Any Number Can Win (1963) ***

With a couple of movie icons and the Riviera does it matter that there are gaping plot holes in this stylish heist flick? Pas du tout.

Identity (2003) **

The first half is a terrific neo-noir with a stellar cast. Unfortunately there IS a second half.

The Cat's Meow (2001) **

Well made period piece about early Hollywood shenanigans but a crucial role is distractingly miscast. Nice attempt by Mr. Bogdanovich to avenge Orson vis-a-vis Hearst?

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018) **

As usual with Gilliam films it is beautifully shot, well cast and produced but until the last 15 minutes it's muddled and not engaging. Overall disappointing.

The Circle (1957) **

Nifty Brit-noir whodunnit has a top cast and plenty of twists to keep you guessing.

Death Takes a Holiday (1934) **

Talky and stagy but the main problem is the casting of the leads which sinks the picture. Otherwise well produced little fantasy.

Secret Agent (1936) **

Overall a little too slapdash. It seems like Hitch was only interested in a handful of scenes and the rest of the picture didn't matter. This might have been a classic had he remade it in the 50's and took his time. Still, that handful is worth it.

Between the Lines (1977) ***

Terrific ensemble cast in a near documentary look at mid-70's mores. Painfully accurate.

The River (1951) ***

A visual feast marred by the odd mix of professional and amateur actors that doesn't quite work. A beautiful experiment.

Swiss Family Robinson (1960) **

Superbly photographed white male adolescent fantasy about being the sole survivors of a shipwreck in the 1800's, living in an imaculate treehouse (with running water) on a tropical island, having wild animals as pets (including a sea turtle, baby elephant, ostrich, zebra and Bengal tiger) and fighting pirates.

Shanghai Express (1932) *

Essentially a photo shoot for Marlene.

Accident (1967) **

Even Oxford dons are not above a little bad behavior now and then especially when Ms. Sassard is involved. Well made but hardly revelatory.

Jamaica Inn (1939) **

Not nearly as bad as critical consensus has insisted, this is an above average, entertaining costumer with some interesting dialogue, eccentric performances and a lovely debut for Ms. O'Hara.

Into the Woods (2014) *

Bereft of imagination which is sad for a musical film whose milieu is fairy tales. I can't think of anything good to say about this one so I had better stop.

Inspector Hornleigh (1939) *

Extremely talky whodunit fails to maintain interest except when the lovely Miki Hood is on screen. She deserved better.

Searching for Shelley Duvall: The Reclusive Icon on Fleeing Hollywood and the Scars of Making 'The Shining' | Hollywood Reporter

There is a sequence in The Shining that is in the Guinness World Records for "most retakes for one scene with dialogue." The scene features Crothers and Danny Lloyd, the young actor who played Danny Torrance, discussing the ability to "shine," a psychic gift that allows the boy to envision the hotel's horrific past. Kubrick had the actors do it 148 times. But another far more demanding scene — the staircase scene — was shot 127 times. "It was a difficult scene, but it turned out to be one of the best scenes in the film," Duvall says. "I'd like to watch the movie again. I haven't seen it in a long time."

At her suggestion, I google the scene, perch my iPhone on her dashboard and press play. I don't think I'll ever forget the experience of watching 71-year-old Duvall watching her 30-year-old self meekly swing a bat at Nicholson as he threatened to "bash [her] brains in."

"Why are you crying?" I ask Duvall.

"Because we filmed that for about three weeks," she replies. "Every day. It was very hard. Jack was so good — so damn scary. I can only imagine how many women go through this kind of thing."

Rebecca (1940) ***

Long, overwrought gothic melodrama with mostly by-the-book direction. A top cast elevates the material. Joan Fontaine is terrific in probably her best role.

Suspicion (1941) ***

Hitch always seemed to bring out the best in Cary.

Rear Window (1954) ****

Not only great fun from The Master, but his direction here becomes iconic. Grace never looked better and is perfectly cast.

She Done Him Wrong (1933) *

Mae West vehicle has a couple of good one-liners.

