Early in Ride Him, Cowboy, a town tries a horse for attempted murder. It gets sillier from there. Continue reading...
Ride Him, Cowboy 1932
Directed by Fred Allen. Starring John Wayne, Duke, Ruth Hall, Henry B. Walthall, and Otis Harlan.
![A still from The Brood (1979)]()
The Brood 1979
Directed by David Cronenberg. Starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, and Henry Beckman.
A father traces a series of murders by dwarfish creatures to an unconventional psychotherapy hospital treating his ex-wife. Continue reading...
![A still from Frozen (2010)]()
Frozen 2010
Directed by Adam Green. Starring Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers, and Ed Ackerman.
Three friends become stranded on a chairlift in the freezing night at a deserted ski resort. Continue reading...
![A still from No Time to Die (2021)]()
No Time to Die 2021
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. Starring Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Rami Malek, and Léa Seydoux.
A retired James Bond steps back into action to thwart a madman intent on murdering millions. Major spoilers follow. Continue reading...
![A still from Casino Royale (2006)]()
Casino Royale 2006
Directed by Martin Campbell. Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judi Dench, and Jeffrey Wright.
Daniel Craig’s James Bond debut. A series reboot that opens with Bond earning his Double-O status, then tracing a bomb-maker to Le Chiffre, an international black-market banker. Continue reading...
![A still from Loving Memory (1971)]()
Loving Memory 1971
Directed by Tony Scott. Starring Rosamund Greenwood, Roy Evans, and David Pugh.
Tony Scott’s debut feature. In the Yorkshire Moors, a young man sets out on his bicycle. A chance encounter with an aging duo results in tragedy and the story descends into a macabre meditation on isolation and the lasting impact of the Second World War. Continue reading...
![A still from Good Times (1967)]()
Good Times 1967
Directed by William Friedkin. Starring Sonny Bono, Cher, and George Sanders.
Commentary rewatch. Lee Gambin, an unabashed fan of both Friedkin and Sonny and Cher, offers a wealth of information about the film’s production and stars. But he did little to convince me of the film’s merits. At best, I gained an appreciation for Friedkin’s dynamic camera work. But I still struggled with Bono’s uncanny valley performance. He’s a thirty-something man acting like a teenager. It’s not so much that it’s a bad performance (it is) but how calculated it feels, right down to portraying him as a henpecked husband with Cher not letting him ride his motorcycle. Continue reading...
![A still from The Card Counter (2021)]()
The Card Counter 2021
Directed by Paul Schrader. Starring Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe.
I went in expecting a gambling movie but should have known better. The Card Player is a Paul Schrader film and thus is as much about counting cards as Taxi Driver is about driving taxis. Continue reading...
![A still from Alligator (1980)]()
Alligator 1980
Directed by Lewis Teague. Starring Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, and Dean Jagger.
Robert Forster plays a Chicago cop determined to kill a giant alligator lurking in the city’s sewers. Continue reading...
![A still from The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)]()
The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter 1984
Directed by Chia-Liang Liu. Starring Chia-Hui Liu, Sheng Fu, Lily Li, and Kara Wai.
In medieval China, after surviving an ambush that slaughters his father and five of his brothers, a man seeks refuge in a monastery before exacting his revenge. Continue reading...
