls short for me. I need to feel like the spooky stuff is happening in a
world I can relate to. There’s a reason why THE EXORCIST is one of the most
frightening films ever made. William Friedkin made every effort to make it all
seem real even to filming sequences in a pseudo-documentary style. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">From the opening sequence on, this movie occurs mostly in a
claustrophobic and surreal world that seems to be inhabited only by the core
cast. There seems to be no extras in the cast. Events occur in an environment in
which only the principle characters seem to be present. In fact, the movie’s
first scenes take place in gothic edifice of a hospital set on a cliffside on a
stormy night. Firstly, who puts a hospital at very edge of a rocky precipice
miles from any community? And why are they doing medical procedures in the
middle of the night with the full surgical staff on hand? This entire sequence
would have been far more effective set in daylight in a well-lit hospital environment
instead of a place that looks like Castle Frankenstein. Horror, like humor, needs
the contrast of and stablished normality to work.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Sill, it’s all engaging enough if not particularly fear-inducing
and the climactic actions scene is something straight out of the wilder horror flicks
of the 1970’s. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrMIpdkvtYEUQS6N59a7PGLIfw84Fbg2Zt0cZ04H5chs8cP1q_8Odz2i7wjpHLKg1ki6xrxk_wC0RdsJSNraWObXYsyemmaJu2IM_fQd6XKuPljNIHhhyphenhyphenG4WZFOOJZetEsnO4Uur5a6F0/s1200/malignant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrMIpdkvtYEUQS6N59a7PGLIfw84Fbg2Zt0cZ04H5chs8cP1q_8Odz2i7wjpHLKg1ki6xrxk_wC0RdsJSNraWObXYsyemmaJu2IM_fQd6XKuPljNIHhhyphenhyphenG4WZFOOJZetEsnO4Uur5a6F0/w640-h334/malignant.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">CONVOY 48 (2019)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Soviets build a rail line and run trains into besieged Leningrad
despite constant attacks from the German army.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">This one’s on Amazon Prime.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A solid war drama with lots of heart and rising consequences.
Loads of historical detail went into this one as we follow two female music
students as they volunteer to be “conductors” on a new rail line. What they
wind up doing is joining a lumberjack crew to cut down trees for a bridge that
will run across a frozen lake. The work’s not done and we see them drafted into
being signalmen and even stokers for trains running a gauntlet to bring needed
food and ammo to their besieged comrades. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Patriotic and nationalistic as all these recent Russian WWII
epics are but with a clear-eyed view to the abuses of the Stalin regime. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">If you like action movies set n trains (I happen to love
them) then this is for you. Loads of fascinating detail of how to run a wartime
railroad as well suspense, action and romance. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImdV4ToHyqt0zz0oh2h8yZe5kZ3ha5XzOZr2H8dyg_V9qDTtEdLiHjupMrTyK9aKlOgh2N8rLPlul6yprs94eAWDfj5cngJ1eotFn8BI9TUFjXw1ON1viPm5EYT9Bch4drEI6PUaO_cI/s840/convoy+48.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="840" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImdV4ToHyqt0zz0oh2h8yZe5kZ3ha5XzOZr2H8dyg_V9qDTtEdLiHjupMrTyK9aKlOgh2N8rLPlul6yprs94eAWDfj5cngJ1eotFn8BI9TUFjXw1ON1viPm5EYT9Bch4drEI6PUaO_cI/w640-h266/convoy+48.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">FREAKY (2020)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Vince Vaughn is a masked serial killer who, by some
unexplained mystical means, switches bodies with a withdrawn teenaged girl.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A horror/pastiche/parody/teen comedy without a single
original thought in its head. This movie doesn’t just insult your intelligence,
it assumes you have no intelligence whatsoever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">The filmmakers mash up body switch comedies like FREAKY
FRIDAY and 18 AGAIN with standard slasher film fare without adding anything
special, surprising, or even mildly amusing to the mix. The characters here
aren’t cardboard, they’d wet tissue paper and check all the boxes. The main
character is friends with the only African-American girl and gay boy at school.
All the other kids are white, privileged and hateful bigots. The only teacher portrayed
in the film (despite the fact that much of the action occurs at school) is a ridiculous
one-note character filled with male chauvinist rage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">And there are no real character arcs in the film as nothing
about the motives of any of them are given any screen time. The black girl is
sassy. The gay boy is a campy caricature. The jocks are all venal brutes. The
mean girls are just…mean. Alan Ruck is given the odious task of portraying the teacher
who singles out the lead character for abuse for no reason than this is
required to set up is comeuppance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Do all kids these days use language like Wall Street brokers?
I think not. But every character here draws from the same lexicon of foul,
profane and scatological terms and phrases as if they were written by someone
with no idea how people outside their social circle talk.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">The action is entirely predictable down to the final frame.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Vaughn manages to elicit a few laughs as he channels a
teenaged girl. Not worth enduring this mess.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vqsXqVtdIXVHIsSLNBmKOCu8ovaDeS7HSaLzYEaSaJMtFOENEDiFwBQkvAbCeJkHbQ9XOVrWAjQxoprBwZDj6z2-Zy7JHjifRUuxD6zt6ZMuukMZ1QKx1C72yuuAewQMstpGx5nx3kk/s1200/freaky.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1200" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vqsXqVtdIXVHIsSLNBmKOCu8ovaDeS7HSaLzYEaSaJMtFOENEDiFwBQkvAbCeJkHbQ9XOVrWAjQxoprBwZDj6z2-Zy7JHjifRUuxD6zt6ZMuukMZ1QKx1C72yuuAewQMstpGx5nx3kk/w640-h384/freaky.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>RIFIFI IN PARIS (1966)</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Jean Gabin is a gangster struggling to keep his place in the
Paris underworld despite pressure from an international consortium of mobsters
from Italy, Germany and the USA.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Not to be confused with the classic RIFIFI (1955), this is a
pretty tepid crime thriller that might have seemed more exciting when it was
released. Gert Froebe, fresh from playing Auric Goldfinger is good in a role as
smuggler and George Raft shows up as the American capo intent on muscling Gabin
out. French audiences must have dug seeing one of their iconic gangster actors
on screen with Raft who made himself famous by playing mafia types as well as
being real-life friends with Bugsy Siegel. They even have him idly flipping a coin,
one of his signature gimmicks. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Oh, and Mireille D’arc is on hand but purely ornamental in a
role as a grasping B-girl. </span><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_7YIv7Wg52Qkza15xbdBUV4vLp6aXT-2X-RsKxOf-GmW_NXfw9Oe5DRhlB_ls_DsA7MOzR0chUnagWD3F_j9DzGDS8B8Wb2S_2lZiuZ5z2LG8GerGxmwoBoRjQ2Zt6RbOmtQnecsnpw/s1160/rififi+in+paris.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1160" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_7YIv7Wg52Qkza15xbdBUV4vLp6aXT-2X-RsKxOf-GmW_NXfw9Oe5DRhlB_ls_DsA7MOzR0chUnagWD3F_j9DzGDS8B8Wb2S_2lZiuZ5z2LG8GerGxmwoBoRjQ2Zt6RbOmtQnecsnpw/w640-h276/rififi+in+paris.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">BAD COMPANY (1995)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Lawrence Fishburne is cut loose from the CIA only to be
hired by a private firm that specializes in dirty tricks and corporate
espionage run by Frank Langella. Ellen Barkin is another of the company’s
employees with ambitious plans that involve Fishburne and coldblooded murder.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Twisty, turny political thriller that’s slickly produced and
exists in a world of movie reality. That’s not such a bad thing. It all has the
same vibe as THE USUAL SUSPECTS and other movies in the “what the hell’s going on?”
sub-genre of suspense films. It’s all engaging enough and features a terrific,
understated score by Carter Burwell.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiREMpf8Eq64WGYyARF_QinF8xKFnbrc1EmuyyZn0tnLkTDcrevcGcsKsmu23jdHC47RKM8EyWucetfycPhWtYLyc-AVu2mtm1xkMhzwKX7FPxGO1-BWjjVeTlCR4jL6bqASnpKSSdDCL8/s1280/badcompany.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="1280" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiREMpf8Eq64WGYyARF_QinF8xKFnbrc1EmuyyZn0tnLkTDcrevcGcsKsmu23jdHC47RKM8EyWucetfycPhWtYLyc-AVu2mtm1xkMhzwKX7FPxGO1-BWjjVeTlCR4jL6bqASnpKSSdDCL8/w640-h272/badcompany.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">STAGE FRIGHT (1950) <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Theatrical sensation Marlene Dietrich murders her husband
and manages to pin it on schmo Richard Todd. But Jane Wyman is smitten with
Todd and offers to get the goods on Dietrich. Things get more complicated as
Wyman learns there’s much more to all this messy situation than she supposed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A minor Hitchcock effort that’s entertaining, nonetheless. Wyman
is cute and funny, even more so by playing her role entirely straight. She’s
teamed with the always engaging Alistair Sim as her eccentric father. Dietrich
is creepy as the murderess. IT’s not at all hard to imagine her bludgeoning a
guy to death. And Hitch has one of his better
cameos halfway through the running time. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">It's all fun but I sense it was a contractual obligation for
the director as he seems more interested in creating complex camera effects than
in the actual goings on within the story. It was no secret that Hitch found icy
blondes attractive. Perhaps Marlene was a bit too icy for him.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8JbrvoaoK2FFtWe8Dejp_dCo5p76XDx6XZLqOyTT1Jp4N_HecbCLozyW7jFhgdqDijFBrbb7DXRkCucAw3-NfVwBu39IwfbzA7yDZp8Aib-dUEHSmdBDkxvet7zIRXNFpVxL_gOV7c2I/s1280/stagefright.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8JbrvoaoK2FFtWe8Dejp_dCo5p76XDx6XZLqOyTT1Jp4N_HecbCLozyW7jFhgdqDijFBrbb7DXRkCucAw3-NfVwBu39IwfbzA7yDZp8Aib-dUEHSmdBDkxvet7zIRXNFpVxL_gOV7c2I/w640-h360/stagefright.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">MARGIN CALL (2011)</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">At a huge Wall Street investment firm, a risk assessor
uncovers a trend in recent trades that will bankrupt the company unless
something drastic is done and quickly. The solution the company’s managers come
up with might just end in ruin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">This is, basically, the story of Lehman Brothers, the first
and only Wall Street firm to fall when the housing bubble burst in 2008. The
writing here is so damn skilled that I marvel at it each time I watch this
movie and I’ve watched a half dozen times. They take a difficult topic, high
finance and risk analysis and turn it into a nail-biting, ticking clock suspense
thriller with no car chases, shoot-outs, or any physical peril at all. In fact,
no one even raises their voice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">I’m no math genius, and like 90% of the population, have
little understanding of how this stuff works. But the writers manage to inform
the viewer of the import, magnitude, and danger of what’s happening to this
company as the mortgage-backed securities fiasco begins to spin out of control.
This is more entertaining and more informative than THE BIG SHORT, a film that covers
the same territory but purports to the last word on the subject while only
telling half the story. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">In addition to the writing, a fine cast hits just the right
tone of suppressed fear, defeat, and cynicism. Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Demi
Moore and Kevin Spacey are all excellent and bring what might have been very
dry subject matter to life. Stanley Tucci, in particular, is a stand-out in a
small but pivotal role.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">There’s also quite a bit of contemplation about the nature
of finances, capitalism and how economics effect society for the good and the
bad. The filmmakers present these issues for the viewer to think about them but
never instruct on <i>what</i> to think about them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">This is masterfully crafted, grown-up entertainment from beginning
to end.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF5uRoEVzAULBG6G3bRCgaZqYFbV1nHNlcgca6hou2cLLXWIVxlJ8YuWoxjbVnHWLcW5allTXgcyMTO2jkaGZR38v956ze3uwTNbLPrmAioCX6QHXDyl-GoEza4Ktv_9VK9JRyVvUKX-s/s474/margin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="474" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF5uRoEVzAULBG6G3bRCgaZqYFbV1nHNlcgca6hou2cLLXWIVxlJ8YuWoxjbVnHWLcW5allTXgcyMTO2jkaGZR38v956ze3uwTNbLPrmAioCX6QHXDyl-GoEza4Ktv_9VK9JRyVvUKX-s/w640-h360/margin.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></b></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: x-large;">THE DUEL AT SILVER CREEK (1952)</span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Audie Murphy takes on a badge in order to hunt down the claim
jumpers that killed that his dad. Sheriff Steve McNally takes him on as a deputy
even though Adie gives him cause for concern with his quick temper and faster
gun.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A fine, fast-paced western actioner directed with his usual skill
by Don Siegel. Even restricted to filming a backlot western, Siegel still mages
to ick the best locations and most effective angles for his shots. He makes the
familiar Universal western town set seem new even to jaded western fans like
myself.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Murphy is, as always, intense and utterly believable in the
action scenes. McNally does well here even though he’s a bit too urban and 50’s
contemporary for a period role. </span><span style="background: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Faith Domergue</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> appears to be
having a good time as a bad girl femme fatale playing all sides against the
middle. And Lee Marvin is here in a small role that allows us to see him square
off, briefly, against Murphy in a saloon scene.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">All in all, a darned good western filmed with authority and
verve.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyu4LIwHCYcr7SHD22Es3IAMAZ-NfMLWZ9PzGPTbTBKTnae8UmjZppgyh0ZTuB_9o9R6y6AgKgLamnImpm7niC4x4C9tavNf_2p5pilAqzsd41LaWGfoOE_ICatE1O5uGyaghMit_tgTQ/s720/duelsilver.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyu4LIwHCYcr7SHD22Es3IAMAZ-NfMLWZ9PzGPTbTBKTnae8UmjZppgyh0ZTuB_9o9R6y6AgKgLamnImpm7niC4x4C9tavNf_2p5pilAqzsd41LaWGfoOE_ICatE1O5uGyaghMit_tgTQ/w640-h480/duelsilver.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: x-large;">ARISE MY LOVE (1940)</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Ray Milland is a soldier of fortune waiting to be executed by
firing squad by fascists in Spain until he’s rescued by eager newspaperwoman
Claudette Colbert arrives and, pretending to be his wide, secures a pardon.
This event weds the pair to each other first by fate and then by a growing
affection for one another that turns to love in the shadows of a looming world
war.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">In any other hands this might have been a mawkish,
overly-sentimental bit of pre-war propaganda. But in the skilled hands of screenwriters
Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder and director Mitchell Leisen, it’s a bright,
funny, often moving bit of pre-war propaganda.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Milland is at his best here, witty and charming with a bit of
the devil in him. Colbert is, as always, funny and winning. The movie is loaded
with “air force” jokes meant to go over the heads of children (and probably the
studio censors) that make the growing relationship between the leads all the
more believable.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">There’s plenty of suspense and action (particularly at the
beginning) as well as some somber and foreboding scenes about the future of the
United States in the years to come. This film was made before Pearl Harbor but accurately
predicts that Americans would be drawn into the European conflict. The movie is
trying to sway minds as, at the time this was released, it was an election year
and the country was divided between going to war and remaining neutral. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0nOWwEElwDe3MTlKc7CCNTq_FiYilLND3nLT4ie6nG_cpwZtK6QgfCgGcz4PR3LNXw5NppHpZEap2tuJVcvzr5jMrgs9JfShavFFf43YG2COG3CwBdOjXiTj_UCjKm82WieoUYnXA94/s1200/arise.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0nOWwEElwDe3MTlKc7CCNTq_FiYilLND3nLT4ie6nG_cpwZtK6QgfCgGcz4PR3LNXw5NppHpZEap2tuJVcvzr5jMrgs9JfShavFFf43YG2COG3CwBdOjXiTj_UCjKm82WieoUYnXA94/w640-h360/arise.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: x-large;">THE STRONGHOLD (2021)</span></b><b style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Just dropped on Netflix.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A trio of cops in Marseilles come up with an unorthodox
strategy for taking down a violent drug gang holed up in a fortress-like
high-rise. The fall-out of the epic bust will take them beyond the limits of
their personal codes of justice.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">I’ve said it before and stand by it, when it comes
to police dramas, no one comes close to French filmmakers. And this one
delivers on all of that </span><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">par excellence</span></i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">. This exciting cop story, based
on a true story, is one of the best crime movies I’ve seen in years. We’re made
to deeply care about the cast which makes the suspense all the more excruciating.
And IT is edge-your-set stuff in so many scenes. The massive raid sequence is
riveting and perfectly staged. There’s also some keen character development,
welcome moments of humor and real drama presented without sentiment.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">In addition to be a solid crime actioner, the
movie also explores the moral tightrope between law and justice and the dangers
of doing your job too well in a bureaucracy set up to preserve mediocrity and
the status quo.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">I can’t recommend this highly enough. Great
entertainment.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs155FrPduNq2IzLLwoAXUpeRtGYXQQMg75nTQul1thnhFD9ssQ17UFdSSaf2zWWfd9R6SlfVtxeSDWa1h_b8OCHq676jVgCRcwoosWApBLagvwwL2OrbOog8N_oYcJPrsjvAbuKHjnbE/s1400/stronghold.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1400" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs155FrPduNq2IzLLwoAXUpeRtGYXQQMg75nTQul1thnhFD9ssQ17UFdSSaf2zWWfd9R6SlfVtxeSDWa1h_b8OCHq676jVgCRcwoosWApBLagvwwL2OrbOog8N_oYcJPrsjvAbuKHjnbE/w640-h360/stronghold.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-86436652020710944552021-08-30T09:12:00.002-07:002021-08-30T10:47:28.991-07:00Reviews everywhere you look! <p class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">THE LAST MERCENARY (2021) <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It’s a Netflix thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Jean Claude VanDamme is a former badass on the global stage.
He’s forced to come out of hiding and retirement when he discovers he fathered
a child decades before and his nerdy, slacker son is in a world of trouble. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Muscles from Brussels tries farce. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">He shouldn’t have gone there, and you shouldn’t watch him do
so. VanDamme and a zany cast tries hard for laughs and fails in an epic way.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKF3D5JzbDcF4384vrnYPSzz30AQXYG8avPpXUbZuHQeOp2rbT-OPVU2-50E2w4q2Sc0-MPaREWZJZEaiVu0QkKzNDfmdnxFQSbyUwBR64_J6TEHZ6uHYkCDCdfwf8281hRqJsV1AWmHI/s474/lastmercenary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="474" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKF3D5JzbDcF4384vrnYPSzz30AQXYG8avPpXUbZuHQeOp2rbT-OPVU2-50E2w4q2Sc0-MPaREWZJZEaiVu0QkKzNDfmdnxFQSbyUwBR64_J6TEHZ6uHYkCDCdfwf8281hRqJsV1AWmHI/w640-h426/lastmercenary.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Madison Avenue ad man Cary Grant is in deep trouble when
some foreign agents mistake him for the elusive Mr. Kaplan. Things grow more
complicated when Cary is implicated in the mirder of a UN diplomat and must
rely on the kindness off Eva Marie Saint to escape the law. But is she what she
seems? Is anything what it seems?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A pure Hitchcock tour-de-force created while Hitch was
supposed to be working on another movie. While collaborating with writer Ernest
Lehman on the screenplay for THE WRECK OF THE MARY DEARE, the director grew
bored and began making lists of suspense set pieces and challenging Lehman to
string hem into a story. The result is this action chase classic while other
folks were assigned THE WRECK OF THE MARY DEARE and made an excellent film of
it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The movie is a study in how to start and conclude a story.
Cary Grant’s character is introduced in the middle of a hectic day and his
personality and life situation are established in a series of scenes that are
as witty as they are informative. Within moments of the start time, the
everyday goes wrong and we’re into the heart of the cat and mouse game as Cary is
thrust from a normal working day into a fight for his life with an enemy that
appears to be everywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This is flawless entertainment perfectly assembled by
masters of their craft. Humor, action and tons of subtext. Every scene, gesture
and line of dialogue is important to the story. I realized with this viewing that
the establishment of Cary’s ability to hold liquor early in the film is an
important plot element later on. My wife, who watched it with me and has seen
it multiple times as well, had never noticed the homoerotic tension between bad
guys James Mason and Martin Landau before. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Here we see Hitch playing with time in a way he has never
done before. The famous cornfield scene takes an astonishing amount of screen
time without dialogue and yet is engrossing every step of the way. To slap a
slow-burn sequence into a bullet-paced story like this one without losing the audience
took authority and guts. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxohCZ8EkOECBO55z4pF4_lmCkJNZrwzQ2VZ6WiqkVzUxLALEDmUQuYZxrozA_U5_JKcnlJKoYmrLA-Orb23pQmezHiK7-4iVxar9cUDT4I6takYXTTsTwkdfuJSbHcU3StuQyoy8zNY/s1920/northbynorthwest.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxohCZ8EkOECBO55z4pF4_lmCkJNZrwzQ2VZ6WiqkVzUxLALEDmUQuYZxrozA_U5_JKcnlJKoYmrLA-Orb23pQmezHiK7-4iVxar9cUDT4I6takYXTTsTwkdfuJSbHcU3StuQyoy8zNY/w640-h360/northbynorthwest.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT (2021)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Warrens are back and participate in an exorcism that goes
sideways when the demon jumps to a new victim. Now they have to provide
evidence of demonic possession to clear the new victim of homicide charges. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Sadly, this is the weakest entry in the series and the problems
all stem from the basic structure of the story. Usually, these movies begin
with some kind of paranormal shenanigans plaguing an unwitting family of
innocents and, when all else fails, Ed and Lorraine are called in on the case.
In this outing we begin with them in the middle of action and the entire story
moves forward incited by the events of the opening scene. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Setting the plot up this way deprives the movie of a
reintroduction to the Warrens and the re-establishment of their daily life.
That’s the element that separates this series from most horror offerings; the depiction
of what everyday life is for a pair of lay exorcists. Those scenes of them at home,
eating breakfast, scheduling their day, caring for their daughter, ground the
stories in a reality that makes the scary stuff all the more impactful. Without
them, this seems rushed and somewhat hollow. Lazy writing where things happen only
because they’re necessary to propel the thin story forward. In the end credits,
the real-life Warrens are seen in clips from a segment of Tom Snyder’s old talk
show. The movie would have benefited greatly if this scene were included in the
film. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">That said, it’s still an enjoyable movie due mostly to some effective
scenes and, of course, the all-in performances of Patrick Wilson and Vera
Farmiga. The great scenes include the horrifically terrific antics of the young
possession victim at the start of the movie and a sly bit of humor as the Warrens
convince a lawyer of the reality of demonic possession. I look forward to the
next one</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7KL-r7ti6HqhGRHCa4TT-wRIXmnhYELMAvt5ObxlBaXEBj8swpH837QJ9pPvOQdsE8DOMI5UoWvblp3r2CE1BdpHXwVyUN_EEg9A_uCvaO2gEBvh4KX8i7uvVeUVuK_tsnuSA1Mrwk4/s1500/conjuring3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1500" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7KL-r7ti6HqhGRHCa4TT-wRIXmnhYELMAvt5ObxlBaXEBj8swpH837QJ9pPvOQdsE8DOMI5UoWvblp3r2CE1BdpHXwVyUN_EEg9A_uCvaO2gEBvh4KX8i7uvVeUVuK_tsnuSA1Mrwk4/w640-h360/conjuring3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p>
<b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span><br /> </span>MOONRAKER (1979)</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">James Bond uncovers a dastardly plan by billionaire
eco-terrorist Drax to make the world a better place by killing almost everyone
in it and replacing them with catalog models. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I watched the Fan Edit version of this and it is a vast
improvement over the original. If you’re not aware of fanedit.com you need to check
it out. Lots of interesting re-edits of movies you’re familiar with. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This re-cut trims almost all of the sillier, goofier,
cringe-worthy moments including groan-inducing puns, dopey punchlines and as
much of the Jaws and his Swiss Miss gal pal as could be managed without wrecking
the continuity. They also replaced some of the music using tracks from earlier Bond
films and these provide the starkest example of what even minor changes can accomplish to make a movie more effective.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">While this will never be a great Bond flick, the changes
emphasize what’s good about it. Michael Lonsdale is perfectly despicable with
some great lines. “It’s time to put you out of my misery.” There are some
terrific action set-pieces including a boat chase on the Amazon. And the
horrific scene in which the bad Bond girl is pursued by Dobermans, a horror
movie subject filmed like a perfume ad, is very effective. Overall, the film is
wonderfully shot by Jean Tournier and is one of the best-looking entries in the
series.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The action climax is obviously an attempt to capture a
portion of the audience that crowded theaters to watch STAR WARS wo years
before. It very much resembles the end of THUNDERBALL in a lot of ways. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkM16f851IS3YrclIob8A6fIqZJ2E5qWt1Hbfs-eyX2mruJiuDIVow4Ofy0Sv-qbuY8xYOr_l61xnd5kge583Y30PmsP_eJ1etOJjzCOIE8h2SzkmvbQPH-gPILF643HtTK-ZHCqfo7Jc/s1920/moonraker.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkM16f851IS3YrclIob8A6fIqZJ2E5qWt1Hbfs-eyX2mruJiuDIVow4Ofy0Sv-qbuY8xYOr_l61xnd5kge583Y30PmsP_eJ1etOJjzCOIE8h2SzkmvbQPH-gPILF643HtTK-ZHCqfo7Jc/w640-h360/moonraker.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN (2019) </b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It’s a Netflix thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Mel Gibson is tasked with assembling the first Oxford
English Dictionary. To help him with what many believe to be an impossible
task, he enlists the aide of imprisoned lunatic Sean Penn. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Now, the movie I want to see is a movie about making this
movie. Can you imagine Mel and Sean of set? Politically polar opposites and
both with reputations as wildmen. They probably had restraining orders in their
contracts. Or they got along like thieves. Either way, you know there’s a great
story there.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And the story of the creation of the OED is a great story
too though you’d never know it from this movie. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It took me a while to figure out why I didn’t enjoy this
movie. The performances are excellent, the production is gorgeous, and the period
detail is spot on. But the heart of the story is Gibson’s claim is that English
is a living language and he stands in conflict with snobby academics who only
want “proper” English included. And the filmmakers fail to present this in a
compelling way and, by failing in this, show off their own elitism.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The most egregious example is when Mel and other cast members
overhear servants speaking to one another in then-current slang. We listen with
them but never SEE the servants as if only their words and not their presence
are important. Movies are made to show not tell and this scene, a very good
muffed by poor storytelling, should have been the opening of the scene. I would
have had Mel walking the streets of the city overhearing conversations and
coming to the grand realization of the mother tongue as a malleable, mutable
thing. Remember the scene in THE 13<sup>TH</sup> WARRIOR where Antonio Banderas
learns the language of his captors? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And ‘splainin’ not showing plagues this movie throughout.
What might have worked on stage does not work on the screen. The world of the
film is small though its subject is large. This movie would have benefited
greatly with direction by Gibson as well. I am told that he provided his own
cut to the studio and they rejected it. Sad. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfC1KuA5s4EKPrlrvWI-Sngcm-I-ByuL1ZS0dEoX48iFPSWYZ6tsNzLQn0LMVsSwbQojO6e-DkK6aSTJVZIwJ3qsHz78QqhIyuairWoFWQkgVEXPZ0ET4DkIKAPimsSKEF6MidFeq_-20/s890/profmadman.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="890" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfC1KuA5s4EKPrlrvWI-Sngcm-I-ByuL1ZS0dEoX48iFPSWYZ6tsNzLQn0LMVsSwbQojO6e-DkK6aSTJVZIwJ3qsHz78QqhIyuairWoFWQkgVEXPZ0ET4DkIKAPimsSKEF6MidFeq_-20/w640-h308/profmadman.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>DIEN BEN PHU (1992)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Dramatic recreation of the final major battle between the
Viet Minh and French forces before the French pulled out of Indochina in 1954.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Most history buffs have had cause to think of France’s final
act in Vietnam in recent days.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This film divides his attention between the complacent life
of colonials and ex-patriates living in Hanoi and the mounting horrors faced by
French paratroops and legionnaires. The battle action is presented in a near documentary
style that serves as a rare example of the full scale of armed exchanges on
film. Not much effort (outside of dialogue exchanges) is made to clarify the
various actions as Dien Ben Phu falls, bit by bit, to the commies. What is clear
is the size of the operation. This level of realism is greatly aided by the
film being shot on the location where it all happened. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">
</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The epic climax of the film also had the benefit of the cooperation
of the Vietnamese army. I take issue with the accuracy (as opposed to realism) as
the Viets are presented as parade ready and fully equipped with weapons,
uniforms and gear they would not have had in ’54. The Viet Minh was the very model of a motley,
ragtag army. If the politburo in Ho Chi Minh City really wanted to score propaganda
points, they would have presented the Viet Minh as they were, an armed
insurrection of poorly armed civilians. It would have made their unlikely
victory over the well-trained, well-armed and determined French forces all that
more remarkable. But, as we know, reds aren’t very deep thinkers. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xXhABU1INWEWyd5ZwspbSxnvd04RK8QV2bQ_ljQc33wccQ2bq-tQygtws2KAP6czPrWLXldQe7tDSUgPfHFkx1-ALbvUGhs2fwuKbX-7t4t2U6SRewSqUy94ddWoXdAF1EcxXDLmExk/s1280/dienbenphu.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xXhABU1INWEWyd5ZwspbSxnvd04RK8QV2bQ_ljQc33wccQ2bq-tQygtws2KAP6czPrWLXldQe7tDSUgPfHFkx1-ALbvUGhs2fwuKbX-7t4t2U6SRewSqUy94ddWoXdAF1EcxXDLmExk/w640-h360/dienbenphu.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>THE LAST WARRIOR/THE SCYTHIAN (2018)</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Lutobor is a loyal warrior whose wife and child
are kidnapped by a roving band of Scythian mercenaries. The ransom to return
them alive is the death of his own lord. Will Lutodor betray his oath and murder
his master to save his family? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Russians are making some terrific period action
flicks and this one is one of the better entries. The locales are as brutal as
the action in a story with all the elements of Robert E. Howard tale. Plenty of
suspense and plot twists in what is essentially a western set in the steppe.
And, boy, does the lead character take a lot of punishment. There’s even a dark
ages version of Thunderdome that comes to a gut-wrenching conclusion. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Wild stuff.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFV68jkY6pzABMX2tZ2zw4BTicglfdJzHpeVCw0_TKQKRDb0gjy3WTBz2k8Y0om9ajgG_1Y77VW42nrH_Ns67poMvtbK_7O7oNBd_MkhXysUV0nU7M_2eTHt4GskGzsbFZKC8FUY52aOg/s1280/lastwarrior.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="1280" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFV68jkY6pzABMX2tZ2zw4BTicglfdJzHpeVCw0_TKQKRDb0gjy3WTBz2k8Y0om9ajgG_1Y77VW42nrH_Ns67poMvtbK_7O7oNBd_MkhXysUV0nU7M_2eTHt4GskGzsbFZKC8FUY52aOg/w640-h267/lastwarrior.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>PREDATOR 2 (1990)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An alien hunter lands in Los Angeles in the middle of bloody
drug war. Danny Glover, a cop who just won’t listen, treats this extra-terrestrial
invasion as a personal issue. Thing are complicated by the arrival of federal
agent Gary Busey and his army of goons dressed in matching Dockers and Members
Only jackets. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The most common of commonalities, the unworthy movie sequel.
As a follow-up to their 1980’s SF action classic, the Thomas brothers wed their
concept to the tired tropes of a rogue cop actioner. Where the original film
was a seamless thriller featuring a strong through line, this train wreck is just
a string of movie clichés with disjointed action set-pieces mixed in. There are
more holes in the plot than actual plot as characters know things they could
not know and always show up just at the right moment even if that means being
in two places at once. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Doughy, slow-moving Glover is no replacement for Schwarzenegger
and leads a cast of stereotypes with wafer-thin characterizations. Bill Paxton
is especially embarrassing in an overplayed role as an a-hole cop. Nice to see Kent
McCord in a in a big screen role though. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Most disappointing is the flaccid action climax of the movie,
featured some astonishingly bad special effects. It’s just no patch on the awesome
third act in the first film. And the idea that dad-body Glover could take down
a Predator with such ease was ludicrous. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I think, if they were going to go this route with the movie,
they should have just gone all-in and cast Chuck Norris in the lead. At least then
we would have gotten a memorable <i>mano a xeno</i> fight at the end. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHORcU4O3MDiTLw4Vz8b-2xYDUmfENhhbDu0G66pYLhF_kvhRH-KoHo4QVnArLnCFcWp6eM4bM5wg-rihKPmCSjDrirt0HFpebFrJHuCbXjpxltamy6m9ANVXzKChYG00HLv_5F_sY30/s900/pred2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="900" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHORcU4O3MDiTLw4Vz8b-2xYDUmfENhhbDu0G66pYLhF_kvhRH-KoHo4QVnArLnCFcWp6eM4bM5wg-rihKPmCSjDrirt0HFpebFrJHuCbXjpxltamy6m9ANVXzKChYG00HLv_5F_sY30/w640-h270/pred2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">BLOOD RED SKY (2021) <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A Netflix thing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I really don’t want to get into the plot on this one. I
watched it totally cold and I suggest you do the same thing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">That said, this German horror action flick delivers on every
level. Intelligently plotted with a well-crafted slow burn opening that
perfectly sets up the emotional and technical issues that get this story off
the blocks. The suspense and action scenes are seamlessly blocked out and the
stakes rise minute by minute as the situation for the main cast goes sideways
then corkscrews.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">All in all, by the end credits you’ll feel like you watched
A MOVIE, if you know what I mean. Solid, earnest, escapist entertainment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">BTW, my wife, who is generally not a fan of the genre, said it
was the best movie she’s seen in years. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJVAKfVb4fxu5G9vt7RcugC9ItAVLKeGQkqywG_JkSV3vIe1JZwoCy8vdtZ8PbvbjMs_Ky94fAnFRWa09qLZ5PzkOqtwc1C_Iq26WMqslWjsV1qic2S_2ZIU44w6tEkU9IvSdShLGot0/s1280/bloodred.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJVAKfVb4fxu5G9vt7RcugC9ItAVLKeGQkqywG_JkSV3vIe1JZwoCy8vdtZ8PbvbjMs_Ky94fAnFRWa09qLZ5PzkOqtwc1C_Iq26WMqslWjsV1qic2S_2ZIU44w6tEkU9IvSdShLGot0/w640-h360/bloodred.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div style="background: white; margin: 3pt 0in 3pt 12pt; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">BABYSITTING (2014)</span></b></div><div style="background: white; margin: 3pt 0in 3pt 12pt; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /> </span></b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A receptionist at a comic book company agrees to babysit his
boss’ bratty kid overnight in hopes of getting a chance to show off his
portfolio. To do this, he has to forego his own birthday party. But his friends
are having none of it and bring the party to the boss’ house. 80’s style party
mayhem ensues.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin: 3pt 0in 3pt 12pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Structured much like the movie THE HANGOVER, we see the story
set-up and then jump ahead to the following morning and catch up to what happened
in between with the use of found video. The gimmick is so perfectly played that
the viewer forgets all about it, giving into curiosity to learn how the chaos
at the start of the film came to be.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It’s far superior to THE HANGOVER in every way. I found that
movie to be tedious, unfunny and contrived and, worst of all, a complete waste
of an excellent premise. Here, maybe because the French excel at just this brand
of farce, the results are dazzling. Gags are set up in multiple layers then
paid off on, built upon and paid off again. Often, separate extended comedy
bits are going on the foreground and background simultaneously. I really had to
marvel at how well crafted and timed every reveal, punchline and surprise were
set up and exploited. And there are constant suspense elements playing in the
background throughout the film that serve to torque up tension. From a missing
child to a bunch of rare tropical fish to a very valuable memorial plate, we
are kept on edge throughout until each element is hilariously resolved.</span></div><div style="background: white; margin: 3pt 0in 3pt 12pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This is
the work of a comedic trio (<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; letter-spacing: 0.1pt;">Philippe
Lacheau</span>, <span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Tarek Boudali and Julien Arruti) who apparently are a
franchise in France and produce consistent comic gold in a series of frantic
farces like this one. I’ll review the very funny ALIBI.COM soon. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 3.0pt; margin: 3pt 0in 3pt 12pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNgQRewfYSPZkfn_2u-8YOmQTUPjL1ByLb9HWVRuiphz_l2Nh3BGNpiZH9DTBI-kJSBoRAy4-OMQ7E7TFwnXDbA0_NuCROjZmOHEUBUw4GBqdU_IORohxkYc3pv54JQ0AYPNlbhgR8bVU/s1600/babysitting.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNgQRewfYSPZkfn_2u-8YOmQTUPjL1ByLb9HWVRuiphz_l2Nh3BGNpiZH9DTBI-kJSBoRAy4-OMQ7E7TFwnXDbA0_NuCROjZmOHEUBUw4GBqdU_IORohxkYc3pv54JQ0AYPNlbhgR8bVU/w640-h360/babysitting.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>THE LAST HUNT (1956)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Flat busted Stewart Granger accepts and offer from Robert
Taylor to join him on a buffalo hunt. Trouble is, it turns out Taylor is mad,
bad and dangerous to know.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This Richard Brooks (THE PROFESSIONALS) written and directed
outdoor actioner was part of the trend toward “adult” westerns in the 1950’s. It’s
a grim study of human nature that must have come as a shock to audiences for its
frank treatment of sexual predation. Equally shocking would have been seeing
matinee idol Robert Taylor playing a complete psychotic in a chilling
performance. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Taylor was a big star at MGM who carefully groomed his image
as a romantic leading man. After WWII, as was true with so many actors, Taylor
had to seek different kinds of roles. He made a string of westerns and was very
good in them as he transitioned, much like Tom Cruise has in his later career,
into an action movie star. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This movie has a lot to recommend it from its hard look at
the business of hunting to its rich lot of period detail and some excellent
performances with Lloyd Nolan a standout as a grizzled buffalo skinner. A big
boon to the film was its access to the national parks to film the actual annual
culling of the preserved buffalo herds. For the weak of heart, I have to warn
you that the death of the buffalos depicted in the movie were real, not special
effects. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Z5Hcnu3MaXagIEiO7Gu-fUPdvDjpB2MktvqjlzVGD3bX2yBTYWLk6KTHnv7zPtphaEUzs5vGBf67atPwN7TCN_92ADUSlpZnWdGOC2OXf6F7FSgqarJbi6aYqDLjUNl_OS7eAzq00ow/s720/lasthunt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="720" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Z5Hcnu3MaXagIEiO7Gu-fUPdvDjpB2MktvqjlzVGD3bX2yBTYWLk6KTHnv7zPtphaEUzs5vGBf67atPwN7TCN_92ADUSlpZnWdGOC2OXf6F7FSgqarJbi6aYqDLjUNl_OS7eAzq00ow/w640-h360/lasthunt.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>LAWMAN (1971</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">
<p class="MsoNormal">Burt Lancaster is a lawman who cuts no corners and cuts no
slack. When he arrives in the town of Sabbath to arrest seven men implicated in
murder, he runs headlong into empire ranch owner Lee J. Cobb. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Part of the trend toward what I call “mean” westerns that
begins with THE WILD BUNCH and runs through the early 1970’s. Most probably a
reaction to the Italian westerns that were cresting ion popularity at this
time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This one benefits from the presence of Burt Lancaster and a
huge cast of well-recognized character actors like Richard Jordan (in his first
role). Robert Duvall, Albert Salmi, Sheree North, John McGiver, Ralph Waite,
John Hillerman, Joseph Wiseman and more. Wilfrid Brimley makes his screen debut
here playing a corpse!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s a good story plainly told, and director Michael Winner eschews
his usual excesses to present a story that was actually common in the Old West,
the town that wanted law and order but rebels against the man who takes them at
their word. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s a lot of action but the emphasis here is on human
drama and ratcheting up suspense.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjry1B-qEzagpTxT6kzKWxxc7Q3zKnEeD7P7ZgD8k-u8warxCTG1cGts2-qILtLxevMojEkSVP0WPP2_h4ZF8XdJl3Kicydf8MwnO4er9neH7fw9-OtQ_5RcxadKSAEeRxABlTwfvgUw/s1920/lawman.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjry1B-qEzagpTxT6kzKWxxc7Q3zKnEeD7P7ZgD8k-u8warxCTG1cGts2-qILtLxevMojEkSVP0WPP2_h4ZF8XdJl3Kicydf8MwnO4er9neH7fw9-OtQ_5RcxadKSAEeRxABlTwfvgUw/w640-h360/lawman.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>A QUIET PLACE PART II (2020)</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The survivors of the first film abandon their farm to find
new sanctuary only to find the alien dominated world an unforgiving place. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That rarity of rarities, the worth movie sequel. This one
does what all great sequels so, continue the story, explore the universe the
story is set in, stay true to the original characterizations and, mots importantly,
does not confuse better with bigger. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Writer/director John Krasinski wisely keeps the scale and tone
of this follow-up at the same level as the original. It is truly a second
chapter in a bigger story. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The performances are uniformly excellent with Cillian Murphy
entirely unrecognizable as a friend who’s not all that happy to see his old
neighbors again. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The suspense, as before, is excruciating with a number of
multi-layered action set-pieces that are marvelously realized. And, unusual for
a sequel, it works as a standalone film with a welcome flashback at the opening
to how all of this began. A third film is in pre-production, and I look forward
to this is all brought to a conclusion. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Top drawer escapist entertainment.<o:p></o:p></p><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOm_KCwdpuDZebKM77jQqoEhnh6ZO60n7ezRyrSjYVmGlNTE-78x4qnsChFKu6YbbCk6kQCD14GAmOkN5jYtnsiK8O4RpKhrf4xC8e8HyvSQvWjvRsbRGsZM-porBU-151yGQKpGPXmE/s2000/quiet2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOm_KCwdpuDZebKM77jQqoEhnh6ZO60n7ezRyrSjYVmGlNTE-78x4qnsChFKu6YbbCk6kQCD14GAmOkN5jYtnsiK8O4RpKhrf4xC8e8HyvSQvWjvRsbRGsZM-porBU-151yGQKpGPXmE/w640-h426/quiet2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-59455145869583527772021-07-31T09:02:00.002-07:002021-07-31T09:02:56.775-07:00From the vault. <p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Back when I still had dreams of being a comic book double threat, writer AND artist, I turned out hundreds of pages of art. This is some of my output from the 1970's. Note a strong Tezuka influence on a few of them. </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHq_FfYu856QWGu-Fv-T4D_WYbO1URM6l1FTdGZKFDIHnBBUvSyOfiO38MdMdqpAsOydlBWCFRz_OwLJaUBmoaBo8WYTFgFc-wK85SDgx9W6wR90WxtdGgUoGcZC6p2Ef1uHmiRvLWLYA/s2048/kidweevil2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1289" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHq_FfYu856QWGu-Fv-T4D_WYbO1URM6l1FTdGZKFDIHnBBUvSyOfiO38MdMdqpAsOydlBWCFRz_OwLJaUBmoaBo8WYTFgFc-wK85SDgx9W6wR90WxtdGgUoGcZC6p2Ef1uHmiRvLWLYA/s16000/kidweevil2.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6KTlM6YM3OqvsmMq1P_hme8-0K1rS7qFMX42L6UUmrBanAkzeDEK3mTFxU3-84cwUywTaXM0sCe5j80aIx66BNEygSYjIsXoSAANXU_5UvGczb4ZGAzMXB7Wptc16RIaV_EwE_sU7fk/s2048/flashT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1432" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6KTlM6YM3OqvsmMq1P_hme8-0K1rS7qFMX42L6UUmrBanAkzeDEK3mTFxU3-84cwUywTaXM0sCe5j80aIx66BNEygSYjIsXoSAANXU_5UvGczb4ZGAzMXB7Wptc16RIaV_EwE_sU7fk/s16000/flashT.jpg" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwAjO-feBeOoyawAukh6TOqjgXf4BxIUAGjHhbdrqgvauBFc0k3R7P35wpo-wXe8xcjGRys37ZKhYwg7aF_vOZcQ6_QBRY6Eb6h_f9Mlna7cHjSeiia6Al2TfH4nkq1hcyMrQnhNCZmb0/s2048/sigurd_page-0001up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1563" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwAjO-feBeOoyawAukh6TOqjgXf4BxIUAGjHhbdrqgvauBFc0k3R7P35wpo-wXe8xcjGRys37ZKhYwg7aF_vOZcQ6_QBRY6Eb6h_f9Mlna7cHjSeiia6Al2TfH4nkq1hcyMrQnhNCZmb0/s16000/sigurd_page-0001up.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><b><br /></b></span><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFusG5Yftqzv8dOGWaWU1di6UrJnPkI0RbsSvJfYV6pu5FvYB4VHd8KjNbE4sNMPsN5lPBbfYULhqmOO_vdCgwxDfCO0vw-M0msJ9zFSaPmQvV1-B2fFr9gCHs_XfBCH3fX4B3uZTXcc/s2048/sigurd2_page-0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1659" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFusG5Yftqzv8dOGWaWU1di6UrJnPkI0RbsSvJfYV6pu5FvYB4VHd8KjNbE4sNMPsN5lPBbfYULhqmOO_vdCgwxDfCO0vw-M0msJ9zFSaPmQvV1-B2fFr9gCHs_XfBCH3fX4B3uZTXcc/s16000/sigurd2_page-0001.jpg" /></a></div><br /></span></b><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROYf4A3o2HFrdx_V2pJja8OHtRjoKgh8tAcVstcO2ZjImwlkDbP_6UuaxPPc5EZcBuy7kvTTi7cG2rDWoU0Htds0oK6QDhmuBkTsobeadCv6iqxE3HhhjYc0fyJGhtP4-czyQuPb0x4o/s2048/sigurd3_page-0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1591" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROYf4A3o2HFrdx_V2pJja8OHtRjoKgh8tAcVstcO2ZjImwlkDbP_6UuaxPPc5EZcBuy7kvTTi7cG2rDWoU0Htds0oK6QDhmuBkTsobeadCv6iqxE3HhhjYc0fyJGhtP4-czyQuPb0x4o/s16000/sigurd3_page-0001.jpg" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><br /></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjquS_w4VfSRug2lnWcburGIQhh683VHLSnYm6fbuRme8whFTf1VDPPi1K4h8ZfZlA_skYvGk3E88b4dsmMSaR84WYk1YrU4E-c1W5CFsEdKxh83db2aueZChUz7f9qy6DzdiUBze7JlkU/s2048/tezuka1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjquS_w4VfSRug2lnWcburGIQhh683VHLSnYm6fbuRme8whFTf1VDPPi1K4h8ZfZlA_skYvGk3E88b4dsmMSaR84WYk1YrU4E-c1W5CFsEdKxh83db2aueZChUz7f9qy6DzdiUBze7JlkU/s16000/tezuka1.jpg" /></a></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOtMypo0rTWJN_R3EJUSPtXlacH2_xOTfbkZ8ZS_8swhZbWIFfZtNSdSsEnERPg_f5JZjLhjGe-vzZTa3D3VsjyvPW8jwu9nniS188kry0berBEpSpJ6BDMRd0WF7UnYRTExf4jBKSsus/s2048/tezuka2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOtMypo0rTWJN_R3EJUSPtXlacH2_xOTfbkZ8ZS_8swhZbWIFfZtNSdSsEnERPg_f5JZjLhjGe-vzZTa3D3VsjyvPW8jwu9nniS188kry0berBEpSpJ6BDMRd0WF7UnYRTExf4jBKSsus/s16000/tezuka2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-58152456983198181002021-07-26T16:58:00.002-07:002021-07-26T16:58:59.676-07:00A strongbox full of reviews! <div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (1945) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">John Wayne and Robert Montgomery command a PT boat squadron that proves its worth in the early days of WWII. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">As the war went on, Hollywood made a concerted effort to move away from the kind of rah-rah, American superman movies made specifically to drum up support for the war effort. They began to produce more serious fare that presented the grimmer side of the struggle to an audience fully aware of the costs of the conflict. Movies like OBJECTIVE BURMA and LIFEBOAT offered more realistic portrayals of the horrors, frustrations and setbacks of the global conflict.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">There's simply no better example of this turn toward authenticity than THEY WERE EXPENDABLE. John Ford's tale, scripted by Navy veteran Spig Wead is a devastating story of sacrifice and loss in the first days of the war when America suffered one humiliating defeat after another the outcome of the war was very much in doubt. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">John Wayne's performance is excellent and well nuanced in what might have been a one-dimensional role. You can see him being worn down as the film goes on, much of this due to Ford's frankly cruel goading of him for not enlisting. "Papa" Ford would openly berate the Duke, unfairly comparing him to co-star Montgomery who had served in combat. This is certainly the source of the cold fury that hides beneath the veneer of exhaustion that weighs on Wayne in the film's final act. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Robert Montgomery gives his usual excellent performance. An actor who's largely forgotten now, Montgomery was a major star in Hollywood with an incredible range that made him effective in dramas as well as screwball farces. Here he shows off that range in a restrained performance in which what is unsaid says so much more than the spoken dialogue.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">The cinematography by Joseph H. August is nothing short of astounding. His use of natural lighting particularly in the third act is highly effective in conveying the mood of resignation and despair. The backdrop of a tropical paradise in a story of such misery and deprivation serves to heighten the gravity of each scene. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; transition-property: none !important; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Absolutely one of John Ford's best films and, for my money, one of the ten best war movies ever made.</span></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHvmNqgbNJxtBTpWkm-blV7WAcYBQAK7ruLAiQRBthinmjlN9MItedWmF1EkL0TgNA2nTfi4wHl3v3VO3v8muPq1QMWjUOxlwyg0t2p3Ebg46kXFK6zCRxIds8nVmptipJkP9ikQItHg/s760/theywereexpendable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="760" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHvmNqgbNJxtBTpWkm-blV7WAcYBQAK7ruLAiQRBthinmjlN9MItedWmF1EkL0TgNA2nTfi4wHl3v3VO3v8muPq1QMWjUOxlwyg0t2p3Ebg46kXFK6zCRxIds8nVmptipJkP9ikQItHg/w640-h452/theywereexpendable.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) </b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Rosalind Russell is a newspaperwoman who's anxious to leave the employ of Cary Grant, her former editor and ex-husband. But Cary is willing to do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) to keep her on the paper and in his life.<br /><br />Howard Hawk's remake of the popular play and movie THE FRONT PAGE makes the ingenious change of making the principles a divorced couple instead of a pair of contentious men. What ensues is both a hilarious battle of the exes as well as a cynical comic take on journalism that is as true today as it was in 1940. </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Terrific comedy set pieces and stand out comedy performances throughout. But the movie also asks some hard questions and the laughs are built upon a solid dramatic framework. To my mind, other than pure farces of the Marx Brothers variety, every great comedy has a plot that would have been just as effective as a straight drama. </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Grant turns on his signature charm to such a degree that he makes us forget what a lowdown heel his character actually is. Russell is more than a match for him, keeping up punch-for-punch in one snappy exchange after another. In fact, Russell hired writers on the outside to arm her with comebacks to Grant's frequent off-the-cuff adlibs. Grant caught on early and caught her referencing a cheat sheet and said, "What do you have for us today?" </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">And she needed the ammunition as all of her scenes were in the style Hawks created, the rapid fire ensemble scenes where everyone is talking over everyone else but we never miss anything that's being said. Those scenes required deft writing and endless rehearsals to get right. They are the dialogue equivalent of an Astaire and Rogers dance routine. <br /><br />The cast is filled with Columbia stock players with Billy Gilbert a standout as a bewildered civil servant. </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">BTW, I watched this on a recent Criterion disc. At last, this movie that's been in public domain for decades gets a great restoration. It's never looked or sounded so good as it does now. </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8VeKhpia-MfAlY1ROLCRi6cj7qDsCO8SXr8m1pwx49TswXmrKorzV0hnKnQsiNfA9rtcHPnMgyFrKdOB7M9SK9pVdE8FkVSoC4Er-TRljzby62IOfz54W3gPJYkeXwdPt-QTlLR-Fr0/s1024/hisgirlfriday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8VeKhpia-MfAlY1ROLCRi6cj7qDsCO8SXr8m1pwx49TswXmrKorzV0hnKnQsiNfA9rtcHPnMgyFrKdOB7M9SK9pVdE8FkVSoC4Er-TRljzby62IOfz54W3gPJYkeXwdPt-QTlLR-Fr0/w640-h480/hisgirlfriday.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>THE YAKUZA (1974)</b><br />As a favor to a friend, Robert Mitchum returns to Japan and re-opens old wounds while stirring up trouble amongst local gangsters. <br />This is a fine, maturely presented action flick scripted by Robert Towne and Paul Schrader. Sidney Pollack directs with a sure eye and lots of earnest respect for the genre he's working in. <br />It's a fine mash-up of film noir sensibilities and the requirements of a good yakuza movie. Mitchum enters a world he thinks he understands only to have the tatami mat pulled out from under him again and again. Takakura Ken, in a role he made his own in a long series of Japanese crime movies, is awesome in the role of a ronin who must bear a world of sorrow on his shoulders. <br />The climactic battle delivers bigtime with lots of twists and turns. The blocking and pacing show a keen understanding of what makes yakuza and chambara movies click. And it's kind of nice to see a movie where the characters are tough but not superhuman. </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Solid performances throughout and the kind of hardboiled, unforgiving story you'd expect form the screenwriters who brought us CHINATOWN and TAXI DRIVER. </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-S1M7JE3Eu2KYrH8viCVnkaTSLklT3sNHgUINf1D-tuDbJs-PnQYEglJgJiDwDhOYusGrYfQ3LPMSTv2yTEmLff65rXZYT0EA5-shTtu0NslPt00k4O4IcjfNJhT3BE7v6jCfSmkLhXE/s1200/yakuza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-S1M7JE3Eu2KYrH8viCVnkaTSLklT3sNHgUINf1D-tuDbJs-PnQYEglJgJiDwDhOYusGrYfQ3LPMSTv2yTEmLff65rXZYT0EA5-shTtu0NslPt00k4O4IcjfNJhT3BE7v6jCfSmkLhXE/w640-h480/yakuza.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>RADIN!/ PENNY PINCHER (2016)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Dany Boon is an obsessive-compulsive cheapskate who aggravates
everyone he encounters. Even love cannot overcome his manic thriftiness until
his life is turned on its head with the arrival of a teenage daughter he didn’t
know he had. See, years before, he insisted on using an expired condom and…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Another winner for French comic icon Danny Boon. His
portrayal of a series of flawed men with fraying psyches hits comedy gold once
again in this grand farce with one awkward moment after another leading to a surprise
turnaround in the story that is emotional without being sentimental hogwash.
