Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Stroszek (1977) - 6.5/10 - Bruno is a strange guy who gets released from jail, counseled by the guy in charge to give up alcohol since it was the cause of his troubles. He promptly stops at a bar for a drink and befriends a down on her luck prostitute. The pair eventually move from Germany to Wisconsin to start a new life, but run into financial problems. I didn't like the parts in Germany all that much, but it got better after switching to the U.S. I also liked the ending.

Les Misérables (1934) - 8/10 - A nice French adaptation of the classic novel, clocking in at over 4.5 hours. Some of the acting wasn't all that convincing in the first part, but the man playing Jean Valjean was good as was the film overall.

The Women (1939) - 8/10 - There is a lot of cattiness and fast talking in this satire about a group of society women. All of them seem to be cheating on their husbands or are being cheated upon. It's dated, but very well acted. It seemed odd that Mary would still go by Mrs. Stephen Haines even after the divorce. The fight between Sylvia and Miriam was pretty funny.

Good Bye Lenin! (2003) - 7.5/10 - Alex lives in East Berlin with his mother and sister. His mother has a heart attack and goes into a coma just before the fall of the Berlin Wall and doesn't awake for eight months. Since she was a big supporter of the socialist state, Alex works hard to hide the changes that have taken place in East Germany for fear that it will trigger another heart attack, this one fatal.

A Flood in Baath Country (2005) - 6.5/10 - The filmmaker visits the site from his first film, the Euphrates Dam, and interviews villagers there about how their lives were affected and about the Baath party. The film was interesting at the beginning, but the interviews were much less interesting. I did generally enjoy the scenes of the kids in the school.

Hayat ou maut (1954) - 7.5/10 - A man is out of work and has a heart condition. He sends his young daughter to get medicine, but she is accidentally given poison by a pharmacist. This leads to a citywide search for the girl and the man. Some of the acting was a bit amateurish in places, but I thought the movie was entertaining. The scene with the drunk was funny.

Sing As We Go! (1934) - 5/10 - Gracie Fields stars in this musical about a textile worker who finds different ways to make a living after the mill closes. The music and story weren't that great, though it was kind of interesting to get a glimpse of some of the places of that era.

The Dove's Lost Necklace (1991) - 7/10 - A calligrapher's apprentice in a somewhat idealized medieval muslim city looks for the meaning of love with the aid of young enterprising boy who runs errands. I enjoyed this more for the characters and setting than for the story.

Histoire d'une rencontre (1985) - 7.5/10 - A deaf American girl in Algeria with her father encounters a deaf Algerian boy and the too have a brief friendship. Each has problems with the life they have to lead, but relate to each other. It's a fairly simple story, but I liked it.

Volga - Volga (1938) - 6.5/10 - Two steamboats with competing sets of musicians are heading to Moscow on the Volga River. It's a musical comedy that may lose a bit in translation and has also aged a bit, but still has its moments and is somewhat entertaining. It was supposedly Stalin's favorite.

Golden Eighties (1986) - 8/10 - The story takes place entirely in an enclosed mall with the customers and employees at a hair salon frequently breaking into song. Robert, the son of clothing store owners in the mall has attracted the attention of several of the women at the salon. An American who loved Robert's mother back during WWII shows up in the mall one day and wants to rekindle the relationship. The songs are fun and there is plenty of humor.

Sopyonje (1993) - 7.5/10 - A man searches for the adopted sister that he hasn't seen for many years. The man's adopted father was a pansori drummer and singer who raised the two children to perform - the son as a drummer and the daughter as a singer. During the search, we flashback to the man's childhood and youth with other flashbacks as he learns more of what happened to his sister after he left. I'm not really all that interested in pansori, but this was a good story and fairly well acted.

Amreeka (2009) - 7.5/10 - A Palestinian woman emigrates to the United States with her teenage son to get away from the increasingly difficult challenges in her homeland. They move in with her sister's family in Illinois and she finds that there are plenty of challenges in the United States as well. While it only really touches on some of the challenges in a sort of superficial way, I still enjoyed the movie quite a bit.

Wadjda (2012) - 8/10 - Wadjda is a young girl who wants to buy a green bike so that she can race the neighbor boy, but girls riding bikes is frowned upon. Wadjda is an enterprising and slightly rebellious girl and sets to earning money to buy the bike. She learns that there will be a competition to recite the Quran that comes with prize money for the winner and decides o give it a try. The girl who plays Wadjda is very good and the acting in general is pretty good. The film also puts a spotlight (in a non-confrontational manner) on some of the oppression that females go through in Saudi Arabia.

