Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Il Grido (1957) **

I'm sure film critics and students consider it a masterpiece and it is certainly well made and acted. As a movie going experience however it is soporific.

Monday, May 26, 2025

Ten Little Indians (1974) *

Watchable for the unusual and well photographed settings and Ms. Sommer and Ms. Audran. Ineptly directed otherwise.

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

The Satan Bug (1965) **

A gorgeously filmed "B" thriller has an astounding pedigree from writers Alistair Maclean/James Clavell to director/dp the greats John Sturges/Robert Surtees and a capable cast of character actors. It needs to be trimmed to 90 minutes and it sure could have used a star in the lead role. The title is terrible.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

Gun Crazy (1950) ***

Outstanding direction lifts this low-rent lovers-on-a-crime-spree flick to cinematic heights it might not deserve. A number of long POV takes are stunning.

Wednesday, May 07, 2025

Hugh Grant - The Talks

What did you like about playing the baddies?

It’s more fun. Actors prefer being baddies! Audiences prefer the baddies, and it's a very interesting question of why that is so. My personal belief is that it's the antagonist, the bad guy, who represents our true selves. And that is thrilling. I think it's thrilling to experience our true selves through that character. I think we are vicious, violent, selfish, unpleasant. And that's why good characters are quite difficult, because the good characters are the superficial, civilized veneer that we put on our true brutish self. It's less interesting.

...

Is that how you’d like to be remembered as an actor? Through the myriad of different kinds of roles you’ve played?

Oh, man. Well, I hope when we die, it's the same as before we were born. No one's really frightened of that enormous, infinite blackness before we were born. No one sits there thinking, “Oh, God, how awful. I was nothing.” So I don't really see why we should be frightened of that after we die, as long as it is black. I really don’t want to be up there on a cloud playing a harp, meeting some of the people I’ve hated in my life. I can’t imagine a greater nightmare. That would be hell, in fact.

Tuesday, May 06, 2025

Only the River Flows (2023) **

Atmospheric modern Chinese police procedural/whodunnit maintains interest but a little too ambiguous for the genre.

Sunday, May 04, 2025

Dutchman (1966) **

The two leads are terrific, but allegories don't do well in film unless there's some basis in reality viewers can grab onto. This one is too out there.

Friday, May 02, 2025

Johnny Got His Gun (1971) **

Well intentioned and nicely put together but full of Symbols and not emotionally engaging. We get the point.