Secret of the Incas (1954) *

Chuck does a good job playing a cad in an Indiana Jones outfit but the rest of the picture is deadly dull.

Countess Dracula (1971) *

It's well photographed and mounted and has the lovely Ms. Pitt in her prime, but it's rather dull. Disappointing.

Appointment with Death (1988) **

Disappointing whodunnit despite the semi-star cast. Nice location shots.

The Clouded Yellow (1950) **

Well done chase flick with a lovely Ms. Simmons in her prime.

Marnie (1964) **

Possibly the goofiest film in Hitchcock's repertoire. Colorful, and some interesting sequences but the last third really drags as the "odeur" of Freud becomes unbearable.

Foreign Intrigue (1956) **

Colorful, globe trotting whodunnit leans heavily on Bob Mitchum's star power and Ms. Thulin's looks. A bit convoluted.

The Set-Up (1949) **

Goes a bit overboard with the cutesy, but delivers in the ring. Nice to see Bob Ryan in a lead for a change.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) ***

Upon repeated viewings this thriller becomes more of a portrait of an unhappy marriage near collapse. Hitch relies a little too much on the obvious rear projection shots, but still some masterful sequences of near silent cinema.

Rachel and the Stranger (1948) **

Pleasant enough Hollywood western features a couple of stars having fun and a brisk pace.

Easy Rider (1969) ***

Despite some laughable "experimental" editing and a rare awful Nicholson performance, this is a thoughtful, well made road movie with some meat to it. Superlative cinematography by the great Lazlo Kovacs, and an unflinching script.

Michael Clayton (2007) ***

Excellent cast in a well written Mamet-esque legal whodunnit. Clooney was never better.

Why John Waters, the Pope of Trash, keeps returning to the Bay Area

SFGATE: Anything else you think our readers should know about?

Waters: Other than, “Come to the Mosswood thing!” that’s the best I can do. I do Camp John Waters [a summer camp for adults], which is sold out. That’s in Kent, Connecticut. About 500 people come and live as my characters and live their lives for four days. We have guest counselors every year — this year it’s Deborah Harry and Colleen Fitzpatrick, who played her daughter in “Hairspray” and went on to be Vitamin C, the pop star. It’s really amazing. People have contests, we speak, we have dinners. Then I do a 20-city Christmas tour, so I’ll be back with a musical. I’m writing that. I’m writing new shows. I’m so busy, I think I’m overexposed. Maybe you shouldn’t hear about me for a while.

Casablanca (1942) **

Ms. Bergman lights up the screen and there's some nifty one liners in the dialogue but it's too long and the acting quality varies wildly.

La Notte (1961) **

A day in the life of a couple breaking up. Ms. Vitti and Ms. Moreau make it watchable.

Hustle (2022) **

Leans heavily on the sturdy Hollywood sports flick structure but keeps it interesting with real NBA stars as actors.

The Big Picture (1989) **

A gentle cautionary tale for aspiring filmmakers features some terrific performances, tons of big star cameos and a witty, humane script. The only drawback (and it's a big one since he's the lead) is Mr. Six Degrees Of Separation.

People Will Talk (1951) *

Not even Cary can rescue this bizarre attempt at depicting human behavior which fails miserably. Not one character in this film would ever be confused with an actual human being.

Licorice Pizza (2021) ***

Visual tone poem to being 15 in the 70's in general and in the San Fernando Valley in particular, is thoroughly enjoyable for viewers d'un certain age. Captures the vibe and the look to a certain extent with a terrific soundtrack. Game cast is excellent.

Five Graves to Cairo (1943) **

Well made play adaptation (unusual for a WWII spy story) marred by the unnecessary and overlong epilogue.

Interceptor (2022) *

Ms. Pataky looks great in a wife-beater.

Bell' Antonio (1960) **

Thoughtful exploration on how we handle love and sex. Poor quality cut obscures the well composed scenes.