Ethan Frome (1993) **

Handsomely mounted production looks the part but can't quite capture the intensity of the source material.

Old Boyfriends (1979) **

Trying for realism but the story is contrived and not compelling. For Talia fans only (like me).

Raffles (1939) **

Niven defines the gentleman thief role, but Mr.Clive nearly steals the picture as his butler. Olivia is wasted as the love interest with not much to do.

2021 Prediction #3: Get ready for more GameStops as hedge funds are no longer the only bullies in town | I, Cringely

Now here’s the rub: 138 percent of GameStop shares were shorted. Theoretically that’s not possible, of course. You can’t sell more of something than even exists. Yet from time to time that’s exactly what happens because of another concept called GREED. Somebody (brokers in this case) makes money on all those shorts or calls, no matter how the trade is eventually resolved. Even though the contracts apply to shares that don’t actually exist, a contract is still a contract. The seminal GameStop trade that started all this was Redditor u/DeepFuckingValue buying GameStop puts — the right to sell (rather than buy — that would be a call) GameStop shares at a specific strike price. As of yesterday this $53,000 trade had grown to about $48 million with $14 million of that in cash. That’s some Deep Fucking Value.

Did the Coronavirus Escape From a Lab?

As Shi explained to Scientific American, late in December 2019, she heard from the director of the Wuhan Institute that there was an outbreak of a new disease in the city. Medical samples taken from hospital patients arrived at her lab for analysis. Shi determined that the new virus was related to SARS but even more closely related to a bat disease that her own team had found on a virus-hunting trip: the now-famous RaTG13. Shi was surprised that the outbreak was local, she said: “I had never expected this kind of thing to happen in Wuhan, in central China.” The bat hiding places that she’d been visiting were, after all, as far away as Orlando, Florida, is from New York City. Could this new virus, she wondered, have come from her own laboratory? She checked her records and found no exact matches. “That really took a load off my mind,” she said. “I had not slept a wink for days.” If one of the first thoughts that goes through the head of a lab director at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is that the new coronavirus could have come from her lab, then we are obliged to entertain the scientific possibility that it could indeed have come from her lab. Right then, there should have been a comprehensive, pockets-inside-out, fully public investigation of the Virology Institute, along with the other important virus labs in Wuhan, including the one close by the seafood market, headquarters of the Wuhan CDC. There should have been interviews with scientists, interviews with biosafety teams, close parsings of laboratory notebooks, freezer and plumbing and decontamination systems checks — everything. It didn’t happen.

My Foolish Heart (1949) ***

A tight script and strong supporting cast make this a top soaper.

Emma (TV Movie 1996) ***

Well made for TV version of the Austen tale with a top notch cast.

Emma (1996) ***

Enjoyable version of the Austen rom-com prototype with the lovely Ms. Paltrow and a fine supporting cast. Well directed.

QAnon Woke Up the Real Deep State | by Nicholas Grossman | Jan, 2021 | Arc Digital

The president appoints and the Senate confirms top officials, from the Secretary of State to the five members of the Arctic Research Commission, over 1,200 in total. Every other executive branch employee — over 4 million if you include the military, over 2.7 million if you don’t — is hired or recruited, not elected or appointed. This means that the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, the intelligence community, and federal law enforcement are staffed with people the agencies hired themselves.

Their mandates are broad. For example, the FBI is supposed to “investigate federal crimes and threats to national security.” While there are laws giving the FBI certain powers (e.g. to arrest people) and limits (needing warrants), a lot is open to interpretation, especially regarding national security threats.

It’s fair to say the FBI, CIA, IRS, CDC, and other federal agencies have, to some extent, taken on lives of their own. So has the military, and the larger defense-industrial complex. They’re under control of elected and appointed leaders, but also not, acting according to established laws, established regulations (many of which they wrote themselves), and individual judgment calls. You could call that “the Deep State.”

The Pro-Trump Mob Was Doing It For The Gram

But it was also quickly apparent that this was a very dumb coup. A coup with no plot, no end to achieve, no plan but to pose. Thousands invaded the highest centers of power, and the first thing they did was take selfies and videos. They were making content as spoils to take back to the digital empires where they dwell, where that content is currency.