Little Miss Devil / Afritah Hanem (1949) - 7/10 - A singer is not having much luck lately, neither with money or with love. He finds a magic lamp and the beautiful genie inside (Samia Gamal) helps him find success, though he finds it may not be exactly what he wants. The comedy is a bit hit or miss and there is plenty of singing and a fair amount of dancing. It's fairly entertaining, especially when Gamal is on screen.

So Young, So Bright /Janken musume (1955) - 8/10 - Three 18 year old pop stars are brought together here in this musical. Two of the girls portray high school friends who visit Kyoto on a school trip and become friends with another girl while there. They then proceed to hang out, go to a concert, and have various adventures together. There is one scene that is fun where each girl imagines themselves up on stage performing a number, complete with supporting singers/dancers. The closing number on a rollercoaster is another one that is fun. These girls were very popular in Japan and it is a shame that two of them died relatively young. The subtitles I have are certainly adequate, but hopefully proper subs are issued someday in which case I'd like to revisit the film.

8 Women (2002) - 8/10 - Eight women gather at a big country house at Christmastime in the 1950s. They discover that the man of the house has been murdered during the night and that they are all suspects. Each woman's secrets are gradually revealed through song in this entertaining musical comedy. The songs and acting are all pretty good.

Coming Forth By Day (2012) - 6/10 - A day in the life of a woman and her mother who are caring for the father, an invalid who is unable to talk or do anything on his own. The daughter feels a need to get out of the apartment for a couple of hours and leaves her mother home caring for the father by herself. The film has minimal dialogue and features lots of inaction. This causes the film to move at an extremely slow pace, but it did give me a sense that both mother and daughter are suffering from extreme physical and mental exhaustion from the situation.

Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996) - 7.5/10 - The film consists mainly of various short scenes that often are only barely related to each other, though there is more cohesiveness during the second half of the film. There is no real narrative thread, but the director, Elia Suleiman, returns to the West Bank and Israel after over a decade in New York City. The vignettes give impressions of life in the area during the peace process. There is plenty of humor and I found myself enjoying the film quite a bit by the end, though it does take a while for things to build up to that point.

Eminent Domain (John Irvin, 1990) 4/10

During the pre-Glasnost era in Poland a top-ranking member (Donald Sutherland) of the Politburo is suddenly put out to pasture without any explanation. His colleagues ignore him, his daughter (Jodhi May) is pulled out of her expensive boarding school, and his distraught wife (Anne Archer) ends up in a hospital after a tragic event in their lives. Trying to investigate the reason behind their life change makes him realize the extent to which the communist party goes in order to test their loyalty. The heavy cost to their personal lives makes them take steps to right the wrong done to them. Lifeless film fails to provide a proper explanation to the mystery and devolves into a tepid thriller at the end which makes little sense. Sutherland and Archer both play to the gallery with their overwrought performances.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981) 10/10

The first and still the best episode with Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) - professor, archaeologist and adventurer. With fedora on head and bullwhip in hand he finds himself one step ahead (and two steps behind) of evil Nazis as he tries to find the Ark of the Covenant. He is helped along the way by a spirited bar owner and former lover (Karen Allen), a museum curator (Denholm Elliott), and an Egyptian excavator (John Rhys-Davies). Trying to foil his plans are a rival archaeologist (Paul Freeman) employed by the Nazis and a sadistic Gestapo agent (Robert Lacey). Superbly directed film with edge of the seat action set pieces is accompanied by the glorious score by John Williams. Stylish, humorous film is a modern classic.

Emily (Frances O'Connor, 2022) 8/10

O'Connor's thoughtful, sensitive and enigmatic screen biography of writer Emily Brontë (Emma Mackay) sees her life - set during the Victorian era - but with a modern twist. The writer, who created the story of "Wuthering Heights", was an introvert, often tortured individual who channelled her thoughts into the equally tortured characters of her classic novel. The screenplay hints at mental illness and depression, which we can now understand why Brontë behaved the way she did. The story covers the years leading upto the publishing of her novel and we catch a glimpse of her relationships with her two sisters, Charlotte and Anne, her wayward brother Branwell, her neglectful pastor father (Adrian Dunbar), and a parish curate (William Weightman) with whom she has an affair. Since not much is known about the life of Emily Brontë - she died at 30 of tuberculosis - the screenplay makes an attempt using characters and sequences from the only novel she wrote to create an amalgam of her life. Mackay is superb whether frolicking with brother Branwell (pre-figuring the intense "Heathcliff" of the novel) on the heath or making wild and passionate love with the pastor. O'Connor in her first film has a great visual eye capturing the vast open spaces of the countryside or zooming into tight closeups of Mackay's lovely face. Brontë died a spinster but its lovely to see her involved here in a sexual relationship that is a happy contradiction to the typical Victorian view of chaste and pinched repression. Hooray for Hollywood!!

