The Blue Gardenia (1953) **

Lukewarm noir still features a top cast and plenty of cigs, booze and misogynistic activity. Plus the great Nat Cole shows up.

Luca (2021) **

So-so Pixar still has the precise animation although the characters' look seems to be veering closer to Aardman style. No overt political/sociological message here other than be true to your friends.

Elyse (2020) *

Ms. Pepper has a certain screen presence but she doesn't have the chops to overcome the rest of the film's shortcomings. Should have been re-written to make Sir Anthony's character the lead.

Don't Think Twice (2016) **

Genial dramedy about the conflict between being an artist and a success. Trigger warning: annoying improv comedy bits.

Hollywoodland (2006) **

Very good cast, particularly Mr. Affleck, in an over-written, way too long depiction of the mystery surrounding the death of Superman.

Woman on the Run (1950) **

Lots of SF locales highlight this nifty noir. Witty script.

Stromboli (1950) ****

Italian realist minimalist masterpiece crystalizes the human predicament. Perhaps Ms. Bergman's best performance.

Confidentially Yours (1983) **

The most important aspect of the "falsely accused man on the run" flick is we MUST root for the man on the run. M. Trintignant is a fine enough actor but he can't pull this off. And it is totally unbelievable that Ms. Ardant would give him the time of day let alone be madly in love with him.

Notorious (1946) ****

Shows what star power and a suggestive script can do when in the hands of a master director.

A Severed Head (1971) ***

Enjoyable rondelay among the elite with a stellar cast especially the lovely Ms. Remick and Ms. Bloom. Colorful, witty.

‘Take it easy, nothing matters in the end’: William Shatner at 90, on love, loss and Leonard Nimoy

It feels rude to ask a 90-year-old if he worries about death, so I ask instead what he wishes he had known at 20 that he knows at 90. “Here’s an interesting answer!” he says perkily. “I’m glad I didn’t know because what you know at 90 is: take it easy, nothing matters in the end, what goes up must come down. If I’d known that at 20, I wouldn’t have done anything!”

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) ****

Uncle Psycopath comes to visit. Hitch beats Lynch to the punch by 43 years?

UPDATE (8/11/25) What was I thinking? This has to be 4 stars for the dinner sequence alone.

Green Grow the Rushes (1951) *

Another one of those post war British "comedies" that just doesn't hold up. Interesting to a point.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) ***

If you stick with it through the meandering, borderline disgusting first half, it becomes haunting, lyrical, resonant.

Continuum (2013) *

Misguided script, a woeful lead and terrible design. A waste of some fine actors.

I See a Dark Stranger (1946) **

Deb Kerr shines in a wee bit of blarney about spies in WWII Britain.

The Iron Lady (2011) ***

Ms. Streep is astonishing. Too bad the rest of the film is nothing to write home about.

The Strange Woman (1946) **

Hedy plays the archetypal femme fatale and gets all the guys even though lovely Hillary Brooke is not only available but a nice person. Go figure.

What Happened Was... (1994) ***

Karen Sillas is terrific in this two-hander about a first date between 2 broken souls.

Journey to Italy (1954) **

Part travelogue and part Scenes From A Marriage a bit heavy handed at times but the two leads rise above.

Charles and Lucie (1979) **

Droll comedy of the "string of mishaps" variety doesn't hit the heights but doesn't really try to either. Marseille and environs are well photographed.

Scorpio (1973) **

A bit too long but nice to watch two pros play spy v. spy in 70's Paris and Vienna.

Sabotage (1936) ***

Not like other films of the day this one has ultra creepy characters, little backstory, no heavy-handed music and NO Hollywood ending. Excellent Hitchcock.

The Blue Dahlia (1946) **

Average direction and some lackluster leads sink what could have been a classic. Chandler's script is a fan's delight.

Girlfriends (1978) ***

Charming, episodic look at female friendship primarily, but also the life of a struggling, independent young woman in 1970's NYC. Nicely done.

