Maria (2024) ***

Angie Jolie is riveting in a riff on Maria Callas' last week alive. Beautifully filmed and produced.

Angel Face (1952) **

Jean Simmons makes a lovely femme fatale but the plot hinges on us believing that Bob Mitchum is a moron and that won't do.

The Princess Comes Across (1936) **

Sharp dialog and a quick pace keep this contrived romcom/whodunnit afloat.

To Die For (1995) ***

Beautifully shot look at one woman's single minded media ambition. Terrific Nic Kidman and always wonderful Illeana Douglas.

The Pied Piper (1986) **

The animation is at times engrossing but more often is too generic and repetitive lessening the impact of the ending. Bleak, dark and not for kiddies.

Night Must Fall (1937) **

Bob Montgomery is very good and there's a witty script but it's a good 30 minutes too long, probably too faithful to its stage origins.

Trans-Europ-Express (1966) **

Satire of art house films and their filmmakers is watchable for the two leads and the snapshot of mid-60's Paris.

Killer's Kiss (1955) ***

Above average noir solely because of Stanley who did just about everything on this picture. The camera work is spectacular and quite remarkable given the budget, the methods and the results.

A Cold Wind in August (1961) **

Pretty good little potboiler with two terrific performances and a sharp script. The wildly variable quality of the direction is the only drawback.

A Complete Unknown (2024) ***

Enjoyable biopic is well photographed and produced with a superb Ed Norton, but Tim Chalamet can't quite dissolve into Dylan. Wonderful soundtrack.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) ***

Another hilarious adventure with the cheese loving inventor and his trusty sidekick. Cracking finale.

The Universal Theory (2023) **

I would have liked it more if the soundtrack wasn't so overbearing and carelessly used. Could have used some trimming as well although it's nicely put together over all.

Tesla data helped police after Las Vegas truck explosion, but experts have wider privacy concerns

The data collected by Musk’s electric car company after the Cybertruck packed with fireworks burst into flames in front of the Trump International Hotel Wednesday proved valuable to police in helping track the driver’s movements.
Wrong! The data was collected BEFORE the truck burst into flames. It was provided to the police after the explosion. Tesla is a surveillance company.

North by Northwest (1959) ****

Hitch at his best. The crop duster sequence may be his best ever.

Birth (2004) ****

Nic Kidman gives the female equivalent of George C.'s Patton performance in this beautifully filmed and produced examination of grief that cannot be overcome. Fine cast including the always welcome Betty Bacall.

2024 In Review: Movies

** Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
* Nosferatu

(Ripley was the best filmed fiction I saw this year.)

2024 In Review: Music

**** Asteroid No. 4, The - Several Shapes of Solar Flares
**** Linda Lindas, The - No Obligation
**** Mary Timony - Untame The Tiger
**** Nada Surf - Moon Mirror

*** Astral Bakers - The Whole Story
*** Elephant Stone - Back Into the Dream
*** Gift - Illuminator
*** Hinds - Viva Hinds
*** IDestroy - IDestroy
*** Katy J Pearson - Someday, Now
*** Keeley - Beautiful Mysterious
*** Laughing Chimes, The - Tomorrow's 87
*** Lemon Twigs, The - A Dream Is All We Know
*** Mediavolo - Away Within
*** Middle Kids - Faith Crisis Pt 1
*** Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets - Indoor Safari
*** Real Estate - Daniel
*** Richard Thompson - Ship To Shore
*** Ride - Interplay
*** Sixpence None The Richer - Rosemary Hill
*** Still Corners - Dream Talk
*** Umbrellas, The - Fairweather Friend
*** Waeve, The - City Lights
*** Wilco - Hot Sun Cool Shroud
*** X - Smoke & Fiction

** Bad Bad Hats - Bad Bad Hats
** Blue Oyster Cult - Ghost Stories
** Crumbs - You're Just Jealous
** Everything Everything - Mountainhead
** Finom - Not God
** Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More
** La Luz - News of the Universe
** Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs - Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits
** Modern English - 1 2 3 4
** Omni - Souvenir
** Pernice Brothers - Who Will You Believe
** Torres - What An Enormous Room
** Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
** Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
** Wild Pink - Dulling The Horns
** Wishy - Triple Seven

Nosferatu (2024) *

Possibly the worst lit movie I have ever seen. And what is with the porn 'stache? Don't waste your time, try Herzog's far, far superior version.

'A Complete Unknown' Director James Mangold on Making Bob Dylan Biopic

But the biggest kind of truth test for me is just that you’re trying to kind of carve out how much all of these people are wonderful. I love them all. I hope the movie conveys that I adore this world — not just Bob — and that the fracture that happens isn’t because I picked a side, but that it’s just like a Tennessee Williams play or anything else. It’s just a fracture that happens among people who love each other when they all are growing in different directions. And it happens to be on a public stage, because that’s where they live. But it’s analogous to all our lives.

The Big Clock (1948) **

Terrific cast but preposterous, contrived situation is too much to accept.