These films are unabashed feel-good comedies and always crafted for laughs
without forgetting the need for heart and a cohesive plotline. Not sue if this
one is up on Amazon Prime but a few of Boon’s other films are and worth
checking out if you’re looking for witty, bright entertainment.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wJlNaazqJmm8fqGfp8OnEcmV6MubPMcnNY4_eLNIDeTA602KcSA6jnRS3ltIJkcC3Uqij97IokAjmekO-KKofAmNC-lywd687H2w_mU3j3V_Th_Vt_iFQa_ZQAAM8MUOR0Ncg-m-nks/s928/pennypinche.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="928" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wJlNaazqJmm8fqGfp8OnEcmV6MubPMcnNY4_eLNIDeTA602KcSA6jnRS3ltIJkcC3Uqij97IokAjmekO-KKofAmNC-lywd687H2w_mU3j3V_Th_Vt_iFQa_ZQAAM8MUOR0Ncg-m-nks/w640-h360/pennypinche.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>RIDE A CROOKED TRAIL (1958)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Audie Murphy’s on the run from the law. When the marshal pursuing
him meets with an accident, Audie takes on the lawman’s identity. The ruse
works fine until he’s drafted as the next town’s new sheriff by judge Walter
Matthau. That’s gonna put a crimp in Audie’s plans to rob the town’s bank.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Dandy action-suspense film with Murphy playing a heel
pushed by circumstances (a needy orphan, a stray mutt and pretty Gia Scala) to
turn over a new leaf. Henry Silva is his usual creepy self as the leader of a
rival gang out to take down the bank before Audie can. Most remarkable about
this movie is Walter Matthau as a shotgun toting judge who rules the town by his
own mercurial set of laws. Matthau appears to be having a great time hamming it
up as a western character. It’s shame he gave up being in cowboy movies for urban
comedies. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSgVOy-98w6FFVcADT3C5XF4hUesEA4FXPdQK3heexQbr64zI9vOtR87Gamy-WJTSLOI2s93iN64HXbkNfBL1fLAvHpQno-eomSXZJtEcRurEYnBKbXEVFqqEkQvZ9YH5Tprg6ZCBBVXk/s1280/ridecrooked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSgVOy-98w6FFVcADT3C5XF4hUesEA4FXPdQK3heexQbr64zI9vOtR87Gamy-WJTSLOI2s93iN64HXbkNfBL1fLAvHpQno-eomSXZJtEcRurEYnBKbXEVFqqEkQvZ9YH5Tprg6ZCBBVXk/w640-h360/ridecrooked.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>PATTON (1970) </b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A warts-and-all bio-pic of the legendary Army general of WWII.
We join George Patton as he takes over command of an armored division in North Africa
and follow him as he does as much fighting with the media and politicians as he
does with the Nazis. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Francis Ford Coppola’s summation of Patton’s WWII years
finds all of the highlights as well as the controversies of this man “born in
the wrong century.” The film is, if anything, more relevant today than when
released with his depiction of the power of the media to drive events and the
craven politicians only too willing to bow to them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">The contradictions of Old Blood and Guts are shown here
as well, the man’s love of armed conflict and his military ambitions cast against
his deep devotion to the soldiers serving under him even as he pushed them to
the limit in Sicily and France. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">George C. Scott, a figure almost as rebellious and anachronistic
as the man he was playing, fully inhabits his subject to a remarkable degree
with an indelible performance. Jerry Goldsmith’s score is sometimes grand and
sometimes haunting and provides the perfect background for this epic story of
triumph and loss. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">If I have one quibble it’s the inaccuracy of some of the
armored vehicles in the film, particularly on the German side with US issue
armor disguised with Wehrmacht symbols and paint jobs. How did a movie like
KELLY’S HEROES (which I love) get it so right and this movie so often gets it
wrong? Perhaps they should have shot the movie in Eastern Europe instead of
Spain.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimSsM9-PtLeXDXi9rzvlobpUAO4OgLI_xaFHR-LJAdlr0T631WOrup8CQtRr52baqSgaihowqdD0rQ3tWH8UlBkaiuX1HvHmJwDfvIJqvZbEsFyJz_eGgogefWogn_g2eHf-r_noYTtOc/s1280/patton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="1280" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimSsM9-PtLeXDXi9rzvlobpUAO4OgLI_xaFHR-LJAdlr0T631WOrup8CQtRr52baqSgaihowqdD0rQ3tWH8UlBkaiuX1HvHmJwDfvIJqvZbEsFyJz_eGgogefWogn_g2eHf-r_noYTtOc/w640-h290/patton.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>DEEP COVER (1992)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Lawrence Fishburne is chosen by an ambitious DEA agent to
go undercover in the Los Angeles drug trade. But he is soon left to wonder
which side he’s on.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A crime thriller as well as a commentary on the corruption
on both sides of the law. Fishburne delivers as always, and Jeff Goldblum manages
to rise above being miscast as a drug dealer with dreams of empire. Clarence
Williams III is given the thankless job of playing the rather heavy-handed moral
conscience the film and the scenes between him and Fishburne were better played
when Patrick O’Brien and James Cagney were in the roles in another era. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Some of the elements are dated now but it’s still an interesting
time capsule of the days when crack was king. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqaAECbywAscIxQPlFx7K6jKp4sJln-1yiGrqzn_5paJQl_rf8AYnrw6vaCgAUKJZ05PLa7hE1dIsqqTWj71UlNMVMrHUHvjtEpEEZ-Aeoh1sHJM11bCQF0KLSzAs3YNyHlnNmOBSrydg/s1913/deepcover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="971" data-original-width="1913" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqaAECbywAscIxQPlFx7K6jKp4sJln-1yiGrqzn_5paJQl_rf8AYnrw6vaCgAUKJZ05PLa7hE1dIsqqTWj71UlNMVMrHUHvjtEpEEZ-Aeoh1sHJM11bCQF0KLSzAs3YNyHlnNmOBSrydg/w640-h324/deepcover.png" width="640" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br />Ni pour, ni contre/NEITHER FOR OR AGAINST (2003) <o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A young woman working as a stringer for a Paris news
station accepts and offer form a gang to tape one of their heists. An accessory
to the crime, she must either find her place in the gang in order to prevent
them eliminating her as a weak link. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A heist movie with a very different twist and take. Part
thriller, part character study. No one explores the amoral world of career criminals
like the French, and this is a worthy entry in the genre filled with plenty of surprises
and nail-biting suspense. I enjoyed trying to “read” the main character and really
enjoyed the reveals as they came.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvWEgVdLRuDIDmJazs4k7z6OvYpsO_v-0i1ss544A73BG_ne3IynsuyZhsRjiambA0QldSOASI6udLChXU7kiM5zwsOwiJaowd3ElijAYYuunuU5iCAr5lTnaS3GZABMDAYVzKMOPN2Xk/s630/neitherfororagaints.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="630" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvWEgVdLRuDIDmJazs4k7z6OvYpsO_v-0i1ss544A73BG_ne3IynsuyZhsRjiambA0QldSOASI6udLChXU7kiM5zwsOwiJaowd3ElijAYYuunuU5iCAr5lTnaS3GZABMDAYVzKMOPN2Xk/w640-h360/neitherfororagaints.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505;">VON RYAN’S EXPRESS (1965)</span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Frank Sinatra is shot down
and placed in an Italian POW camp where is, upon his arrival, the highest-ranking
officer. With the Italian surrender the men make a bid for escape, hi-jacking a
train for a daring rush to the Swiss border. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Big budget actioner that
was part of a run of WWII adventure thrillers and this one holds up as one of
the better efforts. Sinatra leads a mostly British cast in a grand
entertainment filled with action and suspense. The studio was so high on this
flick they planned a sequel. But Old Blue Eyes suggested a new ending for the
movie that quashed that idea. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Sinatra is just fine in the
lead as the brash, opinionated Ryan. I’m always surprised at how physical Sinatra
was willing to get in roles and this one is no exception. He was no young
chicken when he made this one, but he always appears game to minor stunts and
such. Trevor Howard bristles and struts as only he can and is a terrific foil
for Sinatra. Look for James Brolin in a small role and comic actor Vito Scotti as
the put-upon train engineer. </span></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgULGQXkQSdZVoUeRdv6xXXFomQzbt0EqW-PFuLv1mrC9NCsNEvRh1VQjXemugef4F5ZLuyVPSrMlFe5ErC31wKqYMfYHbb5rlykp1L3J688kFEAIOA3vqOzic4OYYIPJhq26AzoAXW1ys/s1088/41-Thurs-Von-Ryans-Express_cth26573.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="1088" height="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgULGQXkQSdZVoUeRdv6xXXFomQzbt0EqW-PFuLv1mrC9NCsNEvRh1VQjXemugef4F5ZLuyVPSrMlFe5ErC31wKqYMfYHbb5rlykp1L3J688kFEAIOA3vqOzic4OYYIPJhq26AzoAXW1ys/w640-h0/41-Thurs-Von-Ryans-Express_cth26573.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAR_tmh3MiHyVMNTlZWyueRVAkMUSmUJZNEbvWOGd8xeVKk7CgJOHqy1xtT7I3dRBAFtkAJwfAuYlm-Mlb6W6JnX3ucWNAIo_-5iiZUdeLT0ljMK_91l1_cCrKVydNVBd6Kuh0HjpvDE/s1088/41-Thurs-Von-Ryans-Express_cth26573.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="1088" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAR_tmh3MiHyVMNTlZWyueRVAkMUSmUJZNEbvWOGd8xeVKk7CgJOHqy1xtT7I3dRBAFtkAJwfAuYlm-Mlb6W6JnX3ucWNAIo_-5iiZUdeLT0ljMK_91l1_cCrKVydNVBd6Kuh0HjpvDE/w640-h372/41-Thurs-Von-Ryans-Express_cth26573.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT
(1995)</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Count Dracula leases an
English estate and begins pestering local women with nighttime visits.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial;">Late entry Mel Brooks parody
that’s largely ignored but is actually one of his stronger efforts. It’s not
the instant classic that YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is but is every bit as earnest in
its approach. The interior sets for Castle Dracula are lovingly recreated from the
Bela Lugosi version. And I believe that the choice to shoot this one in color
was made so that the Hammer vampire films could be included in the fun. And
this one looks very much like a Hammer entry from costuming to sets to acting
styles.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Leslie Nielson, fully
indulging his second career as a comic actor, appears to be having fun as the
count. Mel Brooks is on hand for his usual shtick-filler performance as Van
Helsing. Amy Yasbeck does a good job in the kind of role Madeline Kahn usually
occupied. And Peter MacNicol steals every scene he’s in as the pitiable Renfield.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Every vampire trope is sent
up from crosses, to garlic to an inspired mirror sequence. </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaerAkz_o4lMo7Tq0AWte8nYM_39f3w0kwrddbBBrb6Tb3uxZ_D_f48vtuvyhMoktMYeHs9Sb6qF-Md3MiZ86VmFwYi2JdHqTozdjUt-aPPpTOhenCnttYUMVckvu1J1VDjpvqOdQ0ybs/s1920/dracdead.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaerAkz_o4lMo7Tq0AWte8nYM_39f3w0kwrddbBBrb6Tb3uxZ_D_f48vtuvyhMoktMYeHs9Sb6qF-Md3MiZ86VmFwYi2JdHqTozdjUt-aPPpTOhenCnttYUMVckvu1J1VDjpvqOdQ0ybs/w400-h0/dracdead.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ph9bqGnkPgAmSUnpklzsqVZqz1QJjewMri5mTkaH1x0WZ_Wv0YGKXgtiu0CvJkSi1BNtGrQ_SmwZLo5goQM4GckzBK6AbNk1ce2S4Eb8XbqWZfJduPpbnPanUJsOlPQc7ol1WCMVpiw/s1920/dracdead.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ph9bqGnkPgAmSUnpklzsqVZqz1QJjewMri5mTkaH1x0WZ_Wv0YGKXgtiu0CvJkSi1BNtGrQ_SmwZLo5goQM4GckzBK6AbNk1ce2S4Eb8XbqWZfJduPpbnPanUJsOlPQc7ol1WCMVpiw/w640-h360/dracdead.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: x-large;">LARCENY (1948)</span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial;">Conman John Payne poses as
the buddy of a war widow’s dead husband as part of a con to steal money intended
for a war memorial. But maybe this heel has a soul as he begins to have
feelings for his mark.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Neat little thriller with loads
of snappy, hard-boiled patter. The exchanges between Payne and goodtime gal
Shelley Winters are particularly ripe. And Dan Duryea is here as the <i>bete noire</i>
and there’s no one better. Duryea plays the heavy you feel his presence in
every scenes, even the ones he’s not in!</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Q0W8ip31EeVEX0mO5U_KsUPlL1-R-DuMZCu5CLtJPOy_Moais91hQEcxp7ue7hWmxr5fUqOPcvjTIvgFKifmjnrIilUd9GC2hZlZL05T0gwgaV0SqmHec8PTjj-MWq1IURtoDCu4l9E/s1329/larceny.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1329" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Q0W8ip31EeVEX0mO5U_KsUPlL1-R-DuMZCu5CLtJPOy_Moais91hQEcxp7ue7hWmxr5fUqOPcvjTIvgFKifmjnrIilUd9GC2hZlZL05T0gwgaV0SqmHec8PTjj-MWq1IURtoDCu4l9E/w640-h482/larceny.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">BIG JAKE (1971)</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A ruthless outlaw gang led by Richard Boone kidnaps John
Wayne and Maureen O’Hara’s grandson. Not a good idea.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A late-entry action western for John Wayne and one senses
an attempt to join the swing toward the more mean-spirited genre entries of the
period like THE WILD BUNCH or the spaghettis. It even has a screenplay by Harry
Julian Fink who penned MAJOR DUNDEE and created Dirty Harry Callahan. But old
school director George Sherman is not up to the demands of the story or in tune
with the mood required. The set-pieces of light comedy seem misplaced and
unwelcome with no effort to make them a more organic part of the story. The action
is clumsily staged and flaccid. There’s a very ho-hum approach to the movie’s
violence resulting in a muted feeling of suspense in scenes that should have
been nail-biters.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">The movie only really comes alive in the exchanges
between Boone and Wayne with both men obviously relishing their scenes
together. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: arial;">All-in-all, a decent shoot ‘em up with John Wayne playing
John Wayne and some interesting juxtapositions of the modern world intruding on
the old west. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">But I think this would
have been a far better movie as Burt Lancaster vehicle shot by a Euro-western
crew.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1g8ZW_B3F7dOzpDX-e2-JwjbDvmQSbJ5kVsFmlH69IssFzxNT9i8j5d38P_WsCUk6HSvllAd9-98G4AxkBex6N2fmZ8LknL-4KgNPTLcga3Siq_SF6AAGkLz-nmkUgGToXjEjst-u7Sg/s2048/bigjake.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="2048" height="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1g8ZW_B3F7dOzpDX-e2-JwjbDvmQSbJ5kVsFmlH69IssFzxNT9i8j5d38P_WsCUk6HSvllAd9-98G4AxkBex6N2fmZ8LknL-4KgNPTLcga3Siq_SF6AAGkLz-nmkUgGToXjEjst-u7Sg/w640-h0/bigjake.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu68_i9p7h1u5lKFokuU0-xLxhhtX79zuND-inR3juTZCxmGa3lLUXZFszqexXSic4_1AjyZDC92xDpeiUu1hUk_p7RhzYYS97ryOViLCtnjRaX_zvPQszJ22GOgTFlRQ_6M2_OuoxHEo/s2048/bigjake.jpg"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="2048" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu68_i9p7h1u5lKFokuU0-xLxhhtX79zuND-inR3juTZCxmGa3lLUXZFszqexXSic4_1AjyZDC92xDpeiUu1hUk_p7RhzYYS97ryOViLCtnjRaX_zvPQszJ22GOgTFlRQ_6M2_OuoxHEo/w640-h351/bigjake.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;">Polizioto</span><span data-offset-key="fj954-1-0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span data-text="true"> Sprint/HIGHWAY RACER (1977)</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial;">A hot shot cop sees himself
as a one-man crimebuster intent on bringing to justice a gang of fast-driving
bank robbers. He’s willing to risk it all, the love of his life and his partner’s
safety, to take down his quarry.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial;">A pretty standard Italian
cop action flick that’s pretty much a car chase flick. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial;">It’s helped along bigtime with the help of the
Remy Jullienne stunt team providing some spectacular car crashes and trick
driving. There’s also some welcome humor (rare in Italian crime movies) at the
beginning that serves to set up the tragedy that motivates the action in the last
acts. The movie took a standard cop movie trope and really infused it with some
emotional weight.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial;">Fun stuff with tough cops
and tougher criminals and plenty of gear-jamming pursuits.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKn6Aqgr1KeU_eY8uQkbo1HZP0F-GM8m_FtfP994TbmWgrUJcrPpS0leFeeCKNB1manBkNzHxQCZ41nJP8TNW96TktBH-8CcvhnELqq5BL3p4WDzy7BmBKdktr1EygpN-sjnL2j91RhB0/s1280/highway+racer.jpg" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1280" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKn6Aqgr1KeU_eY8uQkbo1HZP0F-GM8m_FtfP994TbmWgrUJcrPpS0leFeeCKNB1manBkNzHxQCZ41nJP8TNW96TktBH-8CcvhnELqq5BL3p4WDzy7BmBKdktr1EygpN-sjnL2j91RhB0/w640-h340/highway+racer.jpg" width="640" /></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p></o:p></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span><p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-18959479385584162862021-07-15T09:42:00.001-07:002021-07-15T09:42:13.778-07:00Big Box of Movie Reviews!<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">CAT BALLOU (1965)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Jane Fonda comes back from boarding school to find her daddy’s
ranch under fire from a powerful, land-grabbing robber baron. Her only choice
is hiring a gunslinger of her own right out of a dime novel. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This classic comedy western still works. It’s funny,
charming, and a true cinema gem quite unlike any other film in in the genre. Most
notable is the choice to tell the story using a pair of balladeers to sing narrative
codas and provide background. The ingenious idea of having them appear on screen
as part of the action is nothing less than inspired. And the songs they sing,
written specifically for the movie, are welcome additions to the entertainment
rather than the cringe-worthy efforts we so often have to endure in westerns.
Add to that that they are performed by Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole and you’ve
got pure gold.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Like all successful comedies, this one has a solid dramatic
storyline from which to draw the laughs. In fact, Jane Fonda (when she was a promising
young actor rather than a useful idiot for leftist causes) plays her part
straight, making no effort to get laughs. And her performance is all the better
for it by giving the story a dramatic core for the comic actors to play off. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Much has been made of Lee Marvin’s Oscar-winning performance
as both the drunken Kid Shaleen and the villainous Tim Strawn. <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">A</span>nd it is a bravura performance with Marvin
delivering hilarious extended comic soliloquies. Much of the success comes from
the director<span style="text-transform: uppercase;">’</span>s request that Marvin
play the role as a tragic, rather than a comic, performance. He asked Marvin to
try and make the audience cry rather than laugh and the end result is
hysterical. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;">
</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The rest of the cast is equally effective with Michael Callan
and Dwayne Hickman getting to deliver some great gag lines. And there’s a lot
of Yakima Canut classic stunt work, particularly with Marvin’s wild horsemanship
upon one of the most famous horses in movie history. If you watch this, pay
close attention to the quite impressive square dance sequence all done in one
extended take.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2kbi3iYN1Qe9UF0p9n_oBejR0SK_EAdY_UvJWEuFVlci0zrEDCzCRqT1awoPI9ooKZGD1Kvh5o2Hwv8XXRH6_-Brgk9XItGG0nK1GENv9_Z7PJhL2eTg8_Tds46qTkywgMO0V3v1SXo/s600/catballou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2kbi3iYN1Qe9UF0p9n_oBejR0SK_EAdY_UvJWEuFVlci0zrEDCzCRqT1awoPI9ooKZGD1Kvh5o2Hwv8XXRH6_-Brgk9XItGG0nK1GENv9_Z7PJhL2eTg8_Tds46qTkywgMO0V3v1SXo/s16000/catballou.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><b><i>Un bonheur n'arrive jamais seul</i> /HAPPINESS
NEVER COMES ALONE (2012) </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;">Gad Elmaleh and Sophie Marceau in a fun romantic
comedy. Child-hating Gad falls for Sophie not realizing that she had three kids
and a troubled past with a series of ex-husbands. The kind of frothy stuff that
they make here with Matthew McConoughey and Kate Hudson with a Gallic twist.
Meaning, lots more sex and excused amorality. Fun stuff with a gifted comic
cast and the kids are funny without being cute and cloying.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXD6ACQ2xFqGS_aoLnXRYiJ89lM7qn9QjYuoeNeHcyaRGL5eQNcxTGcCgsmGDP8KqSIHkOoa5CXBgavtHamaykXlsLgOtrcdUQ9dYbTTOtenBrQoqZyZLK9tVPE_rj-WxQetwrE3GLgw/s750/happiness.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="750" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXD6ACQ2xFqGS_aoLnXRYiJ89lM7qn9QjYuoeNeHcyaRGL5eQNcxTGcCgsmGDP8KqSIHkOoa5CXBgavtHamaykXlsLgOtrcdUQ9dYbTTOtenBrQoqZyZLK9tVPE_rj-WxQetwrE3GLgw/s16000/happiness.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><b>CANYON PASSAGE (1946) </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;">Handsomely mounted
technicolor production that deserved better than the second feature programmer
status it was deigned for. An additional twenty minutes for more character
development would have helped this movie in a big way. An astonishing amount of
story happens off screen or is explained away in exposition scenes. While
there's lots going on, this lack of development at the beginning makes it hard
to invest oneself in what comes after. I also had a problem with Dana Andrews
as a rough and tumble man of the west. He simply never looks period enough in
these movies. But he gets able support from Susan Hayward, Brian Donleavy,
Lloyd Bridges, Andy Devine, Hoagy Carmichael and Ward Bond at his most primal.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_5Xo39ITk3EHgnev1j-VGRSWMZn0BXvdv_k-91lby_IhXEEr0lJZ8khIC-KEZjEEPJ-ihn2a5qFGdfx9A4vlE-aITADOMcYeyAmnMPLaxdkERgFm1dOw-7swVAvzwPe09xgRlpgUQG2Q/s694/canyonxx.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="694" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_5Xo39ITk3EHgnev1j-VGRSWMZn0BXvdv_k-91lby_IhXEEr0lJZ8khIC-KEZjEEPJ-ihn2a5qFGdfx9A4vlE-aITADOMcYeyAmnMPLaxdkERgFm1dOw-7swVAvzwPe09xgRlpgUQG2Q/s16000/canyonxx.jpg" /></a></span></div><b style="color: #050505; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="color: #050505; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></b></p>CA$H (2008) </b><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;">Complicated (perhaps TOO
complicated) con artist/heist thriller done in the French once-over-lightly
style. Jean DuJardin leads a cast of liars, tricksters and pigeons in the kind
of movie where you learn never to trust what you can see. I'm seriously going
to have to watch this one again and soon to catch what I missed the first time
around. Great cast with Valeria Golino, Jean Reno and others. This one moves
fast at a blink-and-you'll-miss pace. And Caroline Proust cleans up nice. I'm
used to seeing her as the overly-obsessed homicide cop who never showers in the
excellent series SPIRAL.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtIaNPtq-kvzJDMvRbAupn6WK1I8kZuNrNlDDM4NiuhJB-kXmcjwfsvjcPf9C6yTQDfOlmL9Jl3cAV4a1Znz7LQB3Tu-6XLX4Cd1Gmz1lVQeamJfconj5WoxxGAqD2ZO5-Mdt25NeFTeU/s1200/ca%2524h.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtIaNPtq-kvzJDMvRbAupn6WK1I8kZuNrNlDDM4NiuhJB-kXmcjwfsvjcPf9C6yTQDfOlmL9Jl3cAV4a1Znz7LQB3Tu-6XLX4Cd1Gmz1lVQeamJfconj5WoxxGAqD2ZO5-Mdt25NeFTeU/s16000/ca%2524h.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="color: #050505; font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">COME WHAT MAY (2015) </b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;">Effective and suspenseful
movie about a rural French village that decides to evacuate before the German
invasion of 1940. Well-crafted characters, harrowing action and high stakes in
a deliberately paced story that will draw you inexorably into these people's
lives. Matthew Rhys is excellent as a British soldier who joins the evacuation
after his unit is slaughtered. This movie contain one of the neatest (and most
desired) scenes of retribution I've ever seen on film. Epic in scale but highly
personal as well. It took real skill to balance the big and small story here.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhauQ8D4X-duSCLA12MOeJ-6ZgdTaxr2koy-J7_3Jgztg6zolXPbqaR-0m545IwUlVG9jM-M-N9VqeXjLxBVmDmC6Ix9xWDy7WJITs60ApqXu54yeQWx4jhgp-gomWYCGGyMzXjMQq9ASs/s962/comewhat.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="962" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhauQ8D4X-duSCLA12MOeJ-6ZgdTaxr2koy-J7_3Jgztg6zolXPbqaR-0m545IwUlVG9jM-M-N9VqeXjLxBVmDmC6Ix9xWDy7WJITs60ApqXu54yeQWx4jhgp-gomWYCGGyMzXjMQq9ASs/s16000/comewhat.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>THE KING'S CHOICE (2016) </b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Another tale of
evacuation before a Nazi invasion. This time it deals with the king of Norway
and the choices he made following the betrayal of his country by both
weak-willed politicians and ones who outright colluded with Hitler. Ironically,
King Haakon, a monarch, is the one who saves Norway's democratic status. A
real, grown-up historical drama done to perfection to present an important
chapter of the war most Americans were not aware of.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; color: #050505;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin02UvhRPJEi6Ow8YNQfyHGviy1DsnknSp2SfwjT235XLY5txdi8UdNzqjZdevPE78Z2WOwVdy7I_ff2L1TbCdTivSAY6RkReKO7RliMMyUVRBvpJZ5fDpvQevh7mnnL67yloATjPkga0/s1280/kingscho.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin02UvhRPJEi6Ow8YNQfyHGviy1DsnknSp2SfwjT235XLY5txdi8UdNzqjZdevPE78Z2WOwVdy7I_ff2L1TbCdTivSAY6RkReKO7RliMMyUVRBvpJZ5fDpvQevh7mnnL67yloATjPkga0/s16000/kingscho.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>THE OUTPOST (2020)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Currently on Netflix.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">A small unit of Americans and Afghan troops are posted at
a forward operating base that is situated on the floor of a valley and ripe for
attack. The soldiers deal with daily attacks and the creeping sense of doom as one
CO after another is targeted and killed by the Taliban. <br />
Based on a true story, this movie makes a real effort to portray the events depicted
as realistically as possible to the extent that some of the parts are played by
men who were there. As a result, it succeeds in a big way, feeling brutally
honest and unblinking in this story of courage, dedication and brotherhood. <br />
The dialogue and action all come across as authentic and the point-of-view of
the grunts on the ground is brought to life in a way that is seldom this
effective. We’re taken into their daily lives in scenes in well-crafted scenes
that inform as well as entertain. Compulsively watchable with a hair-raising,
pulse-quickening extended climax that is marvel of action blocking as well as
acting. Highly recommended for those who prefer their war movies hew to reality. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRGKZqUr_wPY9DDJkZiOhop_f7b9bxsfrCGxeOLsI6V1hbvHlrwY56QaHTrVdkxLSGrcjeMu6BZAtybSqbvPG10RlvGn8Pmw1oVUiASXdAAsNVRirDfd0_JUndqaokdOwrqTQ30ikp_P4/s1200/outpost.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRGKZqUr_wPY9DDJkZiOhop_f7b9bxsfrCGxeOLsI6V1hbvHlrwY56QaHTrVdkxLSGrcjeMu6BZAtybSqbvPG10RlvGn8Pmw1oVUiASXdAAsNVRirDfd0_JUndqaokdOwrqTQ30ikp_P4/s16000/outpost.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>THE SECRET WAYS (1961)<br /></b>
Richard Widmark plays a mercenary operative who sneaks into communist Hungary
to convince a leading dissident to escape to the free world. Things are complicated
by shifting loyalties and, of course, a dame. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Based on an Alistair MacLean novel with all the plot
gimmicks you’d expect from one of his stories. Unfortunately, the confounding twists
so prevalent in his work are rendered even muddier than usual to the point
where the viewer is left uncertain of who’s who and what their motives are. It’s
also remarkably free of action until the third act when things pick up. This
makes for rough sledding leading to the exciting climax that turns out to be
too little too late. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUU_bMZAfwgMiYdZMVXlKZsiduzao0hf90YWOkTeukslGm8UJs17jJ0TZxdaBpKLoUyM1U2J2OIjh34yp52TAnRT_pCK253eUdTTN4EY6gdAwO1wXuEOGst3KTJNrao9GuMv42cMqgrBc/s1280/secret+ways.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUU_bMZAfwgMiYdZMVXlKZsiduzao0hf90YWOkTeukslGm8UJs17jJ0TZxdaBpKLoUyM1U2J2OIjh34yp52TAnRT_pCK253eUdTTN4EY6gdAwO1wXuEOGst3KTJNrao9GuMv42cMqgrBc/s16000/secret+ways.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>THE SWEENEY PARIS (2015) </b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Jean Reno leads of squad of cops who are essentially
gunfighters. He strongly suspects that a large private bank is being cased for
a robbery by a violent gang. But, of course, he meets with resistance from his
supervisor. This conflict isn’t helped along by the fact that Reno is bumping
uglies with his superior’s wife. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Peculiar attempt to make a more American style cop
thriller. I say peculiar as the French have a longer history of making quality <i>policiers</i>
than the USA. The first act is a throwback to 80’s action films with flippant
heroes, takeaway lines and cartoonish action. But it so settles down as the
stakes rise and the drama takes a grim turn. The formal acts of the movie are
high-octane action in a more realistic vein with a terrific running gun battle
in the streets of Paris that’s a lot closer to HEAT than BAD BOYS.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It’s all worthwhile in the end and worth sticking with. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAafU28Al_yYIi4edFWJRmvEFQ3kRP6iY_uROAOEUwUSeTfWWxyEHAPBYGUkIWaWOK-kJynnV_QheV_ziA28PWrBLwzYh6Ff0pq5fYMSt9NKo8S-Upqy7BpBhaKehZyeu4zbz2k9S8zAA/s852/sweenyparis.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="852" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAafU28Al_yYIi4edFWJRmvEFQ3kRP6iY_uROAOEUwUSeTfWWxyEHAPBYGUkIWaWOK-kJynnV_QheV_ziA28PWrBLwzYh6Ff0pq5fYMSt9NKo8S-Upqy7BpBhaKehZyeu4zbz2k9S8zAA/s16000/sweenyparis.png" /></a></div><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></b></p>CHINA SEAS (1935)</b><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Clark Gable is the skipper of a freighter sailing the South
China Sea and, boy, does he have problems.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Goodtime gal Jean Harlow’s on board looking to move their
relationship to the next level just as Rosalind Russell, an old flame from
Gable’s past, books passage with an eye to rekindling their romance. And,
unbeknownst to everyone, the ship is sailing into pirate waters!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This movie is a prime example of the kind of high
entertainment Hollywood produced with regularity in its heyday. It has romance,
suspense, action and humor all served up by a top-drawer ensemble cast and all
of it dazzles. Gable is at his easiest, relaxed best in the lead role and
Harlow gives as good as she gets. We also have Wallace Beery along as the kind
of smarmy louse he played so often. Another highlight is Robert Benchley as a
persistently drunken passenger in bits he scripted himself. The balance of the
mix is wonderful to behold as the gags all work but so do the set-piece actions
scenes. A steam roller loose on the deck during a storm is a horrifying bit of
business with high stakes and thrills. The humor and romance scenes do nothing
to take away from the dramatic through line of the movie. This is grand, crowd pleasing stuff and movie
I’ve watched more times than I can count. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLJ4Tcptw_mxzXvxnirKAauQWvMJyyuggBPBjoENUOumkw8ykX9k_uPkFWpxhAtQGp7V_Cagm4YmBT1t6wOTOPW7BBQDLBSlwtIceaSLZOnQweqgkHWYlCRCj-Jv_wqDC9OyMFdnB4ek/s1600/chinaseas.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1242" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLJ4Tcptw_mxzXvxnirKAauQWvMJyyuggBPBjoENUOumkw8ykX9k_uPkFWpxhAtQGp7V_Cagm4YmBT1t6wOTOPW7BBQDLBSlwtIceaSLZOnQweqgkHWYlCRCj-Jv_wqDC9OyMFdnB4ek/s16000/chinaseas.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>THE LONGEST DAY (1962)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Epic retelling of the Allied landing on Normandy in 1944.
We follow an international ensemble cast through the first day of the invasion
of fortress Europe. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An ambitious effort to get across the scale, import and drama
of a day that truly changed the world. Rather than trivialize the event by focusing
in on the experiences of a small group of soldiers and their troubles and conflicts,
this production sought to get across a panoramic view of the greatest
amphibious landing in history through a series of loosely connected vignettes. And
it succeeds in a big way to impart the events of the day with clarity and
suspense and is equally successful in portraying the human angle as we grow
familiar with a large cast of characters and follow them through anecdotes that
are sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes humorous. All of this material was culled
from Cornelius Ryan’s exhaustive interviews with the men and women who were
witnesses and participants in that day. It helps that Ryan wrote the screenplay
based on his bestselling history.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">And, of course, there’s the all-star cast featuring John
Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Fabian, Bourvil, Sean Connery
and dozens of others</span>.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwtO75HIW61B4O9kvG8VuDnCspUkkSe-WnqWGT1mifBop7jseL1XqIehbWEznYnj9qm6JtItdMnAQgG2VgwejMjPPwkivGN7NSsOCvUYzxE3Q4ApUaIWznfhcRLWCZfXYpd1xs_zQKy5E/s722/longestday.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwtO75HIW61B4O9kvG8VuDnCspUkkSe-WnqWGT1mifBop7jseL1XqIehbWEznYnj9qm6JtItdMnAQgG2VgwejMjPPwkivGN7NSsOCvUYzxE3Q4ApUaIWznfhcRLWCZfXYpd1xs_zQKy5E/s16000/longestday.JPG" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-45982131873838187732021-07-11T09:42:00.003-07:002021-07-11T10:16:39.732-07:00THE TOMORROW WAR<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjOMMas24r-WCq8rhyBuA4jbO0BPiTwTZpQEXuUyAdpJT05Gop_E3nUn8nORbflaq97-6oMgt8bWc8jB1IxFshSUZsYRZZUYx36BbIqzDOeR623U_pRBKV-4OzNPxRuacsOLucwHtu0M8/s1132/tm1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="1132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjOMMas24r-WCq8rhyBuA4jbO0BPiTwTZpQEXuUyAdpJT05Gop_E3nUn8nORbflaq97-6oMgt8bWc8jB1IxFshSUZsYRZZUYx36BbIqzDOeR623U_pRBKV-4OzNPxRuacsOLucwHtu0M8/s16000/tm1.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It’s on Amazon for those of you who’ve
been hiding in a cave somewhere. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">An army from the future shows up during
World Cup finals to warn the planet of an alien invasion that will happen
decades in the future. Not only that, but they come to the past to recruit soldiers
to fight in the war against the aliens and prevent the extermination of the human
race. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Poor Chris Pratt, with this turkey
along with PASSENGERS and his JURASSIC PARK entries, seems doomed to play the
lead in some of the dumbest movies ever to come out of Hollywood. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This sci-fi actioner is cobbled together
from tired ideas strung together in an endless band of cliches, shallow emotional
moments and lifeless action scenes. What might have been an interesting framework
for an alien invasion shoot ‘em up is poorly presented with very little thought
put into making its creaky high concept plot work. This is where movies have
come to in the post-modern, post-pandemic, post-woke world. It even manages to
blame global warming for the planet’s doom at the hands of carnivorous extraterrestrials.