You can see this most clearly in this photo, where the man in the god-knows-what costume, Jake Angeli, the so-called QAnon Shaman, is posing on the dais of the Senate, his friends carefully framing him to get the perfect shot. It is the Trump supporter equivalent of an Instagram influencer getting a photo beside a perfect mural.

Eternally Yours (1939) **

Lackluster direction and a goofy script waste a fine cast in this attempt at screwball romance.

Enchantment (1948) ***

Terrific ensemble actors, crisply written and directed and some nifty camera work (especially the flashback/forward transitions) from the great Gregg Toland make this a top-notch gothic melodrama.

Holiday (1938) *

Despite Cary's acrobatics (literally), Cukor can't force this faux-populist drivel into screwball tin let alone gold. Just not good at all.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) **

Excellently acted and written but not so much with the direction and photography. Ms. Davis shines.

Nashville man's girlfriend warned he was building bombs

Throckmorton [attorney] told The Tennessean that Perry [girlfriend] had fears about her safety, and thought Warner [bomber] may harm her. The attorney was also at the scene that day, and told officers Warner “frequently talks about the military and bomb making,” the police report said. Warner “knows what he is doing and is capable of making a bomb,” Throckmorton said to responding officers.
Police then went to Warner’s home, located about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) from Perry's home, but he didn’t answer the door when they knocked several times. They saw the RV in the backyard, the report said, but the yard was fenced off and officers couldn’t see inside the vehicle.
The report said there also were “several security cameras and wires attached to an alarm sign on the front door” of the home. Officers then notified supervisors and detectives.
“They saw no evidence of a crime and had no authority to enter his home or fenced property,” the police statement said.

So remember kids, don't answer the door and the police will just walk away from your house.

The Uninvited (1944) **

Mild, and mildly amusing, gothic ghost story. Gail Russell shines.

2020 In Review: Music

*** A Girl Called Eddy - Been Around
*** Corner Laughers, The - Temescal Telegraph
*** Country Westerns - Country Westerns
*** Cults - Host
*** Game Theory - Across The Barrier Of Sound Postscript
*** Haim - Women In Music Pt. III
*** Katie Von Schleicher - Consummation
*** Lavender Diamond - Now Is The Time
*** Lemon Twigs, The - Songs for the General Public
*** Nada Surf - Never Not Together
*** Nick Lowe - Lay It On Me
*** Nicole Atkins - Italian Ice
*** OHMME - Fantasize Your Ghost
*** Penny Diving - Big Inhale
*** Phantom Planet - Devastator
*** Pretenders - Hate For Sale
*** Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Sideways to New Italy
*** Sad13 - Haunted Painting
*** Surfer Blood - Carefree Theatre
*** Thao & the Get Down Stay Down - Temple
*** The Asteroid #4 - Northern Songs
*** Tim Heidecker - Fear Of Death
*** Varsity - Fine Forever
*** Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
*** Woods - Strange to Explain
** Beths, The - Jump Rope Gazers
** Big Believe, The - Juggernaut
** Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways
** Bombay Bicycle Club - Everything Else Has Gone Wrong
** Bye Bye Blackbirds, The - Boxer At Rest
** Deep Sea Diver - Impossible Weight
** Elvis Costello - Hey Clockface
** Everything Everything - Re-Animator
** Gretchen's Wheel - Such Open Sky
** Hinds - The Prettiest Curse
** Jason Isbell - Reunions
** Jenny O. - New Truth
** Laura Veirs - My Echo
** Lisa Loeb - A Simple Trick To Happiness
** Matt Berry - Phantom Birds
** Of Montreal - UR FUN
** Psychedelic Furs, The - Made Of Rain
** Strokes, The - The New Abnormal
** Torres - Silver Tongue
** Yumi Zouma - Truth Or Consequences
** Nation of Language - Introduction, Presence
** Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension

Note: As befitting this awful year, this is the first time I did not rate a film or music release with 4 stars.