Jeffrey Sachs Lays Out Possible Lab Origin of Covid

Still, both the overlap in the amino acid sequence and the fact that experts in the furin cleavage site of the ENaC-alpha and insertion of genetic material into bat coronaviruses work at the same university could be coincidental, as Harrison and Sachs acknowledge. Some virologists, though, say that the coincidence strains credulity.

“Could be,” Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, wrote in an email to The Intercept when asked about the possibility that these things are both chance occurrences. “But the list of coincidences is getting verrrrrrrrrrry long.”

Ebright, a proponent of investigating the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and of investigating both natural-spillover and research-related-spillover, whom Harrison and Sachs thank “for helpful commentary on the manuscript,” spelled out some of the other Covid coincidences that he considers questionable, including its initial outbreak in a city that, well before 2019, had already been pegged as a biosafety risk. Ebright also noted Wuhan’s 1,000-mile distance from the nearest wild bats that carry the type of SARS-related coronaviruses that caused the pandemic. And he pointed to the particular coding of the amino acids in the furin cleavage site of SARS-CoV2.

“The sequence encoding the FCS of the pandemic virus contained two consecutive CGG arginine codons,” Ebright explained in his email. (A codon, or a combination of three nucleotides, supplies the genetic code for a single amino acid, though most amino acids can be represented by multiple different codons. Each nucleotide is represented by a letter — for RNA, either A, C, U, or G.) “This codon usage is unusual for a natural bat SARS-related coronaviruses (for which fewer than 1 in 30 arginine codons are CGG) but is optimal for humans (for which most arginine codons are CGG codons).”

Still, Ebright said that at first he didn’t see the identical amino acid sequences as particularly suspicious. “I had known for more than a year that there was a perfect match to an eight-amino acid sequence present in human ENaC. What I had not known was that the sequence was known to be a functional furin cleavage site and that it was a sequence extensively studied at UNC,” he said. “The crucial point that the ENaC sequence was a known functional site, not just that there happens to be a match to a protein that happens to be in humans. … That suddenly turned it from what I thought to be largely irrelevant to being a logical and obvious choice to proceed.”

Vangelis, Oscar-Winning Composer, Dies at 79 | Pitchfork

In 1973, Vangelis started his solo career with his debut album Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit (Make Your Dream Last Longer Than the Night). During the ’70s, he was widely rumored to join the prog-rock band Yes, following the departure of keyboardist Rick Wakeman. After rehearsing with them for months, Vangelis declined to join the group. He and Yes lead vocalist Jon Anderson reunited later in the ’80s, and they went on to release several albums together as Jon and Vangelis.

Personally, extremely influential musician.

The Sea Wolf (1941) **

Sturdy, old Hollywood adaptation plays it too safe to be memorable.

The Last Picture Show (1971) ****

Bogdanovich has a terrific script and nails the casting, design and direction. Powerful performances from nearly entire cast. Stark, beautiful images of an ugly, dying world.

A Place of One's Own (1945) **

Nicely done Victorian era ghost story with a surprisingly good performance by almost always supporting actress Barbara Mullen and a spooky appearance by Dr. Pretorius himself.

Mr. Klein (1976) ***

Chilling look at occupied France and a question of identity. M. Delon in fine form.

Daughters of Darkness (1971) *

Seems the casting director went for looks instead of ability.

Dirty Work (1998) *

Stand-up humor doesn't always translate to movies. Certainly not here.

All the Old Knives (2022) **

Clever whodunnit in the spy game benefits from good casting.

New COVID-19 nasal spray outperforms current antibody treatments in mice - Northwestern Now

In addition to losing effectiveness, current antibody therapies also come with several problems: They are difficult to develop, expensive and require a healthcare professional to administer. They also require complicated supply chains and extreme refrigeration, which is often unavailable in low-resource settings.

The new antiviral solves all these problems. As opposed to monoclonal antibodies, which are made by cloning and culturing living mammalian cells, the new antiviral treatment is produced large-scale in microorganisms like E. coli, making them more cost-effective to manufacture. Not only is the new therapy stable in high heat, which could further streamline manufacturing and decrease the cost of goods for clinical development, it also holds promise for being self-administered as a one-time nasal spray, bypassing the need for medical professionals.