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfjbdkSDPZW6lDf8_hTLVVsFTJojg1dxfEhXsHTMgEFgkG-IQOk7QuWdkS7NABLkaN3JFJd6xqYrhVPyP_tQrgXfcZLG5vL_UEcVEBq6nMYsdvcsH5y_FiT8boNMOdIroiNbwPGz9FCg/s2048/tm2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1278" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfjbdkSDPZW6lDf8_hTLVVsFTJojg1dxfEhXsHTMgEFgkG-IQOk7QuWdkS7NABLkaN3JFJd6xqYrhVPyP_tQrgXfcZLG5vL_UEcVEBq6nMYsdvcsH5y_FiT8boNMOdIroiNbwPGz9FCg/s16000/tm2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">You’ve all seen this so many times
before, right? Act One is sprinkled with lots of characters with oddly specific
areas of interest or character traits that you just KNOW, because of those
quirks, will show up again in Act Three AND be pivotal to the resolution of the
plot. Remember alcoholic crop-duster Randy Quaid in the equally moronic
INDEPENDENCE DAY? Or Jeff Goldblum’s Olympic gymnast daughter in JURASSIC PARK:
THE LOST WORLD? Only this time out there’s a half dozen of these characters who
pop up for a brief moment only as set-ups for their eventual, contrived,
re-appearance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">There’re many other examples of
totally blinkered thinking to be had here. Like the carnivorous aliens apparent
lack of appetite for petite African American women given how many of them form
the command core of the future army. Does this make the aliens racist or
supporters of racial equity? Or is it just pandering? It’s certainly not
diversity as the entire cast is made up of either white or black Americans.
Apparently, the alien invaders choose from the Latin and Asian portions of the
menu first. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh60hnlDQpGaP0wHXeQ_TjOfoJuiD2eu2SzAN4paC5Z8ZSO-XQJjCjhZYlIYDdIe4EIE3v0h24F3EajCCryC2L_hDco4fECJrwKYSoTy7FuVr3RYo8v_IpBqt-sUEJ1Z4uh5f5osUegwQg/s1200/tm3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh60hnlDQpGaP0wHXeQ_TjOfoJuiD2eu2SzAN4paC5Z8ZSO-XQJjCjhZYlIYDdIe4EIE3v0h24F3EajCCryC2L_hDco4fECJrwKYSoTy7FuVr3RYo8v_IpBqt-sUEJ1Z4uh5f5osUegwQg/s16000/tm3.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The aliens themselves have nothing really
clever, new, or surprising about them. Some producer thought that the more
appendages they had the better so there’s lots of limbs they flail about as
well as some that fire projectiles at about the same rate as a semi-automatic
rifle. I’m surprised they didn’t shoot flame out of their butts or grenades
from their nostrils. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And how exactly did a land-based
species of predators wrest control of the planet from the human race in only a
matter of years despite the fact that every nation is allied against them? This
alliance, BTW, entirely falls apart within the span of a week for no other reason
than to provide an excuse for our cast of heroes to go rogue in the final act. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Seriously, a species (ours) that
used sticks and rocks to become the dominant lifeform on the planet, can’t take
care of a horde of galloping beasties with all our vast array of weaponry and
total air superiority? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The imponderables arise with a
dizzying rapidity as the main conceits of the film are contradicted and
violated at every opportunity for the sake of plot development or lame attempts
to create dramatic tension. I’ll detail a few here…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">SPOILERS AHEAD!</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>...</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>...</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>...</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The most jaw-droppingly inane aspect of
this film is the creation of the story’s main MacGuffin, the creation of a
toxin that will kill the hungry critters dead. Of course, the research into finding
this superweapon reaches its crux at mankind’s darkest hour. It’s one of
Hollywood’s hoariest tropes. “We’ve got to get that serum through!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">What makes this particular plot
element an historic low point in cinema history is how later events in the film
(like three <b>minutes</b> later) make the creation of the toxin irrelevant. And
yet, the MacGuffin is still kept on board as a major plot point. Not only that,
but the ticking clock introduced in the second act becomes irrelevant as well. Instead
of hours in which to act, the heroes literally have a decade in which to save
the human race from extinction and yet ignore this reprieve in order to try and
pump some suspense into the tedious, explosion-laden climax the lazy filmmakers
have conceived. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVKPc3RutcE_YWpv9MeLiRq4AMzSANUXFgCDsrVBPJN9KycVZoX5dfv7rBv3i9R2AJCkjcOOzqMdLrGSvR4HmU3If068Pfl14-7ug5wkkctA8tbu1a_dEUhyOJtWPO3G1xnBk4VwAAcMI/s800/tm4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVKPc3RutcE_YWpv9MeLiRq4AMzSANUXFgCDsrVBPJN9KycVZoX5dfv7rBv3i9R2AJCkjcOOzqMdLrGSvR4HmU3If068Pfl14-7ug5wkkctA8tbu1a_dEUhyOJtWPO3G1xnBk4VwAAcMI/s16000/tm4.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And, as an aside, if you <b>did</b>
come up with a sure-fire poison to knock off a bajillion deadly monsters
crawling all over the planet, would you <b>really</b> administer it in the form
of an injection? Wouldn’t an aerosol have been a better delivery system? Was
the CDC consulted? Is that what happened? Did Dr, Fauci suggest going door to
door? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Also, don’t get me started on how
yet another action epic reduces itself to a drama about abandonment issues. I
swear, the only emotional component that seems to touch the flinty heart of Hollywood
producers always has to do with either divorce or custody issues. How many
movies have you seen where the unfairly wronged Good Dad has to redeem himself
in the eyes of his children? How often is our studly hero as consumed with
making to his son’s soccer game or his daughter’s recital as he is with saving
the free world from destruction? It’s as if the entertainment moguls have
reduced all human drama to an argument in the car on the way to drop off the
kids. “The world is ending, and you still forgot my</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large; text-indent: 0.5in;"> birthday!”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-zdcJloTBIr9c1y05Awq5Cp1xlK9DYAfdLvBj17mM1S7yo4o-rkCMI-6x-h2M-1YucK2CpL4P13fL5YuyAu1mInbpZGKQNVO4qf2Nufs2JXKgWVqNT_Xni55N3X7d3473pUeCLHeOsM/s840/tm5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="840" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-zdcJloTBIr9c1y05Awq5Cp1xlK9DYAfdLvBj17mM1S7yo4o-rkCMI-6x-h2M-1YucK2CpL4P13fL5YuyAu1mInbpZGKQNVO4qf2Nufs2JXKgWVqNT_Xni55N3X7d3473pUeCLHeOsM/s16000/tm5.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I could go on, but I won’t. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Anyway, it’s not hard to see why
the original studio abandoned this feature and were only too happy to unload it
on <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a streaming service with an odious
track record for selecting projects. Honestly, this movie serves as a prime (get
it?) example of how Amazon sees its consumers. They believe that we’ll buy anything
so long as they can push it to the top of the list hard enough. Well, a turd is
a turd no matter how many times they send me emails about it. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX6Ygux4PZmA1bXRk_IYqIB1gdSVhPnZZMtH9SFPUPJ0ZLw2SrJjeB658LN9U5g36W_c42tE2AXfT5VAMQOFOHO0IR1xARACct9LM1p-snHwhZtJtQbFrdNKkVqYrYChwxwbH-ahsLkSk/s1200/tm6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX6Ygux4PZmA1bXRk_IYqIB1gdSVhPnZZMtH9SFPUPJ0ZLw2SrJjeB658LN9U5g36W_c42tE2AXfT5VAMQOFOHO0IR1xARACct9LM1p-snHwhZtJtQbFrdNKkVqYrYChwxwbH-ahsLkSk/s16000/tm6.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-25628506640566386402021-05-26T14:12:00.002-07:002021-05-26T14:12:24.775-07:00More movie reviews if you want 'em!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w533_and_h300_bestv2/w3pF1HP1r1TkKYr4o10Ib8xSTOA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="533" height="360" src="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w533_and_h300_bestv2/w3pF1HP1r1TkKYr4o10Ib8xSTOA.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><b><i>Le Casse/</i>THE BURGLARS (1971)<br /></b></span><span>Jean Paul Belmondo heads up a gang of burglars who travel to
Greece to steal a fortune in gems from a private home. It all goes as planned
except that their getaway is thwarted, and they must spend a week in Athens before
the next opportunity. What could spoil a week on the Aegean coast? Crooked cop
Omar Sharif who wants his share of the gems.<br /></span><span>I saw this in our neighborhood theater when it was released,
and it was my first Belmondo film. I enjoyed it so much it sent me on a hunt
through the art houses to find more.<br /> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">A terrific Euro-crime thriller with all the hallmarks, venal
cops, car chases, punch-ups, gun battles and the cleverest slapping-a-woman
scene in cinema history. (It’s not a true Euro-crime film until a woman is
slapped or harmed in some way). As always, JP does his own stunts and makes
sure you know it’s him every time. And some of the gags are spectacularly
dangerous. It also features what might be Remy Julienne’s longest, and best,
extended car chase over and under the streets of Athens.<br /> </span><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/1006/vlcsnap2011110401h19m30.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="592" height="467" src="http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/1006/vlcsnap2011110401h19m30.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></o:p><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>COPS AND ROBBERS (1973)<br /></b></span><span style="font-size: large;">
Tom and Joe are New York City cops who plan a daring daylight heist of a Wall
Street firm during a ticker-tape parade for returning astronauts. Now they’re
not only wanted robbers, they’re wondering how to sell the goods on without
being murdered by the mob.<br /> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Written by Donald E. Westlake from his own novel and, perhaps,
the closest we’ll get to true Westlake on film. It’s a seamless mix of comedy
and thriller and perfectly captures the crushing ennui of urban life in the
1970s. Cliff Gorman and Joe Bologna inhabit the roles of Tom and Joe as though
they were born to play them. The apocalyptic vibe of Fear City is portrayed
vividly and provides a kind of bleak undertone that allows us to root for these
two lawmen breaking the law to get their own. It also serves to ground the film
and make the moments of humor work by contrasting them with the horrors of the
street.<br /> </span><span style="font-size: large;">I saw this upon release on a double bill with CHARLIE VARRICK.
Now THAT was a night at the movies!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/5c/43/ca/5c43ca977373702ee1ea68789ff46482--ford-westerns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="614" src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/5c/43/ca/5c43ca977373702ee1ea68789ff46482--ford-westerns.jpg" /></a></div><br /><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> <br /></span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE SHEEPMAN (1958)<br /> </b></span><span style="font-size: large;">
Glenn Ford arrives in a cattle town and makes an enemy of everyone he meets when
he unloads a trainload of sheep and sets out for the open range. He’s not a man
to be denied and uses charm, guile and a lightning-fast gun hand to keep his
herd intact.<br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">
Part of a string of successful westerns made by Ford through the 50’s and into
the 60’s. This one relies on comedy more than most of them and Ford was an
adept comic actor who looked to be having the time of his life in this role.
While there’s a lot of humor here, it’s also very much an action western with
all the fights and shoot-outs an armchair buckaroo could want. Shirley MacLaine
is the love interest, playing her tomboy character with an equal mix of
credulity and coyness. And Leslie Neilson plays the oily badguy and his scenes
with Ford are a lot of fun as the two circle one another in a pissing contest
that we know will end poorly for one of them. And Edgar Buchanan chimes in with
one of his signature character performances.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://waterbearer77.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/the-spoilers-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" src="https://waterbearer77.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/the-spoilers-2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE SPOILERS (1942)<br /> </b></span><span style="font-size: large;">
Marlene Dietrich runs the largest saloon in Nome, Alaska and also has her
manicured fingers into gold claims that are now threatened by the arrival of
Randolph Scott, a new gold commissioner intent on bring law to the Yukon. But
is Scott all he seems, or will Dietrich need on again/off again boyfriend John
Wayne to look out for her interests?<br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">
Richly realized action adventure stuffed with Hollywood gold. Humor, action,
suspense and one hell of an extended fistfight between the Duke and Scott at
the film’s climax. Dietrich gives a spirited performance (in her own idiosyncratic
way) and there’s real heat between her and Wayne that they, rumor has it,
shared off screen as well. It’s a gorgeous production all around with some big
action scenes with shoot-outs, punch-ups and a pretty spectacular train crash. And
it’s fun to watch Wayne share scenes with his mentor Harry Carey who steals
each scene he’s in and the Duke lets him.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/97/6b/d8/976bd8e35b6bd011c8affe55e6fefe48.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="800" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/97/6b/d8/976bd8e35b6bd011c8affe55e6fefe48.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE DESPERATE HOURS (1955)<br /> </b></span><span style="font-size: large;">
Humphrey Bogart and two other hardened cons break out of the pen and lay low in
the suburban home of Frederic March, holding his family hostage until they can
make their getaway.<br /> </span><span style="font-size: large;">A taut thriller with Bogart turning in another indelible performance
as a scheming, amoral and ruthless career criminal. March is a stolid husband
and father trapped in a balance between his personal honor and the safety of
his family. This one wrings every ounce out of the situation with twists,
turns, reversals and multiple chess moves between the two principals. A fine
supporting cast with Martha Scott, Arthur Kennedy, Ray Teal, Gig Young, Dewey Martin
and ubiquitous child actor Richard Eyer (INVISIBLE BOY, 7<sup>th</sup> VOYAGE
OF SINBAD).<br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">On a personal note, I saw this multiple times as a kid on TV
and I credit this movie with teaching me the value of low angle shots. Director
William Wyler would drop his camera to ground level to mark each dramatic
change in the cast’s fortunes and that made a real impression on me.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://louderthanwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Russian-Raid-Inside-the-Factory-768x321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="768" src="https://louderthanwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Russian-Raid-Inside-the-Factory-768x321.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>RUSSIAN RAID (2021)<br /></b></span><span style="font-size: large;">
A corporate oligarch plans a hostile takeover of a rival company. REALLY
hostile as he hires a gang of mercenaries to break into the target company’s HQ
and beat the daylights out of everyone.<br /> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">
There’s certainly plenty of action. In fact, too much action and too little substance.
The fights are well choreographed and brutal, but it all becomes ludicrous as
it is revealed that the entire cast is made up of brawling badasses. After a while
it grows tiresome and confusing like looking over someone’s shoulder as they
play a videogame. I did perk up when they switched from fists to guns and
grenades. There are some truly impressive shoot-em-up scenes that are far more
realistic than the Popeye and Bluto fights that make up the bulk of the movie’s
first acts. If you get a chance, skip to an hour in and enjoy some wild, and
believable, gun</span> <span style="font-family: arial;">action. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://img.yts.mx/assets/images/movies/the_reivers_1969/large-screenshot2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="800" src="https://img.yts.mx/assets/images/movies/the_reivers_1969/large-screenshot2.jpg" /></a></span></div><b style="font-family: arial;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="font-family: arial;"><br /></b></p>THE REIVERS (1969)</b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1901 Mississippi, Mitch Vogel is entrusted to look
after the family home while the adults travel to a funeral. That includes keeping
the family automobile locked away. Only farmhand and car fancier Steve McQueen convinces
the boy to take off for Memphis in grandfather’s flivver for a few days of
adventure and debauchery. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;">Though mostly lighthearted fun, the lead character
encounters issues that are deeper even than most rite of passage stories deal
with. The trip outside of his bucolic small-town existence exposes him to a
wider, dangerous and tawdry world than he ever knew existed. All of that
grounds the film unapologetically in the reality of the period. There’s high
comedy and real drama and it all makes for a well-crafted adaptation of the autobiographical
work of William Faulkner. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;">But what really sets this movie apart and makes it
especially relevant in these days of vapid, empty, corporate cookie-cutter
entertainment is its inclusion of real stakes for the lead characters. Stealing
grandpa’s car was risk enough, but when they lose the car and the only way to
get it back by winning a horse race the stakes get cranked higher. That might have
bene enough to get us intrigued and keep us interested. Only this story torques
it all up higher and higher until the emotional and material consequences seem
insurmountable. And the wonderful thing about it all is that, despite our heroes
coming out okay in the end, they have left something important behind and the story
ends with them left to work ever harder to regain what was lost. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;">Steve McQueen’s last purely comic role and proof (as if
we needed another example) that the King of Cool was also a gifted clown. It
also, sadly, has Rupert Crosse’s last performance in a feature. Crosse was a charismatic
character who got very few chances to show off his skills before dying at age
45. Here he is the perfectly cast as McQueen’s friend and sometimes foil. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/5SRiG8rVvxMRaB5tBIT6oC6ksxD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" src="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/5SRiG8rVvxMRaB5tBIT6oC6ksxD.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>RED SUN (1971)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;">A ceremonial sword meant as a gift from the emperor of
Japan for the president of the United States is stolen by outlaw gang leader
Alain Delon but not before Delon leaves partner Charles Bronson behind, mistakenly
believing the Bronson is dead. Now Chuck is forced to team with samurai Toshiro
Mifune to hunt down Delon’s gang and retrieve the sacred sword. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;">The casting of three huge international actors is enough
to carry this picture on star power alone. The sheer macho of Mifune and Bronson
is enough to form an almost visible field of testosterone-fueled energy. There’s
lots of bravado and action and all the one upmanship you’d expect but there’s
just not a whole lot of story. This really called for an approach more akin to
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. Some more complication and grist rather than a “from
here to there” kind of story. Still, the gunplay is good, the scenery terrific
and Ursula Andress and Capucine are along for the ride. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w780/6bpXP2BV50miAj80ntZ9Q2HjEZM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="780" src="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w780/6bpXP2BV50miAj80ntZ9Q2HjEZM.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Les anges gardiens</i>/GUARDIAN ANGELS (1995)</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Gerard Depardieu is a former gangster who agrees to travel to Hong Kong as a favor to a dying friend. He’s to smuggle a young Chinese boy and millions in bearer bonds back to France. To this end, he enlists the help of a Catholic priest played by Christian Clavier.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This movie is seriously nuts. I mean CRAY-zee. It begins like a bloody Hong Kong action flick before morphing into a chase comedy with heavy elements of farce. And THEN, fifty-five minutes into its running time a supernatural element is introduced as Depardieu’s guardian angel (played by Depardieu in a schoolboy uniform and fright wig) shows up to plague his conscience. But somehow, against all odds, it all still works thanks to the most frenetic pacing I’ve ever seen in a film along with a gaggle of over-the-top comic performances and some seriously violent action sequences. Being populated with some astonishingly beautiful women doesn’t hurt either. In the film, Depardieu owns a Paris nightclub that features really wacky naughty dance routines. The one with a full-sized sea lion made my jaw drop.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pics.imcdb.org/5982/11harrowhouseavi_snapshot_001344_20150302_160326.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="704" src="https://pics.imcdb.org/5982/11harrowhouseavi_snapshot_001344_20150302_160326.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white;"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>11 HARROWHOUSE (1974)</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Charles Grodin gets taken in a scam involving a one hundred carat diamond. To get himself out of trouble with a statistic underworld figure, he must plan and execute a robbery on a London gem merchant’s impregnable safe. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A slick, sophisticated heist flick with Grodin and co-star Candace Bergen playing it once over lightly throughout. They have a brittle chemistry that really works due to their contrasts. Bergen is breezy and carefree while Grodin plays his patented repressed cynic, and the match is perfection. The lead-up story is fun and the robbery sequence and its fallout make for a lot of suspenseful moments. Based on a novel by Gerald Browne, the screenplay got some serious tweaking in an alternate cut in which Grodin convinced the studio to let him write and perform narration throughout. I’ve seen both versions of the film and the one with Grodin’s stream of consciousness off-screen asides is far superior. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Director Aram Avakian was also at the helm of one of my other favorite heist flicks, COPS AND ROBBERS, adapted from a Donald Westlake novel.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/movies/sites/sbs.com.au.film/files/styles/full/public/Volcano_704.jpg?itok=HHMYZ3wI&mtime=1401176558" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="704" src="https://www.sbs.com.au/movies/sites/sbs.com.au.film/files/styles/full/public/Volcano_704.jpg?itok=HHMYZ3wI&mtime=1401176558" /></a></div><br /><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Eyjafjallajökull</i>/VOLCANO (2013)</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Dany Boon is travelling to his daughter’s wedding in Corfu when his trip is interrupted by the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. To make matter worse, Valérie Bonneton, his ex-wife, is one the same plane. The two decide to pool their resources to travel by car across Europe to reach the wedding in time. Soon, the animosities of their former marriage emerge to put them at odds.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another well-crafted comedy produced by Dany Boon, France’s most successful movie comic. Boon is perfectly matched in the physical comedy category by the rubber-faced Bonneton. The two have a real chemistry even when they’re battling. Especially when they’re battling. A kind of more frantic PLANES, TRAINS and AUTOMOBILES as the trials and setbacks and felonies of their odyssey mount up and tensions rise that threaten to demolish both their lives. Fun, silly, escapist fare by a master of the farce.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQOyTX4S9vBBYD-kO53d8WFqIScDPuf6JhXNyxBeWjYZlJj5b9YLgNicX9-35y08LE_eDR1RUr9MyZ8J0ohbrw7hnswcfXnuoLpz6w_96KGXmRsM9M1Ckr-hmgm54FxZZIa2NBuON5yAE/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="519" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQOyTX4S9vBBYD-kO53d8WFqIScDPuf6JhXNyxBeWjYZlJj5b9YLgNicX9-35y08LE_eDR1RUr9MyZ8J0ohbrw7hnswcfXnuoLpz6w_96KGXmRsM9M1Ckr-hmgm54FxZZIa2NBuON5yAE/w640-h436/image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span><b style="font-family: arial;">WHERE EAGLES DARE (1968) </b></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A US general with plans for the D-Day invasion is captured by the Germans and held in a mountaintop castle facing interrogation and torture. A commando raid is put into action to rescue the general but is hampered by enemies from within. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Specially written by Alistair Maclean as a starring vehicle for Richard Burton, this flick has all the hallmarks of a MacLean actioner. Plenty of intrigue, dead bodies, explosions, chases, thrills and betrayals. Deliberately plotted with some great suspense moments. Burton is too old for the role but goes at it doggedly if not entirely sober. Clint Eastwood is his co-star and one sense the disdainful sneer fixed on his face is not acting. Eastwood hated making this flick which features his highest body count ever. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Still, it’s a grand adventure throughout and the kind of straight-up war action flick they don’t make any more in H’wood.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhl8uicy3kmLzkWsHsuejm5-ZHcGqNZNR6pTAHYXJilpwLjxQr5zr71MdqHzV9Y04gBXYcmh0mR7Bzq4PHDqM32jgrKIIh85HsTQiWnw_SHgB_dIT3ug2i2NrI_CyJVuI6XZBO_rc3LonNferELFBD6hYq7EF4G0PQBxgWMAQk5=s780-p-k-no-nu" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="780" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhl8uicy3kmLzkWsHsuejm5-ZHcGqNZNR6pTAHYXJilpwLjxQr5zr71MdqHzV9Y04gBXYcmh0mR7Bzq4PHDqM32jgrKIIh85HsTQiWnw_SHgB_dIT3ug2i2NrI_CyJVuI6XZBO_rc3LonNferELFBD6hYq7EF4G0PQBxgWMAQk5=w1050-h640" width="1050" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>THE HOT ROCK (1972)</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Recently released criminal mastermind Robert Redford is pulled into leading a crew to steal a valuable diamond to settle a dispute between warring African tribes. Unfortunately, stealing it once will not be enough. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">William Goldman does a terrific job of adapting Donald E. Westlake's first John Dortmunder novel to the big screen. An instant classic caper comedy, Goldman keeps what is essential form the novel. He retains the brittle relationship between Dortmunder and his frequent partner-in-crime Andy Kelp (played to perfection by George Segal) and adds a frisson of tension by making Kelp Dortmunder's brother-in-law. Goldman also keeps other of the novel's best elements, the backroom bar meetings at the Amsterdam, the banter between the members of the crew, and the wonderfully realized scenes with Stan Murch, the gang's getaway driver as embodied by Ron Liebman with Charlotte Rae cast as the character only ever known as "Murch's mom" in the novels. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But chief among this movie's many high points is the performance of Robert Redford. With his matinee idol looks, Redford would have been my last choice to play the put-upon everyman Dortmunder. The actor I always envisioned in this part is James Cromwell. But Redford totally gets what's required of him to pull this off and shows a real affection for the character he's play as presented in Westlake's prose. His body, language, even his posture, puts across the fatalistic, born-to-lose, "why me?" personality of John Dortmunder. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Funny, fast-paced, suspenseful and loaded to the brim with one solid performance after another. Zero Mostel, Moses Gunn and Paul Sands are all in top form and Christopher Guest appears in a blink-and-you-miss-him scene in which he delivers one of the movie's best laugh lines.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.speednik.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/2017-01-16_04-41-39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="800" src="https://www.speednik.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/2017-01-16_04-41-39.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT (1974)</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Clint Eastwood is on the run from former associates who mistakenly believe that he screwed them over in a bank heist they pulled together. While on the lam he encounters free spirit Jeff Bridges who convinces him that the only way out of his troubles is to repeat the same heist again. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On a heist flick kick this week and this one is a classic. Part bromance, part road picture and part crime story, this movie takes its time getting where it's going but you won't mind a bit. Clint and Jeff have a real chemistry here but, as my wife pointed out, who WOULDN'T have chemistry with any character played by Jeff Bridges?</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's a very 70's movie in all the best ways. It's earthy and oddly paced and takes time out for poetry as well as scenery. And my favorite scene is an improv bit where Bridges uses a hand covered in raccoon feces to get Eastwood to break character and elicits from him a VERY Clint-like real world rejoinder. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's funny, suspenseful and touching (though without sentiment) and George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis play a pair of indelible lowlifes.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images2.imgbox.com/65/91/3r5UHvT5_o.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://images2.imgbox.com/65/91/3r5UHvT5_o.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>THE REAL McCOY (1993)</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Kim Basinger is a professional bank robber out on parole after a six year jolt. She's forced to try and pull the same the job that put her away by the very man who ratted her out the first time.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A pretty neat heist flick with some clever ideas and unforeseen twists. There's a buddy bond between Basinger and co-star Val Kilmer that, refreshingly, never turns romantic. And Terence Stamp is on hand playing his brand of smooth sleazebag with Jo-juh drawl. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The only drawback in this flick is Basinger. She does a fine job in the role but, ultimately is just too damned attractive to be believable as an ex-con and heist artist.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn10.bigcommerce.com/s-o6vy9cv/products/112793/images/109283/194608__28170.1519244178.500.500.jpg?c=2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="500" height="512" src="https://cdn10.bigcommerce.com/s-o6vy9cv/products/112793/images/109283/194608__28170.1519244178.500.500.jpg?c=2" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-family: arial;">DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (1939) </b></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Newlyweds Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert set out for the wilderness in the early days of the Revolution. They are soon caught up in the events of the war with their lives and livelihood at stake when the Iroquois go on the warpath at the urging of the redcoats. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What a year for movies 1939 was! And this is juts another fine example of the kind of quality entertainment Hollywood was capable of in their golden era. John Ford brings his talents to bear on this story and the results are magnificent. Ford was a keen storyteller who knew how to balance the epic elements of a tale like this with the more personal aspects of the characters involved.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">An earnest effort to remain historically accurate to the period elevates this to a true period drama rather than a simple action picture. The cast is great with Colbert and Edna May Oliver standouts as the kind of tough-as-nails women who help bring civilization to the frontier. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A recent restoration from a technicolor master prints really brings this grand feature new life. Some of the shots, using natural sunlight, or the lack of it, are stunning.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/m8GoJPj6w65hC95AwAl2V12JgK3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/m8GoJPj6w65hC95AwAl2V12JgK3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>THE SWORDSMAN (2020)</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The former bodyguard of the king goes into hiding to protect the king's daughter from foreign invaders and enemies within the court. Years later, as he is losing his eyesight, the swordsman is called upon once more to save the princess from a terrible fate.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Badass Korean actioner that remembers to have a story and plenty of heart. The action is terrific and eschews the more frenetic methods of most recent swordfight flicks. The core situation moves from bad to worse to unthinkable as all as the stakes rise higher and higher as do the stacks of bodies. Excellent performances throughout and an ensemble cast of characters that you learn to care about. Oh, and some truly despicable bad guys. The villains in K-dramas seem to break into two groups; a-holes from China or a-holes from Japan depending on the period.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/25600000/Libeled-Lady-classic-movies-25672856-1067-800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" src="http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/25600000/Libeled-Lady-classic-movies-25672856-1067-800.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">LIBELE</span><span style="font-family: arial;">D LADY (1936)</span></b></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When a big city newspaper mistakenly reports a scandal involving spoiled heiress Myrna Loy a five million dollar libel suit ensues. To save the paper, editor Spencer Tracy hires legal sharpie William Powell to compromise Loy in order to embarrass her into canceling her legal action. But to make the gag work, Powell must marry Tracy's fiancé Jean Harlow. Get all that? You will. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This one belongs on anyone's list of the best Hollywood screwball comedies. It has a wonderful premise that pays off over and over again as the four personalities clash and compromise then clash again. It's a seamless romantic comedy as well with all the "will they or won't they?" aspects required of an effective cinema love rack. Loads of sparkling dialogue and exchanges and William Powell gets to show off his abilities as a physical comic with a hysterical scene of him ineptly pretending to be an expert fly fisher. Four of the biggest star of their era in a movie worthy of them all.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/71/a8/0054a871.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="800" height="347" src="https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/71/a8/0054a871.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>HANG 'EM HIGH (1968) </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Clint Eastwood is falsely accused of rustling and strung up by a lynch mob. They really should have stuck around to make sure he was dead. Clint survives to take on a marshal badge so he can hunt the vigilantes down under the cover of the law.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This standard fare western actually improves with age. It's kind of a snapshot of the shifting morals of the late 60's and the start (along with THE WILD BUNCH and others released the same year) of the trend toward "mean" westerns that would dominate the genre into the 70's. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's action packed and often suspenseful and notable for being packed with great character actors and contract players with Bruce Dern, Bob Steele, Charles McGraw, Alan Hale Jr, Ed Begley, Pat Hingle, Ben Johnson, Dennis Hopper, L.Q. Jones and a busload more including the actress who used to play Howard Sprague's girlfriend on Mayberry RFD as a prostitute!</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the first film made under Clint's Malpaso banner and he appears to have had a lot of control over the production. He hired Ted Post to direct. Post was his most frequent director on the Rawhide TV series and Clint, famously, did a lot of overtime on that show learning filmmaking from all involved including set designers, cameramen, wranglers and stuntmen. Proof of his eagerness to learn everyone's job is in the series itself. In the series' second unit footage Clint's character, Rowdy Yates, is the only main cast member seen roping strays and bulldogging herds along with the stunt riders. I imagine he hired Post to direct as a payback for mentoring him. This was Post's first theatrical feature.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/3ZhIzoG0YmBNLwUzqlVbOSRE0C4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/3ZhIzoG0YmBNLwUzqlVbOSRE0C4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b style="font-family: arial;"><div dir="auto"><b style="font-family: arial;"><br /></b></div>THUNDER IN THE EAST (1952) </b></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Alan Ladd is a gunrunner offering a planeload of machine guns and ammo to a beleaguered raj along the northwest frontier. But local bureaucrat Charles Boyer abhors violence and won't let Ladd do business even as the bandit tribes close in. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A script by Jo Swerling that provides Ladd with some great snarky tough guy lines as well as building a believable romance between him and co-star Deborah Kerr. Solid direction by Charles Vidor who torques up the tension as the situation quickly slides from bad to worse over the course of the picture and Ladd evolves from heel to hero.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This movie is probably most famous for its closing scene, a daring choice at the time for what is, essentially, a studio programmer.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://elipsir.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/p01gq6lm-758x426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="758" src="https://elipsir.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/p01gq6lm-758x426.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS (1996)</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Currently free on Amazon Prime.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Rail workers in Tsavo are being plagued by a pair of male lions who seem intent on stopping construction of a vital bridge. Val Kilmer is sent to sort things out but soon realizes he's over his head and must call upon the talents of professional hunter Michael Douglas.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is big African adventure stuff based on the true story of the lions of Tsavo and, as the movie claims, even the most incredible parts of this story actually happened. A solid script by William Goldman and sure direction by Stephen Hopkins make this one a rewatchable classic. Add to that one of Jerry Goldsmith's best scores and you have yourself a fine movie night. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The ensemble cast is excellent and Kilmer does himself credit by playing an Irishman without resorting to a faux brogue. The lion sequences use old school process shots as well as trained lions and are all the more effective for it. Part horror movie and part safari adventure. I only wonder what took Hollywood so long. What a flick this would have made for someone like Errol Flynn!</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/2012/07/armed_hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="648" src="https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/2012/07/armed_hands.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Mains armées</i>/ARMED HANDS (2012) </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A national police officer is on the trail of a massive smuggling operation involving military ordnance stolen by a Serbian mob. These guns are finding their way into France to spark a crime wave. He enlisted the aid of his daughter, a Parisian narcotics detective.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is an excellent policier with some unforeseen twists, rapid pace and plenty of action including gunfights and foot and car chases. The movie remarkably free of exposition. We learn a lot of what's going on by inference or casual asides. That's invisible writing, mon frère. And it's one of the aspects of this thriller that keeps it consistently engaging.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.radiotimes.com/namedimage/The_Man_Who_Would_Be_King.jpg?quality=85&mode=crop&width=580&height=327&404=film&url=/remote/ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1024x576/p03023zt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="581" height="360" src="https://images.radiotimes.com/namedimage/The_Man_Who_Would_Be_King.jpg?quality=85&mode=crop&width=580&height=327&404=film&url=/remote/ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1024x576/p03023zt.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-family: arial;">THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) </b></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Danny and Peachy, soldiers of fortune and scoundrels of the first order, take off through the Hindu Kush for the back of beyond with the idea of making themselves kings. Or, more to the point, as rich as kings. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This John Huston adaptation of the classic Rudyard Kipling story was twenty years in the realizing, Originally written to be cast with Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart, Huston found more and suitable replacements in Sean Connery and Michael Caine. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is adventure on a grand scale, deliberately paced and shot in a way that we share Danny and Peachy's sense of discovery as they explore a part of the world no westerner has ever seen. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The pair are obviously having the time of their lives, though Connery looks a bit rattled in the extras over the eight foot fall he has to take at the film's climax. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Much of the supporting cast was derived from Moroccan locals including the high priest who was over 100 years old at the time of filming.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A simply terrific story, wonderful performances and plenty of humor, suspense and action.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lgymEHFvfeA/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lgymEHFvfeA/maxresdefault.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-family: arial;">RIO BRAVO (1959) </b></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">John Wayne arrests the brother of a powerful rancher and all hell breaks loose. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Despite what a certain comic book artist I know will tell you, RIO BRAVO is easily in the top five of great American westerns. I know that many feel that EL DORADO (a near-remake of this film) is superior. And while the later film is excellent in its own right, RIO BRAVO stands taller.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This was made by Howard Hawks after a five year hiatus from filmmaking. He returned to the US from a long stay in Europe to find that television had taken over as America's entertainment medium of choice. He realized that he'd need to change how he worked to concentrate on drawing audiences to theaters to watch his films. What he determined was that Americans were being exposed, thanks to their obsessive TV watching, to more live and filmed story content than ever before. It would take more than story to bring them from their homes to buy tickets. So he and old H'wood hands Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett worked to fashion a movie that emphasized experience over plot. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The result is a classic Hawks "hang-out" flick. Thank you to whoever gifted me with that accurate descriptor for so much of Hawks' work. We spend a few days with the Duke, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan as they deal with one challenge after another to their authority and the peace of the town they guard. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There's laughs and romance and suspense along the way and it all seems to just "happen" without contrivance or hurry, growing out of the relationship between these men of common cause. The dialogue is, as always ion a Hawks feature, witty, sharp and delivered in a casual manner that makes it seem like improv. More impressive are the scenes without dialogue. The opening sequence in which we learn all we need to know about the two main characters even though not a word is spoken between them. The scene where Dean Martin convinces us, with a change in his facial expression alone and the simple gesture that follows that his courage is restored. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And, yes, Ricky Nelson is not a very good actor. But anyone who was watching TV at the time knew that this was the charm of he and his brother Dave. They were family members drafted into acting and there was always a degree of wry amusement behind their eyes at being seen as TV stars. That quality always made them the funniest characters on their parents' show, delivering their gag lines as if they were outsiders commenting on the absurdity of it all. The writers of the show learned to lean into that. That same wary delight is what makes Nelson's performance work here.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is Hawks' last great film and is top drawer in every respect. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.filmous.com/static/photos/132476/32_midi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="434" data-original-width="800" src="https://www.filmous.com/static/photos/132476/32_midi.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>FRENCH CONNECTION 2 (1975)</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Popeye Doyle pursues Frog One to Marseilles only to be used as bait by the French police. But Popeye never knows how to leave well enough alone.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That rarest of cinema rarities, the worthy sequel. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While not the equal of the 1971 original, the movie does not make the mistake of so many follow-up films. It is not in any way a near-remake of the first film It's an excellent police thriller of its own and stands up well on its own merits. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The tone, look and pacing of the Friedkin film are perfectly matched by director John Frankenheimer. The writing is sharp and the action solid. But the key to all of this is hackman's stellar performance, in particular the scenes where he must go cold turkey after three weeks as a heroin addict, a condition forced on him by abductors. Hackman is never better than when taking on a character as complex as this and then telling us a story from that character's point of view. His vain attempt to explain who Whitey Ford is heartbreaking and breathtaking at the same time. Ever want to see an actor 1000% committed to a role? Hackman's always that.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.framerated.co.uk/frwpcontent/uploads/2017/10/vikings03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="800" src="https://www.framerated.co.uk/frwpcontent/uploads/2017/10/vikings03.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>THE VIKINGS (1958) </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Viking Kirk Douglas and slave Tony Curtis are half-brothers and even their daddy, Ernest Borgnine, doesn't know their relation. With the capture of princess Janet Leigh the tensions between the two half-siblings reach a fever pitch resulting in treachery, intrigue and war. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's hard to estimate the impact this movie had on me as a little boy watching it on the Sunday Night Movie all those years ago. This grand Hollywood entertainment, produced by Douglas, still holds up just fine. The full-on gusto performances of the entire cast, an intelligent script. location filming shot by Jack Cardiff and an unusual attention to period accuracy make this superior entertainment. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Douglas is at the top of his form as the vile but heroic Einar. Curtis, never at his best in period roles, is very effective as the slave Erik. And Janet Leigh manages to be more than an ornamentation in a very strong performance as the always-in-jeopardy Morgana. But it's Borgnine, as Ragnar, who owns this movie. Even through a wooly beard, we can read his every thought and feel his rages, sorrows and joys. And he has one of the most memorable death scenes in cinema history. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And, despite its age and all that has come since, that vertigo-inducing sword fight atop the castle keep is just as effective today as it was when the film was released.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/y0NG4xasfIEaQ4gYkcq81GDnS4l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" src="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/y0NG4xasfIEaQ4gYkcq81GDnS4l.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jake Gyllenhaal is an opportunistic grifter who changes from selling stolen recyclables to video journalism. Already a sociopath, his deep dive into turning other people's tragedy into money and power turns him into an unfeeling monster willing to do anything to get the footage he needs.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">I generally stay away from movies with a journalist as the protagonist unless I know he's going to be portrayed as a total scumbag. ACE IN THE HOLE comes immediately to mind. No problem here. Gyllenhaal's Lou Bloom is a monster in human guise. But, as is the point of this story, he is a welcome monster in the cutthroat world of journalism. The movie is dark and seedy and will give you the serious creeps. It's also fast-paced and fascinating and Gyllenhaal scores another amazing performance. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">Another flick heartily recommended to me by Mike Baron. Keep 'em coming!</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-3024058286881896132021-05-02T09:17:00.004-07:002021-05-02T09:17:24.283-07:00Kind words for BAD TIMES<p> </p><header class="entry-header" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Lora, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(234, 236, 239); box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 1.31rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-bottom: 10px;">Review: Cannibal Gold by Chuck Dixon</h1><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="posted-on" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #9a9a9a;">POSTED ON <a href="https://upstreamreviews.com/?p=470" rel="bookmark" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c; text-decoration-line: none;"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2021-04-30T09:00:06+00:00" style="box-sizing: border-box;">APRIL 30, 2021</time></a></span> | <span class="byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #9a9a9a; display: inline;">BY <span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="url fn n" href="https://upstreamreviews.com/?author=2" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c; text-decoration-line: none;">DECLAN FINN</a></span></span></div></header><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: Lora, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-637 size-medium alignright" height="300" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" src="https://i2.wp.com/upstreamreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cannibal-gold.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1" srcset="https://i2.wp.com/upstreamreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cannibal-gold.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https://i2.wp.com/upstreamreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cannibal-gold.jpg?w=333&ssl=1 333w" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin-left: 1.5em; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="200" /></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">So, does anyone remember <a class="easyazon-link" data-identifier="B000FC1PB6" data-locale="US" data-tag="upstreamreviews-20" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC1PB6?tag=upstreamreviews-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Michael Crichton’s book <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Timeline</em></a>? It was turned into <a class="easyazon-link" data-identifier="B000HZGCEG" data-locale="US" data-tag="upstreamreviews-20" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HZGCEG?tag=upstreamreviews-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">a film with Gerard Butler</a>, before <a class="easyazon-link" data-identifier="B000TYWAUA" data-locale="US" data-tag="upstreamreviews-20" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TYWAUA?tag=upstreamreviews-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">300</a>? <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Timeline</em> was about a Bill Gates knockoff whose company has created a time machine… only he’s lost people in the Middle Ages, and recruits a team to go back, find his lost people, and bring them back. This being a Michael Crichton book, the first thing that happens is that the security personnel are killed, leaving only the time period specialists to survive.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">Give a similar premise to Chuck Dixon, legendary comic book author and co-creator of the Batman villain Bane, and Dixon turns it into a multi-book series where the SpecOps badasses are the primary leads, and a quarter of the book feels like the team from <a class="easyazon-link" data-identifier="B009EEE2NO" data-locale="US" data-tag="upstreamreviews-20" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009EEE2NO?tag=upstreamreviews-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Predator</em></a>has to fend off the hordes of Mordor.