My life at the movies.
Directed by Lucio Fulci. Starring Franco Nero, Virna Lisi, Fernando Rey, and John Steiner.
Opens strong, with great location photography featuring a pair of wolves running through a snowy forest. Then a jarring cut to an obvious soundstage resets our expectations. Continue reading...
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, William Holden, and Lee J. Cobb.
William Holden’s debut. He plays a violin protégé turned boxer, egged on by his manager’s mistress, played by Barbara Stanwyck. Lee J. Cobb plays Holden’s disappointed father. Continue reading...
Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Starring Maj-Britt Nilsson, Birger Malmsten, Alf Kjellin, and Annalisa Ericson.
Maj-Britt Nilsson plays a dancer reflecting on a coming-of-age summer romance with Birger Malmsten. A small, quiet film bouyed by fearless performances, beautiful cinematography, and a script that conveys the joy of young love without feeling reductive. The ending underwhelmed, but I respect the choice.
Directed by Tim Whelan. Starring Michèle Morgan, Jack Haley, Frank Sinatra, and Leon Errol.
Frank Sinatra’s debut. Not his first screen appearance, but his first proper role. Granted, he’s playing a fictionalized version of himself, but this proves for the best. Continue reading...
Directed by Brian De Palma and Richard Schechner. Starring Remi Barclay, Samuel Blazer, Jason Bosseau, and Richard Dia.
Brian De Palma films the Performance Group’s stage play adaptation of Euripides’s The Bacchae. Experimental theater fans might enjoy it, but I found it pretentious and opaque. De Palma uses a perpetual split-screen to simulate the theater-in-the-round experience, but it proves a poor analog. William Finley’s performance—his final monologue in particular—provided the lone highlight.
Directed by David Leitch. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, and Julian Dennison.
Ryan Reynolds returns as Deadpool, a disfigured mercenary with superhuman healing abilities and a heart of gold. Or at least bronze. This time he’s drawn to protect an angry mutant boy, played by Julian Dennison, from Cable, a time-traveler played by Josh Brolin. Cable’s here to assassinate the boy, as he grows up to murder Cable’s family. Continue reading...
Directed by Zack Snyder. Starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Amy Adams.
Much improved. The tone proves more consistent throughout, and including big-bad Darkseid ups the narrative stakes, while the expanded backstories supply more robust emotional stakes. Continue reading...
Directed by Michael Haneke. Starring Arno Frisch, Angela Winkler, Ulrich Mühe, and Ingrid Stassner.
Labeling director Michael Haneke’s sophomore effort “shocking” or “chilling” feels reductive. Haneke’s story of a young teen with an obsessive penchant for violent video proffers a detached—but not dispassionate—look into an abyss. Continue reading...
Directed by Tom Holland. Starring Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, and Brad Dourif.
A single mother gifts a lifelike doll to her son for his birthday, unaware the toy houses a notorious serial killer’s consciousness. Continue reading...
Directed by Edward Sedgwick. Starring Jack Holt, Richard Cromwell, Joan Marsh, and Natalie Moorhead.
I watched Maker of Men because it features an early credited performance from John Wayne. Had I known how small his part was, I may have reconsidered. Continue reading...