Lost and Found (Melvin Frank, 1979) 5/10

Widowed U.S. college professor (George Segal) and British divorcée (Glenda Jackson) meet cute - they crash their cars into each other followed later by ramming into each other on the ski slope with both breaking one leg. Before you can blink an eye they are in love, married and back home on a college campus where cracks in the relationship soon start to appear. Old fashioned story has a script by Melvin Frank which harks back to equally corny material during the 1940s. Corny yes, but also often funny. The two stars, director-writer Frank and co-star Paul Sorvino (playing a taxi driver) return after the success of "A Touch of Class" to a somewhat uneasy affair with jokes that are sadly forced and stale. Segal with his puppy dog charm and Jackson with her clipped diction and brittle persona do have great chemistry on screen and is reason enough to sit through this so-called attempt at a screwball comedy. Also fun is the eccentric presence of Maureen Stapleton as Segal's motor-mouthed hippie mom.

The Company of Wolves (1984) - 6/10 - This Little Red Riding Hood story has excellent production design and a pretty boring story.

The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972) - 7/10 - A goalie is sent out after an argument during an away match. He wanders around for a while, visits the cinema, hooks up with the theater cashier, and eventually goes to visit an old friend (plus a couple of other things that I left out). It's pretty laid back through most of it, but I liked it.

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) - 8/10 - Bergman does romantic comedy. Fredrik is a lawyer whose second wife Anne is much younger than him. They haven't consummated their marriage yet due to her trepidations. Fredrik's son Henrik is secretly (or not so secretly) in love with Anne and she reciprocates his feelings. Then there is the actress Desiree who was Fredrik's mistress after his first wife's death. It's a fairly lighthearted and entertaining film.

Spirits of the Dead (1968) - 5/10 - An anthology of three tales, each with a different director. None of them were really all that interesting, though I did find things to like in the second and third parts.

In the Mouth of Madness (1994) - 7.5/10 - Sam Neill stars as an insurance investigator sent to look into the disappearance of a popular horror writer. He discovers a number of crazy things that seem to indicate that the author's books are actually based on fact..or is he just descending into madness himself. Neill is pretty good here.

L'Enfant secret (1979) - 3/10 - There are a lot of scenes with minimal or no dialogue. They linger far too long at times. The film is shot well, but I didn't care for the characters or their story or for the film at all. A woman had a child out of wedlock with an actor. There are drugs, a hospital visit, and so on, but none of it really is all that interesting.

The Night Stalker (1972) - 8/10 - Darren McGavin stars as Carl Kolchak, a Las Vegas reporter with an eye for the sensational who has been fired from a number of newspapers over the years. Young women start turning up dead with their throats ripped out and their blood drained. Kolchak thinks that the killer may think that they are a vampire. Kolchak also butts heads with police and other officials. The supporting cast is nice and this is a pretty entertaining film. I started reading the Kolchak comics over a decade ago, but had never seen the movies or tv show.

The Night Strangler (1973) - 7.5/10 - Kolchak has moved on to Seattle. He''s only been there a couple of weeks when a few mysterious murders start showing up and signs point to a pattern that takes place over 18 days every 21 years. The film follows a similar formula to The Night Stalker, but is still very entertaining. It also sets the stage for the tv series that followed.

Felice… Felice… (1998) - 7.5/10 - In 1895, photographer Felice Beato returns to Japan in search of the wife he left behind. Beato was a popular person during his earlier time in Japan, but finds that much has changed in his absence and he no longer fits in. The film is kind of slow and melancholy, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

A Bay of Blood (1971) - 6/10 - I guess this early slasher film was somewhat influential on the genre, but apart from a few creative deaths, it was mostly kind of boring. The film starts with the murder of a countess as part of a plot to steal her land, but there is another plot afoot and it is just the start of many deaths.