2020 In Review: Movies

*** Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
*** Horse Girl
*** I'm Thinking Of Ending Things
*** Palm Springs
** Downhill
** Soul
** The Call Of The Wild
** The Wrong Missy
* Mank
* Onward

Soul (2020) **

A few funny scenes in this blend of genres which goes a long way to basically say "enjoy every sandwich".

John le Carré, author of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, dies aged 89 | The Guardian

Having spent four decades living in Cornwall, married twice and raising a son, Nicholas, who would write novels himself under the name Nick Harkaway, Le Carré conceeded: “I have been neither a model husband nor a model father, and am not interested in appearing that way.” The consistent love of his life was writing, “scribbling away like a man in hiding at a poky desk”. “Out of the secret world I once knew I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit,” he wrote. “First comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to the imagining, and to the desk where I’m sitting now.”

The Grass Is Greener (1960) **

Beautifully composed wide screen shots and a quartet of stars in a stagy play adaptation. Watchable.

Mank (2020) *

Aside from being a hatchet job on Orson, this dull flick features fine cinematography and lead performance but little else.

The Silent Partner (1978) ****

Superbly directed noir/heist hybrid with a startling Chris Plummer performance.

The Jigsaw Man (1983) **

If you don't pay too much attention to the plot this is an enjoyable foray into spy v. spy territory. Sir Larry is fun to watch as well as the surprisingly good cast.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) ***

Riveting noir from the great Sidney Lumet.

Horse Girl (2020) ***

Ms. Brie shines in a well made look at losing a grip on reality.

The Servant (1963) ***

Beautifully filmed in crisp black and white, perhaps this psychodrama says something about changing British class structures? Dirk is terrific at any rate.

Alice in Wonderland (1933) **

Well written, anarchic version of both Alices with an all star cast who are unrecognizable in their costumes. Pleasant.

The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) **

Nicely filmed, acted, well-paced recounting of the follies of war but the animation sequences blunt the impact and mess with the tone.

Evil Under the Sun (1982) **

Well made Poirot flick is a tad too long but pretty to look at.

The Whales of August (1987) ***

Beautiful location and set design in this subtle look at ageing. Nice to watch old pros at work.

Revolver (1973) ***

Well produced and directed poliziottesco featuring some eye-popping fur coats (for men!), swingin' early 70's vibes and a solid Ollie Reed.

Mortdecai (2015) **

The principals are terrific and well cast but it feels like it goes on way too long despite its 90 minute length.

Opinion: The election shows the United States is a broken country - The Globe and Mail

The current American crisis is in part due to those officials who refused to curb Mr. Trump’s worst behaviour. When organized crime hijacks government, officials must act aggressively, transparently, and immediately. They cannot waste time like Robert Mueller did with his plodding, placating probe. They cannot “impeach at the ballot box,” which Nancy Pelosi – a staunch opponent of impeachment until she buckled to pressure from her colleagues and the public – suggested throughout 2019. They cannot go by the book when the book is burning.

What We Do in the Shadows (2014) **

Amusing blend of genres.

The Beguiled (1971) ***

Well made southern Gothic thriller.

Elvis Costello on New 'Hey Clockface' Album, 'Armed Forces' Boxed Set - Variety

“I think there was a little irony in the way Nick recorded it originally,” Costello says, recalling that Lowe first had the idea of gently satirizing hippie sentiments with “Peace, Love and Understanding.” “But if you’ve ever heard him perform it in recent years, he sings it very much like the lament that it deserves to be. I think both approaches to the song are really appropriate. I like all the versions of the song that I’ve heard. Sometimes it takes you a moment to hear it again in a different way, but I’ve had reason to sing it as a ballad, as a rocker and somewhere in between. I’ve heard Bruce Springsteen sing it and Chris Cornell sing it, and Josh Homme sang it with Sharon Van Etten. I mean, there’s some really good versions. Nick’s version with a choir earlier this year was beautiful. You know, it shouldn’t be needed now, but we still have to sing it. How long, how long must we sing this song — as Bono said, you know?”

