My life at the movies.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring, Phyllis Konstam, and Edward Chapman.
Hitchcock’s third sound picture. Herbert Marshall plays Sir John, a noted stage actor serving on the jury weighing the case of a young actress accused of murder. The case appears open-and-shut, but Sir John has doubts. After ceding to peer pressure and voting guilty, his conscience compels him to launch his own investigation. Continue reading...
Directed by Taika Waititi. Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, and Mark Ruffalo.
Best Doctor Strange movie.
Directed by Lucio Fulci. Starring Jean Sorel, Marisa Mell, Elsa Martinelli, and Alberto de Mendoza.
Lucio Fulci’s first thriller wows with confident pacing, stylish camera-work, and strong performances. I went in cold and suggest you do likewise. The less you know, the better. Continue reading...
Directed by Lucio Fulci. Starring Franco Nero, George Hilton, Linda Sini, and Giuseppe Addobbati.
The somersault yanked me right out. Continue reading...
Directed by Terence Fisher. Starring Peter Cushing, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart, and Christopher Lee.
For Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee’s first film for Hammer, a guest review from the good Baron himself: Continue reading...
Directed by Adam Green. Starring Kane Hodder, Joel David Moore, Deon Richmond, and Amara Zaragoza.
Takes the ’80s slasher formula, adds a liberal dose of humor, and executes with a talented cast and a boatload of heart. Sure, subbing arid southern California for a Louisiana swamp drains the budget and constrains the shot selection, but the practical effects are top-notch, inventive, and gruesome.
Enjoyed it enough to buy the Blu-Ray for the bonus features (which don’t disappoint).
Directed by John Cromwell. Starring William Powell, Kay Francis, Scott Kolk, William B. Davidson, Thomas E. Jackson, and Harry Walker.
Powell plays Bill Foster, a slick defense lawyer so well-respected in the underworld that when his car’s stolen, the crooks return it after getting a look at the registration. Continue reading...
Directed by Howard Hawks. Starring Richard Barthelmess, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Neil Hamilton, and Frank McHugh.
Howard Hawks’s first sound picture. Barthelmess plays a cynical World War I pilot at odds with commanding officer Hamilton. When orders send Hamilton to a different outfit, Barthelmess assumes Hamilton’s position and struggles under the burden of command.
Hawks bursts into the sound era with terrific (for the time) dialogue, dynamic aerial photography (love the POV bomb shots), and the burgeoning Hawksian theme of men enduring grim fates as a duty. Remade eight years later with Errol Flynn in Barthelmess’s role.
Directed by John Ford. Starring Kenneth MacKenna, Frank Albertson, J. Farrell MacDonald, and Warren Hymer.
Perhaps the first of Ford’s early sound pictures that rated his full attention. After an accidental collision, an American submarine drifts toward the ocean floor. MacKenna plays a disgraced British officer serving under an assumed name on the sinking sub. When the sub’s commander succumbs to stress, MacKenna assumes command and reveals his true identity. The lighthearted opening belies the transition to taunt drama. Though the surviving prints are a mix of dialogue and title cards, Ford’s confident execution shines through. John Wayne appears as a radio operator on the surface.
Directed by John Ford. Starring Edmund Lowe, Catherine Dale Owen, William Harrigan, and Marguerite Churchill.
A botched jewel robbery lands gangster Lowe in court. Up for re-election, the judge seizes the publicity opportunity and sentences Lowe to fight in World War I. In France, he plays baseball, sees some action, and returns a war hero. Back in New York, Lowe opens a nightclub, falls for socialite Owen, and crosses his former gang. The mix of comedy, wartime drama, and gangster film never gels, but Ford’s formal execution—love the final shootout—makes it passable. Look fast for Ward Bond as a drill sergeant.