Alucarda (1977) - 5/10 - Alucarda is an orphan who is raised in a strange convent. She befriends a new girl and then strange things start happening and the girls appear to be in love with Satan. The whole set up was kind of strange and the weird outfits that the nuns wore was distracting. The default mode also seemed to be set to scream mode throughout the film and that got kind of tiresome.

Pauline & Paulette (2001) - 7/10 - Pauline is 66 years old, but with the mental ability of a young child. She lives with her older sister Martha, but when Martha dies, a choice has to be made whether Pauline will live with one of her two younger sister or be placed in an institution.

Piranha (1978) - 7/10 - Mutated piranha from an old secret Army facility are released into the local waterways by accident and they start killing people along the way. There's a summer camp for kids and a new resort along the path that are threatened. The premise is kind of ridiculous, but it's a fun movie.

The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman (1971) - 5/10 - The film started off pretty well, but was pretty boring through much of it. It was hard to keep my interest in what was going on.

The Duellists (1977) - 8.5/10 - Harvey Keitel is a French officer during the Napoleonic Era who is obsessed with dueling and is an ardent supporter of Napoleon. He takes a dislike to another French officer (Keith Carradine) and forces a number of duels on him over the next 15 years. The acting and cinematography are excellent and I enjoyed the film a lot.

The Resistance Banker (2018) - 6.5/10 - This film tells the story of the men who set up a secret bank to fund the Dutch resistance activities during WWII. The film looks pretty good and is fairly well acted, but would have benefitted from a quicker pace and possibly shaving 15-20 minutes from the runtime.

Abel (1986) - 4/10 - Abel is in his early 30s and still lives at home with his parents. He hasn't left the house in 10 years and spends a fair amount of time trying to cut flies in half with scissors and watching people with his binoculars. His father is exasperated with him and his mother is somewhat overprotective of him. I didn't find the movie to be more annoying than funny.

The Little Blonde Dead (1993) - 4.5/10 - This is a strange movie in some ways and not one that I really liked. We start when Valentijn Boecke is a kid and see a little bit of interaction with his teacher and also some with his family. His father seems a little crazy, damaged by what he went through during WWII. Valentijn grows up and has a brief fling with his former teacher and ends up with a kid as a result. He's not ready to be a father, but is better at it than his former teacher, who turns out to be pretty out there herself. The acting wasn't that great and the story just seemed kind of off.

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) - 6/10 - This was a Hammer Horror/Shaw Brothers crossover with vampires and martial arts. It's interesting for the novelty, but I didn't find the story or action all that compelling for the most part.

The Shout (1978) - 5/10 - A stranger insinuates himself into the home of a couple in England and later mentions that he learned a shout from Aboriginals that can kill people who are close by. This is a strange film that has some nice scenery and a decent soundtrack, but I didn't really care for the rest of it.

Mr. Nobody (2009) - 8/10 - In the year 2092, humanity has achieved a sort of immortality, except for one unknown old man who is about to turn 118 years old. He is interviewed and reflects back on his life at ages 9, 15, and 34. However, his memories are contradictory and show the effects of different choices that he made or could have made. It's an interesting film with nice acting and special effects.

Cooley High (1975) - 8/10 - In the mid-60s, Preach, a aspiring writer, and Cochise, a basketball star, are close friends in high school. They skip class, attend parties, hook up with girls, and so on. Things eventually turn a bit more serious, but a lot of the movie deals with everyday life of black kids in Chicago during that time period. It's a nice film and is still relevant today plus the soundtrack was pretty nice.

Our Struggles / Nos batailles (2018) - 7.5/10 - Olivier is a hard working foreman at an Amazon type warehouse. His world is severely affected when his wife suddenly leaves without telling anyone, leaving him alone to take care of his two young children while also managing a difficult situation at work. He gets support from his sister and mother and tries to track down his wife. The kids are also affected by all the turmoil in their lives.

Steve + Sky (2004) - 5/10 - Steve is a small time crook who spent some time in prison. After he gets out, he starts a relationship with Sky, a drifter who has had a number of jobs, including as a prostitute. The actors weren't bad, but the story didn't do much for me.

Super Fly (1972) - 6/10 - A successful drug dealer in New York City decides to make one last big deal and then retire from the life. However, he finds that getting out of the game isn't that easy. The music is very good, but the acting generally isn't.