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">And that’s only book 1, <a class="easyazon-link" data-identifier="B086V1B3N9" data-locale="US" data-tag="upstreamreviews-20" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086V1B3N9?tag=upstreamreviews-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Cannibal Gold</em></a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">Also, Dixon doesn’t use anywhere near the number of graphs as the venerable Crichton.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;"> </p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-bottom: 0.3em;">The story</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">Former army Ranger Dwayne Roenbach has left his last job as security for a billionaire with a temper. But he’s soon recruited by scientist Morris Tauber. He’s lost his sister and two of his colleagues. And he would like Dwayne to go and bring them back. The catch? Tauber’s sister is lost in the Nevada Desert, 100,000 years in the past.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">Dwayne is skeptical, but for $10 million, he can be flexible.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">It’s 100,000 years in the past, meaning that no humans live in the region. It should only be populated by oversized fauna. And that assumption was their first mistake.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-bottom: 0.3em;">The characters</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">The characters here are all well drawn, and fairly effortlessly at that. Every main character gets a chapter to themselves, and each one is sketched out in only a few paragraphs. Focusing a chapter on each person is a standard formula, akin to introducing the gunfighters in <a class="easyazon-link" data-identifier="B00GD53IN2" data-locale="US" data-tag="upstreamreviews-20" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GD53IN2?tag=upstreamreviews-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Magnificent Seven</em></a><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">. </em>But Dixon manages to take the formula, and apply it in a unique way that doesn’t make it feel like a formula. The five Ranger shooters and the two Tauber siblings are all smart, likable characters, and a joy to read.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">Funny enough, I just counted the main characters, and there are seven of them, so Dixon has hit the magic number.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">There are even two bit players in the story who are almost comedy relief, but who have a surprising amount of character.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-bottom: 0.3em;">The world</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">Dixon has a wonderfully visual writing style. Everything he needs to put on the page are on the page. Extraneous details are fodder for other books. Everything you need to know about the time travel device is spelled out … mostly by the presence of two Iranian nuclear physicists with a penchant for current Vegas performers. When the book goes back in time, we get a very clear picture of the time period. Let’s just say that “nasty, brutish and short” is not the name of a law firm.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-bottom: 0.3em;">The politics</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">As you might have guessed, there aren’t a lot of politics in this one. No one is having debates about modern politics 100,000 years in the past. If you read everything with a political bent, one can certain read politics into it. Like? If you have a problem, and no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire a squad of badasses to fix it.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">Heh. Yeah. If you’re the type of person to watch an 80s action movie and cry “Toxic masculinity,” then yes, this book would be considered <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">very</em> political. Sane people will just be able to read and enjoy.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">And yes, for the record, it is NOT politically correct. At all.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">But if this were to have a political element to it, I could sum it up in one Gif.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;"><img alt="John Wick Keanu Reeves Guns Lots Of Guns GIF by John Wick: Ch 3 - Parabellum | Gfycat" class="aligncenter" data-recalc-dims="1" src="https://i0.wp.com/thumbs.gfycat.com/AthleticTameBackswimmer-size_restricted.gif?w=1170&ssl=1" style="border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" /></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-bottom: 0.3em;"></h2><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-bottom: 0.3em;">Content warning</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">There is mild language in here–so infrequently used, it might make a film PG-13. There is mention and implications of rape, but nothing on screen. There is plenty of blood, but nothing you haven’t seen in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Lord of the Rings</em> films. There are bodies being blown apart, but nothing in this book is so graphic as to put anyone off.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-bottom: 0.3em;">Why read it?</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">This book is written in such a nice smooth straightforward style that it’s downright refreshing. There are no Ciceronian sentences that run half a page. Nothing is overly technical, but neither does Dixon talk down to the audience. Everything here is just so well thought out and well reasoned, but nothing is over-technical. I especially enjoyed what they go through to leave no impact on altering the timeline … and have just as good reasoning on when that can go out the window.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">This book is “only” 206 pages, but I guarantee you will not feel cheated. At all. It’s awesome.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: inherit; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-bottom: 0.3em;">Who is it for?</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;">If you’re a fan of any media referenced in this review, you’re probably going to enjoy it. It has Larry Correia level gun porn. It has <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Zulu</em>-level odds. Frankly, it’s just plain fun.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;"> </p><div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 19px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 730px;"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; padding: 20px;"><a href="https://upstreamreviews.com/?author=2" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" height="98" itemprop="image" src="https://i0.wp.com/upstreamreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/headAPM.jpg?w=1170&ssl=1" style="border-radius: 0px; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; max-width: 100px; vertical-align: middle;" width="100" /></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25px; margin: 20px 0px 0px 20px;"><a class="vcard author" href="https://upstreamreviews.com/?author=2" itemprop="url" rel="author" style="background-color: transparent; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c; text-decoration-line: none;">Declan Finn</a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px !important; line-height: 21px !important; margin: 5px 20px;"><div itemprop="description" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px !important; margin: 5px 0px 12px;">Declan Finn is the author of over 27 published novels, and more short stories than he cares to recall. He as written everything from thrillers, to horror, to urban fantasy, to dystopias and SciFi. Among these are <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="" href="https://amzn.to/3sRkugR" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c;">The Pius Trilogy</a></em>, the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="" href="https://amzn.to/2VGbSK0" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c;">Love at First Bite</a></em> quartet, and the series <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="" href="https://amzn.to/2UWVKqA" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c;">Saint Tommy, NYPD</a></em>. He is a three-time Dragon Award finalist, and is working on getting a forth nomination with his latest Saint Tommy novel, <a class="" href="https://amzn.to/396fwUs" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #18bc9c;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hussar</em></a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 21px !important; margin: 5px 0px 12px;">He is a fan of Baen books, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, and Jim Butcher.</p></div></div></div></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>https://upstreamreviews.com/?p=470</p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-20972221730181280972021-04-30T12:01:00.000-07:002021-04-30T12:01:05.317-07:00What is ARKtoons? <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I8keSGjgkpY" width="320" youtube-src-id="I8keSGjgkpY"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-7974982332208646132021-04-22T11:44:00.007-07:002021-04-22T11:44:43.393-07:00Chuck Dixon Comics Bibliography<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEievXuIPr3d1E435uz91kWRGfISkzbKknbO9LF1A_cijjT8M10oq7KXw3V5NGFiZZpCk2iMwEQyPCX9muLHjluLtFRPojaKdkvLPDTID8eu_HEx8vOYhHHS0TcXk8cq9u-KS5491dW9IGI/s800/biblio1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="543" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEievXuIPr3d1E435uz91kWRGfISkzbKknbO9LF1A_cijjT8M10oq7KXw3V5NGFiZZpCk2iMwEQyPCX9muLHjluLtFRPojaKdkvLPDTID8eu_HEx8vOYhHHS0TcXk8cq9u-KS5491dW9IGI/s16000/biblio1.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1SS4ztC_v9iknZbFfQYvTc4FI3uKwR9nKNqT3xJ4s3xDoAoWqFDBr6dC2jj_2QWJnNZbe9ZnIslXth_RqdKx-D1QQX_g-tcPRIqXL9HC6uPZvnQ2euhBflX8Tn41sbGLyz7uO2O-l7ek/s834/biblio2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="834" data-original-width="598" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1SS4ztC_v9iknZbFfQYvTc4FI3uKwR9nKNqT3xJ4s3xDoAoWqFDBr6dC2jj_2QWJnNZbe9ZnIslXth_RqdKx-D1QQX_g-tcPRIqXL9HC6uPZvnQ2euhBflX8Tn41sbGLyz7uO2O-l7ek/s16000/biblio2.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWgdT3RdHa_Dbq3QpXVolMDADNwHVPBQ7FVo5NUTkuELt7loq5y_UDt_-hMqKQyJUTGKyihCSLTwJ1_IvCT0X4AA3WtO6RONuelpcIN62LySJGG7NkzR2Oy0MMBcVWw-9p55AKJm6ufs4/s677/biblio3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWgdT3RdHa_Dbq3QpXVolMDADNwHVPBQ7FVo5NUTkuELt7loq5y_UDt_-hMqKQyJUTGKyihCSLTwJ1_IvCT0X4AA3WtO6RONuelpcIN62LySJGG7NkzR2Oy0MMBcVWw-9p55AKJm6ufs4/s16000/biblio3.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjabf-JWrvE0txWXy27wZQIPncNsgxJ9stX85oD4Il6komvTSThTDhl-RkwseB_cht4qD35c9mmO32ZKEey6gnax2sqoJiQi5Vpm23arl9YIer08IMcvEo8wZWZmCLlwCBns4vCPUHL8qo/s812/biblio4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="541" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjabf-JWrvE0txWXy27wZQIPncNsgxJ9stX85oD4Il6komvTSThTDhl-RkwseB_cht4qD35c9mmO32ZKEey6gnax2sqoJiQi5Vpm23arl9YIer08IMcvEo8wZWZmCLlwCBns4vCPUHL8qo/s16000/biblio4.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> <p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-28955269521858585212021-04-16T13:40:00.001-07:002021-04-16T13:40:08.956-07:00HOT BUTTERED MOVIE REVIEWS!!<div dir="auto" style="background-color: white;"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><b><span style="font-size: large;">RONIN (1998)</span></b></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">With the Cold War at an end, a band of former operatives accept employment from a terrorist organization to steal an object of great value from some underworld arms dealers. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is seriously superior entertainment and trhe kind of grown-up action film we don't see much these days. Especially from Hollywood. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">John Frankenheimer applies his prodigious talents to a script ghost-written by David Mamet and the results are a throwback Euro-style thriller with lots of muscle. Robert Deniro leads an international cast that includes Sean Bean, Jean Reno and Stellan Skarsgard in a story loaded with great action set pieces, chases, gun battles and lean dialogue. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">And, don't even try to argue, this film features the last great cinema car chase. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it has the last THREE great car chases.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe-hQ4YI_p5VFwqL3Vf_eClkMfz1SHBFPKmjUJwI78y4woUf8crEb5of5fJ1RhLr1jYNMOjD0Yk3Qw2iQPfsnMtXaoPtzSLyD7YJ0QNMTKQG2vbBD6vBy14lXJY1dBohM-KS875sP8RWs/s1494/ronin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1494" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe-hQ4YI_p5VFwqL3Vf_eClkMfz1SHBFPKmjUJwI78y4woUf8crEb5of5fJ1RhLr1jYNMOjD0Yk3Qw2iQPfsnMtXaoPtzSLyD7YJ0QNMTKQG2vbBD6vBy14lXJY1dBohM-KS875sP8RWs/w640-h346/ronin.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto"><b><span style="font-size: large;">FORT APACHE: THE BRONX (1981)</span></b></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Paul Newman is a cop working toward retirement in the worst precinct in the NYPD. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This one was produced with the high-minded idea of ripping the lid off the truth behind urban decay. The result is a plot-less exploitation movie with a whole lot of grindhouse elements. The intention here is to show how much our cities had degraded over the years but hesistates to place blame on poor city management. The odd thing is that the movie doesn't even begin to plumb the depths that the South Bronx had sunk to in this era. The entire area looked like Berlin after WWII and almost every trace of an organized civilzation had vanished as the city's leaders had simply given up on the borough. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A good cast with Paul Newman, Ken Wahl, Rachel Ticotino and Pam Grier is wasted on a film created to shock Phil Donahue.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuyVTdYeHgc0SGtn7n4ZANKnL5DOifT1xc9Xq1yiYZFw7WtDSxqlgAwOA5CZV6QCYfHbPh41PZA7GkXoOXNFvyPlPpjxTiKQS8tlkvlQk82-JvBwQk7cyWOKMixaAQNuN_8ZmdLSCE7A/s550/fortapache.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="550" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuyVTdYeHgc0SGtn7n4ZANKnL5DOifT1xc9Xq1yiYZFw7WtDSxqlgAwOA5CZV6QCYfHbPh41PZA7GkXoOXNFvyPlPpjxTiKQS8tlkvlQk82-JvBwQk7cyWOKMixaAQNuN_8ZmdLSCE7A/w640-h480/fortapache.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Échappement libre</i>/BACKFIRE (1964)</span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg are hired to smuggle a sports car loaded with gold from Barcelona to Beirut. But along the way Belmondo decides to take the car for himself and starts a chase across Europe as he stays one step ahead of the syndicate that hired him. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Light, crime caper flick with Belmondo teams once again with Seberg after their success in BREATHLESS. JP is his usual charming self as an overbearing hood with grand ideas and few answers. Seberg is cool and calculating as she plays both sides against the middle. It's a slow-burn movie with the suspense rising slowly. Great locales and a few solid car chases.</span></span></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi44DUVPFQmfkt1q1Uy91nV-wN6uPyH1gfGJvf9-DJLy1k66H3LU8BAmRVyh4MW-ZpWJFaVQT25nSDERacSySOek5idIwKwFHB2ZnTDJLt-VgMuhjQMGKVaZcob9Gamgkv9ZqS8J_di2s/s800/backfire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="800" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi44DUVPFQmfkt1q1Uy91nV-wN6uPyH1gfGJvf9-DJLy1k66H3LU8BAmRVyh4MW-ZpWJFaVQT25nSDERacSySOek5idIwKwFHB2ZnTDJLt-VgMuhjQMGKVaZcob9Gamgkv9ZqS8J_di2s/w640-h464/backfire.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ASHFALL (2019)</span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A super-volcano on the North Korea/China border blows its top and threatens to bring the entire Korean peninsula to ruin. The only hope is a team of demolition experts who must slip into the hermit kingdom and plant a nuclear device that will prevent a final, devastating eruption. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A disaster flick/desperate mission mash-up that's pure popcorn. The usual disaster movie tropes including a woman in late term pregnancy and bickering among the scientists and military leaders. But there's plenty of action and effects are great even if the film goes full gonzo at the climax leaving plot holes in its wake all the way to the end credits. Also some welcome humor.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxIZBhcw1SHjJ6K4HJhmGlRcDDGRf2u83Mrurmtni0Vgi9kMNPOz_W6XZ0YJFDlAOwNX4FuaKkLHQ2rbB2VORj56zu9tMkpfddycXvoQRP_e4zP1DquqnEIfTBImXoN2yzpviDEmQPYo/s1440/ashfall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1440" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxIZBhcw1SHjJ6K4HJhmGlRcDDGRf2u83Mrurmtni0Vgi9kMNPOz_W6XZ0YJFDlAOwNX4FuaKkLHQ2rbB2VORj56zu9tMkpfddycXvoQRP_e4zP1DquqnEIfTBImXoN2yzpviDEmQPYo/w640-h426/ashfall.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE DROP (2014) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Tom Hardy appears to be just a guy who works behind the bar at a neighborhood joint in Brooklyn. But he hides a secret sorrow. His life turns sadder when the bar is robbed leading to a cascading series of events that cannot end well for anyone. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mike Baron wanted me to see this movie so bad he sent me his DVD. And I'm glad he did. This is my kind of crime story. Lean and terse with all the rising acrion, suspense and stakes that I look for in a stoy like this. In addition, it has the kind of cathartic climax that I like most in stories; one that shines a whole new light on what I've just watched and creates instant flashbacks in the viewer's mind for a grand "ah-hah!" moment. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hardy, as always, vanishes into his role. This was also James Gandolfini's last film role. Man, I miss that guy. And Noomi Rapace, the most abused woman in cinema history, continues her unbroken string of roles playing sad, sad women trying to escape their past. Someone needs to write a light comedy for her and Jennifer Carpenter.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmwruo3BdA7DxLN1rCTRHHMMK-cvlzFB20QaBV-w4BkpJCSHz6RLFWEafcrNQEm1MrcfOflycYG1SwjU8TIfoyxGImRhFLpIxL4xJr1TyHawPs-4_73OtaqHGtsjspXh5JULgDufpLrs/s680/thedrop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="680" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmwruo3BdA7DxLN1rCTRHHMMK-cvlzFB20QaBV-w4BkpJCSHz6RLFWEafcrNQEm1MrcfOflycYG1SwjU8TIfoyxGImRhFLpIxL4xJr1TyHawPs-4_73OtaqHGtsjspXh5JULgDufpLrs/w640-h450/thedrop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">DAUGHTER OF THE WOLF (2019) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Someone kidnapped Gina Carano's son. Bad idea. Then they try to kill her at the drop off. Worse idea. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Like a lot of folks, I suppose, I'm checking out Gina Carano's backlist of movies I missed. So far, I haven't been disappointed. This outdoor crime thriller is solid entertainment with a great opening and some no-nonsense action scenes. It manages to avoid a whole list of action movie cliches and features some great moments and excellent performances including an unrecognizable Richard Dreyfuss. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On a personal note, at the start of the film Carano is driving a 1998 Suburban. That's what I drive. Her model was even in the same color as mine! Weird to see "my" car in a car chase.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt8QHY9BaqWn5Fgfb4XHrq9UijKYRgx-DibdnwFq_w3fT5RIKzHZF6EOPZoVa2VSvrbXY-P1CzRViNEJhE1mfJ98uoRCsgAVovR2m2kBLHP3gANrQUFYFZhVNtpumFwcGN0y6GQ5s-UKo/s631/daughter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="631" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt8QHY9BaqWn5Fgfb4XHrq9UijKYRgx-DibdnwFq_w3fT5RIKzHZF6EOPZoVa2VSvrbXY-P1CzRViNEJhE1mfJ98uoRCsgAVovR2m2kBLHP3gANrQUFYFZhVNtpumFwcGN0y6GQ5s-UKo/w640-h344/daughter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Diamant 13</i>/DIAMOND 13 (2009) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Detective Gerard Depardieu looks into the murder of his former partner only to uncover a police conspiracy that reaches into the highest levels of the gendarmerie. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The name Olivier Marchal on a police thriller is a guarantee of superior entertainment and here Marchal provides the screenplay as well as playing a major role. Suspenseful, cynical and brutally violent with all the intrigue, betrayals, twists, chases and action anyone looks for in this genre. No one does this genre better than the French.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj50P_PuVbRwy2sNuutFCLl5dbRV4ERLGz48phuK0RrRyWI8hPnVgufEBfFJlFJKcACG2_9VTVTgV7iZura0aunRFKWsvj8znIGeiJhN5xlLxQyoIwETVehwV0qI-NCu8Uejk7lRWC_EQg/s800/diamant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj50P_PuVbRwy2sNuutFCLl5dbRV4ERLGz48phuK0RrRyWI8hPnVgufEBfFJlFJKcACG2_9VTVTgV7iZura0aunRFKWsvj8znIGeiJhN5xlLxQyoIwETVehwV0qI-NCu8Uejk7lRWC_EQg/w640-h426/diamant.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">PANIC ROOM (2002)</span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jodie Foster and her daughter move into a pricey townhouse on the upper west side of Manhattan. What they don't know is that their new home is already the target of home invaders. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Seamless entertainment provided by director David Fincher channeling Hitchcock even down to Howard Shore's Hermannesque music score. David Koepp is credited with the screenplay but I seriously doubt the final shooting script was his as the movie is free of the clunky plotting and pointless dramatic complications always found in his work. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The deadly chess game played between Foster and the burglars is brilliantly presented and leads to a number of hold-your-breath moments. I've lost count of how many times I've watched this movie and I see something new each time. This time I paid more attention to the performances to see how much of each character's emotional background is put across without words. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The behind the scenes on this movie fascinate me. Originally cast with Nicole Kidman until Kidman had to bow out due to an injury. Kidman is a tall woman, Foster is not. Much of the movie had to be literally re-scaled for the smaller Foster including changes to sets and props and the recasting of Raoul with the more diminutive Dwight Yoakum who tussles with Foster at the climax.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvJj3asm5vtnoRsPtdxkz4ssC-CsyfE_q1NrkXLK7y8mKBNvfWycKjwc7dGZKizMCmHvhjKJb9wMjpJykwhsLqcfs8WhxY2liBgHU1QtY-OCisPFjCB5Y68UYgUHwfURHFb1iWX9I1ow/s2048/panic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1052" data-original-width="2048" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvJj3asm5vtnoRsPtdxkz4ssC-CsyfE_q1NrkXLK7y8mKBNvfWycKjwc7dGZKizMCmHvhjKJb9wMjpJykwhsLqcfs8WhxY2liBgHU1QtY-OCisPFjCB5Y68UYgUHwfURHFb1iWX9I1ow/w640-h328/panic.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">MASTER AND COMMANDER (2003) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Frigate captain Russell Crowe is tasked with pursuing the Acheron, a Yankee-rigged man-of-war crewed by French freebooters and stopping them before they reach the islands of the South Pacific.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's sad commentary on the state of film that this movie did not earn enough to require a sequel while we got more PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN entries than anyone asked for.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This one is top drawer, grown-up entertainment with a terrific cast and lovingly directed by Peter Weir. The action is fierce and brutal and the story is moved along with a half dozen solid character arcs leading to a thrilling climax. The attention to period detail is astounding and the tactics of the Age of Sail are presented so that even nautical novices can understand them. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When I saw this at a theater I watched more than one couple where the husband leans close to mansplain what was going on. Plenty of sailors or Patrick O'Brien fans in the audience that night.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0lOWbrFb9hPv56vgx6yCBP5k5zUiQ2W2q7qDSHAXZXl_eOu4KL3lCgV_9Wh5LTcFW_d13ozfZqbqhcY8ePjajRPmNAphQwePGGE49-sh5mTftiZ7DBX-jDV1d0i8FZS2Eut7tkQEuqnQ/s2048/masterand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1352" data-original-width="2048" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0lOWbrFb9hPv56vgx6yCBP5k5zUiQ2W2q7qDSHAXZXl_eOu4KL3lCgV_9Wh5LTcFW_d13ozfZqbqhcY8ePjajRPmNAphQwePGGE49-sh5mTftiZ7DBX-jDV1d0i8FZS2Eut7tkQEuqnQ/w640-h422/masterand.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">SOUTHPAW (2015) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jake Gyllenhaal is an undefeated light heavyweight champ and on top of the world until a personal tragedy takes everything he loves away and he must start from the bottom to fight his way back to the title. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Thanks to Mike Baron for insisting I watch this.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Boxing movies, like westerns and reggae songs, are essentially all the same. But it's the nuances that separates a great boxing movie from a so-so one. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Stripped of it's nuances, this plot could have served as the basis of a Wallace Beery or Victor McLagen movie from the 1930s. It follows closely the advice given to Barton Fink on how to write a "wrestling picture." </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And NONE of that is a bad thing. The movie has so much heart and so many amazing performances that I enjoyed the experience even though I knew where it would all lead. And it's one of the most granular films in the genre I've ever seen, showing us details of the boxing game that are informative as well as fascinating. Even the training sequences and inevitable montage sequence were educational and added to my understanding of the film's climax. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Fine, earnest entertainment in the old school Hollywood model.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCFgFDUcofdiiR-kNcS6O3PF45Bbw211j_To8m_Vr6-2VCDeuFN_Lj2nozBlJ9Li54Me2Cvb0XfgoYrm7Y2ks1r560UrU_Z1_D6QcbILM2m1Ufb5yNQKA8-YioaFHbp-iDkEeCvoU9L-Y/s2048/southpaw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1075" data-original-width="2048" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCFgFDUcofdiiR-kNcS6O3PF45Bbw211j_To8m_Vr6-2VCDeuFN_Lj2nozBlJ9Li54Me2Cvb0XfgoYrm7Y2ks1r560UrU_Z1_D6QcbILM2m1Ufb5yNQKA8-YioaFHbp-iDkEeCvoU9L-Y/w640-h336/southpaw.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">BARTON FINK (1991)</span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After rave reviews for his latest play, Barton Fink is invited out to Hollywood and offered a contract to write movies. He is offered a shot at a wrestling picture but is soon stymied as to how to proceed. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joel and Ethan Coen's movie about writer's block was written while they were suffering their own block while writing MILLER'S CROSSING. It is, to my mind, the most accurate movie about the life of a writer ever made. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">John Turturro, as Fink, is the embodiment of the kind of writer every writer fears himself to be deep inside. He is filled equally with hubris and anxiety. Even as it's revealed that he is a writer of limited talent and scope, he is confident of his role in society to "bring theater to the masses" even while looking down his nose at movies. The scenes in which he ignores the obviously troubled John Goodman's assurances of "I could tell you stories" are painful to watch. This guy has his head so far up his own ass he can't see what's going on around him. There's not a writer who ever lived that didn't have moments where they thought, fretted, they were Barton Fink.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to diving deep into the "life of the mind," the movie is also hysterically funny in every scene where Fink runs into the powerbrokers of old Hollywood. Michael Lerner as the psychotic head of the studio. Judy Davis as the "secretary" to writer John Mahoney (playing a character based on William Faulkner). And, most of all, Tony Shaloub as the producer saddled with newcomer Fink. I could watch Shaloub's scenes on a loop once a day, every day. And there's John Goodman in his most endearing, and frightening, role as the insurance salesman who befriends Barton in his hour of doubt.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNiQjN_nhBpXKI1AmS66w0hhtlQrChMB3o_QjC28CfYNI0dkA2vbisBBkz7NEqrJj2UqY25cD8BpKs2AYmoNsctDAhvxUyuKVkklPuXArJgkwJ5XbhEqOVMN6SfkWyhx9tjmN2PwtWu0U/s1280/finks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNiQjN_nhBpXKI1AmS66w0hhtlQrChMB3o_QjC28CfYNI0dkA2vbisBBkz7NEqrJj2UqY25cD8BpKs2AYmoNsctDAhvxUyuKVkklPuXArJgkwJ5XbhEqOVMN6SfkWyhx9tjmN2PwtWu0U/w640-h360/finks.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Audace colpo dei soliti ignoti</i>/FIASCO IN MILAN (1959) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Vittorio Gassman and his crew of bumbling crooks are recruited by a self-described criminal mastermind to heist 80 million Lira from a cash transfer in Milan. Nothing goes as it should. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Light and breezy crime caper with a cast of well-drawn comic foils spinning through their own sub-plots as the movie moves through the paces of a heist story. A number of laugh-out-loud sequences with Gassman scoring most of them. Clever. cute and fast paced with the silliest strip tease sequence I've ever seen.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUjIeI5ee1FBMzShlASsq_4M7e9d0C2JVtlFAJdkhW59Ra9V5hQ2Eno45r2lSY4OvNA86cjjIG3makwR7doWsp-sB1RaGXusB_5t8inHczMZruBVAiSSjkf8fGdP__YN5eL4eWTSVTI0/s1039/fracas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1039" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUjIeI5ee1FBMzShlASsq_4M7e9d0C2JVtlFAJdkhW59Ra9V5hQ2Eno45r2lSY4OvNA86cjjIG3makwR7doWsp-sB1RaGXusB_5t8inHczMZruBVAiSSjkf8fGdP__YN5eL4eWTSVTI0/w640-h484/fracas.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jake Gyllenhaal is an opportunistic grifter who changes from selling stolen recyclables to video journalism. Already a sociopath, his deep dive into turning other people's tragedy into money and power turns him into an unfeeling monster willing to do anything to get the footage he needs.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I generally stay away from movies with a journalist as the protagonist unless I know he's going to be portrayed as a total scumbag. ACE IN THE HOLE comes immediately to mind. No problem here. Gyllenhaal's Lou Bloom is a monster in human guise. But, as is the point of this story, he is a welcome monster in the cutthroat world of journalism. The movie is dark and seedy and will give you the serious creeps. It's also fast-paced and fascinating and Gyllenhaal scores another amazing performance. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Another flick heartily recommended to me by Mike Baron. Keep 'em coming!</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMgFjtPeiRzm1Ez7HsaTwLZ0YEKuuppeNzp8U1JOMRGz0GQAxNTIP57j7ZXVivsxtAq_N24JdbeG8fW1Z3wk1eGwq0eoGgl7k76SGTNEYPEZl9n2Defhzk5_k-9iRymUTA9S1lDPJqdE/s2048/nightcrawl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMgFjtPeiRzm1Ez7HsaTwLZ0YEKuuppeNzp8U1JOMRGz0GQAxNTIP57j7ZXVivsxtAq_N24JdbeG8fW1Z3wk1eGwq0eoGgl7k76SGTNEYPEZl9n2Defhzk5_k-9iRymUTA9S1lDPJqdE/w640-h426/nightcrawl.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE VIKINGS (1958) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Viking Kirk Douglas and slave Tony Curtis are half-brothers and even their daddy, Ernest Borgnine, doesn't know their relation. With the capture of princess Janet Leigh the tensions between the two half-siblings reach a fever pitch resulting in treachery, intrigue and war. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's hard to estimate the impact this movie had on me as a little boy watching it on the Sunday Night Movie all those years ago. This grand Hollywood entertainment, produced by Douglas, still holds up just fine. The full-on gusto performances of the entire cast, an intelligent script. location filming shot by Jack Cardiff and an unusual attention to period accuracy make this superior entertainment. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Douglas is at the top of his form as the vile but heroic Einar. Curtis, never at his best in period roles, is very effective as the slave Erik. And Janet Leigh manages to be more than an ornamentation in a very strong performance as the always-in-jeopardy Morgana. But it's Borgnine, as Ragnar, who owns this movie. Even through a wooly beard, we can read his every thought and feel his rages, sorrows and joys. And he has one of the most memorable death scenes in cinema history. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And, despite its age and all that has come since, that vertigo-inducing sword fight atop the castle keep is just as effective today as it was when the film was released.</span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTV1L2NhIWiPlPepAYgmhdu_3BEaHPNRQYscDauX5rCj9LRKn1b9PjfPoufOrwT1ItpZdjRqhIXrDbgyTGHjgTLh7ZtjBztJIEF_gh_l2KmQuBKhdFx_id6aIrnPzxgd6OEv4UYf4dS28/s1000/vikingsxx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="1000" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTV1L2NhIWiPlPepAYgmhdu_3BEaHPNRQYscDauX5rCj9LRKn1b9PjfPoufOrwT1ItpZdjRqhIXrDbgyTGHjgTLh7ZtjBztJIEF_gh_l2KmQuBKhdFx_id6aIrnPzxgd6OEv4UYf4dS28/w640-h270/vikingsxx.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">FRENCH CONNECTION 2 (1975)</span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Popeye Doyle pursues Frog One to Marseilles only to be used as bait by the French police. But Popeye never knows how to leave well enough alone.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That rarest of cinema rarities, the worthy sequel. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While not the equal of the 1971 original, the movie does not make the mistake of so many follow-up films. It is not in any way a near-remake of the first film It's an excellent police thriller of its own and stands up well on its own merits. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The tone, look and pacing of the Friedkin film are perfectly matched by director John Frankenheimer. The writing is sharp and the action solid. But the key to all of this is hackman's stellar performance, in particular the scenes where he must go cold turkey after three weeks as a heroin addict, a condition forced on him by abductors. Hackman is never better than when taking on a character as complex as this and then telling us a story from that character's point of view. His vain attempt to explain who Whitey Ford is heartbreaking and breathtaking at the same time. Ever want to see an actor 1000% committed to a role? Hackman's always that.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxOXqYi14D0CIWhwXWbWa5fara9SXVZ6KLiqM8hzCa1msL0XEx-naU5ry-IOJw8f0SEyRaivA6oohmwrkSQaI0MBxGkUsYH04knjZBJkBJ7yJsMp6BUPN_jbivWhBtP1JoQBm89_D7mY/s1024/fc2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="1024" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxOXqYi14D0CIWhwXWbWa5fara9SXVZ6KLiqM8hzCa1msL0XEx-naU5ry-IOJw8f0SEyRaivA6oohmwrkSQaI0MBxGkUsYH04knjZBJkBJ7yJsMp6BUPN_jbivWhBtP1JoQBm89_D7mY/w640-h346/fc2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">RIO BRAVO (1959) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">John Wayne arrests the brother of a powerful rancher and all hell breaks loose. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Despite what a certain comic book artist I know will tell you, RIO BRAVO is easily in the top five of great American westerns. I know that many feel that EL DORADO (a near-remake of this film) is superior. And while the later film is excellent in its own right, RIO BRAVO stands taller.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This was made by Howard Hawks after a five year hiatus from filmmaking. He returned to the US from a long stay in Europe to find that television had taken over as America's entertainment medium of choice. He realized that he'd need to change how he worked to concentrate on drawing audiences to theaters to watch his films. What he determined was that Americans were being exposed, thanks to their obsessive TV watching, to more live and filmed story content than ever before. It would take more than story to bring them from their homes to buy tickets. So he and old H'wood hands Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett worked to fashion a movie that emphasized experience over plot. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The result is a classic Hawks "hang-out" flick. Thank you to whoever gifted me with that accurate descriptor for so much of Hawks' work. We spend a few days with the Duke, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan as they deal with one challenge after another to their authority and the peace of the town they guard. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There's laughs and romance and suspense along the way and it all seems to just "happen" without contrivance or hurry, growing out of the relationship between these men of common cause. The dialogue is, as always ion a Hawks feature, witty, sharp and delivered in a casual manner that makes it seem like improv. More impressive are the scenes without dialogue. The opening sequence in which we learn all we need to know about the two main characters even though not a word is spoken between them. The scene where Dean Martin convinces us, with a change in his facial expression alone and the simple gesture that follows that his courage is restored. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And, yes, Ricky Nelson is not a very good actor. But anyone who was watching TV at the time knew that this was the charm of he and his brother Dave. They were family members drafted into acting and there was always a degree of wry amusement behind their eyes at being seen as TV stars. That quality always made them the funniest characters on their parents' show, delivering their gag lines as if they were outsiders commenting on the absurdity of it all. The writers of the show learned to lean into that. That same wary delight is what makes Nelson's performance work here.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is Hawks' last great film and is top drawer in every respect. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7_-GuGdyFMNuZJ1zTaDlNpZM8hDkpN-NRoZsxBtW20J4ej7dk9VIy_xWFtvQIx-pEtM-_-8J-D1Oyo5cJJY8oqHcNxd3c_YmTl2pwTZEjbiO1EwMPQMtMleOmhNjgxWM5k8HlbfAd_5w/s635/riobravo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="635" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7_-GuGdyFMNuZJ1zTaDlNpZM8hDkpN-NRoZsxBtW20J4ej7dk9VIy_xWFtvQIx-pEtM-_-8J-D1Oyo5cJJY8oqHcNxd3c_YmTl2pwTZEjbiO1EwMPQMtMleOmhNjgxWM5k8HlbfAd_5w/w640-h416/riobravo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Danny and Peachy, soldiers of fortune and scoundrels of the first order, take off through the Hindu Kush for the back of beyond with the idea of making themselves kings. Or, more to the point, as rich as kings. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This John Huston adaptation of the classic Rudyard Kipling story was twenty years in the realizing, Originally written to be cast with Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart, Huston found more and suitable replacements in Sean Connery and Michael Caine. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is adventure on a grand scale, deliberately paced and shot in a way that we share Danny and Peachy's sense of discovery as they explore a part of the world no westerner has ever seen. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The pair are obviously having the time of their lives, though Connery looks a bit rattled in the extras over the eight foot fall he has to take at the film's climax. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Much of the supporting cast was derived from Moroccan locals including the high priest who was over 100 years old at the time of filming.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A simply terrific story, wonderful performances and plenty of humor, suspense and action.</span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXW1huXPhYEykzzraPzwlUb_mDYiUsj9MclsXTM58qKE99823rS0GAIyN7lKVKE1gVtFJwpGFVxCAQibToWDaMzOiNMDamTNYHfwxLZT-IQRXSkyZdR37mHvv4fuwWyuuDdOMNNPN-vzY/s700/manwho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="700" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXW1huXPhYEykzzraPzwlUb_mDYiUsj9MclsXTM58qKE99823rS0GAIyN7lKVKE1gVtFJwpGFVxCAQibToWDaMzOiNMDamTNYHfwxLZT-IQRXSkyZdR37mHvv4fuwWyuuDdOMNNPN-vzY/w640-h348/manwho.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div dir="auto" style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Mains armées</i>/ARMED HANDS (2012) </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A national police officer is on the trail of a massive smuggling operation involving military ordnance stolen by a Serbian mob. These guns are finding their way into France to spark a crime wave. He enlisted the aid of his daughter, a Parisian narcotics detective.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is an excellent <i>policier </i>with some unforeseen twists, rapid pace and plenty of action including gunfights and foot and car chases. The movie remarkably free of exposition. We learn a lot of what's going on by inference or casual asides. That's invisible writing, mon frère. And it's one of the aspects of this thriller that keeps it consistently engaging.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSzmvn3jJEHhZFxu9pZKD5yrfZWOCeSY59KbbAaOeji2xAP3uFs5vkV0xcwLB6Bu7Z1zdHhYSG1-DuVjfBb5h1YOSmrwaFfOBC7QnqSROJUTnEdMLdUfGfotXiD0UGaMPlLcNbyBD_L5U/s800/armed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="800" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSzmvn3jJEHhZFxu9pZKD5yrfZWOCeSY59KbbAaOeji2xAP3uFs5vkV0xcwLB6Bu7Z1zdHhYSG1-DuVjfBb5h1YOSmrwaFfOBC7QnqSROJUTnEdMLdUfGfotXiD0UGaMPlLcNbyBD_L5U/w640-h356/armed.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>THUNDER IN THE EAST (1952) </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Alan Ladd is a gunrunner offering a planeload of machine guns and ammo to a beleaguered raj along the northwest frontier. But local bureaucrat Charles Boyer abhors violence and won't let Ladd do business even as the bandit tribes close in. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A script by Jo Swerling that provides Ladd with some great snarky tough guy lines as well as building a believable romance between him and co-star Deborah Kerr. Solid direction by Charles Vidor who torques up the tension as the situation quickly slides from bad to worse over the course of the picture and Ladd evolves from heel to hero.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This movie is probably most famous for its closing scene, a daring choice at the time for what is, essentially, a studio programmer.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYF4NHxyzIM0udhIhjAIrcRE5eN8jXOcMV7EV17G9cI90TkvdaNm4-Q1gs-8xkPF-laufn24i9rrwotRvm81wSMHhVmHIghBaHQAODh4YCn2pCAscWL1UWA77qOwWFVRTxt-AdDJQorAI/s1328/thunder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="939" data-original-width="1328" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYF4NHxyzIM0udhIhjAIrcRE5eN8jXOcMV7EV17G9cI90TkvdaNm4-Q1gs-8xkPF-laufn24i9rrwotRvm81wSMHhVmHIghBaHQAODh4YCn2pCAscWL1UWA77qOwWFVRTxt-AdDJQorAI/w640-h452/thunder.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS (1996)</span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Currently free on Amazon Prime.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rail workers in Tsavo are being plagued by a pair of male lions who seem intent on stopping construction of a vital bridge. Val Kilmer is sent to sort things out but soon realizes he's over his head and must call upon the talents of professional hunter Michael Douglas.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is big African adventure stuff based on the true story of the lions of Tsavo and, as the movie claims, even the most incredible parts of this story actually happened. A solid script by William Goldman and sure direction by Stephen Hopkins make this one a rewatchable classic. Add to that one of Jerry Goldsmith's best scores and you have yourself a fine movie night. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The ensemble cast is excellent and Kilmer does himself credit by playing an Irishman without resorting to a faux brogue. The lion sequences use old school process shots as well as trained lions and are all the more effective for it. Part horror movie and part safari adventure. I only wonder what took Hollywood so long. What a flick this would have made for someone like Errol Flynn!</span></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvmDb6T5bo5kQBP7wPIPpBZnV3zXZXCo7HHjYntQVq_07oRxSiVb4CBXW5vfLz9oxdV1ypuUi0bNGsLvJJfj8yFvFD98i3EL4qA9Wps6OV3j-vM834a1F8b8paKI4k18TbAU_pOeHphP8/s1080/ghostdark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvmDb6T5bo5kQBP7wPIPpBZnV3zXZXCo7HHjYntQVq_07oRxSiVb4CBXW5vfLz9oxdV1ypuUi0bNGsLvJJfj8yFvFD98i3EL4qA9Wps6OV3j-vM834a1F8b8paKI4k18TbAU_pOeHphP8/w640-h360/ghostdark.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>HANG 'EM HIGH (1968) </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Clint Eastwood is falsely accused of rustling and strung up by a lynch mob. They really should have stuck around to make sure he was dead. Clint survives to take on a marshal badge so he can hunt the vigilantes down under the cover of the law.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This standard fare western actually improves with age. It's kind of a snapshot of the shifting morals of the late 60's and the start (along with THE WILD BUNCH and others released the same year) of the trend toward "mean" westerns that would dominate the genre into the 70's. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's action packed and often suspenseful and notable for being packed with great character actors and contract players with Bruce Dern, Bob Steele, Charles McGraw, Alan Hale Jr, Ed Begley, Pat Hingle, Ben Johnson, Dennis Hopper, L.Q. Jones and a busload more including the actress who used to play Howard Sprague's girlfriend on Mayberry RFD as a prostitute!</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is the first film made under Clint's Malpaso banner and he appears to have had a lot of control over the production. He hired Ted Post to direct. Post was his most frequent director on the Rawhide TV series and Clint, famously, did a lot of overtime on that show learning filmmaking from all involved including set designers, cameramen, wranglers and stuntmen. Proof of his eagerness to learn everyone's job is in the series itself. In the series' second unit footage Clint's character, Rowdy Yates, is the only main cast member seen roping strays and bulldogging herds along with the stunt riders. I imagine he hired Post to direct as a payback for mentoring him. This was Post's first theatrical feature.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF833dupJksE_YlGGUW1kW4Wjqw6uyQ9GV1OpKVYDH6SvdeTY8cU3r6F9uw6szlj3yJ_5Zar93Z3oMWyFOClKp44-pnYveqTC-TpNi-GFHYnCKN2RUf7gkeM38PB6cJ0yJhDHaK68MtCo/s640/hang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="640" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF833dupJksE_YlGGUW1kW4Wjqw6uyQ9GV1OpKVYDH6SvdeTY8cU3r6F9uw6szlj3yJ_5Zar93Z3oMWyFOClKp44-pnYveqTC-TpNi-GFHYnCKN2RUf7gkeM38PB6cJ0yJhDHaK68MtCo/w640-h364/hang.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">LIBELED LADY (1936)</span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When a big city newspaper mistakenly reports a scandal involving spoiled heiress Myrna Loy a five million dollar libel suit ensues. To save the paper, editor Spencer Tracy hires legal sharpie William Powell to compromise Loy in order to embarrass her into canceling her legal action. But to make the gag work, Powell must marry Tracy's fiancé Jean Harlow. Get all that? You will. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This one belongs on anyone's list of the best Hollywood screwball comedies. It has a wonderful premise that pays off over and over again as the four personalities clash and compromise then clash again. It's a seamless romantic comedy as well with all the "will they or won't they?" aspects required of an effective cinema love rack. Loads of sparkling dialogue and exchanges and William Powell gets to show off his abilities as a physical comic with a hysterical scene of him ineptly pretending to be an expert fly fisher. Four of the biggest star of their era in a movie worthy of them all.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcUe9NfZoLgv1fGe4dlybg2jbwl5UHGGvBX8usXNLhczGwTVOADO5rqjOxT3wFV0slrSzVxwcgq9bHwjKaaDJwJOuuMVFFHaDkmItE6YLF_p-D1tFVzfnHVvHlSS37QRJSty0iSZLQiAY/s564/libeled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="564" height="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcUe9NfZoLgv1fGe4dlybg2jbwl5UHGGvBX8usXNLhczGwTVOADO5rqjOxT3wFV0slrSzVxwcgq9bHwjKaaDJwJOuuMVFFHaDkmItE6YLF_p-D1tFVzfnHVvHlSS37QRJSty0iSZLQiAY/w640-h620/libeled.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (1939) </span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Newlyweds Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert set out for the wilderness in the early days of the Revolution. They are soon caught up in the events of the war with their lives and livelihood at stake when the Iroquois go on the warpath at the urging of the redcoats. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What a year for movies 1939 was! And this is juts another fine example of the kind of quality entertainment Hollywood was capable of in their golden era. John Ford brings his talents to bear on this story and the results are magnificent. Ford was a keen storyteller who knew how to balance the epic elements of a tale like this with the more personal aspects of the characters involved.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">An earnest effort to remain historically accurate to the period elevates this to a true period drama rather than a simple action picture. The cast is great with Colbert and Edna May Oliver standouts as the kind of tough-as-nails women who help bring civilization to the frontier. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A recent restoration from a technicolor master prints really brings this grand feature new life. Some of the shots, using natural sunlight, or the lack of it, are stunning.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjVmXQ-chZPFq5VflE8H-vNw7LBbm8IwyZC82YnDOfsKe4bay_yBK1BgL7M0Ypile0O6ZYynw9Xxnc31-ZpUCYfPQAQG95ltVp5oWkEJaPcSYfOQUBuUdXNjRTIAptGeBd1LiPtg0Zoc/s1920/drums.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjVmXQ-chZPFq5VflE8H-vNw7LBbm8IwyZC82YnDOfsKe4bay_yBK1BgL7M0Ypile0O6ZYynw9Xxnc31-ZpUCYfPQAQG95ltVp5oWkEJaPcSYfOQUBuUdXNjRTIAptGeBd1LiPtg0Zoc/w640-h360/drums.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE SWORDSMAN (2020)</span></b></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The former bodyguard of the king goes into hiding to protect the king's daughter from foreign invaders and enemies within the court. Years later, as he is losing his eyesight, the swordsman is called upon once more to save the princess from a terrible fate.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Badass Korean actioner that remembers to have a story and plenty of heart. The action is terrific and eschews the more frenetic methods of most recent swordfight flicks. The core situation moves from bad to worse to unthinkable as all as the stakes rise higher and higher as do the stacks of bodies. Excellent performances throughout and an ensemble cast of characters that you learn to care about. Oh, and some truly despicable bad guys. The villains in K-dramas seem to break into two groups; a-holes from China or a-holes from Japan depending on the period.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrZ5E4W8sCORSNFUQoJjUSw6oUGgZ-LYdQl4uU7x25dOCnp5mfyYqalanw9sKD3SiSXwFRy7kymwrQCMOs4K_sA6uRomRNiwuSZpGXa1EspsaYGkk0HKZ4ZriMWT-uMKUHbmYE9fluo4/s1600/swordsmanzz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1600" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrZ5E4W8sCORSNFUQoJjUSw6oUGgZ-LYdQl4uU7x25dOCnp5mfyYqalanw9sKD3SiSXwFRy7kymwrQCMOs4K_sA6uRomRNiwuSZpGXa1EspsaYGkk0HKZ4ZriMWT-uMKUHbmYE9fluo4/w640-h322/swordsmanzz.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><b><br /><br /></b><p></p><p><br /></p><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4 l82x9zwi uo3d90p7 h905i5nu monazrh9" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="bp9cbjyn m9osqain j83agx80 jq4qci2q bkfpd7mw a3bd9o3v kvgmc6g5 wkznzc2l oygrvhab dhix69tm jktsbyx5 rz4wbd8a osnr6wyh a8nywdso s1tcr66n" style="align-items: center; background-color: white; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--divider); color: var(--secondary-text); display: flex; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9375rem; justify-content: flex-end; line-height: 1.3333; margin: 0px 16px; padding: 10px 0px;"><div class="bp9cbjyn j83agx80 pfnyh3mw p1ueia1e" style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; height: 22px;"><div class="gtad4xkn" style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: 7px;"><div aria-expanded="true" class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl l9j0dhe7 abiwlrkh gpro0wi8 dwo3fsh8 ow4ym5g4 auili1gw du4w35lb gmql0nx0" id="jsc_c_dd" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; appearance: none; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-32346067167141673682021-01-08T12:58:00.004-08:002021-04-16T13:45:48.712-07:00TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTAbOFSc_66SaCi4y772FAZT9rraF8LdbAxRYtfA-ZQxAM-kN2JDKq9vMCn6gHLJd1UKwGButHm1egjSGmxw2Q3BEo7XTO8RV7irLYlx0gozhjICB0GGnfKeNlv7PP2Efsw-Cm1rO-lko/s1000/hnhposter.jpg" style="font-size: x-large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="787" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTAbOFSc_66SaCi4y772FAZT9rraF8LdbAxRYtfA-ZQxAM-kN2JDKq9vMCn6gHLJd1UKwGButHm1egjSGmxw2Q3BEo7XTO8RV7irLYlx0gozhjICB0GGnfKeNlv7PP2Efsw-Cm1rO-lko/w504-h640/hnhposter.jpg" width="504" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bogart is broke in wartime Martinique and so must accept a hire
for his fishing boat from some Free French partisans even though it will run
him into trouble with the Sûreté Gestapo. Things get complicated by the arrival
of ex-pat Lauren Bacall. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Someone on one of my threads on Facebook referred to this brand
of film as a "hang-out" movie. That's a flick where you follow an
ensemble cast through events that take place over a short period of time with
an emphasis on character relationships over pl<o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="color: #050505; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;">ot. Like its close cousin the
"road movie," these character-driven efforts often come to a fizzle with meandering storylines
and tired personalities.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cLOUG9cyVMn7G7I4dyyoSJJZ91z5HadKnB3_2leg17XmhMMkVawqQDzhs-OqB5rNwxoPZUrsVvK0cASqjGFEZnEmNA4lX2xpBNl4HTkrFQKFYZY_1c0rDB8TpCxfIWApK2P4ndeegGg/s720/hnh1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cLOUG9cyVMn7G7I4dyyoSJJZ91z5HadKnB3_2leg17XmhMMkVawqQDzhs-OqB5rNwxoPZUrsVvK0cASqjGFEZnEmNA4lX2xpBNl4HTkrFQKFYZY_1c0rDB8TpCxfIWApK2P4ndeegGg/w640-h480/hnh1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But the undisputed master of the hang-out flick is Howard Hawks.