The researchers imagine that it could be available at the pharmacy and used as a preventative measure to treat infections.

Rancho Deluxe (1975) **

Seems to be going for a "Butch and Sundance" or "Hawkeye and Trapper" vibe but ends up coming across as kind of sleazy. Slim Pickens is the only highlight.

The Power of the Dog (2021) ***

Stylishly directed neo-western, a character study of a beligerent jerk who can't see beyond himself. Well acted, well shot.

Idiocracy (2006) ***

Frequently hilarious satire of contemporary popular culture run amok. Unfortunately turned out to be fairly prescient.

Swamp Water (1941) **

Southern gothic melodrama, Hollywood style. Loads of great character actors and a fine lead.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) ***

Well done thriller plays with the genre-inherent clichés and keeps you on your toes. Fine cast, pacing.

Redbelt (2008) ****

Mamet's version of Rocky. Typical, which means sharp, witty, intense.

The Cocoanuts (1929) **

It's terrific when the Marx's are on screen. Execrable when they are not.

Francis Ford Coppola Shares His Oscar Memories - Deadline

What’s really going on with CNN and Fox and this addiction to daily news? To me, it’s very simple. They give you four minutes of bad news that there’s nothing you can do about. I mean, you look at the kids in Afghanistan and you cry about these babies. I want to help. You look at what’s happening in Ukraine and you say, oh my God. But there’s nothing you can do about it, and they give you that. Then they show you six minutes of commercials, options you can do something about it. You can give yourself a treat and buy a bad unhealthy hamburger, or you can…but everything they suggest that you can do involves you spending money. So that’s what’s going on.

DEADLINE: I never thought of that.

COPPOLA: Commercials are basically subliminally telling you that you’re not okay the way you are. And you’d be better off if you could have a Mercedes, because then you can have a pretty girlfriend. In other words, it’s not telling you you’re okay. It’s telling you you’re not okay, repeatedly. Some poor guy is working in an office and he’s working as hard as he can, and he can’t get any more money. So he can’t have a Mercedes and he can’t get a nice girlfriend that looks like Cheryl Tiegs. And so he just goes berserk and he shoots five people, or some 17-year-old kid commits suicide because he’s being bullied. That stuff is not all necessary. I finally figured it after I looked very carefully at what the news was saying, and I realized everything that I feel bad about is because the news is telling me I can’t do anything about it. It’s very frustrating because I want to help the Ukrainians. I want to help, but I can’t. It’s beyond my ability. But then the next commercials are things I can do. And some of them will give me a little shot of dopamine. I could get that pizza. I can act. I can just do it.

Rifkin's Festival (2020) **

Nice to look at and enough chuckles to make it fairly enjoyable, but the glaring, miscast lead cannot carry the picture.

The Bank Dick (1940) ****

Hilarious, top notch Fields.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) **

Strikingly art directed, beautifully filmed and sharply adapted script, undermined by miscast leads. Nice to look at and enjoy the words and images.

Design for Living (1933) *

Unconvincing rom-com with a twist is miscast and not very funny. It's a long 90 minutes.

Shiva Baby (2020) **

Pedestrian direction undermines a witty script and fine lead.

Benedetta (2021) ***

Beautifully produced look at cynicism, faith and madness in desperate times. Deftly directed.

Morocco (1930) **

A couple of iconic scenes but mostly a lackluster, strangely paced melodrama.

5 Fingers (1952) ***

Goofy title notwithstanding, this is a terrific spy procedural.

Million Dollar Legs (1932) *

Not at all funny and a major waste of WC.

Dragonwyck (1946) **

Typical old Hollywood melodrama elevated a bit by Joe Mank's dialog and a sturdy Mr. Price.

The Lost Daughter (2021) **

Unsettling character study leaves a bit too much unsaid, but that's preferable to the alternative. Excellent cast.

The Fugitive Kind (1960) **

Typical Tennessee southern gothic melodrama made watchable by the lovely Ms. Woodward.