The Hoax (2006) ***

Another good Dick Gere performance anchors this well directed tale that reminds us the biggest lies are perhaps the ones we tell ourselves.

The Witches (1967) **

Nice showcase for Ms. Mangano and swingin' 60's styles but otherwise forgettable, dated comedy.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020) ***

Some hilarious moments thanks to the terrific Ms. Bakalova.

Grace of My Heart (1996) **

Biopic of Carole King-esque songwriter never rings true and the songs are not very good. Good cast struggles.

Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) ****

One of the best adaptations of Vonnegut. Ron Leibman is hilarious as the unhinged GI with the long enemies list.

Dancing Lady (1933) *

Blatant studio concocted drivel only worth seeing to be convinced of its awfulness. Lots of great stars completely wasted.

Come and See (1985) ***

Harrowing depiction of Nazi genocide in this case with Belarusians. Lots of POV and actors directly facing the camera shots which works because the actors are phenomenal especially 16yo Aleksey Kravchenko.

A Passage to India (1984) ***

Perfectly paced and nicely produced, the only flaw being a somewhat exaggerated performance from Banerjee.

Lost Highway (1997) **

Mysterious and moody but it plays more like a greatest hits album of Lynch tropes.

Agatha (1979) **

Disappointingly sabotaged by ill-advised casting of and the acting of Mr. Hoffman. Beautifully shot and produced period piece but a waste of a lovely Ms. Redgrave.

Posthumous (2014) *

Supposedly showcases Berlin but this is not a pretty picture by any means. Forgettable.

The Unknown (1927) **

Weird little silent melodrama featuring some amazing footwork by Lon Chaney beating Dan Day-Lewis to the punch by 62 years.

Congress Gets Ready to Smash Big Tech Monopolies - BIG by Matt Stoller

What makes these platforms unusually dangerous is that they are gatekeepers with surveillance power, and they can thus wield “near-perfect market intelligence” to copy or undermine would-be rivals. For Apple the dominant facility is the App store, for Google it’s the search engine, Maps, adtech, etc, for Facebook it’s social media, and for Amazon it’s the marketplace, AWS, Alexa, Fulfillment, and so forth. They exploit their gatekeeping and surveillance power to extract revenue, fortify their competitive barriers, and subsidize entry into new markets.

Over and over, the report just lays into the Federal Trade Commission and Antitrust Division for refusing to enforce monopolization laws and failing to stop mergers, even when they had evidence that such mergers were anti-competitive. The four companies bought more than 500 companies since 1998. However, "for most, if not all, of the acquisitions discussed in this Report,” it says, “the FTC had advance notice of the deals, but did not attempt to block any of them." What were the priorities of the agencies? "Both agencies have targeted their enforcement efforts on relatively small players—including ice skating teachers and organists—raising questions about their enforcement priorities." Ouch.

Romance (1999) **

It's a very frank and obviously exaggerated look at relationships from a woman's perspective. Director Breillat definitely has her own style and point of view to say the least.

Nights in Rodanthe (2008) **

Preposterous weepie is well played by Mr. Gere and Ms. Lane.

Former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson dies at 84 | FOX 2

Gibson’s first contract out of college was with the Harlem Globetrotters, not the St. Louis Cardinals. His roommate during the 1957-58 season, the late Meadowlark Lemon, told the Omaha World-Herald “I thought Bob was a better basketball player than a baseball player,” Lemon said. “I think Bob could have played with any NBA team. He was that good.” Gibson told the paper that basketball had been his number 1 sport, and that if the Minneapolis Lakers had signed him, he never would have played pro baseball.

Color Out of Space (2019) **

Good adaptation of Lovecraft with a good cast and appropriately gross images as in other films. Tries too hard to explain things.

Ashes and Diamonds (1958) **

A handful of arresting sequences bookend a rather talky, esoteric and uninvolving look at Poland as it transitioned from Nazi rule to communist rule after the war.

The Farewell (2019) ***

Poignant slice of life examination of inter-familial relationships as old world ways conflict with new world attitudes. Well cast, acted.