In films like this one, RIO BRAVO, THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, AIR FORCE,
BRINGING UP BABY, EL DORADO and others, he created films that had rich
environments populated with vivid characters interacting seamlessly as a way to
draw in the viewer and make them feel like they were part of the action. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What aided Hawks in this was his approach to story. For his
entire career, Hawks worked hard to warp and waft the standard Hollywood model
of filmmaking. His process always included hiring more than one writer for any
project. Most of the time he hired as disparate a pair of writers as he could
to assure that the script was being approached differently by each. The starkest
example of this was hiring literary lion William Faulkner and teaming him with
a young female pulp writer named Leigh Brackett. Once each had worked out a
draft. he worked closely with them to bring together the best parts of each
other's efforts. The writers were involved in each project as it went along,
constantly be called upon to tweak each scene and each exchange of dialogue.
Hawk's most frequent question to his writers was always, "Is this the best
way to say this?" <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLCx1pnQJ5_nehXNT4hTrDRQe-80c5iWW03RKJZUjIYscFaDaMPD9t0PfkBujQaQaJUXFG8A1zOf7T3Sfl-MoSDdVdo14ka7syq0lI82-eQshVTLPzu3s-vXdRjUBtMFy1hMyrUtKPBko/s577/hnh2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="577" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLCx1pnQJ5_nehXNT4hTrDRQe-80c5iWW03RKJZUjIYscFaDaMPD9t0PfkBujQaQaJUXFG8A1zOf7T3Sfl-MoSDdVdo14ka7syq0lI82-eQshVTLPzu3s-vXdRjUBtMFy1hMyrUtKPBko/w640-h466/hnh2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hawks' other concern was making each movie feel like an
experience, a slice of life with all the unpredictability that comes with that.
His movies were seldom about what they appeared to be about. Rather than
relying on simple plot advancement, he used the viewers interest and
involvement with each character to keep the audience engaged. Hawks, almost
more than any other filmmaker I can think of, understood that movie audiences
were sophisticated in the language of film. He relied on that level of fluency
to stretch the artform and continuously delight and amuse moviegoers and
generations of TV watchers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Film historian David Thomson once wrote that he would choose
Howard Hawks’ filmography for his own “desert island” list were he forced to
choose. I cannot argue with that. For escapism, intelligence and sheer
entertainment muscle, Hawks is hard to beat.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjFAjrkurgrt04u2v8ONjbo_EkPZrcc3v11C2L8BkkEaU7WyCxAgAKUf6tp0M7DvptnDLyeGv2pTR20vwN90gq6fU3Tx9Y_Y8mKFyJy_mHy1riuG_samf0Yb0zNvvfryED0Vcv73RGSU/s1600/hnh7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1600" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjFAjrkurgrt04u2v8ONjbo_EkPZrcc3v11C2L8BkkEaU7WyCxAgAKUf6tp0M7DvptnDLyeGv2pTR20vwN90gq6fU3Tx9Y_Y8mKFyJy_mHy1riuG_samf0Yb0zNvvfryED0Vcv73RGSU/w640-h464/hnh7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">All that said, TO HAVE AND TO HAVE NOT might just be Hawks’
signature piece. The plotline is a simple one, a cat and mouse game between
Bogie and the oppressive tyrants seeking to thwart him. But the plot is obscured
to never invisibility under Bogie’s complex relationship with alcoholic
sidekick played to twitchy perfection by Walter Brennan and the introduction of
Lauren Bacall and the hot-then-cold-then-hot-again relationship she has with
the lead. And there’s various sub-plots like the dishonest client out to cheat
Bogie of the fee for renting his boat or the wife of a resistance fighter who
falls hard for Bogie even as he’s falling for Bacall. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">All of it is propelled by arch dialogue and sharp performances
and even a few musical numbers by Hoagy Carmichael that, while very much of
their time, still feel fresh today. Even casual film fans can quote entire exchanges
from this movie. This includes bits that have been lifted more times than I can
count like:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: rgb(252, 250, 231); line-height: 13.65pt; margin-bottom: .05in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.05in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #70579d;"><b>Slim:</b></span><span style="color: #333333;"> Who was the girl, Steve?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(252, 250, 231); box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 13.65pt; margin-bottom: .05in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.05in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0.5in; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span class="character" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b><span style="color: #70579d; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br /></span></b></span></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(252, 250, 231); box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 13.65pt; margin-bottom: .05in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.05in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0.5in; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><b>Steve:</b> Who was what girl?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(252, 250, 231); box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 13.65pt; margin-bottom: .05in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.05in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0.5in; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span class="character" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b><span style="color: #70579d; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br /></span></b></span></span></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(252, 250, 231); box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 13.65pt; margin-bottom: .05in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.05in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0.5in; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Slim: </b> The one who left you with such a high opinion of women.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p style="background: rgb(252, 250, 231); line-height: 13.65pt; margin-bottom: .05in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.05in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: #333333;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And, of course, “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I watched this one for the umpteenth time last night with my
wife. She knew the film but had never seen it in its entirety. When it was over,
she said, “What was that movie about?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I said, “Exactly.” </span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Uj3Z8Em1WG3qbbcuVMTH-bcXg5d_Zseq-8B9lSzfO61h4yuzxlLoiWymz4iiQrITZ6dWWx1_h7-L7lYYcZdI_1F5zCd4dxcrw9RJPFZQF0zHPJVeYViWvwFdsF1FheBk9zPLr6hGrIc/s1600/hnh5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1261" data-original-width="1600" height="504" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Uj3Z8Em1WG3qbbcuVMTH-bcXg5d_Zseq-8B9lSzfO61h4yuzxlLoiWymz4iiQrITZ6dWWx1_h7-L7lYYcZdI_1F5zCd4dxcrw9RJPFZQF0zHPJVeYViWvwFdsF1FheBk9zPLr6hGrIc/w640-h504/hnh5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-70101222583766773542020-09-28T14:24:00.007-07:002020-09-28T14:24:55.618-07:00You want Movie Reviews? <p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">CRAWL (2019) </span></span></b></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's on Amazon Prime, folks.</span></p><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A young girl braves a Cat-5 hurricane to look for her dad. She not only finds him, alive but injured, in the crawl space under their house but a hungry gator swept in by the storm surge.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is a creature feature with ALL the goodies. A cast you grow to care about, a scary threat, rising stakes, a ticking clock and touches of very dark humor. It packs loads of edge-of-seat moments into a tidy 89 minutes and smart writing. In my book,this one rises to the top of the sub-genre of dangerous critter horror flicks.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRvkBLkUCoCUqVEKgcUW0gqn7aGlf8PFGe46lKLUm0H6BXefnGF-HzPTC39o9tv7CpvfGSBH5FosNNxAV2MBKx7XoSgElv8K9nQKOtQkOe1_SHWcXVYW7pfZMu2rVvhVjdMwcEQvE-NVo/s700/crawl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="700" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRvkBLkUCoCUqVEKgcUW0gqn7aGlf8PFGe46lKLUm0H6BXefnGF-HzPTC39o9tv7CpvfGSBH5FosNNxAV2MBKx7XoSgElv8K9nQKOtQkOe1_SHWcXVYW7pfZMu2rVvhVjdMwcEQvE-NVo/w640-h406/crawl.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>FARMAGEDDON (2020) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">You can watch this on Netflix. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Shaun the Sheep has his hooves full when a runaway alien arrives on the farm with the government close on its heels. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm an enormous fan of Aardman Productions in, in particular, their clay animation efforts over their CGI work. This one is a solid outing with plenty of funny moments in a tight running time. All the barnyard characters are here and given time in the story. It's silly, fast-paced and has a heart without resorting to sentiment. And there's lots of references to SF classics the best of which is a nod to Dr Who. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">And, as always, the miniature sets and cast of characters are jaw-dropping both in detail and inspiration.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvy0nxexytdn5jG_oHK03MtD-7eTQm9ihNeVCBWGPiDisrDcBuoiOR8KOeGoQ9IFTVMD2CCF7m3T2jQG-OksCnC6nrbhII4H-DMQPUQXXQ51rOfaWT8kTNXtkMAVYtV5gVlqoIht4fjec/s800/shaun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvy0nxexytdn5jG_oHK03MtD-7eTQm9ihNeVCBWGPiDisrDcBuoiOR8KOeGoQ9IFTVMD2CCF7m3T2jQG-OksCnC6nrbhII4H-DMQPUQXXQ51rOfaWT8kTNXtkMAVYtV5gVlqoIht4fjec/w640-h360/shaun.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (2019)</b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Identical crimes occurring nine years apart set a Philadelphia cop on a hunt for a murderer who may already be dead. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">After a promising start this slickly produced SF thriller goes swiftly off the rails in a series of imponderables and nonsensical events. It basically takes the premise of THE TWELVE MONKEYS and combines it with a two-part story arc I wrote in Detective Comics </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">(<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl q66pz984 gpro0wi8 b1v8xokw" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/s?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZVML3Jkk_t-Es8RHlLr6c4cybzwx8BRWP8RqO3F9_CbDHElH7--TjWorcJqU0oltk8iKT-6BXnCWargAO6YvVXkkIvNSl5qXhqyoJzTf-0pb53ierZesNr_NLgVh34VrF4&__tn__=*NK-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0">#s</a></span> 714-715) and then throws in a truckload of coincidence and contrivance all strung together with the weak cheese of sentiment and ambiguity. You'll be asking yourself the same question I did before it's over. Someone needed to go to time travel school or perhaps asked Bob Gale or myself to explain to them how these stories work. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's on Netflix.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJ7DTIdEcc54-6Ns04qiBA3C9pRrUVs3O7tuAGnVmTuT5bpeDhfMKtPhNsG0W7QYG7AVop1G07tB3MPaDOlOaB6-ujjG5vAGlymW1rAA6MPjQ38MP65aZwwKRo_paW_F8B8BQw1q0dQY/s1066/shadow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1066" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJ7DTIdEcc54-6Ns04qiBA3C9pRrUVs3O7tuAGnVmTuT5bpeDhfMKtPhNsG0W7QYG7AVop1G07tB3MPaDOlOaB6-ujjG5vAGlymW1rAA6MPjQ38MP65aZwwKRo_paW_F8B8BQw1q0dQY/w640-h360/shadow.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE CAMERAMAN (1928)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Buster Keaton falls for the pretty receptionist at a newsreel company and becomes determined to win her love by filming a scoop. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This amazing entry by Keaton would prove to be his ultimate undoing. This is the first movie produced under his contract with MGM and, though it was critically and commercially successful, they would not allow Keaton to have his own film unit as he had as an independent. Instead, they consigned him to roles in forgettable comedies in which he still shined even though they mostly were churned-out programmers. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Despite that bittersweet history, this movie belongs near the top of the list of Keaton's many great features. The romance angle works and the string of comedy set-pieces and dangerous stunts are all top-drawer Buster. The classic Tong war sequence alone is worth seeing this for as well as the astonishing boat accident sequence at the end of the film. Buster is ably abetted, and ultimately redeemed by Josephine, the hardest working monkey in cinema history.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWD-PB4lntfNsFUp_XwyW9Uzzn5dVgol8RYemdi-Gh8-w_an7SPfYJLT7c6aa5zHZD2sShmIsri08n8GTrh1R5t60KdT5V0Xv56Xp0IYLRtVN4dMY3HiOUoa8BwgqV13vybCHOj41He8U/s700/camerman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="700" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWD-PB4lntfNsFUp_XwyW9Uzzn5dVgol8RYemdi-Gh8-w_an7SPfYJLT7c6aa5zHZD2sShmIsri08n8GTrh1R5t60KdT5V0Xv56Xp0IYLRtVN4dMY3HiOUoa8BwgqV13vybCHOj41He8U/w640-h458/camerman.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>SPITE MARRIAGE (1929) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A pants presser borrows his clients' clothes to attend Broadway shows night after night to worship a lead actress. When she's jilted by her boyfriend she marries her biggest fan in order to make the guy jealous and, in the ensuing mayhem, the pants presser does his best to win her hand for real.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Buster Keaton's last silent feature and second film made under his regrettable MGM contract. There's some fine moments with Buster's impeccable timing and gag sense on display. But here, he's just a contract player and not in full charge of the production as he was when he was an indie. The studio even barred him from doing some of the more dangerous stunts himself. A real trooper, he does his best. But, while watchable and often funny, is not prime Buster.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">MGM would call Buster back after firing him (for reasons that could have provided the plot line for a classic Keaton comedy) to re-work some of the bits from this movie for the Marx Brothers' A NIGHT AT THE OPERA. As Keaton said, the hardest part of a Marx Brothers production was getting all three brothers in the same place at the same time. He would also help with the remake of this movie as the Red Skelton vehicle I DOOD IT. Keaton would continue to work un-credited on Skelton movies throughout that comic's MGM contract. The two had a mutual affinity with Red recognizing Buster's genius and Buster believing that Red was the best comic actor working.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoRLM_nWaHyHNMDTjh_ocsxXVA3enQ9n0-ahb5eWKBRfaxRvKtgUYo99JBxFUiy5-wKPf3bCrntK3OVSz6cuEs8H6mnCym-Z_o7ZWFcAeIIhFR_kWJcZVK6m_Dmw94K-Rg8ls_mj3VORI/s999/spitemarriage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="999" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoRLM_nWaHyHNMDTjh_ocsxXVA3enQ9n0-ahb5eWKBRfaxRvKtgUYo99JBxFUiy5-wKPf3bCrntK3OVSz6cuEs8H6mnCym-Z_o7ZWFcAeIIhFR_kWJcZVK6m_Dmw94K-Rg8ls_mj3VORI/w640-h382/spitemarriage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>SAMURAI MARATHON (2019) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">An opponent of the shogun's policies toward foreigners proposes a 36 mile race to test the mettle and dedication of his loyal samurai retainers. When this news reaches Edo castle, the shogun decides to take advantage of the situation and send a crew of assassins disguised as bandits. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The most unusual chambara film I've ever seen as it doesn't follow any of the usual plot forms of the genre yet still checks all the boxes to be a thrilling sword drama. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Simply gorgeous scenery throughout and a cast that delivers in a tapestry of interwoven sub-plots and character arcs that all serve to propel the story forward.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsxP6e3eQnHIG7VHCUlmx3wY1c6vf94ypPwch5nDvJkOpFtlQU655EpWH48ui4HJBoGjds8IkebU8N13tClDnndwjdybDZmswIAwPVRbARLuJumPlx5s1hiKhuXbYHJRim-kH45oo4TPA/s1340/samurai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="1340" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsxP6e3eQnHIG7VHCUlmx3wY1c6vf94ypPwch5nDvJkOpFtlQU655EpWH48ui4HJBoGjds8IkebU8N13tClDnndwjdybDZmswIAwPVRbARLuJumPlx5s1hiKhuXbYHJRim-kH45oo4TPA/w640-h360/samurai.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE RIDER (2017)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A rodeo rider suffers a severe head trauma on a bronc ride. Now he must adjust to a new life in which the things he loves most might kill him.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mike Baron recommended (read: strongly insisted) that I watch this movie and I'm glad he did. This movie is astonishing and I do not use that term lightly. Writer and director Chloé Zhao met the principals in this movie and, after hearing their story, cast them to play themselves in the story of bronc rider Brady Jandreau and the path he follows after a life-altering tragedy. There was no other way to make a movie like this. You could never teach an actor to do what these characters do. In the film's most incredible sequence we watch Jandreau break a wild horse over the course of a day. I mean we literally watch him tame a recalcitrant, dangerous beast that's ten times his weight over the course of a long day. Until you've seen it you cannot imagine the poignancy of this scene as well as the real skills on display. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Despite its genesis and use of a real-life cast, the movie never feels like a documentary. It plays out as a drama and the acting, especially Jandreau, is uniformly effective and, at times, heartbreaking. The script is subtle, the dialogue natural and, I suspect, often improvised. It's all a rare and moving experience as these folks let us into their lives to share their pain, love and inspiration.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDWwclwS7JYIQeThvG2boXsqySAkk423Gya4lmQyununNoSV-Fr6EG-aSyshhkvD2VfbaST5kWwvqL1IwnMx4WNRzYit5YpqsrMsjsFoM8u-nvlqhvsAr9DGhlFa9rqfW9W3AgSOoRaYo/s1024/rider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="1024" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDWwclwS7JYIQeThvG2boXsqySAkk423Gya4lmQyununNoSV-Fr6EG-aSyshhkvD2VfbaST5kWwvqL1IwnMx4WNRzYit5YpqsrMsjsFoM8u-nvlqhvsAr9DGhlFa9rqfW9W3AgSOoRaYo/w640-h358/rider.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>HARPER (1966) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Private detective Lew Harper is hired to find a missing millionaire who may, or may not, have been kidnapped.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A fine LA-based PI mystery ala Raymond Chandler that's elevated to superior entertainment by Paul Newman's quirky, charming and dry portrayal of Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer. (the name was changed at the request of Newman as his three previous hits began with the letter H) He's supported by Lauren Bacall, Robert Wagner, Pamela Tiffin, Strother Martin and Robert Webber as various California lowlifes. Wagner in particular, often given lightweight roles, turns in an effective performance that, in many ways, twits the kind of roles he was always typecast in. Of course, William Goldman's sharp script helps immensely with plenty of wonderfully constructed scenes and a series of top drawer wiseguy lines deliveed with perfection by Newman. This is good stuff and an admirable entry into the genre painlessly updated for the 60's.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69ed8066U9xcKEMJwh_Sy_41iQcEvQv-2tc-bBJDQfV56IWdhkU32fNvLQkJznYSZ_vN-AZFGvc3DXmv6j2D4LV7_Yrm3u5V9YhyIaNWbEAh0V-DQ4ix7Y-FS3Qa6c-AmZAz4SpKHWeo/s536/harper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="536" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh69ed8066U9xcKEMJwh_Sy_41iQcEvQv-2tc-bBJDQfV56IWdhkU32fNvLQkJznYSZ_vN-AZFGvc3DXmv6j2D4LV7_Yrm3u5V9YhyIaNWbEAh0V-DQ4ix7Y-FS3Qa6c-AmZAz4SpKHWeo/w640-h368/harper.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE DROWNING POOL (1975) </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lew Archer is hired by an old flame to come to New Orleans to look for her missing husband. What he uncovers is an ugly conspiracy of conflicting lowlifes out to ruin one another.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That rarity of rarities, the worthy cinema sequel. I remember this movie getting trashed bty critics upon its release but, for the life of me, I can't see why. Paul Newman is just as tough, cool and funny in this outing as he was in the original film. He's aided here by three top screenwriters, Tracy Keenan Wynn, Lorenzao Semple Jr. and Walter Hill, who manage to maintain the level of quailty establ;ished by William Goldman. Once again, a strong cast of 'nawlins bottomfeeders with Richard Jaekel, Tony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton, Andy Robinson and a young Melanie Griffith. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The movie also features a perfectly constructed extended suspense scenario for the climax of the film. It's nail-biting stuff drawn out to a excruciating degree and ending with a satisfactory conclusion. It's a sequence that needs to be better known.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Best exchange:</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mavis: It's not nice to look up lady's dresses.</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lew Harper: Everyone's got to look somewhere.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM8DIfANx6ZudKXVVP5mL0ad7GsG9MpBsqdQhfyydtSTlsiczbAVFaYaX4JwQpUI1cCP-JokCnWxsck40Ov0x7_A802QuapunI2jOWabB_GHmwRDo64AevKLOc2VnqooqQF5zE6ADhSTs/s678/drowning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="678" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM8DIfANx6ZudKXVVP5mL0ad7GsG9MpBsqdQhfyydtSTlsiczbAVFaYaX4JwQpUI1cCP-JokCnWxsck40Ov0x7_A802QuapunI2jOWabB_GHmwRDo64AevKLOc2VnqooqQF5zE6ADhSTs/w640-h414/drowning.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>TWILIGHT (1998) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's on Amazon Prime.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Paul Newman is a private eye reduced to living as a guest in the house of a Hollywood power couple. His insatiable curiosity leads him from an easy bagman job to re-opening a cold case that might just bring his whole world crashing down. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A few of here on FB recommended this one and I appreciate it. I never saw this film and had entirely forgotten about it. Though the character has a different name, this could easily be Lew Harper from Newman's earlier films. Just like those movies,. the cast is strong, the dialogue sharp and the mystery baffling. A solid private eye thriller that fits Newman like the pink shirt that causes so many problems in the story.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghgr0OQoCc9A309EulS5ipT5MpY0RIknXTz7zpN29SON3Uw2gCjbeRMkwmGUWP5AdQwfj2KEncC_zN2IFiyBvVlokESSHjT5pq1ELx_TrFz7Rj0CHdFBzXNhz4aRy9jcHDb4ilisA8oCs/s500/twilight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="500" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghgr0OQoCc9A309EulS5ipT5MpY0RIknXTz7zpN29SON3Uw2gCjbeRMkwmGUWP5AdQwfj2KEncC_zN2IFiyBvVlokESSHjT5pq1ELx_TrFz7Rj0CHdFBzXNhz4aRy9jcHDb4ilisA8oCs/w640-h496/twilight.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>AGENTS SECRET (2004) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Vincent Cassel and Monica Belucci are spies on a dangerous mission for the French secret service. They're tasked with sinking a ship in a Moroccan port that's loaded with arms bound for an African civil war. Their success leads to one betrayal after another and each mjust do what they must to survive.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Slick, violent entertainment that draws you in and keeps you. Both leads are tragic figures but never descend to whining or sentiment. Some well done suspense scenes and any number of surprises as things go from bad to worse to <i>très, très mauvais</i> in very short order.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3Em1YUsieAVW4GE9WysR2NHCEJTNgRA4USFcQ86BKwRKUS3m8jtfjMjdjuYwqxcS96hYDWXAnSXHTW0S11lRNIpoaZQwuYXNNrxSYKTIEjdrg96ejfP2LMIM5ErmFN1Nz3WQ-YEOB48/s780/agents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3Em1YUsieAVW4GE9WysR2NHCEJTNgRA4USFcQ86BKwRKUS3m8jtfjMjdjuYwqxcS96hYDWXAnSXHTW0S11lRNIpoaZQwuYXNNrxSYKTIEjdrg96ejfP2LMIM5ErmFN1Nz3WQ-YEOB48/w640-h360/agents.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE PLAGUES OF BRESLAU (2019)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's on Netflix.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A serial killer, inspired by a tactic used by Frederik Barbarossa to bring the city of Breslau to heel, is on a six day murder spree. They're killing some of the city's highest and lowest citizens through arcane torture methods while the police race to find a commonality between the victims to avert further bloodshed. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Think of it as a Polish version of SE7EN. It's dour, nasty and quite gross in places. This might be the most burnt-out cast of cops I've ever seen in a movie and I really hope this movie is not an accurate representation of the national mood of Poland. I mean, these folks are damaged. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The plot rolls out (play on words intended as you'll see if you watch the film) with quite a few surprises and some major stings in its tail. But I have to warn you, it just gets grimmer as it races for the finish line. Another intended play on words. Sorry.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ewOW3Rn4o32tw0Lz0KsBbNJz886sORG1QB9EHQMdZjw_VEetLlEILc4nF4799oIsVsOumDmZJZ9mn5enG76HeymwO6yshzDms26IpEB8L_OgnNpXc5ls1xBLCCyOmC2zHG3RaogSsYM/s960/plagues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ewOW3Rn4o32tw0Lz0KsBbNJz886sORG1QB9EHQMdZjw_VEetLlEILc4nF4799oIsVsOumDmZJZ9mn5enG76HeymwO6yshzDms26IpEB8L_OgnNpXc5ls1xBLCCyOmC2zHG3RaogSsYM/w640-h360/plagues.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>HANNIBAL BROOKS (1969) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Prisoner of war Oliver Brooks is tasked with taking a zoo elephant to safety from allied bombing raids. Instead, he plans to cross the Alps to Switzerland and freedom.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">And oddball movie that works against all conventional wisdom. What would be produced as a family film today is a violent war flick with a big body count and "adult" situations. I think this is the only time I've ever seen Oliver Reed play someone affable and he makes it work. He still looks like a guy who could beat someone to death with a beer bottle but is managing to hold it in. Michael C. Pollard is cast as the gung-ho war lover making one wonder if the two leads didn't switch roles somewhere along the way. It's a fun flick with some real suspense moments and the amazing backdrop of Bavaria and the Alps. And I think that elephant really did come to like Oliver Reed. They share a real chemistry.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8a9GIOLzuPGbniUUrw2bh6eETD3wbMb68XEnJgWpJMof2H_I27u1Ah_E9OOp-u21kdKzvku_FcnECg8BlUKiJZ8i6sebAd6v7YMZPRpgZUYy9EjpDZvGrxeOcTv0K5FvhiuzBK7uRcs/s600/hannobal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="600" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8a9GIOLzuPGbniUUrw2bh6eETD3wbMb68XEnJgWpJMof2H_I27u1Ah_E9OOp-u21kdKzvku_FcnECg8BlUKiJZ8i6sebAd6v7YMZPRpgZUYy9EjpDZvGrxeOcTv0K5FvhiuzBK7uRcs/w640-h384/hannobal.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE WRONG MISSY (2020) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's on Netflix.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">David Spade is a lonely guy who accidentally invites the psycho girl he met on a blind date to a corporate retreat in Hawaii. Mayhem ensues.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Okay, it's late and you're looking for something to watch. A dumb comedy would fit the bill, right? But not THIS dumb! </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A mercifully short excursion into scatology in which no one manages to garner sympathy let alone laughs. There's little effort at a story and zero effort at making anything these characters do make sense. So, though it's obviously intended as a comedy of embarrassment, the only one embarrassed will be you for watching this kind of crap. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">I guess we can blame the Farrelley brothers for introducing this brand of cringe comedy. But the Farrelley's always remembered to have an actual plot in their movies. Rising stakes, real suspense, three-dimensional characters and lots of heart. Here we have one contrivance after another peppered with obscenities, moral bankruptcy and perversion for cheap laughs all because the filmmakers are at least wise enough to know that their base material is weak.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1dPDiMEWa5g1BiI4fnVknvMvgfwHQ5rpASTsbsKIhPLpl5EgkloFPHkECHpXSRBSqVznTUs_V4fIQuqexgciMY9ZrGqXzF5x2W-wzBpAZuwlzifAPuc8LpzmNohBuWQuQWrMtxWEmCbs/s1200/wromgmissy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1dPDiMEWa5g1BiI4fnVknvMvgfwHQ5rpASTsbsKIhPLpl5EgkloFPHkECHpXSRBSqVznTUs_V4fIQuqexgciMY9ZrGqXzF5x2W-wzBpAZuwlzifAPuc8LpzmNohBuWQuQWrMtxWEmCbs/w640-h336/wromgmissy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>GENERATION WAR (2013) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's on Amazon Prime.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A three-part series that follows five young Berliners through the horrors of war from 1941-1945. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">While this was all familiar territory to me I think many viewers will find this series as instructive as it is disturbing. It's a warts and all view of the war from the German perspective. Heartbreaking and often terrifying. Like any good war drama, the best and worst of humanity are on display here. Mostly the worst though. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The battle scenes are expertly staged and suspenseful. The production is densely detailed and painstakingly accurate which was a kick for an ordnance geek like me. The cast is simply terrific throughout especially at portraying the physical toll their horrific experiences have taken on them.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">And I'm willing to excuse the Dickensian liberties they take with coincidence because this story is as much an allegory as it is a straight-up narrative.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">My wife asked me why the Germans would produce something that placed them is so negative a light. I can only answer that perhaps the Germans think it's important that they tell their own story. In any case, I have to admire the honesty. If nothing else, this effort is further evidence that we should know and remember our histories, the good and the bad.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfZi2op06_ybTUoCMb56hUJ2Tz6gOHLAamTX-aJODpkSddkEGz7HhjfhCic1i12SxToqAFK1IjYqe8fX6wJXx_szoMFwKhdRkA86EIMAdKztdsWHOxR-GSdVXHq03t-bvg3fWMBrZCYc/s853/generation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="853" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqfZi2op06_ybTUoCMb56hUJ2Tz6gOHLAamTX-aJODpkSddkEGz7HhjfhCic1i12SxToqAFK1IjYqe8fX6wJXx_szoMFwKhdRkA86EIMAdKztdsWHOxR-GSdVXHq03t-bvg3fWMBrZCYc/w640-h360/generation.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS (2001)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The scion of a family of child prodigies becomes estranged from his wife and children for 22 years. But, stone broke and homeless, he schemes to work his way back into their home and hearts.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is Wes Anderson's third film and the one that firmly sets in place the template he uses to this day. Like this and every movie to come after it in his oeuvre, this is like an issue of a <i>New Yorker</i> magazine come to life complete with the cartoons. The characters are quirky and the humor droll. As in his later work, set direction is as important as the storyline here.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's intermittently funny. But when it is funny it's very funny. Mostly thanks to the performance of Gene Hackman who, honest to God, can make even the most difficult material his own. Check out his bang-on performance in David Mamet's HEIST. Hackman's delivery makes Mamet's mannered dialogue sound natural. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Anderson regulars Owen and Luke Wilson and Bill Murray are along for a story of oddball individuals' mawkish attempts to make their family work.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">I enjoyed this a lot more upon a second viewing. But, as my wife said before she left the room halfway through, "This is the kind of movie you have to be in the mood for." That's the keenest summation of Anderson's work I've ever heard.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlofLSlK72wyCSCsCoYnXL-HXbBeUOqXR5fgSSzvZYMAG3gnISMEYHNz7-pUC8hCJzKTdk6BKtaOf6S5H6Vkw48Z5gipZZRBEBSVwry0SKRQx9_Nx8MiIUEFQKJaiXybQCSZxbEPddytM/s1280/royal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlofLSlK72wyCSCsCoYnXL-HXbBeUOqXR5fgSSzvZYMAG3gnISMEYHNz7-pUC8hCJzKTdk6BKtaOf6S5H6Vkw48Z5gipZZRBEBSVwry0SKRQx9_Nx8MiIUEFQKJaiXybQCSZxbEPddytM/w640-h360/royal.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE WILD GEESE (1978) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A team of mercenaries is hired by some industrialists to rescue the leader of an African nation from captivity. Doublecrosses and betrayals leave them to fight their way out or die trying. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">After a painfully slow beginning, the movie picks up speed once the cast is on the ground in Africa. There's lots of action from there on but marred by indifferent direction by Andrew McLagen. Still, it's a decent enough shoot-em-up but I couldn't help thinking I'd rather be watching DOGS OF WAR again which is a much better version of practically same story. The same actor plays the imprisoned African leader in both!</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFn534xHgfj-0qwR2qHgo-4xbeKsu8oAj3lsT-bVZ6DAmpKIzFmImm1eBLIoZlzy-wf2iPpEZvLin7j15fMcTsQsuEpmLlr0D8rze0vG2pgxpR2lCzGot7ax_6u-xGpaOGwHesgNzdSzo/s1037/wildgeese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="1037" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFn534xHgfj-0qwR2qHgo-4xbeKsu8oAj3lsT-bVZ6DAmpKIzFmImm1eBLIoZlzy-wf2iPpEZvLin7j15fMcTsQsuEpmLlr0D8rze0vG2pgxpR2lCzGot7ax_6u-xGpaOGwHesgNzdSzo/w640-h378/wildgeese.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>TRANSPECOS (2016) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's on Amazon Prime.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Three border agents find themselves targets of a powerful drug cartel and must use their wits to find their way out of what appears to be inevitable doom. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Well acted by a small cast and filmed entirely outdoors, this drama ratchets the tension to the breaking point in a tidy 86 minutes. The stakes are high and the characters perfectly delineated as everything goes from bad to worse and then to hell.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNM6R0OajFuxoJzfRZFxqxMt-LG_ebeedIqamde4CWM6XhRact3vgcN_RLuU0p_Or1L6dXY7YlNK89lDeACvb2-X_zEIAn1YuFvXfWBC5RH5G8uI6VZD_kWdSmsJn2-kXmswELPSvNcjY/s640/transpecos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNM6R0OajFuxoJzfRZFxqxMt-LG_ebeedIqamde4CWM6XhRact3vgcN_RLuU0p_Or1L6dXY7YlNK89lDeACvb2-X_zEIAn1YuFvXfWBC5RH5G8uI6VZD_kWdSmsJn2-kXmswELPSvNcjY/w640-h360/transpecos.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>DRUGSTORE COWBOY (1989) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">You can see it on Amazon Prime.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch are junkies in 1970's Seattle making their way along by stealing from pharmacies until their fortune runs out. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This portrait of drug addicts from Gus VanSant rings true on every level and provides a voyeuristic look into the half-life of the habitual user. The result is sometimes tragic and often darkly humorous though, after seeing this film several times, I'm not sure if VanSant intended so many of thses scenes to be funny. The cast of four addicts lives by luck and their limited wits to supply themselves with pills and dope while eluding the law. Their sole purpose in life is stealing dope and taking dope. The Dillon character attacks this purpose with a level of obsession and dedication that, if applied to any other venture, would have made him an actual success in life. Instead, he's a cowardly predator, parasitic vermin in the wainscoting of society, taking what he needs and only thinking of himself. There's a reason they tell recorvering addicts to take it "one day at a time." It's because that's the lifestyle they're accustomed to. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The late night, pointless conversations and cheap philosophizing in the film bring to life the Raymond Chandler quote that inspired the title of this movie, "Those drugstore cowboys have all the answers." </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The cast is excellent including real-life junkie poet laureate William S. Burroughs in a small but pivotal role.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUg87NrvwT690TITVBONeumf1KYL4LW9b-_QpGRlWhuHwlwDVDUsGk9T4rvssPXkghQlBDi8ipJT_6bLQ775nMK7lMCSb59w3CupVB_Xw-7LtX-g293qTQK56_hNO1yUdCj7Q2WE7uPo/s1280/drugstore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUg87NrvwT690TITVBONeumf1KYL4LW9b-_QpGRlWhuHwlwDVDUsGk9T4rvssPXkghQlBDi8ipJT_6bLQ775nMK7lMCSb59w3CupVB_Xw-7LtX-g293qTQK56_hNO1yUdCj7Q2WE7uPo/w640-h360/drugstore.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>A SERIOUS MAN (2009) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm not going into the plot of this movie as it would lead to countless spoilers. Suffice it to say that it's about a college professor facing a serious mid-life crisis not of his own making that forces him into a moral quandary with devastating consequences. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">While the above sounds about as exciting as popping bubble wrap, it's a Coen brothers film and, in my opinion, those boys mine gold every time. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is one of those Coens that I didn't really get at first viewing. That's sometimes he case for me with their work. I didn't understand their intention with THE BIG LEBOWSKI until my second viewing. BARTON FINK took three. I was pleased that I got INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS the first time. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The cast here is perfection and, while there's many funny scenes in the film, it's all leavened by the sense of rising dread established in the opening scene which, oddly, is funny in itself.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNPcpRZUVDKNSFsFe6jMRCnOcU4zyn_vj6fJN7IbzDrFUZiSFaPQuct0ox8Zawr1Ov_TBjyM3_S8qKW9HLp-GD9qIMFe3zxz0T6f2BYlFTgabpsJBVZQTG9UlXDkzhZVRbjxj2oM4W4QU/s700/serious.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="700" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNPcpRZUVDKNSFsFe6jMRCnOcU4zyn_vj6fJN7IbzDrFUZiSFaPQuct0ox8Zawr1Ov_TBjyM3_S8qKW9HLp-GD9qIMFe3zxz0T6f2BYlFTgabpsJBVZQTG9UlXDkzhZVRbjxj2oM4W4QU/w640-h360/serious.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE LAST VALLEY (1971) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The horrors of plague and war pass by a remote Alpine valley until the arrival of Michael Caine and a ragtag band of mercenaries looking to escape the battlefield. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Movies about the Thirty Years war are rare. I can't think of a single other example that touches on this era. I bet the Swedes made a few as Gustavus Adolphus, the boy king, is a national hero there. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">James Clavell wrote and directed this dour historical drama that's a bit uneven and hardly a swashbuckler. Clavell's disdain for the human race, so often on display in his novels, is present here in a cast fo venal, violent and petty characters reduced to no other motive than survival. And interesting, if ultimately unpleasant, movie.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjprDexCA0rwGEuMYVabU6EW1kwV2M1FDUA29UIyvG2vdfMRIz3spAeUyPkyfk-4fw8Ahe7XBBD0QXEXcK787d1_9CPOufd6J_0sCFywSE56erzFKfSI89oLTLMA0Q0e9eisLPBymqY2eA/s550/lastvalley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="550" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjprDexCA0rwGEuMYVabU6EW1kwV2M1FDUA29UIyvG2vdfMRIz3spAeUyPkyfk-4fw8Ahe7XBBD0QXEXcK787d1_9CPOufd6J_0sCFywSE56erzFKfSI89oLTLMA0Q0e9eisLPBymqY2eA/w640-h384/lastvalley.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>MARLOWE (1969) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Private eye James Garner refuses a missing persons case but that doesn't quell his curiosity about a runaway from the heartland and just why no one wants him to find the kid. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Based on Raymond Chandler's THE LITTLE SISTER, Sterling Silliphant's script retains the complicated plot and colorful gab of the original Phil Marlowe stories. Garner fits the role like a glove playing an even more world weary version of his Rockford persona.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">I enjoyed this recent viewing more than the previous times I've seen this. Maybe I've gotten over my aversion to Chandler stories not done in period. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bruce Lee famously makes a brief but memorable appearance leading to a frankly ludicrous exit scene for him. Carroll O'Connor gets a chance to remind us what a terrific actor he was before he turned to playing caricatures. And Ken Tobey's always welcome presence in a small role that offers him a few great moments.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjZn6PeEmbJIHcDGEzCEb10WbGcJ5o9z6xp_Lg_Wrf_8WYz7Rdnb2HqwYp81VstsZ2xI__lpsRTc4qPSEZ18MNrXiWRWPwqbqNo6ouKC4MjCpPVbJD2cd8IVXg-N9HyfmV_ooQWeNineQ/s600/marlowe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="600" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjZn6PeEmbJIHcDGEzCEb10WbGcJ5o9z6xp_Lg_Wrf_8WYz7Rdnb2HqwYp81VstsZ2xI__lpsRTc4qPSEZ18MNrXiWRWPwqbqNo6ouKC4MjCpPVbJD2cd8IVXg-N9HyfmV_ooQWeNineQ/w640-h346/marlowe.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963) </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Germans put all their "rotten eggs in one basket" in a prison camp built to keep a small army of escape artists inside the wire. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I've lost count how many times I've seen this movie since the first time at a Saturday matinee on its initial release. The movie established Steve McQueen as a superstar and launched James Garner's movie career. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is top drawer entertainment providing one indelibly classic scene after another. Plenty of suspense, action and humor all delivered with verve and heart. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I did more reading on this production before viewing it and was not surprised to learn that a dozen screenwriters worked on this often working on set to create scenes. Director John Sturges even shut down filimng for two weeks while new scenes for McQueen's character could be written. The end result is clear as the obvious through-story fo the escape serves as a foundation for what are, essentially, a series of vignettes. Most times, this kind of creative process film is a total disaster. But here, it served to create a classic piece of entertainment that works juts as well today as it did for a couple hundred screaming kids at the Waverly Theater .</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Side note: This movie led to countless skinned knees as every kid I know ran home for the theater to try and recreate McQueen's motorcycle stunt on their Schwinn. It also affected my choice of baseball gloves as I wanted one just like Virgil Hilts.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWbWzrK9LLM_jKd-9nCkOQpOxBeqtM2qymmqAzkvjRuXn2IMeYkgUJD1R6CY7M0t2w0HnwDSQm6wGssqaO44sDyvLRd08U1Qv3OTxaQFMN71Ba55bTlK0mv7ICWoN3SjnPOvHXb3_Iow/s474/greatescape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="474" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWbWzrK9LLM_jKd-9nCkOQpOxBeqtM2qymmqAzkvjRuXn2IMeYkgUJD1R6CY7M0t2w0HnwDSQm6wGssqaO44sDyvLRd08U1Qv3OTxaQFMN71Ba55bTlK0mv7ICWoN3SjnPOvHXb3_Iow/w640-h360/greatescape.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE BIG HEAT (1953)</b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Glenn Ford is a homicide cop with a low tolerance for crooks and corruption. When his latest case brings violence to his family's home he hands in his badge to take down a criminal conspuracy all on his own. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Fritz Lang directs from a lean script by Sideney Boehm based on the William McGivern which is, far as I know, the first rogue cop story on film. At least it presents the tropes we've all come to be familiar with over time. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ford is solid as always and brings real depth to what could have been a one-dimensional role. Lee Marvin gets his first big bad guy role and delivers big on every level. What a crumb he plays! But it's Gloria Grahame who is the real standout here as the sometimes ditzy sometimes vulnerable galpal to Marvin's gangster. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Everything about this movie clicks from the fast pace, effective performances, suspenseful action and crowd-pleasing ending. And Lang's usual attention to detail and supporting characters is on display here. His subtle hand is everywhere in the way the camera moves to the small moments that lift what might have a standard police thriller to classic status.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn4tjvseI7KH6pP22dR4-BX_rzxZPqbzlZJ6zVBTLXu3jBfC1Mv63dO4UxjeuQl4HebhZBJRPYgouJc6M4nwG4oRyy3Ubm8mPWV2xui4UH9Mzxio-C56YK_lx5LvspPTXnnQkw8kFKBx8/s658/bigheat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="658" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn4tjvseI7KH6pP22dR4-BX_rzxZPqbzlZJ6zVBTLXu3jBfC1Mv63dO4UxjeuQl4HebhZBJRPYgouJc6M4nwG4oRyy3Ubm8mPWV2xui4UH9Mzxio-C56YK_lx5LvspPTXnnQkw8kFKBx8/w640-h360/bigheat.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE MAN ON THE ROOF (1976) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Someone has a vendetta against the police. This someone owns a stockpile of weapons and a strong desire for revenge. But can a team of detectives work out the pieces before he strikes again. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Based on a Martin Beck novel, this Swedish police procedural perfectly captures the pace and tone of these world-renowned mysteries. The opening murder is brutal and leads into a slow burn, meticulously portrayed investigation and finally to a standout stand-off between a rooftop sniper and a police force caught unprepared for this suspect's level of violence. The extended action scene that climaxes the film is edge of the seat stuff presented without histrionics or melodrama. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">I only wish they'd continued through the series with sequels. I'd love to see a good adaption of ROSEANNA or THE LOCKED ROOM.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzJkKEn0Aq2rM0hFOdbPsIEqDCAfkYMqNGJ28jU7IfJulcp1KAfeAlOrsNGVvl4OLARhILc81TC_zrZnL0GAtddbqEGPc-09nghxupERbiGIN39uczcGR5aqOiSS0UPWLXP2yJukjLZk/s1549/manontheroof.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1549" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzJkKEn0Aq2rM0hFOdbPsIEqDCAfkYMqNGJ28jU7IfJulcp1KAfeAlOrsNGVvl4OLARhILc81TC_zrZnL0GAtddbqEGPc-09nghxupERbiGIN39uczcGR5aqOiSS0UPWLXP2yJukjLZk/w640-h396/manontheroof.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-9489286997447785142020-09-27T10:18:00.003-07:002020-09-27T10:20:08.371-07:00MOVIE REVIEW BONANZA<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b> </b><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>DOOMSDAY (2008)</b>