Madly in Life / Une vie démente (2020) - 8/10 - Alex and Noémie are thinking about having a child, but Alex's mother starts acting strangely and it turns out that she has early onset dementia that is causing this behavior and this throws their lives and plans into disarray. The performances here are pretty good all around. Sometimes these types of films are all sad and weepy, but this one was not and had plenty of humor as the family and caretaker they hire to help deal with the situation.

Taking Off (1971) - 7.5/10 - A teenage girl runs away from home to attend an audition without telling her parents. Her parents then start searching for her and find themselves exposed to a number of things that help them loosen up and start having more fun. There is plenty of humor and I enjoyed the film, but wasn't really wowed by it. This was Miloš Forman's first film in the U.S.

Car Wash (1976) - 7/10 - A day in the life of the people at a car wash in the Los Angeles area. It has a nice soundtrack and was fairly entertaining.

Frenzy (1972) - 7.5/10 - Richard Blaney has a rough week. He loses his job and then is wanted by the police as a serial killer, even though he is innocent. It's a pretty good thriller, though not among Hitchcock's best.

The American Friend (1977) - 8/10 - Dennis Hopper stars as Tom Ripley, an American involved in art forgery in Europe. Bruno Ganz stars as Jonathan Zimmermann, an art dealer with a blood disease. Ripley recommends Zimmermann to an acquaintance as a likely hit man for a job that the acquaintance wants done and things progress from there. It was pretty entertaining.

Emergency! The Wedsworth-Townsend Act (1972) - 7.5/10 - The pilot movie for the tv show is named after the law in California which allowed for paramedic training. The tv show helped popularize the movement. Prior to this, most ambulances and their crews could only transport patients to hospitals and administer basic first aid. My brother was a big fan of this show (and Adam-12 as well). I watched it on occasion during the later seasons, but it wasn't one of my regular shows. I thought the pilot movie was pretty good and I'll go on and watch the first season.

The Rockford Files (1974) - 8/10 - James Garner stars as private investigator Jim Rockford. Rockford is a Korean veteran who served 5 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit before receiving a pardon. He lives in a trailer by the beach. Lindsay Wagner co-stars as Sara Butler, a young woman who hires Rockford to solve her father's murder. The tv movie pilot is pretty entertaining and shows the formula that is used in the regular tv show. Wagner would reprise her role in one episode of the regular season and the actor who played Rockford's father was replace for the tv series by Noah Beery, Jr., definitely a change for the better.

Russian Roulette (Lou Lombardo & Anthony Squire, 1975) 3/10

Suspended Canadian cop (George Segal) is tasked with keeping an eye on a dissident who turns up dead at the hands of the KGB. The cop finds himself surrounded by dead bodies and involved in a plot by the KGB to assassinate a renegade Soviet Premier during his state visit. Convoluted, lifeless Cold War thriller moves at a snail's pace with Segal looking bored throughout. Bit parts by Gordon Jackson, Denholm Elliott and Louise Fletcher (wasted as a switchboard operator here but who inexplicably won an Oscar for the same year's "Cuckoo's Nest"). A stiff Cristina Raines plays the love interest.

House Calls (Howard Zieff, 1978) 7/10

Not exactly a screwball but a warm old fashioned romantic comedy. Recently widowed surgeon (Walter Matthau), trying to make up for lost time by playing ladykiller, meets up with acerbic divorcée (Glenda Jackson) creating sparks. Set in and around an inept hospital run by an addled chief (Art Carney) the comedy soars during the interplay between the two stars but is less successful when the plot focuses on comic vignettes around the surgeon's dates or the addled doctor and his shenanigans. Matthau and Jackson, seemingly with zero chemistry, still manage to show remarkable screen presence through sheer star power. The attempted sex scene with one foot on the ground is laugh-out-loud hilarious and the only moment in the film that veers towards screwball. The screenplay has some witty one liners delivered by the two stars as they parry towards the inevitable relationship involving the lip-lock. The film's premise was revived in a fairly successful three-season tv series with Lynn Redgrave and Wayne Rogers.

Hopscotch (Ronald Neame, 1980) 6/10

Amiable little comedy set in the spy genre. Grounded CIA field agent (Walter Matthau) decides to get back at his vindictive boss (Ned Beatty) by deciding to write a tell-all memoir which discredits not only the agency but the KGB as well. Cat-and-mouse chase film hops across Europe and America as he is pursued by the men in plain clothes. Matthau is in fine form and thankfully does not mug as the wily agent who manages to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. Providing excellent support are Sam Waterston as his friend and colleague, Herbert Lom as his KGB counterpart and Glenda Jackson as his witty former lover.