Francis Ford Coppola’s $100 Million Bet (GQ)

Okay, I said. The Godfather started off as a studio project that had nothing to do with you. Did it become personal to you in the end?

“Well, I believe that. I believe… I'm going to have to say this fast. I once read a Balzac article—I wish I could find it, but it's not published, and I don't know where the book is.” (I think this was Coppola's way of telling me he owns, or once owned, an unpublished work by Balzac.) “But people said, ‘Oh, these young people are stealing your stuff.’ To Balzac. And Balzac said, ‘That's why I wrote it. I want them to take everything, whatever I have, they're welcome, these young authors. Take all you want. One, because it can't really come out like me because each one of them is an individual and it's going to come out like them, so they can't steal it. They can appropriate it, but it's going to come out through them. And number two, it gives me immortality, so whatever I do, if young people take it, are influenced by it, and so and so, it's great. Because that then makes me part of their work. And I go on.’ So what was your question?”

Homicide (1991) ***

Terrific cop procedural that really isn't. The kind of film that cannot get financed any more.

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) **

Extremely talky Williams potboiler relys on psycho-babble, an emaciated, rickety Monty Clift, another regal turn by Kate and the lovely Liz. The actors make it watchable.

Spencer (2021) **

Stewart carries the picture as it attempts to use real historical people as characters in an imagined scenario. Multiple viewings might make this attempt more successful since we're still a little too close in time for our knowledge of those people to be re-imagined.

All About Eve (1950) ***

Opulently written, stylishly cynical look at the world of "The Theater" and its inhabitants. Lots of elegant speeches and performances.

Early ‘lab-grown’ Covid virus found in sample lends weight to Wuhan theory (telegraph.co.uk)

An early version of Covid-19 that appears to have been grown in a laboratory has been discovered in samples from a Chinese biotechnology firm. The finding lends weight to claims that the virus may have started life as a lab experiment that accidentally leaked out. Bioinformatics experts from the University of Veterinary Medicine and Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary, made the discovery by accident while examining genetic data from soil samples collected from Antarctica in late 2018 and early 2019.

The samples were sent to Sangon Biotech in Shanghai for sequencing in Dec 2019, where they became contaminated with a previously unknown variant of Covid-19. The variant has mutations that bridge the gap between bat coronavirus and the earliest Wuhan strain, so it may be an ancestral version of the virus. The samples also contain DNA from hamsters and monkeys, suggesting that the early virus may have been grown in animal cell lines. Viscount Ridley, author of Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19, said: “The unique mutations hint at it being an ancestral variant. So if it was sequenced in say mid-December, before anybody had identified the virus in people and started trying to grow it in labs, then it points to secret samples in labs in 2019.”

Written on the Wind (1956) **

Sumptuously produced and magnificently photographed, yet basically a bonkers melodrama that has no relation to how human beings actually live their lives. (Not that that's always necessary in a film.) Malone and Stack are a hoot.

Deconstructing Harry (1997) ***

Funny if jarringly crude at times, and once the experimental editing style calms down this is almost up to Stardust Memories level in quality.

Elvis Costello is a more perceptive, skilled and thoughtful writer than ever

And I did write another record that was just a literal representation of a transition in my life that took place about 17 years ago. People were deeply shocked by how plain-spoken it was and didn’t like it. A lot of people didn’t like it because it wasn’t tricky and ironic and all these things that I had become supposedly known for. The couple of times that I spoke directly to people, they kind of stepped back, not cause the songs were bad, but because they don’t like truth. I’m that guy that’s got the smart-arse line you know but that’s not really me, that’s them, that’s what they’re hearing. You know I have no control about the way people listen to my songs, I have to write what I honestly think is the right story.

17 years ago was 2004/2005. EC released "The Delivery Man" in 2004, but that was well received. "North" was released in 2003 and wasn't as successful but it was a piano ballad album and I doubt folks were turned off by the lyrical content. I wonder if he's referring to 2002's "When I Was Cruel"?