</span></span><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scotland is walled off for the second time in history to contain a virulent plague pandemic. Thirty years later, the same disease shows up in London and Rhona Mitra is sent over the wall to find a cure in what has become a lawless land ruled by cannibalistic gangs. </span></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">This action (and cruelty) packed apocalyptic thriller would be well at home in the pages of 2000AD. Borrowing liberally from other sources like 28 DAYS LATER, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and ROAD WARRIOR, Neil Marshal cobbles together a mean yet fun action thriller that I'll bet anything was from an idea he had in film school.</span></p><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While engaging enough, it all feels a bit hollow as the motivations of the bad guy David O'Hara seem unclear. It also stretches credulity that any civilized society could fall quite this far in a single generation. But it has its moments. " If you're hungry, have a piece of your friend."</span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJmvdr7c-NicIWrPMgVAGbkUH-TI9oCm97-E7yJjIwT5kQUjPgIzhwjU_NWuNitFEK_PQPoBDs7mA3oIdOHVVcJGIAoPNT3MUbVts7SnE-TSoWQc7zhh7xK3XuGPku3D1t6Ts1Cj1-hY/s688/doom.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="688" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJmvdr7c-NicIWrPMgVAGbkUH-TI9oCm97-E7yJjIwT5kQUjPgIzhwjU_NWuNitFEK_PQPoBDs7mA3oIdOHVVcJGIAoPNT3MUbVts7SnE-TSoWQc7zhh7xK3XuGPku3D1t6Ts1Cj1-hY/w640-h264/doom.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THEY ONLY KILL THEIR MASTERS (1972) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A doberman pinscher is the main suspect in the murder of a local woman until chief of police James Garner uncovers evidence pointing to a man rather than man's best friend. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Solid whodunnit loaded with "shock" elements that are now common even in children's programming. A kind of sexual mores time capsule with Garner trying on his Jim Rockford persona. He's ably abetted by a gang of TV and movie regulars like Arthur O'Connell, Chris Connolly, Ann Rutherford, Hal Holbrook, Harry Guardino and even Art Metrano! Kathrine Ross is on board as the love interest and it all goes by easy and breezy with dashes of humor, action and a pretty decent car chase.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSw-c6xcanrV20_rpUZQLNUrfbWPvMloHwc2P1MsfUWgxFGqwRPNnwjXTcRY17m13ldcI8t_ZGcHLztGbNo36muUSUEUBjBs1HvPJ_J5OUroGx3K08wJEe_wT6vqYMnFwFtLl7STXGPB4/s853/theyonly.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="853" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSw-c6xcanrV20_rpUZQLNUrfbWPvMloHwc2P1MsfUWgxFGqwRPNnwjXTcRY17m13ldcI8t_ZGcHLztGbNo36muUSUEUBjBs1HvPJ_J5OUroGx3K08wJEe_wT6vqYMnFwFtLl7STXGPB4/w640-h360/theyonly.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>DANGER WITHIN (1959)</b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"> British prisoners in an Italian POW camp must devise a way to escape before the Germans arrive to take over. Standing in their way is a sadistic camp commandant and a traitor hiding among them. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This movie works as a kind of dry-run for THE GREAT ESCAPE which would be released four years later. Drawing it's inspiration from real-life events, it portrays a lot of the same kind of events as the later film and contains touches of humor as the Sturges version did. But this one is a pure suspense, programmer, part murder mystery, part boy's own adventure. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Richard Todd and Richard Attenborough lead a cast of familiar Brit actors in this fast-paced story that draws you in with a kind of locked room whodunnit leading to a nail-biting escape sequence. Ripping stuff.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqnWKKwQog0sjgHFcVeaUw3IKSg9dx_XFSvN3ceDDIoOiFpcasDdGHktHuhLUdDGQnl45Fb7itBxrKdQRP6iAiz_xckNpU6Evumx281zZ6DlW88beHVWOoTc3ytRD9HVSKZ4_UB7TRlMM/s1583/danger.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1227" data-original-width="1583" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqnWKKwQog0sjgHFcVeaUw3IKSg9dx_XFSvN3ceDDIoOiFpcasDdGHktHuhLUdDGQnl45Fb7itBxrKdQRP6iAiz_xckNpU6Evumx281zZ6DlW88beHVWOoTc3ytRD9HVSKZ4_UB7TRlMM/w640-h496/danger.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>SAVAGE GUNS (1961) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Drifter Richard Basehart wanders into a battle between ranchers in Sonora, Mexico and is forced to choose sides.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Standard western actioner with the historical significance of being the first western filmed in Almeria, Spain where hundreds of Euro-westerns would be filmed over the next decade and a half. The print I watched was terrible but I imagine the movie would be far more enjoyable given a decent transfer. There's loads of action and fights in a tight running time though the story comes to frequent screaming halts for what we, as kids, called "kissin' scenes." Some of these are rather creepy as Basehart is a good twenty or more years older than his teenage love interest. The movie also offers a twist I rarely see in action flicks; a change in villains halfway through. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Miring the whole thing down is having Basehart in the lead. He's a fine actor and does his best here. But he's no one's idea of a western hero and lacks the physicality and the appearance of an iconic gunslinger. And his theater trained voice sounds unnatural coupled with Randolph Scott style dialogue. It doesn't help that he's one of the shorter members of the cast. I have to wonder why they didn't cast him as the troubled ranch owner played by Don Taylor and cast either Taylor or Alex Nicol (also in the cast as a vile, cowardly gunhand) in the lead.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7rYTnEIWIbm6ota6gLd0gQQ3MpQzAAHzlCa3cIh63QcoC2UNJodd6BgtBmHMNW_jFq28PJ94OmXlWO-cfdQluWCuz1x76G7vI02zz83pUuF_rOSVa0lwLEP6kCbjrjIEGkQoJRe67NE/s532/savage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="532" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7rYTnEIWIbm6ota6gLd0gQQ3MpQzAAHzlCa3cIh63QcoC2UNJodd6BgtBmHMNW_jFq28PJ94OmXlWO-cfdQluWCuz1x76G7vI02zz83pUuF_rOSVa0lwLEP6kCbjrjIEGkQoJRe67NE/w640-h430/savage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><b style="font-size: large;">DANGER: DIABOLIK (1968) </b></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">John Phillip Law as the supercriminal Diabolik and Marisa Mell as Eva, his always faithful lover and partner-in-crime. Diabolik plagues the police of Europe with a series of daring heists.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Never been a big Mario Bava fan but this one is fun to watch as a time capsule of 1960's Euro cinema. The action is wild and the heists as unworkable as they are insane. But that's part of the fun as the movie leans hard on its comic book roots for pacing, sets and action. The filmmakers also liberally borrow from James Bond and the 1966 Batman. Adolfo Celli (Largo from THUNDERBALL) is along as a vile mafioso. And Terry-Thomas has two memorable cameos doing what he does best, wheedle and bluster. The Ennio Morricone score is not one of his best with a horrid theme song meant to mimic a James Bond song over a cheapjack imitation of a Maurice Binder Bond credit sequence.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqp6YIg6RzAUidtT80ivLbz-I7AlYYGVJ3NKI9X6DDZPF6pXIEn7AZHuhraWmXSPZaIZ-nLt9aniHZNpkh9se0pr4gwz8t91PO7W0PbE6jWkO0a0vxeg8GFLX2GjHigUFQ1AnVJ3ZLtHo/s1200/diabolik.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqp6YIg6RzAUidtT80ivLbz-I7AlYYGVJ3NKI9X6DDZPF6pXIEn7AZHuhraWmXSPZaIZ-nLt9aniHZNpkh9se0pr4gwz8t91PO7W0PbE6jWkO0a0vxeg8GFLX2GjHigUFQ1AnVJ3ZLtHo/w640-h360/diabolik.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>TOO MANY CROOKS (1959) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Crooked businessman and all-around bounder Terry-Thomas sees a way out of his troubles when his wife is kidnapped. All he has to do is not pay the ransom and he's rid of her. But he doesn't count on the ineptitude of abductors or his wife's desire for revenge.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Fast-paced comedy with an ensemble cast that delivers frequent laughs. Of course, Terry-Thomas is the the lead in his patented egotistical cad role delivered with his usual oiliness and always impeccable timing. Brit comedy treasure George Cole is here as Fingers, the spineless leader of the gang. A classic English comedy in a period where Peter Sellers, Ian Carmichael and others were in top form. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">If you think this plot sounds awfully similar to the 1986 feature RUTHLESS PEOPLE, you're not far off the mark. That movie lifts the plot of this Brit comedy wholesale and without credit.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5gvh75dcMoOd4T4wkkp4UXVQjzbTzkUWL9VUuPJ-p4gk0LcQnkhWifQXvDSNE4aUyvVWW2dp-C3eCOWFxN3_Q3ub8rFMoo1Yu0sZ9eWTHZKuMmAVUKBYZMqhNKnZEzcq5J-kqPhSv_e0/s600/toomany.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="600" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5gvh75dcMoOd4T4wkkp4UXVQjzbTzkUWL9VUuPJ-p4gk0LcQnkhWifQXvDSNE4aUyvVWW2dp-C3eCOWFxN3_Q3ub8rFMoo1Yu0sZ9eWTHZKuMmAVUKBYZMqhNKnZEzcq5J-kqPhSv_e0/w640-h336/toomany.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>HOME SWEET HOMICIDE (1946)</b> When their next-door neighbor is murdered, three precocious kids, inspired by their mystery novelist mom, try to find the killer themselves. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A close adaption of the popular novel by prolific mystery writer Craig Rice (actually Georgiana Craig) made into a brisk and breezy entertainment with the help of a terrific cast. Randolph Scott is his usual manly self playing a homicide detective with as much authority as he did a cowboy. He is more than ably abetted by James Gleason as his partner. Gleason is one of those "oh, THAT guy" character actors who specialized in playing put-upon policemen and sarcastic New Yawkers in well over a hundred features.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The three kids are the core of the film and carry the story with ease. Peggy Ann Carter and Connie Marshall are the older sisters and are perfectly suited to the kind of overly-articulate smartypants characters that typified the portrayal of adolescent girls in the 40's. But Dean Stockwell (yeah, the guy from QUANTUM LEAP and BLUE VELVET) steals the show as the pesky little brother.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB9pz7puESLKdtOOdZJ2HGFKd__UsY_2mqE99HdvrhDNMe5wthBF1MflFXedim4upzdqp9pPtYbds0h0vaeRhmPoXnTcqRi0jCwi2seU0wD1AIHJG3D6R2xZNPPXJ45eYNI7tkK253yYE/s874/homesweet.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="874" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB9pz7puESLKdtOOdZJ2HGFKd__UsY_2mqE99HdvrhDNMe5wthBF1MflFXedim4upzdqp9pPtYbds0h0vaeRhmPoXnTcqRi0jCwi2seU0wD1AIHJG3D6R2xZNPPXJ45eYNI7tkK253yYE/w640-h446/homesweet.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>SWING HIGH, SWING LOW (1937)</b> You can find it on YouTube.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Soldier Fred MacMurray meets down-on-her-luck Carole Lombard on his last day of service on the Panama Canal. But will Fred put aside his drinking and gambling ways so their whirlwind romance can last a lifetime? </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A more classic example of the kind of boy-meets-girl film made in the 1930s would be hard to find. Snappy dialogue enhanced by easygoing MacMurray and the irresistible Lombard. Sure, it's corny and schmaltzy but the performances, including a cameo from Anthony Quinn, and the very real depth of the pathos help make it all work. MacMurray in particular excels in the third act as he descends into a drunken depression. And, if you are familiar with this genre, as movie audiences in the Thirties were, you know there's no guarantee of a happy ending. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">I've seen any number of these kind of "romance" movies only to be shocked by a downbeat ending. Robert Montgomery specialized in playing charming rogues in stories that started out breezy and light before gradually descending into degradation, illness or death. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sidenote: Unfortunately, this movie is in public domain. That means you can find crappy copies of it all over the internet. That also means that Paramount probably has no interest in ever restoring it. A pity.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXscIG0YIeZHnl5delEekDO-Xe9qGR4Zg4Q5iukttjV-pIj_jSLtDf5-llLC-_pj5Ft6GYBPziRYuNK9xY2PF74oatpMNjWOxBtGwpXTz4b55exM2EYP2rzdbRYu1lX-65CiOwfWb4Zg/s856/swinghogh.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="856" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXscIG0YIeZHnl5delEekDO-Xe9qGR4Zg4Q5iukttjV-pIj_jSLtDf5-llLC-_pj5Ft6GYBPziRYuNK9xY2PF74oatpMNjWOxBtGwpXTz4b55exM2EYP2rzdbRYu1lX-65CiOwfWb4Zg/w640-h360/swinghogh.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><b style="font-size: large;">YOUNG WALLANDER (2020)</b><span style="font-size: large;"> It's on Netflix.</span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This six part series is a reboot of Henning Mankell's extremely popular Kurt Wallander police mysteries. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">I am a huge fan of both Swedish-produced series featuring this character and was looking forward to seeing this. I guess I'll just have to be happy with the original TV movies because this fails on almost every point.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The first, and biggest problem, is setting this "origin" story in present day. It should have been set in the 60's or 80's to match wither of the original series' timelines. There's an excellent BBC series called ENDEAVOUR featuring the early years of Inspector Morse that is properly set in early 60's Oxford. In this series we're left to imagine this rookie cop growing up to fight crime in some imaginary future. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">I suppose this decision was made to make the production less expensive and, mostly, to allow for all the diversity the law will allow. Diversity and political correctness are the main point of this exercise as the agenda-driven storyline strives to present an alternate version of Sweden that Swedes would probably not recognize. That might explain way, oddly, the production is shot in English and there is not even a Swedish language option offered by Netflix. Turkish? Yes. Swedish? No.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">All of that might be excusable if the story was worthwhile. But what we get is a sloppily constructed "mystery" cobbled together from coincidence, contrivance, convenience and clues a blind man could find but no one sees but the hero. In fact, this story is constructed much like a Scooby Doo mystery. You know, the kind of plot where there's only one possible suspect and you know who the villain is the very first time they appear in the story. It's that obvious and that bad.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0QMawRm9BWqP4g5aS7iwnR7nnYt9m9v6vsS5lvdbF5vDsldZLYL7KJg4Dcpa3nmKDM4LlgubKlYSqzn6o_q1wifc3VYa__7BOFDTchTesUtfU_j1k9UE_yLGUjfzJB0eO7nN423D4m9s/s1280/yungwall.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0QMawRm9BWqP4g5aS7iwnR7nnYt9m9v6vsS5lvdbF5vDsldZLYL7KJg4Dcpa3nmKDM4LlgubKlYSqzn6o_q1wifc3VYa__7BOFDTchTesUtfU_j1k9UE_yLGUjfzJB0eO7nN423D4m9s/w640-h360/yungwall.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE (1997)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Garrulous Bill Murray shows up in London on his birthday to surprise his brother Peter Gallagher hours before a dinner party that Gallagher needs to go well in order to advance his career. Desperate to get rid of his goofy big brother, Gallagher buys Murray tickets to a street theater "experience" that goes disastrously wrong as Murray becomes embroiled in a real, deadly game of spies that he believes to be all "part of the act."</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Basically, this is Bill Murray and company recreating the kind of comedy that Bob Hope specialized in, the hapless boob thrown into a dangerous situation that only bluster will help him escape from. The twist on this one is Murray's total obliviousness to the constant danger that he's in as well as the reaction of the cast of killers and a knaves to his outrageous (and seemingly fearless) behavior. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">It all ramps up quite nicely with Murray and co-conspirator Joanne Whalley escaping from one cliffhanger scenario after another all with Bill thinking he's in an elaborate improv. Lots of funny scenes with Murray unleashed to play his ugly American character, a more witless, version of his John Winger role in STRIPES.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqUOqDWlHgvXfEbOUVfM47d_nEcFPZ7UwYygMhNdzyi_d6P7OBiFItSD2JORG47-InQHisnoDdyZjHLQrz7-Qbc9Ts2YWOgW-dCZYTgnxiiCgEH4PU5CYWTYJypZbR7OISGDudq-pRwc/s600/manwho.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqUOqDWlHgvXfEbOUVfM47d_nEcFPZ7UwYygMhNdzyi_d6P7OBiFItSD2JORG47-InQHisnoDdyZjHLQrz7-Qbc9Ts2YWOgW-dCZYTgnxiiCgEH4PU5CYWTYJypZbR7OISGDudq-pRwc/w640-h360/manwho.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>ESCAPE FROM FORT BRAVO (1953)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Tough, by-the-book cavalry captain William Holden faces a double threat from the Confederate prisoners in his charge and the Mescalero Apaches on the loose all around the remote Fort Bravo.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Manly, cavalry western ably directed by Jon Sturges with enough action, intrigue and romance to keep you engaged until the suspenseful standoff that takes up much of the film's third act. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's solid boots and saddle stuff with outnumbered troopers and relentless Apaches all spiced up with the presence of captive rebels always ready to make trouble for the damn Yankees. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">My only peeve is with costuming. There was this kind of standard outfit for US Cavalry troopers in Hollywood productions throughout the 50s that bears no relation to how troopers dressed in the period. It always looks too clean, too fussy, too tailored and too uniform with the white gloves and those big, silly, white Stetsons.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxV_AaHSK1Bp-MS5FaMieM85le6XdFK6x4BjCAUmo6xVYGKpBcZe5teadYEWhqOUDHURKzO9Kj0PEDgWbkG4GTTBdluyiNgLrauBi6kh9ryoq7wanXH5tXV0p_IiN_gs1lYrxH8mf5vIw/s520/escapefrom.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="520" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxV_AaHSK1Bp-MS5FaMieM85le6XdFK6x4BjCAUmo6xVYGKpBcZe5teadYEWhqOUDHURKzO9Kj0PEDgWbkG4GTTBdluyiNgLrauBi6kh9ryoq7wanXH5tXV0p_IiN_gs1lYrxH8mf5vIw/w640-h356/escapefrom.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A replicant blade runner, while on a hunt, comes across a mystery that made lead to a tectonic shift in the development of artificial lifeforms.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was reluctant to watch this as I felt it was the most unnecessary sequel since THE ODD COUPLE 2. I was half right. The story, much like the original film, is a classic Los Angeles private eye story transposed to a dystopic alternate future. Unlike the original, there's really nothing new here storywise. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The film is, like a replicant, is attractive and interesting on the surface but ultimately soulless. That said, what's on the surface has a lot to recommend it. The performances are excellent with Ryan Gosling investing himself totally in the role of K, a replicant with a sense of duty and perhaps more going on behind his deadman eyes. This guy can do a whole lot while appearing to do very little. It's always clear what's on his mind even without dialogue and that includes some deeply emotional moments of loss, anger and frustration. Harrison Ford also offers his best performance in many years as the older, "open-ended lifespan, Deckard. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The revelation here though is the performance of Sylvia Hoeks as Luv, a replicant who turns out to be way more than a personal experience. She steals every scene she's in as a hyper-efficient operative for a powerful oligarch. Hoeks plays the role like a petulant child trapped in an adult body and the results are often frightening. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The other star of the film is, of course, the visuals. Roger Deakins cinematographer combined with what looks to be a natural technological evolution from the first film. Often stunning, sometimes imponderable and always utterly convincing. The incredible work of the set and production designers elevate what would have been a ho-hum story to a fascinating visit to a parallel world. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">On a side note, I have to wonder when this script was written. It snows in LA in this future and every area beyond the vast urban blight is turned over to agriculture and massive solar farms. It looks like the fantasy future promoted by radical environmentalists in the 80's. You know, back when global cooling was a concern.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV2czNWZLqRL0nFDyGBbThaje2K8RvJ2B-ybpT6M_TTxwhjRwA6bZMYtzuQVBW6BvmGDQf34kAZmB1i7kVgxQj433c7IFtev98QEkOhw9hTC1bUGprkjO1ZMb1YXiWCVd2IXUbvlo_Hjo/s1280/bladerunner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV2czNWZLqRL0nFDyGBbThaje2K8RvJ2B-ybpT6M_TTxwhjRwA6bZMYtzuQVBW6BvmGDQf34kAZmB1i7kVgxQj433c7IFtev98QEkOhw9hTC1bUGprkjO1ZMb1YXiWCVd2IXUbvlo_Hjo/w640-h360/bladerunner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>PARADISE ALLEY (1978) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Cosmo Carboni seeks fame and fortune for himself and his two brothers in New York's Lower East Side just after WWII. This leads him to urge his slow-witted little brother into the nasty world of all-in wrestling.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is Sylvester Stallone's sophomore effort as a writer/director and the follow-up to his "overnight" success with ROCKY. Like many second films from creators, this one has a large degree of the self-indulgence allowed by big studios hoping to catch lightning in a bottle a second time. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Unlike so many of those "I got this idea in film school" projects, this one has plenty of heart and an earnest desire to entertain. It is certainly a movie rich in period detail, diverse characters and a mix of humor and pathos that converges at the end for a suspenseful climax. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sly casts himself as a brash fast-talking wiseass with a gift for gab and a slippery set of morals. In other words, the polar opposite of Rocky Balboa. Not hard to see that his idea was not to get typecast as a stolid macho palooka. And he certainly succeeds. His Cosmo is a charming opportunist who never sees the consequences of his actions until he finally understands that others are paying the price for his scheming.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The story owes its inspiration to Damon Runyon and the earlier Dead End Kids movies. There's a reference to the Bogart classic ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT. The whole film has that feel of a Warner Brothers back alley drama. And that atmosphere is bolstered by shooting on location in Manhattan and planting the camera to catch the parts of the skyline that were unchanged from the 1940's. Though this was a Universal film there's not a single scene shot at that studio's well-known city street backlot. I can hear Sly digging his heels in and refusing to shoot any of the film on those familiar sets. Good choice. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This movie failed to find an audience at the time and the reasons are obvious. After the phenomenal success of ROCKY, audiences weren't ready to accept Sly as a conniving user. He would never play a character this morally compromised again. Another reason this suffered at the box office is, that while entertaining throughout, the movie waits far too long to introduce its through story of the "little" brother entering the wrestling game.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTkxCdAYKyiV85ij8TJEgl7ufvXjKkiyWjHD8U1QE_l4xHxPrwATAt3yW5zVk7_-ouZVR6lxtJf9Jw0Jmej1Aa2V2jVH8rSC-bFzZl_F_DFDOhrAakB1VIihD24uzTrTHaZOELMnLJbUI/s680/paradise.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTkxCdAYKyiV85ij8TJEgl7ufvXjKkiyWjHD8U1QE_l4xHxPrwATAt3yW5zVk7_-ouZVR6lxtJf9Jw0Jmej1Aa2V2jVH8rSC-bFzZl_F_DFDOhrAakB1VIihD24uzTrTHaZOELMnLJbUI/w470-h640/paradise.jpg" width="470" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>REBELLES (2019) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Former beauty pagent winner turned stripper Cécile de France returns home to Boulogne-sur-Mer to escape a failed relationship. She takes a job at a fish cannery where trouble ensues involving a castrated corpse and a bag stuffed with Euros.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Fast-paced. funny and suspenseful, this first feature from director Allan Mauduit is an entertaining, and violent, farce from beginning to end. Shot with an attention to detail and a fine cast of actors playing the comedy with a straight face. And, unlike most American attempts at this kind of comedy, it manages to present a lowbrow comedy without resorting to scatological tangents for cheap laughs.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGadx7uhn5kVLGlY-Wpz9S-ardIGotBZtaaIQvBshZt4ZxfUJCIVv6aZP5JIcWMerK7CXVqgmSGzW9Dy3V-O3YafwSjCAYhCdjYU8c7WV7D5TdnZEh7dLlTNCTnxdwtoUZN8GKEkaFUOU/s1600/rebelles.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGadx7uhn5kVLGlY-Wpz9S-ardIGotBZtaaIQvBshZt4ZxfUJCIVv6aZP5JIcWMerK7CXVqgmSGzW9Dy3V-O3YafwSjCAYhCdjYU8c7WV7D5TdnZEh7dLlTNCTnxdwtoUZN8GKEkaFUOU/w640-h320/rebelles.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Robert Mitchum is a gambler wooed down to an exclusive island resort off the Mexican coast with a promise of easy cash. But his benefactors have a sinister fate for him that Mitchum must uncover if he means to survive his paid vacation. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is one of those movies where the backstory of the film is as rich as what you'll see on screen. Apparently, the director lost interest in this project halfway through and walked off. I guess Mitchum agreed with him that the story was a dud and took over the production as writer and director. The actors worked from handwritten re-writes by Bob that turned the entire third act climax into an extended, multi-layer action sequence. The movie's running time went over two hours with these editions in a time when a programmer like this would usually clock in at less than ninety minutes. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The results are a cinematic tour de force as the movie takes a screaming turn halfway through its running time when Mitch cranks everything up to eleven. The action is divided between Mitchum trapped on a yacht with a murderous gangster Raymond Burr and an ex-Nazi doctor(!) and Vincent Price(!) on shore in a gun battle with goon Charles McGraw and a small army of hoods. Price steals the second half of the film as Mitchum unleashes him to play, with all his gusto, a ham actor with a tenuous hold on reality. Both parts of the action are terrific but the standout is Mitchum's solo battle in the claustrophobic confines below decks which is filmed with real verve and edge of the chair suspense. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">This film also features what I think is Jane Russell's best performance. The actress often came off somewhat wooden. But here she's charming, funny and more nuanced than we're used to seeing her. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The movie is a Howard Hughes production which may explain its genesis and wild production history.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXz8MwkuSgjFOtcuTuK8ZhtmjRKj2MbZZfcWL-hJYNalzuBuuZXx0gx8aZ8A-g1RHWjOsLof3xalIaXBEffk-2jhoyS07W5AVY5-Wxg5rmVev_VEUdyvkd1jehRbScqvUWL0CCC2YHBWI/s1171/hiskind.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="887" data-original-width="1171" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXz8MwkuSgjFOtcuTuK8ZhtmjRKj2MbZZfcWL-hJYNalzuBuuZXx0gx8aZ8A-g1RHWjOsLof3xalIaXBEffk-2jhoyS07W5AVY5-Wxg5rmVev_VEUdyvkd1jehRbScqvUWL0CCC2YHBWI/w640-h484/hiskind.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL (2017) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A ronin samurai is cursed with eternal life when a witch's spell inhabits his body with mystical worms who refuse to allow their host to die. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Takashi Miike's gonzo samurai chop-fest starts with a one-against-all sword battle and never lets up after that with multiple fights, attacks, chases, betrayals and confrontations leading to a climatic two-against-all sword battle. There's honestly not much more plot than that. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">While it delivers on action, the film fails to deliver on story. One major problem is putting the best fight in the film at the beginning in which the hero kills HUNDREDS of armed men and survives. And this is BEFORE he becomes unkillable. It's hard to work up any real tension or concern after that. A young girl seeking revenge is inserted into the story to give us someone to care about but, while she's certainly placed in danger, there's not a lot of effort made to make us believe she's in actual jeopardy. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not to say that, as an action film, this isn't a treat. My only qualm is that it could have been a lot more than a simple progression of blade clashes.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihYF_jhWF16RgamR8nY4nz5ir0OYZbtFfZiP-6xQFSCkJbg_g2uLPU-7v-EO9tS1yxO6Jmb1MTERk3UrHN2Gf_p01kSZxqeio6g7kUNLal_bFDyyP5YMVJiOC6o9hWw8KMQhQ9sOqAXqE/s2048/bladeof.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1243" data-original-width="2048" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihYF_jhWF16RgamR8nY4nz5ir0OYZbtFfZiP-6xQFSCkJbg_g2uLPU-7v-EO9tS1yxO6Jmb1MTERk3UrHN2Gf_p01kSZxqeio6g7kUNLal_bFDyyP5YMVJiOC6o9hWw8KMQhQ9sOqAXqE/w640-h388/bladeof.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>Le gendarme se marie</i>/THE TROOPS GET MARRIED (1968) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Louis De Funès is a by-the-book cop in the resort town of San Tropez. When the mobs of vacationers descend on the town at the beginning of summer the widow of a police colonel is among them and the attraction between widower Louis and widow Claude Gensac is immediate. But how will Louis' teenage daughter react?</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The second sequel in this popular series of farces about bumbling flics in the Riviera. It all moves briskly with the funniest scenes involving Louis' reaction to the unanticipated changes brought to his life with his whirlwind romance with the elegant Gensac.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrYqVhbMcq51zi6Kf9mFZsUUmIxLhWPQco47xoz_n8lvFSW3rGBSzyUrECT8_Xm3MOBUHQzIVMl7F8JYIgH2HiurNIkxNgkyh8YFbFKQs1f_dzvjP_0X4FZTK-imzk7DKrmPiMDtDibM0/s1920/louisdefunes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrYqVhbMcq51zi6Kf9mFZsUUmIxLhWPQco47xoz_n8lvFSW3rGBSzyUrECT8_Xm3MOBUHQzIVMl7F8JYIgH2HiurNIkxNgkyh8YFbFKQs1f_dzvjP_0X4FZTK-imzk7DKrmPiMDtDibM0/w640-h360/louisdefunes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>PANIC IN YEAR ZERO (1962) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ray Milland is on a camping vacation with his wife and kids when Los Angeles (and much of the rest of the world) comes under attack with atomic weapons. He and his, now post-nuclear, family must now survive in a new world where it's every man for himself. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Made at the absolute zenith of the nuclear war scare, this movie portrayed what was literally on everyone's mind at the time. With the Cuban missile crisis still in the headlines, there wasn't anyone not thinking about what might very well lie ahead for civilization. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The movie is low budget and seems very dated now though many of the situations are still effective. In its day it must have been a shocker with stolid Hollywood actor Ray Milland and teen idol Frankie Avalon beating and gunning down their fellow citizens to get what they need to survive. A double-bill cheapie, this movie nonetheless is groundbreaking as it mines the zeitgeist to create the first survivalist drama long before the zombies took over the genre.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OllfyZsKqTQcjxioQ1FsvrDB_-buyJ7GlVTXzGM1gk-f7nky-3tnXjve1rkuKgopWbc4yWoIvmkKTWCVqPFrG-phv5LRJRtbjAK75Wb8qGciP73NkQS7Tf_f_fJMjIzXC38dc7eVGkA/s849/paniczero.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="849" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OllfyZsKqTQcjxioQ1FsvrDB_-buyJ7GlVTXzGM1gk-f7nky-3tnXjve1rkuKgopWbc4yWoIvmkKTWCVqPFrG-phv5LRJRtbjAK75Wb8qGciP73NkQS7Tf_f_fJMjIzXC38dc7eVGkA/w640-h276/paniczero.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE EAGLE (2009) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Ninth Legion vanishes in the wilds of the northern reaches of the British Isles. Twenty years later, the son of the commander of the Ninth arrives in Britain to find the lost eagle standard and clear his father's name. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">A more serious approach to the sword and scandal genre with kudos for period accuracy on weaponry and armor and attitudes. Though I think they took some liberties with the "Seal people." I don't think the ancient Celts were quite THAT much like native Americans. Here they are more akin to the Apache than any Irishman or Scot I've ever met. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">It's brisk adventure stuff with a lot of suspenseful moments. Sadly, for me, the best part of the film was the beginning with two very well blocked out and exciting legions on barbarian action scenes. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Based on the excellent novel The Eagle Of The Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, this film seems to suffer from producer tinkering at the end but that doesn't spoil what is, essentially, a rousing period melodrama.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5uSkm6ljwTHMMi8fVgYDQc6A4cPc5GPIc3clZlhd4ktY1CpcECg2Adf3A5Dpbowiz1joZHi8LrJYJjbGc26TJ5OtUDdcfH5yT_8GfdVSHyuAqZi57qKHGSH177mh1R_yHqdtB-GOWos/s800/eagle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5uSkm6ljwTHMMi8fVgYDQc6A4cPc5GPIc3clZlhd4ktY1CpcECg2Adf3A5Dpbowiz1joZHi8LrJYJjbGc26TJ5OtUDdcfH5yT_8GfdVSHyuAqZi57qKHGSH177mh1R_yHqdtB-GOWos/w640-h426/eagle.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1970)</b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"> In what is presented as the "real" story of Sherlock Holmes, the consulting detective and Dr. Watson embark from London to Scotland to solve a mystery involving silent monks, a troupe of acrobatic midgets and the Loch Ness monster! </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Billy Wilder created this gorgeously produced pastiche that really needed to be MORE of a pastiche rather than less. The actors are excellent and the welcome touches of humor dry. The major flaw of the film is in its structure. Wheil Wilder captures the tone and pace of a classic Holmes tale to perfection, he makes the mistake of solving the mystery too early in the film and then fails to add the complications, surprises and action that myself (and probably everyone else watching) expected to see. With a properly wild and hair-raising climax, this film would have been a classic. I can't believe I'm saying this, But this move would have been helped immensely by a Blake Edwards kind of conclusion.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCEn2NonBjPqaCnU00dJx_b1JcREqeBdtxbY8DGkYgldlNO38yH8tgemdoylnVjwPYWC4a_BXQloBCPuHfJEDXSrW6XoKgoFK0qVX53icCTIh3EKjQZ0bQoQhBfS5lIlpZyFDlbcAJQZ8/s1000/privatelife.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="1000" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCEn2NonBjPqaCnU00dJx_b1JcREqeBdtxbY8DGkYgldlNO38yH8tgemdoylnVjwPYWC4a_BXQloBCPuHfJEDXSrW6XoKgoFK0qVX53icCTIh3EKjQZ0bQoQhBfS5lIlpZyFDlbcAJQZ8/w640-h434/privatelife.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>THE BIG STEAL (1949) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Robert Mitchum is both the hunted and the hunter down in Mexico. Falsely accused of stealing an army payroll, he's after the real crook. But William Bendix is on his trail and won't stop until Mitchum is dead and the payroll returned. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: medium;">Don Siegel delivers another taut programmer in a tidy 71 minutes. As always, Siegel takes full advantage of location shooting with Vera Cruz and the Yucatan making for a compelling background for this cat and mouse story peppered with chases, fights, shoot-outs and some great wise-ass badinage between Mitchum and leading lady Jane Greer. Mitch made a string of these second bill films (often with Jane Russell) for RKO in this period and they are uniformly excellent.</span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMNLRE0akkUzYtCzv5aEiUAtA79f1s-iI27AHUxxqdQDOq6tw2Lg39spiCo84bnuzP988m6NzciluQwe2qv3E-9ZT631zbHwDVnZ3QRXFreyqEaJIGP3_KcN-eGxFGfnZ8fAXAxk_6vaw/s620/bigsteal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="620" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMNLRE0akkUzYtCzv5aEiUAtA79f1s-iI27AHUxxqdQDOq6tw2Lg39spiCo84bnuzP988m6NzciluQwe2qv3E-9ZT631zbHwDVnZ3QRXFreyqEaJIGP3_KcN-eGxFGfnZ8fAXAxk_6vaw/w640-h412/bigsteal.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-52137269430133963922020-07-23T10:21:00.005-07:002020-07-23T10:21:58.110-07:00DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939)<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The town of Bottleneck is under the thumb of land-grabbers Brian
Donlevy and Marlene Dietrich. The citizens’ only hope is the arrival of the legendary
town-tamer Jimmy Stewart. But this legend doesn’t even pack a gun because he
might get hurt! The town’s savior is a daisy! Or is he?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is the first great western comedy of the sound era and
provides the model for all that would come after. Even BLAZING SADDLES borrows
from it with Madeline Kahn’s classic send-up of Dietrich’s dance-hall singer
and the marvelous <i>I’m Tired </i>number.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is seamless entertainment with a clever script that
remembers to provide a strong plot, high stakes real heart, and some fine
suspense moments as a foundation for the comedy. See, back in this period of
film making, as much attention was paid to the structure of comedies as it was
to dramas. All of this is under the sure hand of the prolific and versatile director
George Marshall and he gets top drawer performances from everyone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">James Stewart was just starting to build his career after
his standout performance in MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON and here, he’s at his most
laconic and assured. This film would be his first in what would be a long
association with Universal starring in some of the best westerns of the era. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Marlene Dietrich is somewhat of a revelation here. If you’re
familiar with her ice-cold femme fatale roles you’ll probably be surprised by her
playful approach to this role and how much fun she appears to be having playing
it. She’s also featured in three song interludes that are the only worthwhile
scenes of their type in any western I can think of. Memorable performances of <i>Little
Joe</i>, <i>You’ve Got That Look</i> and the classic <i>See What the Boys in
The Back Room Will Have</i> are all weaved organically into the story and each
is memorable for its own reasons. Every time I watch this movie my wife remarks
that Dietrich can’t sing. Maybe not. But she could sure <i>sell</i> a song.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The rest of the cast, except for Brian Donlevy in the best
heavy role of his career, is populated by comic actors at the top of their
game. Charles Winninger, as the former town drunk and now mock sheriff, is fussy
and energetic and endearing as Stewart’s only friend in town. Una Merkel is a
fireball as Dietrich’s frontier woman foil and opponent in the wildest saloon
fight ever put in film. Mischa Auer is funny as well as pathetic as a Russian
immigrant who dreams of being a cowboy. And Billy Gilbert never fails to get a
laugh with bits and doubletakes as the saloon’s barkeep. Jack Carson is on hand,
playing his patented braggart character, as a trigger-happy rancher. And
Lillian Yarbo gets off some great one-liners as Dietrich’s “gives as good as
she gets” maid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The plot, as I mentioned, could serve as the spine for a dramatic
western but still plays its own riffs off the standard cowboy action flick.
There’s loads of twists and surprises and, of course, the usual shoot-outs and
fights. But all serves to provide a hammock for the humor to rest on. And it is
mostly humor rather than comedy. This movie never strays into parody, satire or
pastiche. The stakes of the drama are very real and there are tragic, even heartbreaking
losses along the way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9rFDWI9dgboWLOLPPnwe9UBdAU6p7HRVb4mSyXQGGsM4XJkda3UKaSY-6eAil5i1uPvcrZrRHSOdOHoVwJD_OQOUD_KFoJIz22tBs_YlLwBvHVom6UWD6AkKxOah8sZQW0RDGgZ4_04g/s1600/destry2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="609" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9rFDWI9dgboWLOLPPnwe9UBdAU6p7HRVb4mSyXQGGsM4XJkda3UKaSY-6eAil5i1uPvcrZrRHSOdOHoVwJD_OQOUD_KFoJIz22tBs_YlLwBvHVom6UWD6AkKxOah8sZQW0RDGgZ4_04g/s640/destry2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sparkling dialogue and a pace that never lets up propels
this one along from start to finish. There’s one well-crafted scene after another
and you’ll simply never see another ensemble cast that meshes as well as this
one does. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It’s not hard to see why this movie, even with the stiff competition
of all the other now-classic releases of 1939, was an enormous box office hit
that helped establish Jimmy Stewart as a star and re-invigorated the career of
Marlene Dietrich. It’s a shining example of the very best Hollywood had to offer
in its golden era. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-68705348845373680612020-07-19T10:32:00.001-07:002020-07-19T12:53:44.374-07:001917<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibZ-p7nLM6U1KEhpJVKrIoe4amfvsY75CNra8HOy_1tM6yXYcnuhTabr2Uf-LU5wC4VJJ-sGVX7pW8XIQ7v2F6eOt_OkYLSQ_-rU7USRvY-i7yS-pow1yTCw4-rXBJ1hgR1ka3JwK_s2U/s1600/1917+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibZ-p7nLM6U1KEhpJVKrIoe4amfvsY75CNra8HOy_1tM6yXYcnuhTabr2Uf-LU5wC4VJJ-sGVX7pW8XIQ7v2F6eOt_OkYLSQ_-rU7USRvY-i7yS-pow1yTCw4-rXBJ1hgR1ka3JwK_s2U/s640/1917+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The plot is simplicity itself. It’s
the Spring of 1917 and two English tommies are assigned to cross no man’s land
in search of a unit preparing to launch a disastrous attack on the German
trenches. The two soldiers must deliver orders calling off the attack in order
to save the lives of 1600 men. To make matters even more imperative, one of the
messengers has a brother in the regiment due to storm into a Heinie trap. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What do we have here, at its heart?
It’s the last ten minutes of <i>Gallipoli</i> stretched to over two hours. And,
trust me, you’ll wish you’d simply re-watched Peter Weir’s superior film rather
than this poke in the eye . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is director Sam Mendes first
screenplay and it shows. Typical of Dreamworks productions, it’s all hollow
emotions, contrivance and gimmickry. It’s a “a show.” This is the horrors of
war as a theme park attraction. From the conceit of shooting the entire film in
one “continuous” shot to the utter lack of any effort to give the lead
character a personality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">First off, the idea of making this
an uninterrupted experience in real time (except where it’s inconvenient) may
be a terrific technical achievement but, mostly, it only serves to remind us
that we’re watching a movie. And, as the film goes on, the events portrayed
have an increasing condensed feel to them as if the filmmakers were trying to
cram more elements than the running time would allow. If you’ve ever wondered
what a film editor does, the lack of one here should be an epiphany for you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the extras, I watched as they
showed how they had dry runs with the characters walking the ground as they
read their lines in order to time each scene in order to make certain they didn’t
run out of set before the scene was over. Does that strike anyone else as a wrongheaded
approach to cinematography? It brought to mind the Monty Python bit where the
actor judges the difficulty of each Shakespeare role by how many words he has
to speak. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5fPTuLN4T023Mu_9m7ESi45WBOstRdRkpjpV8xhM7LrExuSAy-qPxiw-xwqHwrJK1l6TDOuHsbVtrczyx-Sk28rcfbK1GeR5C4Wjq0RndC5woqmpZ4uXyfpZ0O-qVppzv1BTHKqy7nwE/s1600/1917+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="1200" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5fPTuLN4T023Mu_9m7ESi45WBOstRdRkpjpV8xhM7LrExuSAy-qPxiw-xwqHwrJK1l6TDOuHsbVtrczyx-Sk28rcfbK1GeR5C4Wjq0RndC5woqmpZ4uXyfpZ0O-qVppzv1BTHKqy7nwE/s640/1917+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And there’s the lead character. I
understand that the character is meant to be an everyman. But that doesn’t mean
he needs to be written as a cipher. The character comes off as an empty vessel
with none of the elements needed to make him an individual. Yes, he represents
all soldiers and any soldier. But he fails to have any life beyond what we see
in the running time. There’s passing mention that he was at the Somme and
impacted by that horrific experience. The only other reference to his life
beyond this story comes at the very end in the film’s most effective scene.
Like I said, I get why they approached the character this way, but they needed
to put more thought into building this guy into someone memorable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">That brings me to the dialogue
which is, except for one sequence, uniformly awful. Much like that other over-rated
war movie travesty, <i>Saving Private Ryan</i>, the characters in this movie
cannot stop reminding us of the plot. Is it <i>really</i> that hard to remember?
Find the Yorks or they’re all gonna die. But the dialogue reminds us over and
over again of the mission, the stakes and the ticking clock. And when the dialogue
does depart from exposition it’s all vapid exchanges where silence might have
served better. Most ludicrous is the less-experienced of the pair telling an
involved anecdote while the two wander through no man’s land fully exposed from
all directions. More disappointing is the supposedly war-weary and enemy-wary of
the two doesn’t tell him to shut the hell up and watch their sight lines for movement.
In that way, this dialogue might have a served a purpose. Instead, it’s just
tiresome. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And, the dialogue itself needed a
serious write-through by someone more interested in the richness of period dialogue.
The anachronisms in the phrasing and word usage are constant. People simply did
not drop F-bombs with the frequency and application that these characters use.
A serious, “is there a better way to say this?” session should have been held
to try and breathe some life into the exchanges here. But I guess the script
doctor was out. Or perhaps there aren’t any good fixers left in Hollywood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In addition to tedium, clichés populate
the film, multiplying like rabbits as the story grinds on. Of course, the
soldier runs into a pretty French girl about his age. How else are they going
to get a female into the trailer? And how about a few touches of diversity to please
the media critics? So we see a solitary Indian soldier and a solitary black
soldier serving with otherwise all-white units. This is something that would
never have happened in the Great War where regiments were comprised by men all
form the same town, often from the same factory or coal mine. The Indian is
even wearing a turban! Why not just have the soldier run into an Indian unit? Now
<i>that</i> would have been interesting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Further tired bits include having
the character jump into a fast-moving stream to separate him from pursuit. This
was a hoary gag long before Butch and Sundance jumped from that cliff to escape
a posse. But William Goldman knew that and used it as the basis of one of that
movie’s most memorable, and funny, scenes. Here, it serves as a convenience
only and moves the film from the contrived to the ludicrous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Also, in order to serve the stream-of-consciousness
conceit of the film, the main character fails to hear an entire convoy of
trucks pulling up within fifty yards of him. And, in the height of
preposterousness, the entire column just so happens to come to a halt right
where he is apparently ignoring them in a French farmyard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the end, it all kind of,
literally, limps along until the have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too climax.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">All of that said, it is worth
seeing once as a triumph of set design and costuming. You know, all those
things you’re <i>not</i> supposed to notice while watching a movie. It really
is an astounding achievement mercifully free of any CGI for the large part. The
cinematography is marvelous as well and required quite a feat of engineering to
accomplish in places. But, again, the kind of thing you pick up on in a second
or third viewing. But here I was distracted from the story by the details. I
was looking at the frame rather than the picture. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-73672311035050213212020-05-30T14:05:00.001-07:002020-05-31T23:13:30.201-07:00Great Questions From A Novice Writer<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These are from Deanna Harrison who’s thinking of
becoming a professional writer and, from the nature of her questions, it’s obvious
that she’s put a lot of thought into it. I like the questions a lot and I’m
pretty find of my answers as well. Deanna has given me her kind permission to reproduce
the Q&A right here. Maybe this will help others looking to jump into fictioneering.
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. How do you stop switching tenses?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, you decide whether your story takes place in the present or
the past and try to remain aware of that as you write. If you mess up, you can
fix it in re-write. If you miss it there have other people proofread it for you
for mistakes. Rewriting is the key! Get to love rewriting. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. If you had the choice between publishing yourself or an
agency/company which would you choose?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The e-book goldrush is over unless you have oodles of money for marketing. If not, </span></span></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">you need to go with the publisher. That DOESN’T mean </span></span></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">you shouldn’t self-publish
first to establish copyright and get the attention of a publisher.</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">3. Do you start creating a character or world-building first?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I start with the character and a vague notion of the setting. But
not every writer works that way. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">4. Do you know if right away a story will become multiple books or
do you write it and decide it after it's published?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I decide before I start writing. I know before I begin if it’s the
first in a series or a one-off. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5. I know it is OK to skip around writing different chapters. That
way you can meet a set quota you give yourself. But what if it's too far ahead
in the story?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">You absolutely should skip around if it keeps your momentum going.
You can’t go too far ahead because you can always rewrite. As long as you’re
making progress, keep writing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">6. How do you know when not to write say, said, mumbled, or other
forms of explaining emotions in a sentence. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Depends on the book and my intended audience. I usually stick with
just “said” or “asked.” When I write westerns, I run the gamut; declared, bemoaned,
cried, bellowed. The audience for those seem to prefer it that way. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But, for the most part, the emotion of your characters should come
out in dialogue or at least be implied. I use physical gestures sometimes to
convey unspoken emotions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“I’m not frightened at all,” she said, her knuckles white where
she twisted the hem of her apron</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">7. Do you know of any good sites to help lookup words/items that
you don't know but can describe them to get its name? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I often just Google similar words and see what I can find. And
read, read, read. Stock up the memory holes with new words and phrases. A
writer collects words the same way a sound effects technician collects sounds.
