Frank's Movie Log

While teaching a film course at Sarah Lawrence College, Brian De Palma devised a learn-by-doing curriculum. His students would write, produce, and direct a feature under his supervision. But as the project unfolded, the budget grew. Kirk Douglas came aboard to star and De Palma took over directing duties. The result harkens back to De Palma’s early farcical black comedies. Continue reading...

In a New York City overflowing with muggers, obscene phone callers, and murderous snipers, Elliott Gould plays a nihilistic photographer who finds himself pursued by flighty optimist Marcia Rodd. It’s a black comedy that never winks at the audience despite its ever escalating level of insanity. Continue reading...

This one hurt. The taunt opening follows a young black man escaping from a mysterious prison camp. As he creeps from building to building, the film proffers a disturbing image: a pile of bodies—each of them black—discarded like refuse. Continue reading...

John Wayne plays John Steele, a deputy lawman sent to clean up the New Mexico territory. He arrives in town and poses as a drunken drifter while sizing up local cattle baron Sam Crew. Then John is on the frontier, befriending a wagon train leader named Cal and making eyes at Cal’s niece Ginger. Then the train comes under attack from Sam Crew’s gang. To apprehend the gang, John recruits Sonora Joe, a Mexican bandit who first tries to rustle the wagon train’s cattle.

If this sounds disjointed, then I have conveyed a sense of watching this film. Continue reading...

A tepid Christmas Story update. Devoid of authenticity and drowning in manufactured nostalgia. One could explain away the timidity and anachronisms by pointing out that Neil Patrick Harris is relating the story to his tween daughter. Fair enough, but the films it emulates had more heart and courage. Worst of all, the finale’s attempt at a John Hughes-like catharsis feels so heavy-handed it could almost be parody.

Pat O’Brien plays an opportunistic football coach hired to raise a struggling college program’s fortunes. The story reminded me of High Pressure, and while I bought O’Brien as a coach, he didn’t convince as a wheeler-dealer. Continue reading...

Commentary watch. Moderator Ewan Cant prompts director John Grissmer for insight, but Grissmer responds to most early questions with one-word answers. As the film unfolds, he expands to single sentences. When asked how he achieved a memorable effect, he replies, “With a lot of work.” He regards the picture as a work-for-hire effort, scuttling my hopes he was drawn to the material’s doppelgänger plot. John Dalley, who now co-owns the picture, offers little insight, but speaks with enthusiasm. My most interesting take-away: producer Marianne Kanter—who plays a sanitarium doctor—dictated the nudity and violence.

James Farentino plays Dan Gillis the beleaguered sheriff of Potters Bluff, a coastal New England town small enough that everyone knows everyone. Gillis struggles to uncover the culprit behind a rash of murders, only to discover a far-ranging conspiracy. The producers added two extra death scenes to bump the gore-factor, one of which makes no sense and proves the lone blemish on what’s otherwise an effective blend of beguiling atmosphere and inventive practical effects. A terrific EC Comics style horror.

Everything I missed in the Star Wars revival. A cogent, epic story, memorable characters, and an immersive world.

But it’s incomplete. The innumerable slow-motion shots of Zendaya turning to squint-gaze over her shoulder never pay off. We’re offered no sense of the populous ruled by the various houses. And the abrupt ending underwhelms. Still, I’m convinced director Denis Villeneuve knows what he’s doing and where he’s going. Bring on part two.

Once upon a time, Goldilocks wanted to watch Halloween. First, she reached for the 2007 Anchor Bay Blu-ray, but found the colors too saturated, too warm. The daylight scenes looked artificial. So she reached for the 2013 Blu-ray, but found the picture too dark, the blue hue too pronounced. Characters disappeared into the shadows. It was too cold. Finally, she found the 2021 Shout Factory 4k. It’s still dark, but not too dark. The outdoor scenes looked natural, and the dark scenes still held detail. It was just right.