Washing the Dishes and Clothes by Thich Nhat Hanh | Spirituality & Practice

Wash the dishes relaxingly, as though each bowl is an object of contemplation. Consider each bowl as sacred. Follow your breath to prevent your mind from straying. Do not try to hurry to get the job over with. Consider washing the dishes the most important thing in life. Washing the dishes is meditation. If you cannot wash the dishes in mindfulness, neither can you meditate while sitting in silence.

Thank you Thây for all you have given me.

The Quiet American (1958) **

Not sure why this film was made since it completely upends the source novel, but Mike Redgrave is good and the script is sharp.

Peter Bogdanovich Dead: Last Picture Show, Paper Moon Director Dies

Recalling a conversation he had with Welles shortly before the Citizen Kane director died in 1985, Bogdanovich seemed to be looking back on his own life: “I said, ‘Jesus, Orson, I feel like I made so many mistakes.’ And he said, ‘Well, it does seem difficult to go through life without making a great many of them,’ which was our way of rekindling our friendship. That was the last time we spoke.”

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) ****

The Capra "corn" is still there but if you just go with it, Jimmy's performance is all you need. Long, but well paced.

Beauty and the Beast (1946) ****

Jean Cocteau uses nothing but actors, cinema technique and his imagination to create a fantasy world miles ahead of the latest CGI junk from Marvel et al.

2021 In Review: Movies

*** The Many Saints Of Newark
** The French Dispatch
** Luca
* Annette
* Fever Dream
* Godzilla vs. Kong
* No Time To Die

2021 In Review: Music

**** David Bowie - Toy
**** Lindsey Buckingham - Lindsey Buckingham
**** MARINA - Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land
**** New Myths - All The Shiny Things (EP)
*** ABBA - Voyage
*** Bad Bad Hats - Walkman
*** Blood Lemon - Blood Lemon
*** Chills, The - Scatterbrain
*** Connells, The - Steadman's Wake
*** Field Music - Flat White Moon (EP)
*** Gloria - Sabbat Matters
*** Grouplove - This Is This
*** Middle Kids - Today We're The Greatest
*** Orange Peels, The - Celebrate The Moments Of Your Life
*** Paul Weller - Fat Pop (Volume 1)
*** Pearl Charles - Magic Mirror
*** Sports - Get a Good Look Pt. 1 (EP)
*** Spotlight Kid - Darkwaters
*** Texas - Hi
*** Weather Station, The - Ignorance
*** Weezer - Van Weezer
*** Winds - Look At The Sky
** Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - New Fragility
** Colleen Green - Cool
** Courtney Barnett - Things Take Time, Take Time
** Field Music - Another Shot (EP)
** Flyying Colours - Fantasy Country
** Goat Girl - On All Fours
** Jane Weaver - Flock
** Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
** Jaromil Sabor - Mount Vision
** Jorge Elbrecht - Presentable Corpse
** Joy Formidable, The - Into the Blue
** Juliana Hatfield - Blood
** Lily Konigsberg - Lily We Need to Talk Now
** Liz Phair - Soberish
** Matt Berry - The Blue Elephant
** Matthew Sweet - Catspaw
** Midnight Sister - Painting The Roses
** Pardoner - Came Down Different
** Pip Blom - Welcome Break
** Piroshka - Love Drips And Gathers
** Ringo Starr - Zoom In (EP)
** Torres - Thirstier
** Umbrellas, The - The Umbrellas
* Aimee Mann - Queens Of The Summer Hotel

Newly identified hormone may be a critical driver of type 1 and type 2 diabetes | News | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Many hormones are involved in the regulation of metabolism, such as insulin and leptin. Fabkin is different from traditional hormones in that it is not a single molecule with a single defined receptor. Instead, fabkin is composed of a functional protein complex consisting of multiple proteins, including fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4), adenosine kinase (ADK) and nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDPK). Through a series of experiments, the researchers determined that fabkin regulates energy signals outside of cells. These signals then act through a family of receptors to control target cell function. In the case of diabetes, fabkin controls the function of beta cells in the pancreas that are responsible for insulin production.

The Thief of Bagdad (1940) ***

Conny Veidt gives a master class in how to play a villain in this colorful fantasy.