I’m always stunned at the number of
words I can recall while writing that I didn’t even know that I knew.</span></span></b></div>
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<br />Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-52709865491004723982020-05-18T13:30:00.000-07:002020-05-18T13:30:26.838-07:00Unauthorized TV!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-72052550732974687582020-05-15T13:16:00.001-07:002020-05-15T13:16:23.769-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com188tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-56956686210491467052020-02-17T09:11:00.004-08:002021-04-16T14:54:25.327-07:00Holy Moley! More movie reviews! <div dir="auto" style="background-color: white;">
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<div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_n7" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="oi732d6d ik7dh3pa d2edcug0 qv66sw1b c1et5uql a8c37x1j s89635nw ew0dbk1b jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.3333; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -3px; max-width: 100%; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">ROLE MODELS (2008)</b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott as two guys who work pushing an energy drink on kids as part of an anti-drug program have a run in with the law and are given hundreds of hours of community service. This takes the form of a kind of big brother organization run by former addict Jane Lynch. Scott's kid is a hyperactive brat with a foul mouth while Rudd's is a withdrawn teen who's into LARPing (role-playing medieval combat with foam weapons) played by the McLovin kid from SUPER BAD. What results is a fast-paced rude comedy that winds up having a good heart without resorting to sentiment. The cast is good and Rudd is at his most acerbic from a script he had a hand in writing. It's grand, silly fun.</span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>TIGER OF BENGHAL and THE INDIAN TOMB (1959) </b>Really one movie in two chapters. Iconic director Fritz Lang's epic pulp adventure filmed on location in India is a return to the kind of serials that made him an international sensation in the silent era. A German architect takes a contract with a rajah to provide renovations to an island palace in the Ganges. What the hero discovers is a complex series of tunnels and caves that lead to a vast secret temple where beautiful Debra Paget dances and nefarious plans are plotted. All fun, ho-de-ho romp with tigers and chases and fights and betrayals and I'm betting an inspiration for INDIANA JONES and THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. Recently released in a gorgeous transfer on Blu-Ray.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>SPARTAN (2004)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Val Kilmer is a high level fixer in the middle of a hunt for the missing daughter of the president. David Mamet takes a plot that could have been turned into a quick-play melodrama and gives us a story with spooky suspense sequences that resonate with the darkest paranoia and some sharp observations about the self-appointed elite who make up the rules as they go along. Mamet's usual touch with the dialogue which, I'm learning, is a love-it-or-hate it proposition to film-lovers. The most remarkable thing about this film for me is the way that it consciously avoids as much exposition as possible, often at the risk of losing the audience. But he maintains and emotional through-line that carries us forward even while we're still figuring out what's going on. The effect is unsettling and, I suspect, that was Mamet's intention.</span></div>
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<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">THE THIN RED LINE (1998)</b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The lives and experiences of members of a US Army battalion tasked with taking key positions from the Japanese on Guadalcanal in 1942. The story presents conflicts between the officers as well as taking us right onto the ground with the forward combat units. Despite the size of the ensemble cast, director Terrence Malick presents each of their stories in an indelible way, making us feel their fear, rage, frustration and sense of their own fleeting mortality. An unblinking portrait of men in war that is superior in every way to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN which came out the same year. Most notably, Malick gets across the chaotic horror of war without indulging in horror movie gore effects. He also allows his actors to impart their feelings with dialogue that runs counter to their intents and emotions and, often, no dialogue at all. A scene where we see the Dash Mihok's metamorphosis from terrified grunt to war hero play out on his face in one continuous take is astounding to watch. </span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I reviewed this movie shortly after it was released back on my old website and quickly found out that people either love it or hate it. There's just no middle ground here. I agree it's a bit heady and appears pretentious at times. But each time I watch it I understand Malick's intentions more. The narration provided at times by various cast members reads as though from letters home and is read with a solemnity that I find befitting. These men were risking, and giving, their lives and they had every right to wax philosophical now and then. And they did have these thoughts and express them in this way. Thinking you might die at any moment has a way of making you contemplate the infinite and man's place in nature and what the hell it's all about</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkAr9cjY3WgtXE1rcXYzLpoCEBSMgFo9ZiRplbkvgszKTPKpckQv6uUtZngUOO0HrEb5e96qmrstcCUB-5RozzfOboNP0LSjD8eMk6ezLWs9VbzC08lG0Cfi-zBzVbVzixQabidVH3GGs/s1897/thinred.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="1897" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkAr9cjY3WgtXE1rcXYzLpoCEBSMgFo9ZiRplbkvgszKTPKpckQv6uUtZngUOO0HrEb5e96qmrstcCUB-5RozzfOboNP0LSjD8eMk6ezLWs9VbzC08lG0Cfi-zBzVbVzixQabidVH3GGs/s16000/thinred.jpg" /></a></div></div></div></span></div></div>
</div></div><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 a8c37x1j mg4g778l btwxx1t3 pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of du4w35lb lzcic4wl abiwlrkh p8dawk7l tm8avpzi" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157865138544844&set=a.103156274843&type=3&__cft__[0]=AZWtcdKppyv8ovunjrosWn1bG0gPr5Ay4llIxB9p14uGRFyUDtC_kXAUlQ_gJCwcTtoeIigoQ4ZN4WqW7NLAcGw9_A-McNTMvU_EvFhgLbqnjnrRdSElKBeO41TP2mvy6pg&__tn__=EH-R" rel="theater" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; display: block; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="linmgsc8 opwvks06 i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 hzruof5a pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4" style="border-bottom: 1px solid var(--media-inner-border); border-top: 1px solid var(--media-inner-border); bottom: 0px; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; left: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><br /></div></a></div></div><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4" style="font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"><br /></div></div></div><br /></div><b style="font-size: x-large;">IF I WERE KING (1938)</b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">François Villon is a thief and poet in 15th Century Paris. When he's captured for stealing from the king's storehouse, he brought before Louis XI himself. But the wily king plays a cruel jest on Villon and gives him a title and promotes him to royal chamberlain to teach the vagabond that it's not so easy to be a part f the ruling class. </span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto">
<span style="font-size: large;">Ronald Colman at his most charming meaning you'll see the most charming actor on the planet at the top of his game. Basil Rathbone appears to be having the time of his life as King Louis, playing him as a cackling, conniving, half-mad monarch. Terrific sets and a huge cast of extras all serve to enhance a fast-paced, witty script by Preston Sturges. And there's one prime example of how Hollywood could get across sexual heat back in the day while the principles kept all their clothes and, this being a period adventure, that means LOTS of clothes.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqrsJ_yo6qPmoBzTyZi0lO_E3HjNYHPoJXT8C7djuzn-JDebeMYY4E6KxVmL7qE8vowfVqdyQLM5MZuq3GJzSgooloKYiQ2yfc1BNn8C0eUvHrZsnW7AnG3DuLz4vVZuluxT2KIdyMkRY/s900/ifiwereking.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="708" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqrsJ_yo6qPmoBzTyZi0lO_E3HjNYHPoJXT8C7djuzn-JDebeMYY4E6KxVmL7qE8vowfVqdyQLM5MZuq3GJzSgooloKYiQ2yfc1BNn8C0eUvHrZsnW7AnG3DuLz4vVZuluxT2KIdyMkRY/s16000/ifiwereking.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto"><b style="font-size: x-large;">MESRINE: KILLER INSTINCT (2008)</b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span>
</div></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">A combination of gangster thriller and portrait that follows a disaffected sociopath from his army service in Algeria to a crime career with the Paris underworld. Along the way he leaves lives in ruin and begins his own career as, essentially, the subject of a decades long international manhunt. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Vincent Cassel as legendary gangster and bank robber Jacque Mesrine (Meh-REEN) who robbed his way across two continents in the 1960s and escaped from prison on numerous occasions even a remote maximum security facility in Canada. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Based on Mesrine's own bestselling book (written while he was on the lam), director Jean-François Richet creates a crime epic quite unlike any other. It moves swiftly though the late 50's to the early 70's portraying Mesrine's impulsive crime antics and often reckless behavior in one action set piece after another. I will always maintain that the French make the best crime dramas and this one is top drawer all the way.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjCekdG_AHDxZWxA71mZlH42-n5TmflcZYe4njStUXdD-rYE1cpQDdLO75aPEpi-0kGJ9EYxOx9XydIkAz3bM33ehwj0k8P_JlmODfz2pAFZ4WmQmbPVLIyhfHFdypy2YgE7MBsBY1Bg/s600/mesrine1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjCekdG_AHDxZWxA71mZlH42-n5TmflcZYe4njStUXdD-rYE1cpQDdLO75aPEpi-0kGJ9EYxOx9XydIkAz3bM33ehwj0k8P_JlmODfz2pAFZ4WmQmbPVLIyhfHFdypy2YgE7MBsBY1Bg/s16000/mesrine1.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto"><b style="font-size: x-large;">MESRINE: PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE (2008)</b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">The direct sequel, a second part really, to the previous Mesrine film. This one continues the story into the 1970's and the inevitable end of Mesrine's career in the streets of Paris; coldly executed by a police task force. No spoiler there, the first film begins with his death.</span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This film details the decline of Jacques Mesrine as he becomes more and more brash and, to his detriment, plays at being a member of the far left at a time when the Baader-Meinhof gang and Red Brigade were plaguing Europe. Escaping from yet another maximum security facility, Mesrine's former good luck flees him and he engages in one disastrous robbery or kidnapping after another as he simultaneously embraces his own mythic status by pursuing media attention. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Like all great gangster films, a cautionary tale about hubris.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsc8vyqR1XYAHvtU25Zv3WKuF5iXqHjSjZOCzhkln9gF9BjW-1cJimWQNClnrxcP45M6iVV-OnCMTLAfXUW0z7uRnkvzPrjR82n47X_TZpM6zTsAjiIYQkAYFvOZ5lrye3yRYkIT2u1G0/s1920/mesrine2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsc8vyqR1XYAHvtU25Zv3WKuF5iXqHjSjZOCzhkln9gF9BjW-1cJimWQNClnrxcP45M6iVV-OnCMTLAfXUW0z7uRnkvzPrjR82n47X_TZpM6zTsAjiIYQkAYFvOZ5lrye3yRYkIT2u1G0/s16000/mesrine2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><b style="font-size: x-large;">DANGER CLOSE (2019) </b></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">In August 1966 a company of Aussie soldiers on a shoot-and-scoot mission near Long Tan in South Vietnam encounter a large force of combined NVA and Viet Cong that will outnumber them twenty-to-one. Unable to withdraw the hundred or so soldiers hold their scattered positions throughout the day taking heavy casualties but managing to punish their attackers who "just won't take a hint."</span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">An exceptional war film that goes right into my favorites pile. Loaded with action, excruciating suspense and real emotional weight, this well-crafted war story makes the complex actions of that day crystal clear and the sacrifice of the men palpable. The large ensemble cast is introduced by vivid to make them memorable. One stand-out performance is a Kiwi artilleryman who, without a scrap of expository dialogue, informs us of his fears and conflicts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Highly recommend for those who like their military action believable and raw.</span></div><div dir="auto">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE COURIER (2019)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">In a lifetime of watching dumb action movies, this is the dumbest one I've ever seen. And as a writer, I've spent my career primarily writing action stories. To write an action story you have to create events to drive the action forward and build suspense and tension. Your hero has to face challenges that he overcomes through guile, skill or just plain strength of spirit. This movie eschews all of that to just make shit happen.This shit happens then this shit happens. If the heroine needs to find a knife or gun, there's one conveniently lying on the floor by her. If she needs to cut the electricity to foil the bad guys, ta-da! there's a circuit breaker box right there. If the story requires that the lights come on, they simply do with no rhyme, reason or cause. Countless times in this movie the heroine is only saved because the bad guy's gun has run out of bullets. Even, at times, after firing only three shots or, as apparently happens to a character arriving on the scene for the first time, carrying around a gun that was never loaded at all! A .50 caliber sniper shot from 2000 feet pierces a bulletproof vest to nearly gut a character. But when the same rifle takes the heroine in the leg from under fifty feet she just hobbles for a bit until she's walked it off and it's never referenced again. There's a fight scene in NAKED GUN where Frank Drebin throws a towel into the face of a hit-man who then clutches the towel and screams as though he can't get it off his face. That's the level of inanity we're looking at here but it's not played for laughs. HOW dumb is this movie? A character quotes Joe Biden on ballistics. Yep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I could go on and mention how the movie jumps for no reason from New York to Washington DC to London and sometimes characters appear to be in two different cities at the same time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And the dialogue! It really felt as though they wrote every action movie cliche ("I'm your worst nightmare.") on a slip of paper, put them in a hat, and had the actors read them in whatever order they were pulled out. You could not write a worse script using Mad-Libs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, and Gary Oldman really needs to be ashamed of himself. It looks like they hired him for two days to just wander around an apartment getting into people's personal space and shouting at them. The brilliant actor of SID & NANCY and IMMORTAL BELOVED reduced to picking up a quick check to be in dreck like this. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My theory on this movie was it was written by:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">1) An AI program right after a Windows update.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">2) Hunter Biden</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">3) That room full of monkeys and typewriters we're always hearing about.</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilsBfO2wH2sQzrppz6uLgrQAA68HgI8OWL8DiTRPQ9xa1NeS7ekYqsC-bUv2LLU5hu0ndtu52uxYUcMoAElN_HUCLh5sY-9r8Ph2CemaI2YGFRnutQyW8H_u1gIKe8RlQt8IFVu2kcdKU/s1575/courier.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1575" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilsBfO2wH2sQzrppz6uLgrQAA68HgI8OWL8DiTRPQ9xa1NeS7ekYqsC-bUv2LLU5hu0ndtu52uxYUcMoAElN_HUCLh5sY-9r8Ph2CemaI2YGFRnutQyW8H_u1gIKe8RlQt8IFVu2kcdKU/s16000/courier.png" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><b style="font-size: x-large;">TIN CUP (1996)</b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">Kevin Costner is a washed up golf pro giving lessons at a rundown driving range co-owned with his former caddy Cheech Marin. When challenged by old rival Don Johnson, he decides to enter the U.S. Open with the help of his therapist played by Rene Russo. But will the has-been's old hang-ups and serious OCD problems stand between him and the title?</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ron Shelton's best film by far is an often very funny romantic comedy with all the best tropes of a great sports film. It brings us into the world of professional golf (which I could care less about) in away that keeps us up to speed and makes us care. That's really skilled writing as the cast never stops to explain what's going on and leaves it to us to catch up with them. The actors are adept at comedy enough to make their lines work even when we're not sure of the terms they're using or references they're making. And the depiction of the agony of defeat at the climax of the film is truly agonizing. Costner and Russo have a real chemistry that makes the heart of the movie work. But it's Costner and Marin's bromance that really clicks.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZhdGNY7g6AIL7yK2pOoaDzA63Gswxbs1hhSDAkNNCFHSC-oGe64JNoNRFNdt1XGMsfXWLbX_RZ85q-7G_nlPLes0fjkvyd-W1DQNJx-tCm7M10dtCHYiMBfV-PRShJ6U4dToDAusQGU/s1920/tincup.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZhdGNY7g6AIL7yK2pOoaDzA63Gswxbs1hhSDAkNNCFHSC-oGe64JNoNRFNdt1XGMsfXWLbX_RZ85q-7G_nlPLes0fjkvyd-W1DQNJx-tCm7M10dtCHYiMBfV-PRShJ6U4dToDAusQGU/s16000/tincup.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto"><b style="font-size: x-large;">NAKED GUN (1988) </b></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">Something inspired me to check this favorite out again. I vividly recall seeing this in a theater with </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><div class="nc684nl6" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl oo9gr5id gpro0wi8 lrazzd5p" href="https://www.facebook.com/flint.henry.9?__cft__[0]=AZVY-h2wFpYXbfYoRdCqwkXhK_edEPGmbVpufLPLJWFrXGJkB8ED4yYBdhloXrMcEaC02-gws1nS2FYQFh0zNxkeKYbyN4U7Z68RTn5aZNQonRwHeSGxFgzAA5Sy161tDfU&__tn__=-]K-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0">Flint Henry</a> </span></div></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">and the pair of us coming close to wetting out pants at the "season highlights reel" sequence. </span></div></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Zucker Brothers bring their Mad Magazine approach to comedy to the cop movie genre in this feature coming off their terrific but short-lived POLICE SQUAD TV series. Their shotgun style fires gag after gag at us, relying on our common familiarity with the cliches of crime thrillers as a source of laughs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The plot? Ricardo Montleban is an LA business man helping a terrorist organization in their attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. Leslie Nielson is madcap earnest in the lead role as Frank Drebin but it's his partner George Kennedy who steals ever scene he's in. And who knew Priscilla Presley could be funny. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The marvelously constructed extended climax at a baseball game was clearly inspired by the Red Skelton classic WHISTLING IN BROOKLYN but the Zuckers take it even further in a series of mishaps, gags, parody and wild action. And Montleban's death remains my favorite in all movie history. "My father went the same way."</span></div>
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2W6_QX2P7DFIf-Mo3-Wqkqja2_pckl-q0Ua2xlCS_LNHYYhWPWCGtCXlPCRyQZ3TQi2AGNEbpTZL5QBPCG3SgNZss_BxU14NTEtvE1oyrqlCOOUwCJRitRl0JEq5F5B0LNngDmUw-8s/s1280/nakedghun.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2W6_QX2P7DFIf-Mo3-Wqkqja2_pckl-q0Ua2xlCS_LNHYYhWPWCGtCXlPCRyQZ3TQi2AGNEbpTZL5QBPCG3SgNZss_BxU14NTEtvE1oyrqlCOOUwCJRitRl0JEq5F5B0LNngDmUw-8s/s16000/nakedghun.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</b><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>HERCULES (2014)</b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">Peplum or "sword and sandal" movies have to be the most forgiving genre in cinema. All that's really required to make a decent movie of this type is a muscular cast, at least one torture scene, scantily clad women and loads of bloody violence. This entry checks all those boxes along with the addition of some welcome humor. </span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Rock was born to play the mythic son of Zeus but packs on forty pounds of fresh muscle anyway. The rest of the cast offers fine support, chief among them Ian McShane as a seer who doesn't always get it quite right. The idea of having Herc's legend propped up by a lot of PR provided by his nephew is a clever one that offers up some surprises. And the battle sequences are well blocked out, extended and fierce. It's a gorgeous looking production with just enough real drama, high stakes and rising action to make it a durable actioner worth re-visiting.</span></div>
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<div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh163R9uLLd6zFS-DEWgJSlzVO2JfLMRLy2DKtL9bAqNYlsAg7uyfwhhWmGbdkghyLLxov3DeHjd6luCgjzhqGn9uZMiu1uEk8_DWHmmVI-XxwSfyPmFwx4mbmWAr9mXgNAE2TbRpNdoWc/s1280/hercjnjkn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh163R9uLLd6zFS-DEWgJSlzVO2JfLMRLy2DKtL9bAqNYlsAg7uyfwhhWmGbdkghyLLxov3DeHjd6luCgjzhqGn9uZMiu1uEk8_DWHmmVI-XxwSfyPmFwx4mbmWAr9mXgNAE2TbRpNdoWc/s16000/hercjnjkn.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>LOGAN LUCKY (2017)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">Two West Virginia brothers (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) plan a complex heist of a Charlotte speedway on NASCAR race day. But they need the help of legendary explosives expert Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) who, inconveniently is in state prison.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A classic heist comedy that keeps moving from frame one to the end credits. It has a lot of heart without any sloppy sentiment and has some dialogue touches you'll probably miss the first time around. The suspense is high and the humor Dixie deadpan with Daniel Craig clearly relishing his role in a transformational role that is astonishing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Steven Soderbergh at the top of his form in a movie that's witty, endearing and full to the brim with dozens of great comic performances including Dwight Yoakum, Riley Keough and Seth MacFarlane.</span></div>
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<div dir="auto"><b style="font-size: x-large;">BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL (1956)</b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">A troubled young soldier (Robert Wagner) who can't get over the loss of three of his pals to friendly fire is assigned to a remote outpost commanded by a manically sadistic officer. (Broderick Crawford) </span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">GIs returning from service in WWII demanded a different kind of war movie, one that reflected their own experiences in service and in combat. This an early entry into the spate of more cynical war dramas that Hollywood would turn out into the mid-60's until the WWII adventure flick, like THE DIRTY DOZEN and WHERE EAGLES DARE, took over the genre.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The oddly structured series of flashbacks to inform us of Wagner's past turn out to be quite effective as an understanding of the main character's emotional state is at the heart of this movie. The only thing that mars the movie is the too-pristine scenes of Wagner's marriage to Terry Moore. Too many of those scenes look like they were trimmed form a Sandra Dee movie. But they're out of the way quickly and we're solidly into the war action. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Wagner is surprisingly strong in the lead as I've always considered him a lightweight. Broderick Crawford is honestly scary in as accurate a portrayal of a personality disorder as you're likely to find. And it's fun seeing Buddy Ebsen give a another fine performance in a straight-up dramatic role.</span></div><div dir="auto">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>DAYLIGHT'S END (2016) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">What you'd get if you re-imagined I AM LEGEND as a men's action paperback series from the 1980's. Not an instant classic by any means but certainly a fun entry in the post apocalypse vampire pandemic sub-genre. Think STAKELAND with a LOT more gun porn. The cast is good and the dialogue is cringe-free though the plot borrows heavily from ROAD WARRIOR. But the body count is huge and the action fast moving and bloody. And it sure looks like EVERY dime is up on the screen. It's free on Amazon prime currently.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The kind of gonzo shoot-em-up epic that Hong Kong filmmakers have excelled at since the 80s. Big stakes and a huge cast lead to a blistering extended action climax that you might want to rewind and watch all over again to catch what you missed the first time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE LAST LEGION (2007) </b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">As I mentioned in a previous interview, peplum is a genre with a low bar. It's a bar that this big-budget extravaganza manages to slide under. This story, that proposes to put the legend of King Arthur into a historical perspective, has lots of action but no blood, no scantily clad babes and not a single torture scene. It's a movie that gets worse with each viewing and I can attest to that as I've seen it several times only because I forget how bad it is. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The genesis of the movie is more interesting than the movie itself especially from a writer's point of view. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Italian novelist Valerio Manfredi was invited to contribute a screen treatment for a movie that proposed to put the legend of King Arthur into a historical perspective. His concepts were rejected and the producers went on to make the godawful KING ARTHUR (2004). Frustrated that his ideas were not used (boy, I know THAT feeling) Manfredi went home and wrote an excellent novel based on his treatment called The Last Legion. In his novel he imagined that the last of the Caesars, a young boy, must flee to Britain in the company of an old philosopher and a cohort of brave soldiers, taking along with him the sword of Julius Caesar. Great book, rousing story and intelligently written. The producers who purchased the film rights tossed out everything but the core of the novel to make a bloodless, senseless, witless, box checker action movie that probably had Manfredi crying into the wads of cash I hope they paid him to turn his peplum to pablum.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVfOopaCBp7E4-RByS00n6reSwMD1SDnXgn9bnwJoIO6-I4KCYCiQCWQoD2KUDWFHcyjcuuO4Xe7n9huou33dz4lkE9i4Aarnsg0COQZUSRIt1Se_eP6r3G_ri-WTacx4HblH8kt69F9o/s1280/lastlegion.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVfOopaCBp7E4-RByS00n6reSwMD1SDnXgn9bnwJoIO6-I4KCYCiQCWQoD2KUDWFHcyjcuuO4Xe7n9huou33dz4lkE9i4Aarnsg0COQZUSRIt1Se_eP6r3G_ri-WTacx4HblH8kt69F9o/s16000/lastlegion.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto"><b style="font-size: x-large;">KISS AND TELL (1945)</b></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;">Hyperactive and overly dramatic teen Corliss Archer gets herself in trouble when, by covering up the secret marriage of her brother to the girl next door, she leads the whole town in believing she's pregnant! Based on a play, this comedy picks up steam midway through when Corliss' "secret" goes public. Solid comedic performances by all in the kind of prototypical teen comedy that was gaining in popularity as WWII was winding down. This one's a bit more risque than most of the entries in this genre. Make that A LOT more risque with "air force" jokes passing overhead like a flight of B-17s. </span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Shirley Temple would play Corliss in two films during the, let's face it, jailbait phase that took up the end of her movie career. And she's marvelous at firing off the fast patter loaded with malapropisms along with that range of facial expressions that were so effective when she was the world's number one child star taking on a sly aspect when she plays a scheming adolescent. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Corliss Archer proved popular enough on film to spawn a radio show in which she was played by Janet Waldo who most of you will recall as Judy Jetson.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL (2019)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nic Cage still manages to surprise. I sail into what feels like my weekly Cage movie with zero expectations only to find this serious crime drama with a real mean streak at the heart of it. Ostensibly, the film portrays a cocaine deal from both ends. We meet the buyers, smugglers and distributors while, at the same time, seeing the entire process of making the yayo from picking the leaves through processing and the chain of delivery from Colombia to the Canadian border. Not really a lot of surprises but the whole deal is slickly made and fast-paced with high production values and top drawer acting throughout. Looking for a solid crime drama that doesn't look away when things get ugly? Check this one out. It was partly produced by Redbox so I'm assuming it's not on any streaming service yet.</span></div>
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<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMA6FJODIlE99UfODTMGw1QS7MQ3P_r0wuGhnxjPvZ9QhMWgaO9DlvlaWAWx0U_vdaV8npt57TSpsoa919pfWoTWZk0uQ7Yf2HCmFVxJwnt3pPd2d0U-BK0h805xUyztdzhhi5ksRXlk/s1280/running.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMA6FJODIlE99UfODTMGw1QS7MQ3P_r0wuGhnxjPvZ9QhMWgaO9DlvlaWAWx0U_vdaV8npt57TSpsoa919pfWoTWZk0uQ7Yf2HCmFVxJwnt3pPd2d0U-BK0h805xUyztdzhhi5ksRXlk/s16000/running.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>LUCKY DAY (2019) </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now for a not-so-serious crime film. Luke Bracy is fresh out of the pen and eager to re-start his life with his wife, Nina Doberev, and adorable daughter. But his happiness is marred by the arrival of Crispin Glover as a kind of pantomime Chigurh. Not much more plot than that in this bloody Roger Avary pastiche. It's fun enough and moves along at a brisk pace. But what might have been an excruciating extended suspense scene at the climax is diluted by all the surreal silliness that proceeded it. Avary waits until way too late in the story to ask us to care about the principles. What I want to know is how they controlled Glover for a shoot this long and complex. Perhaps he's finally found the proper balance for his meds. Like I said, it's fun enough in a Tarantino Lite vein and Dobrev is cute as a basket of cartoon puppies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Symphonie pour un massacre</i>/THE CORRUPT (1963)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Five hoods pool their resources to go in on a big heroin deal. But thieves fall out when one of the syndicate members decides he'd rather have it all. But he finds that murder is a hard habit to break. Fine, slow-burn French crime flick in the vein of Jean-Pierre Melville. A well-crafted thriller.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>BRICE de NICE (2005)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Brice Agostini is a slacker who lives to surf, or so he'd have you believe. He makes his home on a stretch of the French Riviera that's only visited by surfable waves every thirty years or so. When his rich daddy goes to jail for money laundering, Brice is left homeless, moneyless and, as always, clueless until he's dared into a big surfing competition. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wacky, monumentally silly comedy only made possible by the apparently bottomless charm of Jean Dujardin. It's hard to think of an actor with a range as broad as Dujardin. Romantic leads, goofy comic foil, noir protagonist and period dramas. The guy does it all with authority and aplomb like a talent straight out of Hollywood's golden age. Here he is asked to carry a movie on his back as he's lumbered with pretty weak material that he somehow manages to make work playing a character who could have worn out his welcome in act one. It's all fun in the sun and a perfectly good time waster and, apparently, a big enough hit to spawn two sequels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Mais où est donc passée la 7ème compagnie?</i>/NOW WHERE DID THE 7th COMPANY GET TO? (1973)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">The fall of France in 1940 might seem like an unlikely subject for a comedy but Jean Lefebvre and a cast of talented comic actors make this story, of a small group of soldiers cut off from their unit as the Germans invade, an amusing romp. It's the kind of slow-burn comedy that the French make so well but picks up speed when the lads commandeer a German half-track and cause havoc behind the lines in their haphazard attempt to reach Paris. Some very funny scenes and a few that might have been a lot funnier if the only subtitles I could find weren't so awful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>BROKEN LANCE (1954)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Spencer Tracy is the scion of a frontier dynasty in a fine example of the kind of empire western Hollywood seemed to be in love with in the 1950's. This sub-genre spawned TV shows like Bonanza, Big Valley and High Chaparral. Most of the drama comes from the differences between his four sons played by Robert Wagner, Richard Widmark, Hugh O'Brien and Earl Holliman. When the old man dies the siblings go to war with one another as their true natures are revealed. Big, Cinemascope entertainment and, while not a classic like THE BIG COUNTRY or THE FURIES, it's a worthy entry in the genre.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUfiLXLDMXI01TXUIOr4_ixC7bWIZeThHLKFd6fwTnv8b-JrMTQjiHTjfkUYXDS0X0xQW2SfKj0gFE9ghJ0qjA8uIL1bIn6BxLW3vLDe86X2rkjnqkFIllp9Rg-RVpQEsoeep5YMBQoeY/s640/brokenarrow.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUfiLXLDMXI01TXUIOr4_ixC7bWIZeThHLKFd6fwTnv8b-JrMTQjiHTjfkUYXDS0X0xQW2SfKj0gFE9ghJ0qjA8uIL1bIn6BxLW3vLDe86X2rkjnqkFIllp9Rg-RVpQEsoeep5YMBQoeY/s16000/brokenarrow.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: x-large;"><i>La Grande Vadrouille</i>/DON'T LOOK NOW, WE'RE GETTING SHOT AT (1966) </b></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">The four man crew of a British bomber gets shot down over Paris and must turn to some, often reluctant, French folks for help in escaping the Germans. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">A lavishly mounted wide-screen production teaming Terry-Thomas and Louis de Funès in an international production that I assume was popular in the UK and on the continent. It certainly deserved to be as it's a very funny and often suspenseful chase film with some terrific extended comedy scenes. Funès is perfect as a fussy, stuck-up symphony conductor dragooned into the underground and Thomas is in his element as a veddy English RAF pilot sporting his most outrageous mustache ever. (he's forced to trim it early in the film.) Some exciting and dangerous chase scenes including one between a farm lorry full of pumpkins and a gang of Nazis on motorcycles.</span>
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<div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">THE EAGLE HAS LANDED (1976)</b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span>
</div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">One good movie about Nazis getting their asses kicked deserves another. Adventure/Espionage flick as a team of German commandos is sent to kidnap Winston Churchill as a direct result of a Hitler rant. A sleepy English town is turned into a battlefield as the plan comes part early and US Rangers come to the rescue. Loads of actors get to strut in jackboots including Michael Caine, Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasance. Donald Sutherland plays an Irishman again to the dismay of Celts everywhere. Larry Hagman goes over the top as the over-eager commander of the Rangers and Treat Williams is effective on one of his earliest roles. It's loads of fun and features loads of great details for us WWII geeks. Someone went wild with the costuming budget for the Germans and we see a lot of outfits we don't often see in off-the-rack productions. The extended action sequence at the end is exciting and features, what I believes, are the first new gun sound effects recorded in ages. The M1s actually sound like M1s and we're even treated to an M2 in one sequence.</span></div>
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<div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">OBLIVION (2013)</b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Earth is in its death throes following the destruction of the Moon and subsequent invasion by aliens. Though mankind won the war they lost the planet and have fled to a moon of Saturn leaving behind a skeleton force of paramilitary technicians to maintain the giant fusion reactors that create power for the far flung colony. Or is any of that true? </span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Solid SF action-thriller with a keeps-you-guessing plot and some suspenseful action set pieces. Tom Cruise is excellent on all counts in a story that has real heart but never descends to manipulative Speilbergian sentiment. The pacing is perfection as the story takes it's time to draw us and divert us from the questions both we and Cruise should be asking ourselves. Some marvelous effects are used effectively in the movie without ever calling attention to themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez </i>(1964)</b> </span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">A persnickety by-the-books receives a transfer to the French Riviera where he and his daughter manage to fumble their way into the attention of a gang of criminals using Saint.-Tropez as their base. Louis de Funès leads a cast of comic actors in something like a VERY Gallic, VERY 60's version of the Police Academy movies. One highlight is Louis leading his squad to arrest a beach filled with nudists who, somehow, always manage to be fully dressed when the cops arrive. Extremely popular in France, it was only the first in a long string of sequels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The locations are stunning, even alien, and the movie features one of the best, and most accurate, gun battles ever put in film. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pederson has become one of my favorite performers for this and its sequel GOLDSTONE as well as his work in TV series like THE CODE and JACK IRISH. This movie eventually spawned an excellent TV series starring Pederson and Judy Davis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He's terrific in these slow-burn crime stories and a real presence on the screen playing the badass with a wounded heart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE DETECTIVE (1968)</b> Frank Sinatra is a NYPD homicide detective, the best on the force. The story follows him into the gay underground of the city in a search for a killer that ultimately leads him to the heart of corruption. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Released the same year as Universal's MADIGAN, this Gordon Douglas-directed cop drama attempts with greater success what the Richard Widmark film tried to do. Dealing with, for the time, edgy material such as homosexuality and police corruption, this Sinatra vehicle is not presented as a normal crime drama. It uses flashbacks and a deconstructed plot structure to create a portrait of Sinatra's character. An interesting movie that's rewarding despite it's over-ambitious efforts that lead to some slow spots in act one when all we want is to see the mystery solved. But the "solution" to the whodunnit is only the start of what is effectively a sea change in H'wood's approach to this kind of material. This movie, probably due primarily to Old Blue Eyes' chutzpah and start power, really pushes the envelope hard for the kind of material that was normally censored in American films. It tries very hard to approach the material as realistically as possible. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Two interesting asides: This was based on a novel by Roderick Thorpe. The sequel would provide the basis for DIE HARD (1988).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And this film was influential in more ways than one. As far as I can determine, this is the first appearance of what would be become a stock cop drama cliche; the prostitute being booked as part of the background color in the detective squad room.</span></div>
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Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3749417931276912386.post-41462756545129283612020-01-15T08:34:00.005-08:002021-07-19T10:00:41.350-07:00Giddyap for movie reviews!<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>DABAANG (2010)</b> Salman Khan is the toughest (and most crooked) cop in Uttar Pradesh in this full-on Bollywood action comedy. There's epic fights, gun battles, explosions and dizzying dance numbers. Khan is a huge star in India and it's not hard to see why. He's the very picture of an action movie star but is equally adept at being silly when it's called for. Though it's largely satirical, there's an underlying story about what it means to be part of a family that's quite touc</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">hing and winds up fueling the bloody ending. Corruption must be a source of constant frustration with Indian movie audiences as it's so often the subject in their movies. Here the protagonist takes bribes from criminals to build the family nest egg but remains the hero because the politicians he opposes are openly murdering people to gain power. The movie is a lot of fun and gorgeously shot and Khan appears to be having the time of his life as he shoots, kicks, punches and dances his way into your heart.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUFHGcvOEUpAefqEae7Aj7qKCGeUt_N3T-v2QQ8en6jxYomRCDk3PI5O0hLgeHoZZA0hXDcnnCamDhj08ex-fwGUN0kZ9_06I2RMC7jYtrNe39MGFz95MG7uk3I1DZVce-NVzWiuW4GaM/s900/dabaabg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUFHGcvOEUpAefqEae7Aj7qKCGeUt_N3T-v2QQ8en6jxYomRCDk3PI5O0hLgeHoZZA0hXDcnnCamDhj08ex-fwGUN0kZ9_06I2RMC7jYtrNe39MGFz95MG7uk3I1DZVce-NVzWiuW4GaM/w640-h640/dabaabg.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>DUCK SOUP (1933)</b> I'm not alone in considering this to be the Marx Brothers best film. It's free of the usual romantic sub-plot the studio always wanted to lumber their movies with. The musical numbers are all Marx-centric and funny. And, while Chico and Harpo were indeed accomplished instrumentalists, their scenes featuring harp and piano solos always slowed their films down and those are absent here. Instead we have some of the best byplay between Groucho and Margaret Dumont</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">. The trial of Chico for spying with Ming the Merciless as his interrogator! "I sold the code and two pairs of plans!" The marvelous, and often imitated, mirror sequence with Groucho and Harpo. It all ends with the madcap battle sequence with Groucho changing costumes faster than Jean Harlow. And so many great comebacks, zingers, and word play.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">GROUCHO: <i>Three men and one woman are trapped in a building! Send help at once! If you can't send help, send two more women!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CRIMINAL (2016) </b>High concept, high octane action thriller with Kevin Costner as a dangerous sociopath selected as the subject for an experimental surgery that transfers the memories of another man into his brain. What's at stake? Only world peace. This had the potential of being a major dog but is turned into a fine piece of crowd-pleasing entertainment with a relentless pace, lots of ups and downs, and a cast who are all-in. Costner approaches his role with a degree of gusto<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> that's in contrast to his usual laconic screen persona and it works. He is, at all times, scary and pitiable simultaneously. It helps that the movie has a deep tragedy at its heart that causes one to care for the fate of the characters involved. Some exciting car action (free of CGI) and believable gun battles help lift this one over the top of the usual thriller offerings.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE BLACK WINDMILL (1974)</b> Taut, lean, espionage thriller starring Michael Caine as an MI6 officer whose son is kidnapped in exchange for a cache of diamonds in the custody of her Majesty's Secret Service. Directed with no nonsense by Don Seigel from a seamless script that cranks the tension up without melodrama or hysterics. Caine is terrific in this kind of role playing a man who has to keep it together during a stressful time. Shot with a fluid camera that makes the action seem immediate and cinematography by Ousama Rawi using a dense palette of colors that really brings the film to life. Seigel's hand is apparent in the editing process as well with exciting chases and a claustrophobic gun battle at the climax.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE HOLCROFT COVENANT (1985)</b> Unlike the last movie I reviewed, Michael Caine is hopelessly miscast in a movie that is a total mess from beginning to end. It's almost impossible to believe that this was directed by the same guy who made THE TRAIN and RONIN. It's a flaccid thriller based on a crap novel about a cabal of Nazis who've hidden billions in cash for their heirs. Caine runs and sweats and jumps and shoots and all to no purpose that I could discern. Caine is supposed t<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">o be a wiseass making arch remarks at the times of greatest danger. This comes off as unfunny and forced every single time. And I lost count of all the times he had a gun pulled on him. Characters produce handguns out of thin air in the same way Bugs Bunny always has a stick of dynamite handy. The last instance made me laugh out loud as it was just so predictably telegraphed. Painful dialogue, tedious characters and a story that chases its tail until everyone is dead so that the movie can mercifully conclude. A brave cast does their best with simply awful material.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE ADVENTURES OF BULLWHIP GRIFFIN (1967)</b> Always wanted to see this and, thanks to Disney Plus, I could. Roddy MacDowell is a devoted butler to a Boston Brahman family. When the scion dies leaving the family destitute, grandson Bryan Russell (in his last role before retiring from acting) sneaks away to the California gold fields with the butler and his older sister, Suzanne Pleshette, following.<br />It looks like Disney's idea was to do a comedy western ala the box office smash <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">CAT BALLOU. If so, they failed on an epic scale. The mood is too arch to ever feel like more than a silly pastiche. For some reason, satires of great grandpa's favorite kind of entertainment (stage melodramas and dime novels) was a trend in H'wood movies at this time. And, as usual, Disney is late in the game with a half-hearted effort that might have been decent family entertainment if it weren't for all the "touches" the studio could never resist adding in post-production.<br />A typical house musical score intrudes on the action calling attention to itself. While underscoring every action with a vamp of horns, tinkle of keys or clash of a cowbell works for Mickey and Donald here it only reminds you that you're watching a mechanically produced fiction. Add to that all the goofy sound effects, silly animations, painfully on-the-nose choral narration, sped-up action and special effects flourishes and whatever fun might have been had here is dead on arrival.<br />And the songs are so awful that one wishes the lyricist had been beaten over the head with his won rhyming dictionary. But God bless Suzanne Pleshette who brings charm and verve to her two numbers sung as a dance hall chanteuse and in her own voice too.<br />MacDowell is charming as always but not for one second do we believe that he's enamored of Pleshette's character. And Karl Malden has the time of his life as the indefatigable villain, appearing in lots of different guises and making the most of his comedic opportunities.<br />It's a shame really. This is a well-mounted production shot on Disney's extensive western back lot (including the Zorro hacienda) and features the one thing that Disney always got right; period detail. Costuming, weaponry, tools and transportation are all richly realized and add much to the proceedings as does the vast array of "characters" serving in minor roles and as extras.<br />One more thing: before the movie begins on D+ there's a notice that it's been edited for content. The only edit I could spot was the word "Chinaman" edited to "_____man" on two occasions when Karl Malden is in coolie get-up.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGua4WSH63kVyRBM9IOvCj8pyWeJwNVaOw2nuEMPHmHPivWjtUGc2wBOc_LZh2mIXFXvBVeLqlaWYYQQpBPqSb183FXgqsGRizi6A1Ev3SkuKElulWTvKqu5FF1xiT7JlOuQOihY1yGLo/s1280/bullwhip.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGua4WSH63kVyRBM9IOvCj8pyWeJwNVaOw2nuEMPHmHPivWjtUGc2wBOc_LZh2mIXFXvBVeLqlaWYYQQpBPqSb183FXgqsGRizi6A1Ev3SkuKElulWTvKqu5FF1xiT7JlOuQOihY1yGLo/w640-h360/bullwhip.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>GUN CRAZY (1950)</b> This one is considered to be an American noir classic and often makes it onto any list of top film noir movies. I hate to say this, I really do, but this movie's time has passed. Except for a snapshot of quaint ideas about psychology at the time, this flick hasn't aged well. I'm sure it it was shocking in its day. The scenes where a camera is mounted in the back seat as the two leads are casing banks or on the run are still vivid, exciting and, if anything, m<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">ore exciting as the years go by. But the rest of the film is sadly dated with all the usual scenes of authority figures moralizing, a mawkish scene in a nightclub to promote the movie's signature song ("Mad About You" Get it?) and a protracted manhunt through the wilderness. Still worth viewing but, if you've never seen it before, don't expect it to live up to its reputation.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE FIRST KING (2019)</b> The legend of Romulus and Rhemus retold as the bloodiest, muddiest peplum ever made. And this is one peplum that could have used more pep. The opening, with harrowing flash flood and the two brothers forced into combat with one another as part of a sacrifice to a vestal, is exciting and makes us believe we're in for a bloody good time. But from there the movie literally wanders down to the Tiber in its own sweet time with the brothers philosophizing abou<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">t the will the gods and their place in history. These two guys, a pair of shepherds, have an awfully inflated opinion of themselves that only gets more bloated as it moves along from one scene of witless violence to another.<br />And unless you're a Roman history buff, the significance of a lot of what goes on will be meaningless. I for one was disappointed that only one of the Velians was wearing a wolfshead even though they are referred to as "the wolfsheads" by the characters in the story. And the Alabans suddenly have horses at the end of the movie where they had none before. And the horses are decidedly not the size and breed anyone on the Italian peninsula would have had almost three thousand years ago. One character also carries a gladius sword. Way too soon for that.<br />An unusual production that deserves credit for trying. And the decision to have all the dialogue in Latin was an interesting choice.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbwIdZZbzCKxsiQhgDd7JsUtnYzH_O6dcFIurnjcGcXjrpZaNrY-er2K-nwP2fno67zEaJ9DsAWAL3epBOYfMlJng3GrKAz2IOQxnxmPlnHF9pEcMd339OTKPf0UjGdW1br479IqguH4k/s1280/aaaafir.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbwIdZZbzCKxsiQhgDd7JsUtnYzH_O6dcFIurnjcGcXjrpZaNrY-er2K-nwP2fno67zEaJ9DsAWAL3epBOYfMlJng3GrKAz2IOQxnxmPlnHF9pEcMd339OTKPf0UjGdW1br479IqguH4k/w640-h360/aaaafir.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE INDIAN FIGHTER (1955)</b> Kirk Douglas as famed frontiersman tasked with leading a wagon train through Indian country. His fatal decision to take a detour to visit an Indian maid (the absolutely gorgeous Elsa Martinelli of the Paisano Sioux) doom the settlers and a nearby cavalry fort. The Indians have been stirred up by a pair of whiskey traders played by Walter Matthau and Lon Chaney.<br />An early CinemaScope picture with all the long, lingering, warped, pan shots of that forma<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">t's typical features. Untypical of those early 'scope efforts is director Andre DeToth's use of multiple camera angles and (for CinemaScope) fluid edits. DeToth seemed to be able to master any new format thrown at him. He was was also the director of the first 3D movie.<br />It's all exciting, manly stuff with loads of amazing Oregon scenery and enough knife fights and shoot-em-up for the boys and enough shots of a barely clothed Martinelli for the dads.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1964) </b>I know, as a boomer nerd, it's sacrilege to say this, but I've never been much of a Ray Harryhausen fan. Even as a kid, while I loved the monster scenes, I didn't care much for the characters or stories. The mythic movies about Sinbad or Jason were just excuses for "Hey, look at that!" effects scenes that interrupted rather than carried the story. And when the "wow" scene was over the movies would return to tedious, predictable stories loaded with<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> ham actors. But this flick, based on the H.G. Wells novel, is the exception. Here, Harryhausen does more than stop action and has to create an entire panorama of effects shots, matte paintings, pyrotechnics and miniatures that is fully integrated into the story. For sheer scale and inventiveness, this is his best work by far.