Riff-Raff (Ted Tetzlaf, 1947) 5/10

Not quite a noir but strictly a B-film with a gruff Pat O'Brien as a seedy investigator. A stolen map, pinpointing unregistered oil wells, has everyone searching for it resulting in assorted dead bodies. The plot also has a femme fatale (Anne Jeffreys) and an oily villain (Walter Slezak). Run-of-the-mill murder adventure is redeemed by O'Brien and a very funny Percy Kilbride as a laconic taxi driver spouting hilarious one-liners.

Duel at Diablo (Ralph Nelson, 1966) 6/10

If nothing else this Western would probably get full marks for diversity today - a cast of white actors hand in-hand with a bunch of native Americans (although their head honcho is played by John Hoyt in brown face), a black character who dresses better than all the scruffy men around and the sole leading lady who is Swedish. The plot, as in most films in the genre, is awfully familiar - just the cast is different. An Army cavalry unit of mostly inexperienced soldiers, under the leadership of their ambitious lieutenant (Bill Travers), have to deliver ammunition and supplies to a Fort. Along for the ride that takes them through Apache territory are a motley group - a scout (James Garner) who is looking for the man who scalped and killed his Indian wife, a dandy horse trainer (Sidney Poitier), a businessman (Dennis Weaver) and his wife (Bibi Andersson) who keeps running away to be with her former Apache lover. The Indians attack, the group is whittled down to a few, run out of drinking water and find themselves boxed in a canyon with no way out. The screenplay tackles issues of race - ill treatment of Indians and non-acceptance of a white woman who was in a relationship with an Indian - which gets buried under all the violence on screen. Old fashioned Western has the added attraction of a black actor in a lead role - who else but Poitier fit the bill during that era - although surprisingly his presence has absolutely no bearing on his race. A stoic Garner and excellent Utah locations are a major plus.

The Plainsman (Cecil B. DeMille, 1936) 7/10

The screenplay touches on the white man's inhumanity towards the Native American - stealing their land, killing buffalo and tricking them into submission. It is presented as a DeMille spectacle with events and real life characters - Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper), Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur), Buffalo Bill (a bland James Ellison) - not exactly conforming to historical timeline. Also in the mix is General Custer and a nasty villain played by Charles Bickford. Cooper and lovely Jean Arthur create sparks - as always she is a lovely presence as the feisty frontierswoman - and there are enough action skirmishes of the Indian kind to make this one of the best Westerns - we shall ignore some of the cringy dialogue thrown at the Indians. Anthony Quinn makes a brief appearance as a Cheyenne Indian in one of his first films. A year later he would graduate to become DeMille's son-in-law which was a hell of a jump in life and career.

97 Minutes (Timo Vuorensola, 2023) 2/10

Low budget, shoddy film about a hijacked Boeing 767 that will crash when its fuel runs out. The screenplay regurgitates every cliché from previous disaster films hilariously making the terrorists from Ukraine - talk about a complete misfire on this front considering how the West is fawning all over the Ukranians against nasty Russians. The plane loses pressure and careens wildly, then the pressure suddenly goes up almost crushing the plane and exploding the brains of the passengers, both pilots die and a young woman, a child and a badly wounded NSA undercover agent (Jonathan Rhys Myers) try to fly and land the plane. To make matters worse there is also a nuclear bomb on the plane which seems to have been an add-on to make the situation more dramatic. Meanwhile back on the ground the NSA director (a hammy Alec Baldwin) gives orders for the plane to be shot down over the ocean so that it does not crash into a city. Hysterical situations are presented in a dull manner with no real tension and lousy effects to boot. Nothing is remotely believable including the ending.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson, 2023) 4/10

A biracial Spider-Man from another verse is the main character in this overlong and very noisy episode. Apparently he appeared in the last episode although I have zero recollection. We enter into different verses and encounter countless Spider-Men and Women. The relentless editing was an absolute brain-fuck often causing sea sickness while sitting on a static cinema seat. That old Peter Parker is apparently dead - when did that happen? - and Spider-Woman caused it. Convoluted plot also involves The Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) who is the chief villain here who moves across dimensions with everyone following him. I have no idea what was going on although I must be given credit for not falling asleep. Could be the arresting animation or maybe the incessant noise. Not sure. And now there will be yet another episode as this one ended with a cliffhanger. I really enjoyed the last episode but not this one. Colorful nonsense is putting a whole lotta fanboys and critics into quite a lather.