Origin of Covid — Following the Clues

The US government shares a strange common interest with the Chinese authorities: neither is keen on drawing attention to the fact that Dr. Shi’s coronavirus work was funded by the US National Institutes of Health. One can imagine the behind-the-scenes conversation in which the Chinese government says “If this research was so dangerous, why did you fund it, and on our territory too?” To which the US side might reply, “Looks like it was you who let it escape. But do we really need to have this discussion in public?”

Dr. Fauci is a longtime public servant who served with integrity under President Trump and has resumed leadership in the Biden Administration in handling the Covid epidemic. Congress, no doubt understandably, may have little appetite for hauling him over the coals for the apparent lapse of judgment in funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan.

You Only Live Once (1937) *

Even in its time this had to be considered far-fetched right?

Scotland, Pa. (2001) **

Loved the soundtrack and the attempt to recreate the mid-70's vibe, but despite a top notch cast it's not really possible to make The Scottish Play into a comedy.

Textised! : Jonathan Flint - Testing Woes - LRB 6 May 2021

Perhaps the real problem is hubris. There have been so many things we thought we knew but didn’t. How many people reassured us Covid-19 would be just like flu? Or insisted that the only viable tests were naso-pharyngeal swabs, preferably administered by a trained clinician? Is that really the only way? After all, if Covid-19 is only detectable by sticking a piece of plastic practically into your brain, how can it be so infectious? We still don’t understand the dynamics of virus transmission. We still don’t know why around 80 per cent of transmissions are caused by just 10 per cent of cases, or why 2 per cent of individuals carry 90 per cent of the virus. If you live with someone diagnosed with Covid-19, the chances are that you won’t be infected (60 to 90 per cent of cohabitees don’t contract the virus). Yet in the right setting, a crowded bar for example, one person can infect scores of others. What makes a superspreader? How do we detect them? And what can we learn from the relatively low death rates in African countries, despite their meagre testing and limited access to hospitals? That we are still scrambling to answer these questions is deeply worrying, not just because it shows we aren’t ready for the next pandemic. The virus has revealed the depth of our ignorance when it comes to the biology of genomes.

Rope (1948) ***

Hitch goes minimalist and it pays off.

The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) ***

It's Babs' movie, we're just enjoying it.

The Hard Way (1980) ***

Gritty, effective, low budget Celtic noir showcases Pat McGoohan's ability to carry a picture.

A Rainy Day in New York (2019) ***

Highly entertaining fairytale of New York from Mr. Allen. Sparkling script, strong performances and interesting directorial choices that work very well.

On the Rocks (2020) ***

Modern screwball à la Sofia with Bill Murray in perfect form. Rashida needs to be in more features.

Sister (2012) ***

Strong leads in this uncompromising look at the have nots at a ski resort. Beautiful scenery, bleak tale.

Always Shine (2016) ***

Strong leads, a layered script and tight direction propel this indie slasher.

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) *

Poorly directed rehash of every monster movie trope imaginable at bone shaking volume. If you like close-ups you'll enjoy it.

The Earrings of Madame De... (1953) **

Well made costume melodrama ultimately fails to engage.

Dial M for Murder (1954) ***

Sir Alfred demonstrates how to adapt a stage play for film. Very talky but still manages to be engrossing.

Young and Innocent (1937) **

Wrongfully accused man on the run flick with a few compelling set pieces. Jazz band in blackface is a jarring part of the finale.

5 Card Stud (1968) *

High concept western might have single-handedly killed westerns for a while. Awful script, direction.

360 (2011) **

Watchable sort-of-connected tales never seem to add up.

The Lost Boys (1987) **

Takes the comedic route too often but has some moments of 80's awesomeness. Ms. Rice has nothing to worry about.

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) ***

Superbly photographed, stylishly directed fantasy with the lovely Ava Gardner looking never better. One of Mr.Cardiff's triumphs.

The Tenant (1976) ***

Filmed with a mix of American and French actors (some dubbed by American actors) this is a quirky, interesting tale of a mild mannered office clerk driven mad by Parisian apartment life and troublesome neighbors.

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.