Repo Man (1984) **

Quirky and influential comedy/sci-fi hybrid. Well cast, played and directed.

The French Connection (1971) **

Expertly made police procedural, but can't believe it beat out Stanley for best picture/director.

Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967) ***

Unmistakably Scorsese right from the beginning even on a shoestring.

Don't Bother to Knock (1952) **

Weird little thriller is well paced but the casting is a bit off. Anne Bancroft's film debut.

Cast a Dark Shadow (1955) **

Dirk excelled at playing amoral sociopaths and here is no different. Tightly paced, nicely shot, top cast.

Office Killer (1997) ***

Nifty Grand Guignol neo-noir showcases two terrific performances and captures the 90's office vibe perfectly. Well made on a shoestring.

The French Dispatch (2021) **

This one just does not work as a complete film. Tremendous art direction, top notch cast but the pacing is way too fast and the sections so short the result is a blur of information and no emotion, no engagement. Will be better on DVD when you can watch and re-watch the sections individually, catching the myriad nuances.

David and Lisa (1962) ***

You just have to let the all-too-pat psycho drivel slide and the trio of fine actors will make the denouement, which can be seen coming from a mile away and redeems the film, work in spite of it all.

Electric vehicles could fully recharge in under 5 minutes with new charging station cable design - Purdue University News

Though the prototype hasn’t been tested on EVs yet, Mudawar and his students demonstrated in the lab that their prototype accommodates a current of over 2,400 amperes – far beyond the 1,400-ampere minimum that would be needed to reduce charging times for large commercial EVs to five minutes. The most advanced chargers in the industry deliver only currents up to 520 amperes, and most chargers available to consumers support currents of less than 150 amperes.

Ok, now electric cars become viable in the USA.

Dean Stockwell in 'Blue Velvet': The Movie That Made Him Timeless - Variety

So Ben, who looks like a candy-colored clown, stands up in front of the room in his huge-collared frilly open shirt and smoking jacket, brandishing a cigarette holder, using an industrial work light as his pretend microphone (it lights up his face), and proceeds to do an act of lip-syncing that is so hypnotic you’re tempted to call it bad-dream karaoke. He’s not actually singing. The sound is all Roy Orbison warbling “In Dreams” (“A candy-colored clown they call the sandman/Tiptoes to my room every night…”). But as the great Roy sings, and as Ben, standing in his self-styled industrial spotlight, mimics that song, you’d swear that you could almost hear him, and time seems to stop. The movie seems to stop. We’re no longer just watching “Blue Velvet.” The film has sliced through all our rational defense mechanisms, pulling us in like the TV set in “Poltergeist.”

Why is Ben standing there, miming that song? Because he wants to; because Frank, whose response to the song is so intense it looks like he’s going to either cry or explode (or both), wants him to. But really, Ben is doing this because David Lynch simply had to stage that scene, because it poured out of him, because he needed to see it and needed us to see it, and knew that Dean Stockwell, performing it with a private smirk that comes off as bizarrely innocent, even as it marks him as a figure out of a horror movie designed to scare children to death, would be the only actor who could make that scene cut across time itself.

Niagara (1953) ***

Lushly photographed oddball noir turns into an actioner in the third act. Well produced and Ms. Monroe is stunning as the femme fatale.

The Hucksters (1947) *

Extremely dated "exposé" of the ad game is laughably arch today. Clark does his best but the role is a cartoon. Deb and Ava fare better.

Nightmare Alley (1947) **

Not a big fan of Ty Power but he's pretty good here. Too bad the film doesn't have the guts of the superb novel.

Frenzy (1972) ****

Hitch returns to his familiar tropes with a new candor that's still startling 50 years on. Still the master.

Why Francis Ford Coppola Was Nearly Fired During The Godfather's Production

"They hated the fact that I decided to set it in New York and they fought it."
At the time, New York had a reputation for being, in Coppola's words, "inhospitable" and "expensive" to film productions. Add to this the cost of shooting "The Godfather" as a period picture, and it gave Paramount reason to balk at the New York idea. They wanted him to film in St. Louis instead.