<br />After a terrific start, the finding of a Union Jack on the lunar surface by the "first" astronauts to land there, the movie drops into idle for the rest the first act. Pointless Victorian folderol involving chicanery with the deed to a house, a temperamental furnace and a lover's spat have the story spinning its wheels all in a contrived effort to get Martha Hyer aboard the moon capsule. While watching it I thought of a half dozen better ideas involving Russian spies, irate Luddite neighbors or Her Majesty's Secret Service.<br />But, once the trip to the Moon begins the movie picks up speed and doesn't let up until the end. We're treated to a sub-lunar labyrinth of tunnels, a civilization of insectoid Moon people, giant caterpillars, cave-ins, mysterious alien science and action set pieces in a world of sheer wonder. This is a special effects tour-de-force.<br />This movie should have been a classic. It should be better remembered. And if it wasn't for the silly Disney movie type opening act, it would probably be as well regarded as George Pal's TIME MACHINE and WAR OF THE WORLDS.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzpALuBCzyfAHtkfhQP-Q5vk6ujWpA4oD205sMSzg0gR9p2xvDzeFUVsG-XXVtaB4ecvSovlbWV8BRNE3A46rlC_3uYp5Qohi1AE8OtEH-PlW23RyGD-_sfOogNNas-EzLVoZP2tRHHM/s780/aaaasirtsmen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzpALuBCzyfAHtkfhQP-Q5vk6ujWpA4oD205sMSzg0gR9p2xvDzeFUVsG-XXVtaB4ecvSovlbWV8BRNE3A46rlC_3uYp5Qohi1AE8OtEH-PlW23RyGD-_sfOogNNas-EzLVoZP2tRHHM/w640-h360/aaaasirtsmen.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE FRESHMAN (1925)</b> Harold Lloyd in a rambunctious college comedy about a young man with an unrealistic idea of what life in higher education is about. He's a clueless nerd so determined to be the Big Man on Campus that he becomes the butt of a joke known to all but him when he's told he made the football team when he's only the waterboy. Lloyd if charming, funny and sympathetic as he always he is. He's aided by his most frequent co-star, comic actress Jobyna Ralston who is,<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> as she always was, sweet, long-suffering and knowing.<br />Lloyd stays on the ground for this one but is not out of danger as the football action is rough and tumble and a lot of the stunts look every bit as dangerous as dangling from high ledges or racing a horse-drawn trolley. In one scene, the teams practice dummy breaks and Harold volunteers to replace it getting tackled over and over again in a scene that had to have left him bruised head to toe.<br />The football game climax is rousing and suspenseful and a marvelous job of recreating the random events of sports. Nothing surreal or silly is added to the action other than Lloyd's superhuman ability to take punishment and conceal his athleticism as epic klutziness. The man was his own special effect.<br />The version I watched was a restoration by the National Film Archive and it looks wonderful with the timing corrected, contrast and clarity restored and tinting done to perfection. For once, tax dollars well spent.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>TIGER HOUSE (2015) </b>Taut little home invasion thriller from South Africa. Teenager Kaya Scodelario slips into her boyfriend's house to hook up and becomes the monkey wrench in the gears for a quintet of brutal thugs who arrive in the dead of night. Unusual for flicks like this, the heroine's skills are explained in a way that isn't contrived or forced. A thoughtful hide and seek story filled to the brim with suspenseful moments, satisfying turnarounds and a few nasty twists. My only quibble is that, from my understanding, most private homes in SA (with its Mad Max level crime rates) are virtual fortresses but this home seems like a sitting duck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE ODD ANGRY SHOT (1979)</b> A year in the life of an Aussie serving in Vietnam. More a portrait than an action flick with only a few actual exchanges with the enemy. We see the unit come together and build bonds of trust through long period of monotony interrupted by moments of terror. An astonishing amount of Fosters is downed in miserable conditions. There's not much to say about the story as it's merely a series of episodes showing the mates fighting, fornicating and getting plastered. Through it all we see a story of heart, disillusionment and loss. Most memorable is the bittersweet homecoming that closes the film.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>L'aventure, c'est l'aventure</i>/<b>MONEY, MONEY,MONEY (1972)</b> Claude LeLouch directs this crime farce about a gang of crooks (including Lino Ventura and Jacques Brel) determine that the real money is in politics. They begin robbing, kidnapping and hi-jacking in the name of the revolution and extort cash from Marxists, Maoists and terrorists in return for serving the cause. Though definitely a comedy, and it DOES get silly, this movie has something on its mind that resonates today as the world of ideologies and the world of money are intermingled more than ever. LeLouch directs in a laid-back "we'll get there" style and I suspect that much of the cast's shenanigans were improvised. But it's all fun with lots of clever tangents taken and a real sense of a camaraderie among the five leads.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCm30zNpsP9AhXH4kSEuO8GM5CTiKMvU7tiNjkPHlRhjRx5mCSVWZYSz3AOuEIa6RTGhEDLqwl2cVSCVI4lUkywAbD3Rq9kI_OXRYThCsNW9LImQ50oIRkgnIuwaziAuDfNDyj2oiTPYM/s1600/money.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCm30zNpsP9AhXH4kSEuO8GM5CTiKMvU7tiNjkPHlRhjRx5mCSVWZYSz3AOuEIa6RTGhEDLqwl2cVSCVI4lUkywAbD3Rq9kI_OXRYThCsNW9LImQ50oIRkgnIuwaziAuDfNDyj2oiTPYM/w640-h360/money.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Bleak Australian revenge story that starts out mean and wends its way down the vengeance highway all the way to outright brutal. We don't learn much about the protagonist other than he's single-minded and very good with tools. But we do follow him through every step of his planned payback on the men who raped and murdered his daughter as well as anyone even remotely involved. He has a long list that gets longer as he makes new enemies along the way. The story wisely eschews an "origin" for the character and, instead, we join him as he's well into his rampage. If you like seeing bad guys suffer (REALLY suffer) at the hands of a believable guy who's no kind of superhero then check this out. It's firmly in the Jeremy Saulnier or Craig Zahler zone of film-making.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE WICKED LADY (1983)</b> Faye Dunaway as a brazen schemer in 17th Century England. Highwaymen, chases, strumpets, rogues, capering, drunkenness and fights abound including a coach whip fight between Dunaway and Marina Sirtis. Lady Skelton betrays her husband and any shred of decency as she robs, murders and rogers her way across the lush landscape of Old Blighty. What might have been a classic in the hands of Richard Lester or Tony Richardson becomes a kind of grindhouse Henry <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Fielding in the hands of Michael Winner. Not too surprising as this was produced by Cannon and thus is loaded with pointless and protracted sex scenes and gratuitous nudity. Beautifully lensed by Jack Cardiff, the whole affair has a the subtlety of a Chuck Norris movie. A fine cast of British thespians do their best while Dunaway overacts shamelessly, mugging and eye-rolling and leering for the back benches.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>OSCAR (1991)</b> What a surprise this turned out to be! I've long heard this movie maligned and never had any interest in seeing it. A favorable review by Sean Burnham here on FB made me want to check it out and I'm glad I did.<br />Sylvester Stallone is a depression era gangster having the most eventful morning of his life in this expertly crafted homage to classic Hollywood comedies. Mistaken identities, multiple matching suitcases and a web of lies lead from one epic complication <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">to another. By the deathbed of his father (played by Kirk Douglas!) Sly vows to fly straight. But a wayward daughter and crooked accountant may make going legit impossible.<br />An assemblage of comic actors are here to help Sly make this movie a charming, and often very funny, farce. The dialogue exchanges are marvelous and everyone seems to be having the time of their lives. Martin Ferraro and Harry Shearer stand out as the Finucci Brothers as does Kurtwood Smith in the kind of role James Gleason was famous for back in the day. The cast even includes Eddie Bracken who starred in a few of these kinds of flicks back in the 40s.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRefMa9SwxoetuFxUcP0XuqXvvKtW3fxpLXj3MQl1YLYp8fzzkrqI2e9kdj76ZeaWeSZLkWsIFAllnaC1mU1JqqWMXfz2ZiHLDrj6PwNtwpoKq8gbZCkpzKmYuDlv_8ke6tebRF0awRao/s1846/oscarcc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="1846" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRefMa9SwxoetuFxUcP0XuqXvvKtW3fxpLXj3MQl1YLYp8fzzkrqI2e9kdj76ZeaWeSZLkWsIFAllnaC1mU1JqqWMXfz2ZiHLDrj6PwNtwpoKq8gbZCkpzKmYuDlv_8ke6tebRF0awRao/w640-h360/oscarcc.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>ICE STATION ZEBRA (1968)</b> Alistair MacLean's cold war thriller gets a big screen, epic treatment. A Soviet satellite, with film of a sensitive nature on board, falls out of orbit over the North Pole. A US submarine races under the icecap for the titular outpost with one or more traitors aboard.<br />Rock Hudson is stolid in the role of the sub skipper. Patrick McGoohan plays his usual acerbic, cryptic spy character. Ernie Borgnine has a ball playing a gregarious Russkie. And Jim <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Brown is badass as a hard-nosed USMC captain.<br />The story takes its time getting to the station but, for me anyway, the details of life aboard a nuclear sub are engaging and the actors verbal sparring keeps the tension taut.<br />If you're familiar with MacLean then you know what to expect; a story fraught with physical danger and continuous betrayals and reversals of fortune. The submarine effects are consistently impressive where the aircraft sequences are not. But it's good, rainy Sunday afternoon adventure stuff.<br />Two asides on this one. The movie features an entirely male cast. There's not one female cast member seen or even mentioned. At this point, H'wood had moved past the demands that there always be a woman in the story in order to draw the ladies ton the box office, operating under the theory that women wanted to see movies about other women. This led to ludicrous lengths taken to include actresses in the casts of war flicks, SF movies and westerns primarily aimed at a male audience in the hopes that sticking Martha Hyer or Debra Paget on the poster might make Mom or Sis want to see the movie too.<br />Also, in his final days, this was Howard Hughes' favorite movie. He had his own 70mm print and would have it screened almost daily for months on end. I have a personal theory of what he was so enamored of this movie. The story mirrors his own personal adventure thwarting the commies. If you've never heard of the vessel Glomar Explorer, look it up. It's right out of a MacLean or Cussler novel and actually happened.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTSh21fzumnBwrZaXm_P8TtVKMyDXj3tYs3daSWr1Iv8D5cPasqsntmds1lOEdYFMIGg5SK38M5Q3BgRfsTia6JQ81ceVwFipdO4dc8I5FmxZ2d-j7gF2OQ5w9duVcfT0bhmCvXW09hfM/s640/icestation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTSh21fzumnBwrZaXm_P8TtVKMyDXj3tYs3daSWr1Iv8D5cPasqsntmds1lOEdYFMIGg5SK38M5Q3BgRfsTia6JQ81ceVwFipdO4dc8I5FmxZ2d-j7gF2OQ5w9duVcfT0bhmCvXW09hfM/w640-h360/icestation.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>NAKED ALIBI (1954)</b> Sterling Hayden is a cop so convinced of Gene Barry's guilt in a series of police killings that he follows Barry to a seedy town on the Mexican border. Gloria Grahame is the femme fatale you hired when you couldn't afford Ida Lupino and she's in great form here alternatively tough and vulnerable. A fine film noir that moves along at a good clip.The best part for me is having Chuck Connors as Hayden's sidekick. Who wouldn't have loved a series of flicks with these two paired as badass detectives?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I AM SARTANA, YOUR ANGEL OF DEATH (1969)</b> Gianni Garko is Sartana, the best dressed of all the spaghetti western anti-heroes. he's a gunfighter and a gambler and settles his differences with a deck of cards or his weird little revolver he wears in a vest pocket. In this first film of the series, someone has stolen Sartana's identity to commit a bank robbery and our hero won't be satisfied until that guy, his gang, his family and anyone else standing in range is gunned down, trampled or blown up. Lots of gunplay, punch-ups and sweaty guys trash-talking each other in smoky bar rooms. Klaus Kinski is along to set the sleazy bar for the rest of the bad guys.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>BORDERLAND (2007)</b> Effective no-budget thriller about three high school pals who run into trouble with a Santeria cult south of the border. Not for the squeamish as it adds heavy horror elements to what is ostensibly a crime thriller. Well acted and crafted with skill to put, I suspect, every dime of the budget o the screen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE (1958)</b> The first of five westerns that Randolph Scott produced for Columbia with director Budd Boetticher and writer Burt Kennedy. I only recently learned that this was based on one of a series of paperback novels about Tom Buchanan. I had a chance to read a couple and they're quite good. The novels were the result of Gold Medal assigning writer William Ard to re-write his own hard-boiled crime novels as westerns under the pen name Jonas Ward. Anyhow, Sco<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">tt is an aimless drifter who gets onto trouble in a border town and is just ornery enough to stick around to see justice done. The original crime tropes of the novels show through the western plot with shifts in loyalty, a criminal conspiracy and a corrupt town beyond the reach of redemption. Scott plays his wry, wise-ass persona in this one in contrast to the more dour, world-weary gunfighter he would play in his next four films.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh__ekk1BpgtoUKmgdmvmCq7fosBZsaN8IFq15QoOCNhPOLImzGm47u7OVSzUveLuBIH4G8i-QjhWBSqWstHpoeL5aeqzMd7gqxDhM094yyYyYcA10z3gG05Z8ZwghzIfsPzNBzvCZE0dc/s576/buchanan+rides.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="576" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh__ekk1BpgtoUKmgdmvmCq7fosBZsaN8IFq15QoOCNhPOLImzGm47u7OVSzUveLuBIH4G8i-QjhWBSqWstHpoeL5aeqzMd7gqxDhM094yyYyYcA10z3gG05Z8ZwghzIfsPzNBzvCZE0dc/w640-h338/buchanan+rides.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>RIDICULE (1996)</b> A movie that leaves the viewer with a lot to think about. In the French court of the Age of Reason, intellectual discourse gives way to sophistry and word play. Wit is valued over substance and mockery becomes a deadly art form leading to ruined lives, murder and suicide. Does any of this sound familiar? This amazingly prescient film shows the irony of an informed populace consumed with the desire to have the last word at the cost of civil discourse and the open exchange of ideas. Gorgeously photographed with the keen eye for detail that marks most French period pieces.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Spasti Leningrad</i>/<b>BATTLE OF LENINGRAD (2019)</b> Moving, suspenseful war movie about the evacuation of the populace of Leningrad via barges towed across Lake Ladoga as well as the soldiers and civilians tasked with covering the retreat. Grim and fatalistic as all Russian war movies tend to be but populated with a cast of characters to care about. The effects are uniformly excellent and the action scenes well staged. And, like most Russian movies about WWII, this story presents the downside of Soviet society while exalting the personal courage of the people. The original Russian title, Saving Leningrad, is more accurate as this movie doesn't present an overview of the German siege of 1941.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>IF YOU MEET SARTANA...PRAY FOR YOUR DEATH (1968)</b> Two businessmen and a Mexican general are playing a shell game with a shipment of gold and Gianni Garko as Sartana puts himself into the mix along with wild cards William Berger and Klaus Kinski. This is the first of the five film series featuring the cool breeze clotheshorse that is Sartana, a mysterious gunman who favors a four-shot (or is it five?) custom pistol he keeps in his vest pocket. This one features one betrayal after another as the bodies pile up in the streets. It's all the sweating, grunting and wholesale slaughter you need in a B-grade macaroni western.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE TIME MACHINE (2002)</b> The classic H.G. Wells story gets the Dreamworks treatment which means it's lumbered with an unnecessary emotional arc, mawkish and obvious attempts at humor and dull action set pieces in place of any kind of real suspense. Guy Pearce is wasted in a vapid version of this SF classic that won't replace the far better George Pal version of 1960. The original film, like the novel, remains thought-provoking and inventive. This movie reveals the blinkered wo<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">rldview of its creators. The hero's vantage of the future of the world is literally only what he can see from an alley in Manhattan. What he can see there is that everyone in the future of 2030 will ride bicycles and uniformly ignore advertisements shouting at them from the sides of buildings. The dystopic far future he finds himself marooned in is the result of an attempt to mine the Moon for minerals. Exactly how that leads to the human race mutating into two distinct branches is unclear and the resolution of the movie is simply awful. Forgettable tripe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Faites sauter la banque</i>/<b>LET'S ROB THE BANK (1964) </b>Popular French comic actor Louis de Funès is a store owner cheated of his life's savings by an unscrupulous banker. His solution is to dig a tunnel from the basement of his sporting goods store into the vault if the bank across the street. He enlists his wife and kids who turn it into a family project. Of course complications ensue with funny and suspenseful results. It's all fun and breezy and not to be taken at all seriously. Funès' appeal is easy to understand as he plays the put-upon everyman deriving laughs with impeccable timing, subtle facial expressions and kinetic body language. And, from a writing standpoint, I have to admire how they resolved all of the conflicts and problems in as neat a way as possible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>GUN BROTHERS (1956)</b> Buster Crabbe and Neville Brand are brothers in this no-budget western programmer that's pretty darned good. Buster is fresh out of the cavalry and ready to join his brother in a Wyoming cattle venture. But Neville's more of a rustler than a rancher and Buster is torn between family loyalty and the law. Some solid suspense moments and top drawer acting for a mostly set-bound cheapie. Michael Ansara is despicable as a villain and Slim Pickens is along as well. All under the sure hand of TV and movie vet Sidney Salkow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>6 UNDERGROUND (2019)</b> I don't know where to begin on this Netflix collaboration with Michael Bay. Ryan Reynolds, playing exactly the same character he always plays, is a billionaire who fakes his own death to form a small unit of talented operatives who have also all faked their own deaths. Why? So no one can go after the loved ones they leave behind. Not a bad idea except that they make absolutely no effort to hide their identities and the bad guys who are the subject of thei<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">r first mission determine who they are early on. This is just the start of a series of the confounding and consternating elements that populate this noisy, frantic and inane exercise in distraction.<br />The objective of this elite unit is regime change because of a fictional dictator's poison gas attack on his own people. This is based on the widely de-bunked story about gas attacks in Syria. Our heroes also falsely believe that regime change is always for the best even though there's ZERO reason to believe that the "democratic" leader they seek to install will be any better than the louse they're ousting. If the last hundred years has taught us anything it's that regime change (with the exception of ending the Third Reich and Imperial Japan) almost always leads to worse.<br />Aside from all that, this movie relentlessly treats us to one fast-cut action sequence after another with a shocking disregard for collateral damage. The good guys in this film are responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths as they lead chases and instigate firefights in heavily populated areas. All for the greater good I suppose. Or maybe because they're just too-cool-for-school, gun-toting, thrill-seeking sociopaths.<br />All is accompanied by dialogue loaded with pop culture references when it's not simply lifting lines wholesale from other movies. It's as if it was written using Facebook posts. Maybe it was.<br />It's all exhausting rather than exhilarating and populated by characters I couldn't get engaged in. Partly because they're written as ciphers and partly because they're cartoon characters who suffer mortal injuries only to pop up seconds later to perform astonishing feats of athleticism. Hard to take any of it seriously enough to invest emotion in.<br />Worst of all is the total waste of Mélanie Laurent in a role as a gunslinging badass that deserved to be in a much better movie than this.<br />I don't think I've ever seen so much money, so much time and so much talent wasted on so little.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>LIGHTNING JACK (1994)</b> Paul Hogan uses the last five minutes of his fame to make a western written by himself. I have to say I admire him for that. Why not shoot for that dream project in the twilight of your popularity? And he apparently financed it through a kind of early crowdfunding by selling shares in the movie. Goo on ya, mate. What he produces is a fun western adventure with a light touch and good action scenes. Fellow Aussie Simon Wincer directs with his usual skills for the genre on display. Cuba Gooding Jr. makes the most of his role as a mute sidekick and manages a few laughs. And Roger Daltry has a cameo as a vile gunfighter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>DRAGNET (1987)</b> The movie that launched the (mostly) regrettable tradition of big screen adaptions of well-known television series. A mixed-bag of comedy moments with little effort to create any kind of plot. Dan Ackroyd indulges himself in an imitation of Jack Webb and Tom Hanks whoops, yelps and hollers as a character created only to snark at every opportunity. It's only fitfully funny and wears out its welcome quickly and seems presented with no real point of view on anything. It's not parody or pastiche or any other discernible form of comedy other than a loosely joined series of gags leading to the least exciting gun battle ever put on film. It would be a year before NAKED GUN would show how this kind of movie should be done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MR. MOTO'S GAMBLE (1938) </b>Peter Lorre as the detective/adventurer Moto finds himself embroiled in a murder mystery committed during a heavyweight championship bout. Always a fun series and this one is no exception. Fast paced sleuthing stuff with clever twists, snappy dialogue and quite a few laughs. And this one is a crossover with the appearance of Charlie Chan's number one son (played by Keye Luke) as one of Moto's students. Also features Ward Bond as a boxer and Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom providing comedy relief. I've been informed that this was actually intended as a Charlie Chan movie but re-written for Lorre when regular Chan actor Warner Oland became ill. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>SARTANA'S HERE...TRADE YOUR PISTOL FOR A COFFIN (1970) </b>Third entry in the official series (there were dozens of unauthorized knock-offs). Once again, Sartana (this time played by George Hilton) is after a shipment of gold that's never where it's rumored to be. The usual huge bodycount, traitorous females, scheming businessmen and vile bandits. The odd addition here is a character named Sabata. Not the "man with the gunsight eyes" played by Lee Van Cleef but a fey mama's boy who favors a pink and white outfit and rides with a parasol over his head. I guess naming him for the uber-macho Van Cleef character is a kind of inside joke.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE DUCHESS AND THE DIRTWATER FOX (1976)</b> I'm always wary of movies with "cute" titles like this and this one proves the rule. George Segal is a crooked gambler and Goldie Hawn is a scheming prostitute in this comedy western that relies on the tee-hee variety of sex jokes and the brittle chemistry of the leads to carry it along. I really don't miss the days when H'wood had a real fascination with whores. Back in the 70's, an actress wasn't considered "serious" until they'd pla<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">yed a sex worker. Anyway, this mess of a chase story has a few moments but is marred by coincidences, chance and the characters' often unwarranted change of heart. And, like way too many westerns following that Newman/Redford thing, this one is lumbered with a syrupy pop song played over a romantic interlude. <i>Lemon Drops, Lollipops and Sunbeams </i>sung by Bobby Vinton. That saccharine enough for you?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Les tontons flingueurs</i>/<b>MONSIEUR GANGSTER (1963) </b>This one has the kind of solid concept that makes me wonder why it never got an American remake. Gangster Lino Ventura is asked by a dying pal to take over the his rackets and to watch over his wild child teenage daughter. Of course, every leader in the gang is itching to take over the top spot and willing to kill their way to the head of the table. It's all far too French for me and bumps along at an uncertain pace brightened up by some funny comedy set pieces. Ventura is, of course, perfect in his patented put-upon tough guy role and comic actor Jean Lefebvre is really growing on me.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiek_08OYfhSvCWlkRxN68SXYMFo9DLmO9EMKqeYKxXT34QvShZk9uJMYNtUEvyKsjETdQxE0nFRblBYsSR5qdhqfnbNua-y1PYnE1FmbVO_VI7R_-kKsxHcK8i7MMSJQzU751X1glcjlw/s1280/monsieur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1280" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiek_08OYfhSvCWlkRxN68SXYMFo9DLmO9EMKqeYKxXT34QvShZk9uJMYNtUEvyKsjETdQxE0nFRblBYsSR5qdhqfnbNua-y1PYnE1FmbVO_VI7R_-kKsxHcK8i7MMSJQzU751X1glcjlw/w640-h400/monsieur.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>ROMMEL (2017)</b> German-produced TV movie about the final seven months of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's life. From the failed defense of the French beaches to his frustrations with other members of the general staff and, finally, his entanglement with the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler. Well done within the confines of a television budget with the benefit of using the actual locations. It explains with clarity, and a palpable sense of dread, Rommel's part in the Valkyrie conspiracy and what a too-clever-by-half effort that was.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING</b> (1939) Moto is deep undercover in Port Said to uncover a plot by "a certain foreign power" to destroy the French Mediterranean fleet and close the Suez Canal! What the indefatigable crime-fighter runs up against is a dastardly spy ring ruin by the un-funniest ventriloquist ever. One narrow escape after another as Moto out-wits, out-moves and out-judos the bad guys in the service of international law and order. George Sanders and John Carradine are along as heavies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE TWO-HEADED SPY (1958)</b> Cracking good spy drama with Jack Hawkins as a British agent operating as a general in the Wehrmacht supply chain. It's the largely exaggerated true story of Alec Scotland who was embedded with the German army for decades. There's plenty of tense moments as Hawkins risks exposure every second of every day. Features one of the most brutal torture scenes I can recall; made all the worse for leaving the details up to one's own imagination. Donald Pleasance is is usual creepy self in a small role and a very young Michael Caine in a blink-and-you'll-miss-him appearance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>PURPLE NOON (1960)</b> Rene Clement adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's first Tom Ripley novel knows when to get out of the way and let the story tell itself. For those unfamiliar with the series of novels, Tom Ripley is an ex-pat American who seems free of any kind of moral compass and is willing to commit almost any crime, on the spur of the moment, that might benefit him. He's like a predator, with only his own survival in mind, let loose on civilization. Alain Delon is pitch perfect as Ripley and wisely plays him without a hint through facial expressions or body language of what a sociopath monster Ripley is. We see him through his actions only. Set against gorgeous scenery which only makes what happens all the more shocking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE ONE (2001)</b> It's Jet Li versus Jet Li in this sci-fi punch-up dealing with parallel universes. The gag is that evil Jet grows stronger with each of the alternate dimension versions of himself he kills. His aim is to become the only one of himself and thus gain the powers of a god. He kills nerd Jets and preppie Jets and even a blonde Jet named Sven! He runs into trouble when he shows up in our dimension and meets his match in nice-guy cop Jet. Lots of explosions and iffy wire effects along with a few really good Jet vs Jet fights. Kind of a Dollar Store Terminator movie from Glen Morgan and James Wong that I'm willing to bet started life as an X-Files episode like their far-more successful FINAL DESTINATION franchise. Added bonus" Jason Statham with hair!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>WOMAN CHASES MAN (1937)</b> Adorable Miriam Hopkins is looking for work and has set her sights high. She wants to be the lead architect on a housing project dreamed up by Charles Winninger. Trouble is that the family fortune needed to finish the project is in a trust held by Winninger's tightwad son played by Joel McCrea, Breezy and fun with a uniformly fine cast. I have to wonder if Preston Sturges did and script doctoring here because so much of a dialogue has his ring. All-in-all and excellent screwball comedy that deserves to be better known.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>IRMA LA DOUCE (1963)</b> Jack Lemmon is a Paris cop who loses his badge and becomes a pimp who becomes enamored with prostitute Shirley MacLaine. This passed for light entertainment in the early 60's. I have never understood Hollywood's fascination with hookers as subject matter for movies. I watch movies from the world over and nowhere but in American cinema will you find these Cinderella fables about whores. These are fantasies about "sex workers" that take place in a world fr<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">ee of sexually transmitted disease, drugs, violence and abuse. It confounds me how Billy Wilder could make something this misguided after making a film that more maturely contemplates the shifting sexual mores of the time two years earlier. THE APARTMENT also starring Lemmon and MacClaine. The film is shot as a kind of musical comedy without the music with characters prancing around in bright costumes against a a drab (and actually filthy) background. The comedy is forced, the scenes go on too long and everyone appears to be straining with the thin material.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Mort d'un pourr</i>/DEATH OF A CORRUPT MAN (1977)</b> Alain Delon in a violent political thriller involving a stolen file detailing corruption at the highest levels of the French government. Alain is on the run as well as trying to protect Ornella Muti from murderers with orders to find the file and kill anyone who's seen it. Good stuff with some great car and truck stunts by Reme Juiienne. This one's a departure from director Georges Lautner and a far cry from the kind of caper comedies he was making prior to this. Also features Klaus Kinski doing his creepy thing and Lautner regular Mirielle Darc as Delon's girlfriend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>ABSOLUTE POWER (1997)</b> Professional burglar Clint Eastwood is the unintended witness to a high crime committed by a public official and he becomes the target of the Secret Service, the DC police and a hired killer. Clint directs this film version of David Baldacci's potboiler novel with a smart script by William Goldman. Told without melodrama or unnecessary action scenes and a top drawer cast that includes Gene Hackman, Laura Linney, Scot Glen, Judy Davis and Ed Harris.<br />I wa<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">s admiring the dialogue touches sprinkled throughout and recognized Goldman "reversal" style before being reminded that this was his screenplay in the end credits.<br />Example:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gloria Russell: Bill, I need you to examine her.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Bill Burton: I'm no gynecologist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Gloria Russell: I just made you one!</span></div>
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<span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>TARZAN AND THE SHE-DEVIL (1953)</b> Lex Barker's final swing on the vine as Tarzan fits right into the formula of all the previous films in the series. Ivory poachers turned slavers led by Monique Van Vooren (the she-devil of the title) invades Tarzan's jungle and you know he's not having any of that. He gets especially irritated when he thinks Jane has died when their tree-house is burned to the ground by the bad guys. That's an element borrowed from an early Burroughs novel. We get everything we want in a Tarzan movie, fights, chimpanzee high-jinks, elephant stampedes and Tarzan establishing himself once again as fictions baddest badass. Van Vooren is aided by henchmen Raymond Burr and Tom Conway and. curiously, a tribe of white Africans who look like they might have taken the wrong turn at Albuquerque.</span></span><br />
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<span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLhrFtcP0wvAKg_W90w5cEdKJoo5N-qabus4JLjgbhnIsbRPnsQGwLTfEgGTG4YpzcgAVPeR0BHcJjOHjDg8GOVAsfSaIY2nHGviX5tt3UkhinH6yy-TtPzw-2YNmHF8vf5kZBeCfkAM/s640/tarzshedevil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLhrFtcP0wvAKg_W90w5cEdKJoo5N-qabus4JLjgbhnIsbRPnsQGwLTfEgGTG4YpzcgAVPeR0BHcJjOHjDg8GOVAsfSaIY2nHGviX5tt3UkhinH6yy-TtPzw-2YNmHF8vf5kZBeCfkAM/w640-h480/tarzshedevil.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
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<span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON (1943)</b> Cary Grant is a reporter covering Europe as Nazism is on the rise and the German army is on the march. He falls for American golddigger Ginger Rogers who doesn't realize that her titles fiance, Walter Slezak, is a closet Hitler-lover. What follows is part romantic comedy, part spy thriller and all war propaganda. But it's entertaining propaganda with a witty script, charming cast and some real suspense moments. My favorite is Rogers in disguise as a hotel maid in order to give two stormtroopers the slip. She's running a sweeper over the rug on her way out and is determined not to miss a spot even if it means the bad guys have to lift their jackboots to let her by. A nice little bit of improv there, Miss Rogers.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>THE HORIZONTAL LIEUTENANT (1960)</b> Another example of the once-popular and now extinct service comedy. This time it's Jim Hutton who's transferred to a remote island to hunt for a Japanese hold-out. He has to leave behind a cushy posting on Hawaii where he's been dating Army nurse Paula Prentiss. Talk about sacrificing for the war effort. There's the usual bumbling officers and 4-F reject characters. Charles McGraw, tough guy actor, gets some choice lines as the gruff base comm</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">ander and Jim Backus is his always-reliable country club nitwit. But the funniest scenes go to Yoshio Yoda (Fuji from McHALE'S NAVY) as a womanizing Nisei soldier. When I was a kid we loved Fuji and here he gives further examples of why. His comedic timing is impeccable and he totally nails the role of the sometimes-clueless, sometimes-brilliant outlier character. This movie also teams Hutton and Prentiss once again and it's not hard to see why. Both being tall and slender they make a cute couple and have such a real on-screen chemistry that audiences assumed they were married in real life.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>A VERY HONORABLE GUY (1934)</b> Joe E. Brown is 'Feet' Samuels, a gambler and Broadway loafer in this adaption of a Damon Runyon story. Feet enters into a deal to sell his brain to science with a thirty day deadline underwritten by a loan shark that our hero is in debt to. Everything that could go wrong (and right) happens in a story that has real suspense and high stakes that would have worked in a dramatic thriller. Through the 1930's Joe E. Brown was the Warner Brothers' big comedy star. His very American character, a boastful rube with a good heart and tireless ambition, endeared him to audiences in these well-plotted comedy features. In every instance these short features, running a little more than a hour, had solid and engaging storylines for Brown to riff off of.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>ZODIAC (2007)</b> David Fincher's telling of the true crime story of the Zodiac killer who terrorized California for two decades becomes a crime epic in the director's careful hands. We go along with cops and newspaper reporters who struggle to uncover the identity of the infuriating and frustrating serial killer. The first time I saw this movie I didn't care for it. I was driven to return to it after enjoying Fincher's work on the excellent Netflix series Mindhunters. I didn'</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">t fully see the through story here until my second viewing the other night. The movie is an earnest telling of the enduring mystery of the murderer who was just as likely to lie as to kill. The movie is populated by marvelous, restrained performances by Jake Gyllenhal, Robert Downey Jr, Donal Logue and Mark Ruffalo. The period detail is uniformly excellent and there's even touches of humor (cop humor) in the story that are not out of place. Now I'm curious about the director's cut.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>MADIGAN (1968) </b>Richard Widmark is Dan Madigan, a tough New York cop who doesn't play by the rules. Henry Fonda is his former precinct captain now police commander. Widmark and his partner (Harry Guardino) have their guns stolen by a thug and spend the rest of the movie trying to find them. As plot lines go, this one is pretty lame. It's gussied up by pointless sub-plots about adultery and NYPD politics.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;">A failed attempt to make a realistic cop drama and a genre that had run </span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">out of steam on the big screen in the mid-50s. Shot on location (in a whiter New York City than I've ever seen) with side trips to the always-unconvincing Universal backlot. In fact, this looks very much like typical output from the studio at the time; scenes too "hot" and TV-friendly frame compositions and a simply awful over-dramatic musical score. Don Siegel, who made better policiers before this and would after, is lumbered with a screenplay that betrays its fiction-by-the-pound potboiler novel roots. Hard to believe that this came out the same year as BULLITT and we'd have to wait three more years for THE FRENCH CONNECTION.</span></span><br />
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<span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>TIMECRIMES (2007)</b> In this Spanish SF film an everyday schmo finds himself trapped in the loops of a time paradox when he travels to the next day only to discover that he was the cause of the events that happened the day before. Twisty, turny, creepy, mind-bending and entirely engaging slow-boil thriller that will keep you working out the puzzle long after the end credits roll.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>DRAGONSLAYER (1981)</b> Serfs travel far to hire a wizard to relieve them of the dragon that plagues their manor. But they have to be satisfied with the work of his young apprentice who is soon at odds with those in the kingdom who prefer the status quo of appeasing the dragon in exchange for an uneasy peace. How rare is a fantasy movie set in a fully realized historical context? This movie takes great pains to make this world of wizards and dragons as believable as possible and</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;"> efforts are impressive. Excellent acting throughout, including Ralph Richardson in a marvelous turn as the aging sorcerer. There's also, for the time, amazing effects sequences using a new type of stop-motion animation call "go-motion" in which every other frame is blurred in order to lose the strobing effect that so often mars these kinds of scenes. The dragon of the title is indeed awesome and very scary at times leading to some terrific suspense moments.<br />I saw this one at a special preview and went on cold knowing nit a single thing about it. We weren't even allowed to see the movie's poster or know the cast or genre. Always a great way to see a movie; zero expectations and you get in free. This particular experience was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise.</span></span><br />
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<span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>RAMBO: LAST BLOOD (2019)</b> John Rambo takes on a human trafficking cartel. I could end the review here but I won't. This is a pure action film wedded to a kind of reverse horror film where we're rooting for the slasher. Lean, dour, bleak and nasty, this movie delivers everything Rambo fans expect and then some. And, thankfully, it does not end in one of those protracted one-on-one fights in which we're supposed to worry if the good guy will win or not. Nope. Rambo just effing punishes these creeps for a good twenty minutes. Hurts so good.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN24dl22eHjQ97Qp6lpDf-uU5q_CQd6p_lUYGXAxW3BcRlaoNGULL4U6QWZkUE0hCLChzPVMjJEz31N2W9Muu3qapdXFOU5PS1jnpbSXwzswNHlpQNyajqr_mec6NZyuRKnd27BfH7Vdw/s1600/rambolast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN24dl22eHjQ97Qp6lpDf-uU5q_CQd6p_lUYGXAxW3BcRlaoNGULL4U6QWZkUE0hCLChzPVMjJEz31N2W9Muu3qapdXFOU5PS1jnpbSXwzswNHlpQNyajqr_mec6NZyuRKnd27BfH7Vdw/w640-h360/rambolast.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #1c1e21; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)</b> To discuss the plot of this film to any significant degree would taint the experience of anyone who hasn’t seen it. Suffice it to say that this story of the Manson family and the Summer of Love in 1969 California is the feel-good movie of the year. Quentin Tarantino had a lot to make up to me after the abomination that was THE HATEFUL 8. Well, the crazy son-of-a-bitch did it with what is, despite the inevitable descent into glorious exploi</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">tation trash, his most mature film. On the surface it’s the director’s most self-indulgent film making it perhaps the most self-indulgent movie in cinema history. But as I revel in the same lowbrow pop culture morass that he does, I will forgive him all day long. And when someone panders to themselves to such a painstaking degree, we can all take it as his gift to all of us. For all of that, he shows real restraint in scenes that would have been cheapened by the tricks and tropes he used in his previous grand grindhouse homage efforts. Scenes of Sharon Tate privately basking in her “moment” in the movie biz are presented without foreboding or telegraphing. Yet, a visit to the Spahn movie ranch stands up there with the Bates Motel or Dracula’s castle for rising suspense and that sweet “get out of there!” feeling. I will say no more about story.<br />From a sheer technical aspect this movie is a marvel. The OCD-precise recreation of Hollywood in August of 1969 deserves applause all on its own. A massive physical and artistic effort as it’s done with an absolute minimum of CGI as are all of the stunt effects. The whole movie is seen through candy-colored lenses but never devolves into a delirium. Even an acid trip is only seen in the body language of the actor experiencing it. This is end of the 60’s as a nostalgia trip free of melancholy, overdoses, sexual abuse and disease and all of that is made crystal clear by the astonishing conclusion of this magnum opus.</span></span><br />
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<span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX (2018)</b> A space-based experiment to create an alternate energy for a fuel-starved Earth goes awry and creates a melding of two parallel worlds. It's a decent enough SF flick with an okay cast, some suspenseful moments and one very clever death scene. And as much as I love Chris O'Dowd, his role as comic relief manages to defuse any building tension the story might have had. The movie has a weird history as it started out as a movie called GOD PARTICLE until someone decided to wedge it into the Cloverfield franchise. The opposite of what they did with THE QUIET PLACE last year. It was also meant to be released theatrically but Parmaount decided to offer it to Netflix instead where it remains to this day.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>THE TRAIN (1964)</b> A network of rail workers do all they can to stop a train full of France's greatest paintings stolen by the Nazis from reaching Germany in the days before the fall of Paris. Burt Lancaster leads a mostly French cast in an epic thriller loaded with suspense moments and indelible characters. And Burt is here doing most of his own stunts and some of them look quite dangerous. IS there a safe way to fall off a moving train?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;">The details of how they use their expe</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">rtise at running (and stopping) trains is as fascinating as it is inventive including a few incredible, full scale locomotive collisions. John Frankenheimer directs from a terse, lean script and chooses to shoot the movie in black and white which only adds to the immediacy of what we're experiencing. I think is the last new-release "A" picture not shot in color that I saw in a theater until PAPER MOON.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)</b> A New York vice cop with a nose for wrongdoing uncovers an international conspiracy to ship a load of heroin into New York in the 1960s.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;">It's hard to overestimate the effect this movie had on how crime films would be made in the USA going forward. It literally changed everything about how police and criminals were portrayed in every thriller that followed on the big and little screen.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;">Director William Friedkin put himself on the map by basing h</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">is film on a true story with a punchy, script by Ernest Tidyman and borrowing the storytelling style of French auteur Jean-Pierre Melville. A "French" connection in more ways than one.<br />Popeye and Cloudy are unlike any other cops Americans had seen in their movies. These guys were slobs. They drank and smoked and cursed and fooled around. They would bend the rules when they had too. They were casually racist and abrasive and jealous of their arrest rates. They were also dogged and courageous and fixated on putting hoods in a cell or a grave, whichever worked best.<br />DIRTY HARRY would be released two months later providing further incentive for the explosion of cops in movies and on TV that pretty much continues to this day.<br />The movie is loaded with memorable scenes including one of the most thrilling car chases ever put on film; a combination of brilliant editing and a totally unauthorized early morning spin down Stillwell Avenue that resulted in at least one very real car crash with an unwitting driver.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>PRIMAL (2019)</b> Does Nicholas Cage ever sleep? His latest is an action film with the kind of contrived plot that has kept B movie producers in greenbacks for decades. Nick's a "bring 'em back alive" kind of hunter who deals in selling endangered species. (boo! hiss!) He's got a rare, and VERY pissed off, albino jaguar in his collection this time. He boards a cargo ship with his latest payload only to find out that US Marshals and their charge, a dangerous psychopath, will be pa</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">ssengers as well. Well, you know what happens next, right? Things move swiftly and pretty much by the numbers but the locale is interesting and the feral animals loose in an enclosed environment offer a change from the usual bullets and fists scenario. And, surprise, Nick turns out to be a good guy after all. (yay!) If that came as a spoiler to you I wish you a happy birthday as you were born yesterday. Late yesterday. It's all fun in a rainy Saturday afternoon way and yet another mile in Nic Cage's apparent personal marathon to appear in more movies than anyone who ever lived. Oh, and Kevin Durand is effective as the killing machine bad guy competing with the jaguar for a body count.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_wSHjwyC2pzLODPaWrHAle6xIT1AQ9ZA8pG1EODf-ERyt-VQkGEqnUiMN3gszaZvApKSOpMpIvfo2A_j74hQLpB11K1bCi8CQCrvus0VJEHem5fQ4rHGuRkZbD-65KRRe_RAiZoKTCg/s1600/primal.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="739" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_wSHjwyC2pzLODPaWrHAle6xIT1AQ9ZA8pG1EODf-ERyt-VQkGEqnUiMN3gszaZvApKSOpMpIvfo2A_j74hQLpB11K1bCi8CQCrvus0VJEHem5fQ4rHGuRkZbD-65KRRe_RAiZoKTCg/s1600/primal.JPG" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>DARK OF THE SUN (1968)</b> Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are mercenaries tasked with taking a train across war-torn Congo to rescue refugees. Cinematographer Jack Cardiff presents a sometimes shockingly brutal action-adventure that is like a 1960's men's "sweat" magazine brought to life. Apparently it was intended to be even more violent but was severely trimmed before release and that chop job shows in some rough edits in spots. Still, it's exciting and fast-paced and suspenseful with some stand-out action set pieces and the world's toughest Toyota.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;">Sidenote: I've seen this movie a dozen times and only learned yesterday that it was shot in Jamaica standing in for West Africa.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>THE DOGS OF WAR (1980)</b> Christopher Walken assembles a team of fellow mercenaries to cause a regime change in a West African hellhole. I was lucky enough to catch it on the big screen on its release and it's has been an annual re-watch for me since it came out on VHS. Deliberately paced and free of the usual action movie fare of cute lines and contrived violence. It spends a lot of time on the more mundane aspects of this kind of extra-legal military action and I loved every m</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">inute of those scenes set in London, Paris and Valencia as the team assembles the weaponry needed and the transport to reach their target. Walken is an unusual choice for a lead role like this and that's a lot of what makes the film work, makes it feel more believable since he's not some god-like former wrestler. And the musical score is effective and haunting at times. My only regret? Ed O'Neill's character begs off of the big mission. You can see him back seat right in the photo below in the opening sequence.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;"><b>100 RIFLES (1969)</b> Burt Reynolds is a half-breed Yaqui Indian who uses the funds from a bank robbery to buy rifles for his people. Jim Brown is the lawman sent to bring him back over the Mexican border. And Raquel Welch is a firebrand revolutionary seeking revenge for the hanging of her father. Fernando Lamas is the sadistic federale general who chases them all over the desert to get the titular rifles back.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" /><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21;">An okay western shot in Spain that should have been better given its</span><span class="text_exposed_show" face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;"> pedigree. Directed by Tom Gries but far inferior to his previous western WILL PENNY (1967) with a screenplay by veteran western writer Clair Huffaker. It's fun enough but the attempt to create a bromance between Reynolds and Brown falls flat. Much was made at the time of the interracial sex scene between Brown Welch (rating the cover of Life magazine which even seemed odd at the time for a quick-play actioner) but it's just the typical obligatory montage that appeared in every exploitation flick once the ratings system was in place.<br />There's LOADS of violent action but much it falls flat as the scenes lack any real cohesion, suspense or sense of rising action. They're each shot Grand Guignol style. A machete to the head here. A bullet to the guts here.<br />Trivia note: John Wayne's most frequent stand-in was brought in to double for Brown but would have to do it in a wig and blackface. Reynolds objected to this and refused to work unless they found a black stuntman which the studio made Burt pay for.</span></span><br />
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Chuck Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18333796662720399125noreply@blogger.com3