Les Créatures (Agnès Varda, 1966) 6/10

Varda seems to have been greatly influenced by Alain Resnais' "L'Année dernière à Marienbad" for its dreamlike essence which this film has in spades too. This has Nouvelle Vague weirdness galore as the plot weaves a writer (Michel Piccoli) and his pregnant mute wife (Catherine Deneuve) - the opening scene involves a car crash which caused the woman's (psychological?) disability - into very strange directions. The first half hour is a series of vignettes totally unconnected - what's happening?; why's it happening?; who are these island dwellers? - with the writer encountering jeers, taunts and attacks. As the film progresses one becomes slowly aware that it could all be part of the novel he is writing. The screenplay weaves in robots, a scientist who controls the mind of people via discs (turning the screen red), and a chess game with miniature versions of the village residents. One never knows if we are witnessing reality or just a version of the writer's imagination as he jots down in his book. Deneuve is a lovely if silent presence and even her character is somewhat of a mystery - did she die in the car crash and is she now strictly part of the writer's story? The film has a facinating location - Noirmoutier, an island off mainland France, which is connected by way of a causeway that gets submerged in the Atlantic twice a day at high tide. A film that makes you think - Varda is trying to say that a writer's imagination can get triggered by every thing big or small, via encounters with people or by one's environment. Beautifully shot in stark black and white.

Les amants / The Lovers (Louis Malle, 1958) 9/10

Malle's second film won a special prize at the Venice film festival and caused a huge furor in the United States when charges of obscenity were filed in court against the film and the case went hysterically all the way up to the Supreme Court. Based on the posthumously published 1876 short story "Point de Lendemain" ("No Tomorrow") by Dominique Vivant (1747-1825), the story seems to have been inspired by Leo Tolstoy's 1875 novel "Anna Karenina". Malle brings the story into present-day France. Bored but sensual provincial housewife and mother (Jeanne Moreau) finds comfort away from her much older and boring husband (Alain Cuny) in the company of a chic friend (Judith Magre) and in the arms of a dashing polo player (José Luis de Vilallonga) in Paris. When her visits to Paris start getting too frequent her husband demands that she invite both her friends for the weekend. Also invited by her husband is a young archaeologist (Jean-Marc Bory) who just happens to give her a lift when her car breaks down. The dinner party is a disaster with the husband keeping his eye on her. Late at night while wandering in the garden she comes upon the young house guest and the plot takes a surprising turn away from the Tolstoy story. Moreau, accompanied by Brahms on the soundtrack and photographed by Henri Decaë, is a ravishing, sensual sight. The role set the tone for her career with the kind of sexually enlightened, wilful women she got to play on film. The obscenity on view are scenes of a nude Moreau in flagrante delicto. The conventional and rather banal plot tries very hard to make a case for love but the final act is clearly based on lust which, with Moreau's incandescent aura, makes the film soar pretty high.

Sinners in the Sun (Alexander Hall, 1932) 4/10

Virtue (Edward Buzzell, 1932) 7/10

Three Sailors and a Girl (Roy Del Ruth, 1953) 4/10

Star Spangled Rhythm (George Marshall & A. Edward Sutherland, 1942) 3/10

Variety Girl (George Marshall, 1947) 4/10

Show People (King Vidor, 1928) 8/10



Ne le dis à personne / Tell No One (Guillaume Canet, 2006) 7/10

Convoluted thriller is overlong but sharply directed and acted by an all-star cast. A doctor (François Cluzet) suddenly receives an email from his wife (Marie-Josée Croze) eight years after she was brutally murdered. He was the chief suspect in her murder but there was not enough evidence to convict him and it was blamed on a serial killer. When two bodies are found at the lakeside spot where his wife's body was discovered and identified by her father (André Dussollier), the old case is reopened by the police. Then a second murder takes place and the doctor again becomes the main suspect when the gun that killed the second victim is found in his house. He goes on the run and tries to prove his innocence with the help of his sister (Marina Hands), her rich lover (Kristin Scott Thomas) and a lawyer (Nathalie Baye). With the cops closing in on him and not knowing who to trust he desperately seeks help from a local gangster, discovers the role played by a local governor (Jean Rochefort) in implicating him and how his wife figures in the mounting mystery. Cluzet, who won a César award, is superb as the hapless man whose life begins to unravel. Awards also went to director Canet, for the editing and the score, while the film, André Dussollier, the screenplay, cinematography and sound design were all nominated.