The JFK Cover-Up Strikes Again by James K. Galbraith

The irony is that by withholding the records, the government has already admitted, without saying so, that the Warren Commission lied and that there are vile secrets which it is determined to protect. It concedes, without saying so, that there was a conspiracy and that there is an ongoing cover-up. If there were not, all the records would have been released long ago. You don’t have to be a “conspiracy theorist” to see this.

'Doc' (1971) **

Watchable western is as inaccurate as the sources it is allegedly revising but Ms. Dunaway shines here.

The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970) **

Early conspiracy thriller is well made despite its made-for-tv origins. Better shot than most contemporary Hollywood blockbusters.

No Time to Die (2021) *

Turgid exercise in contemporary movie making. Indistinguishable from any other "action film" made recently. Highly dispiriting viewing.

Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) ***

Strong lead performance by Ms. Stanley carries the picture which starts off strong but goes off the rails as the script veers into psycho-babble territory. Well shot in crisp B&W.

Mort Sahl Dead: Stand-Up Comedian Tackled Political Themes - Variety

Throughout his career, Sahl frequently provoked his audience. Everyone was fair game. He went after Joseph McCarthy and the blacklist, Eisenhower and even Kennedy, whom he admired. The politically skeptical comic once declared, “Democrats are the left wing of the Republican party. Do you want vanilla or French vanilla?” Another time he said: “Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they’ve stolen.”

He was unyielding, even in old age. In 2011, the 84-year-old Sahl began his show at a Mill Valley, Calif., club before a pro-Obama crowd with the line, “No, he can’t.” He continued performing near his Mill Valley home

“If you were the last man on earth,” Sahl told an interviewer, “I’d have to oppose you. That’s my job.”

One of a kind original to the end. Here is his first recording. The manic energy is stunning.

Cat People (1982) **

Entertaining but half-baked thriller seems like it should have been much better. Great cast.

Dead of Night (1945) **

Spooky anthology starts to gather some steam then stops for a comedy and a song before returning with its best tale which saves the flick.

Jennifer's Body (2009) ***

Highly enjoyable, with wit to spare and a couple of terrific leads.

Divine Intervention (2002) **

Episodic look at life under occupation and its effects is a mixture of comedy, satire and fantasy, not all successful but heartfelt and sad. Well made.

Fever Dream (2021) *

Another film apparently uninterested in looking like a film and content to be flatly photographed with lots of closeups. Some psycho-thriller aspirations but so dull to look at.

Little Murders (1971) ***

Satire is very difficult to pull off in movies but this one is so well made, well written and audacious it succeeds (mostly). One of the blackest comedies ever put on film, it admirably pushes through on its premise and pulls no punches at the finale. Nicely shot by the great Mr. Willis.

Man on a Swing (1974) **

Risky move to film a police procedural of an unsolved case ends up being unsatisfying but there's much to admire from the emphasis on realism to the offbeat casting to the groovy early '70's vibe.

The Many Saints of Newark (2021) ***

Plays like an extended episode of the series, which is a very good thing. Vera Farmiga is terrific and almost unrecognizable. Well made and enjoyable.

After Life (1998) ****

If you could choose your last memory what would it be? A touching, human film.

Schrader on 'Master Gardener,' With Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver - Variety

Schrader commented that “audiovisual entertainment is just fine.” He added, “We have more than we ever had, more than we could ever absorb.” However, theatrical revenue will continue to decline, he claimed. “I am happy to end my career riding that broken-down horse into the sunset. But I have no illusions about the nature of that horse,” he said, also opening up about his struggles. “The biggest mistake you can make is casting. If you miscast a movie, there is nothing you can do. You are just fucked. The other one is getting involved with people who don’t respect you. That has gotten worse because there is more and more money coming from people who don’t like or even watch movies. Every director, male or female, is an alpha creature, so part of you says: ‘Give me a chair, a whip, I will go into that cage full of lions.’ Well. Sometimes, the lions win.”