Hamlet (1948) ***

Style and substance in this mostly terrific adaptation. First half is riveting, lags badly in the second half but finishes well.

Elevator to the Gallows (1958) **

Might have been better if we just watched Ms. Moreau walking around Paris at night. There is a lot of that but also a convoluted and drawn out series of events to prove that crime doesn't pay. Feels too long even at 90 minutes.

The Killers (1964) **

Beautifully shot with interesting actors but the cheesy soundtrack and matte work diminish the impact.

California Split (1974) ***

Well made character study of life amidst the sleazy world of low rent gamblers and prostitutes. Definitely not a "Hollywood" picture.

The Female Brain (2017) **

Beanie and some hilarious title sequences make for an enjoyable take on the rom-com.

Seberg (2019) **

Ms. Stewart is spectacular but the flick is simplistic and exploitive.

Throne of Blood (1957) **

Boffo ending saves this so-so Japanese version of The Scottish Play. Without the poetry and nuance it's just an action flick.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) ***

Some issues with the casting and the finale but mostly a marvelous adaptation of a difficult novel to film.

Blood on the Moon (1948) **

Quirky western noir with Mitchum's screen persona in full flower. Ends a little too neatly.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) ***

Well done sci-fi/rom-com that manages to avoid most of both genre's cliches. Very entertaining.

Seven Samurai (1954) **

Again too long and repetitive for my tastes but some nice sequences.

A Private Function (1984) ***

A cast of nearly every top British comedic actor available at the time elevates this droll Ealing-esque comedy about the severe food rationing in Britain after WWII. Witty script.

Drunken Angel (1948) **

Early Kurosawa is a Japanese noir featuring some nifty sequences. Could have been trimmed a bit.

Phantom Lady (1944) ***

Never mind the plot holes just enjoy this well paced, well shot hyper-noir.

The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) **

Flora Robson, expectedly, steals the picture but she's only in the first half. Bergner is fine as Catherine but her look calls to mind Harpo Marx to a distracting degree. Fairbanks is just awful.

One Wonderful Sunday (1947) *

Not so wonderful. Repetitive, ploddingly paced tale of two lost souls drifting towards insanity.

Sullivan's Travels (1941) **

Preston Sturges was a very influential filmmaker (this one in particular) but his films just don't seem to gel for me. This one is no different.

La veuve Couderc (1971) **

Slight look at French country life as it slides into semi-Fascism in the mid 1930's. The two leads make it worth the while.

Terry Gilliam Developed a Movie From a Lost Stanley Kubrick Idea – /Film

According to Cinergie, that abandoned Kubrick project was a film adaptation of Lunatic at Large, a 70-page treatment based on a Kubrick idea that Kubrick’s then-producing partner James B. Harris commissioned from acclaimed crime writer Jim Thompson in the 1950s. Thompson, who is probably best known for writing The Killer Inside Me, had teamed up with Kubrick to write the script for the 1956 Sterling Hayden movie The Killing, but Harris hoped Thompson’s fleshing out of Lunatic at Large might also catch Kubrick’s eye and result in his next movie. The project fell by the wayside and was never made, but the treatment was re-discovered in 1999; in 2010, Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson were attached to star in a movie version, but that never happened...

This wouldn’t be the first time that Gilliam entered into Kubrick’s orbit. In 2013, Gilliam explained that he learned Kubrick had once wanted him to direct a sequel to Dr. Strangelove called Son of Strangelove, but Kubrick died before that that could come to fruition.

Palm Springs (2020) ***

Nice blend of genres is perfectly paced, well written and cast.

Wuthering Heights (1939) ***

Despite the overbearing soundtrack and a hokey final scene an entertaining rendition of the oft filmed gothic romance.

The Hidden Fortress (1958) **

Too long and repetitive, but some masterful scenes and images.

An Autumn Afternoon (1962) **

Beautifully shot and composed and the glimpse into Japanese life in 1962 is interesting but it fails to engage.

The Human Factor (1979) **

Otto's films always have some interesting quirks and this one is well scripted with a top cast but the overall effect seems flat.