Can't Help Singing (Frank Ryan, 1944) 6/10

Durbin in her only Western chases after her lover across the West with the help of a card sharp (Robert Paige). She sings, encounters Indians and finds new love along the way. Charming little film was her only film in colour and was nominated for its score (by Jerome Kern) and song ("More and More"). Akim Tamiroff provides the comic interludes.

Christmas Holiday (Robert Siodmak, 1944) 8/10

Extremely bizarre noir with two rather dubious but fascinating casting choices - Deanna Durbin as a singing prostitute - the star wanted a change of pace in her career but refused to play a floozie so she plays what here is termed as a "lounge singer" - and Gene Kelly as a mother fixated (aka homosexual) pathological murderer. The film has a fantastic pedigree - director Siodmak, a European emigrée known for his dark films, a screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz (who won an Oscar for "Citizen Kane") and based on a book by Somerset Maugham with the original setting changed from Britain to New Orleans. The main plot - good girl (Deanna Durbin) meets and marries a seemingly clean-cut guy (Gene Kelly) who lives with his adoring mother (Gale Sondergaarde) and turns out to be a gambling addict who ends up doffing a bookie and ends up in jail - is a long flashback. Bookending the main plot is a lieutenant (Dean Harens) who, by chance, meets the lounge singer at a brothel run by a snappy but good hearted madame (Gladys George) and discovers the girl's sad life who now tortures herself through guilt by living her new life as a prostitute but still in love with her husband. Absurd beyond belief this film gets full marks for atmosphere courtesy of the moody cinematography by Elwood Bredell (who would be the dp on subsequent Durbin films but made his mark on two fantastic noirs, "Phantom Lady" and "The Killers") with his sweeping tracking and crane shots and the over powering baroque sets (scenes set in a massive cathedral during a Christmas mass, at a concert theatre and the expansive lobbies at a hotel and the brothel). Both stars are very good but the film is stolen by the edgy Sondergaard as the doting mother who harbors her son's secrets. Lurid psychological melodrama which despite a slow start ends up with breathtaking set pieces.

Curtain Up (Ralph Smart, 1952) 7/10

A tatty little provincial theater is the backdrop for a group of actors trying to rehearse a play. The director (Robert Morley) is very critical of the play and decides to cut pages of dialogue which he feels is superflous much to the horror of the play's author (Margaret Rutherford) who unexpectedly arrives and tries to take charge. The two memorable leads, who come with their very distinct and familar acting tics, set the tone for the inevitable clash. Meanwhile the actors all have problems of their own which does not endear them to either the sarcastatic director or the indignant author. Morley and Rutherford, both hilarious institutions, lead a great cast of supporting actors - lovely Kay Kendall as the leading lady with an alcoholic womanizing husband, Michael Medwin as a twit trying to get laughs from the dialogue when there's none in the play, Joan Rice as the ingenue who thinks maybe acting is not for her and Stringer Davis as her father the vicar. Whacky threadbare plot is held quite firmly by the shenanigans of both Morley and Rutherford.

We're Not Dressing (Norman Taurog, 1934) 6/10

Spoiled socialite (Carole Lombard) on a yacht cruise with her pals (brassy Ethel Merman and drunken Leon Errol) and pet bear finds herself shipwrecked on a deserted island. She is pursued by a handsome steward (Ray Milland) but she has eyes only for the "poor" sailor (Bing Crosby) who turns the tables on her when he refuses to serve her and insists she and her rich friends do their own work. Also on the island are a zany scientist couple (George Burns and Gracie Allen) who get to do their own well-honed comic routines before joining up with the rest of the group. A loose adaptation of J.M. Barrie's "The Admirable Crichton" has Crosby singing ten songs while Merman sings two. Lombard is stunningly beautiful in a role she basically repeated two years later in "My Man Godfrey".

Born to be Bad (Lowell Sherman, 1934) 6/10

Pre-Code film has Loretta Young playing an amazing character - a lying, cheating, nasty, immoral, bed-hopping mother who is not above using her young son to get what she wants. She was always a clothes horse on and off the screen but she looks amazing in all the skimpy outfits she gets to parade in here. A stiff and very young Cary Grant is the rich married man who takes custody of her bratty son, gets seduced by her and then gets dumped as mother love finally awakens in her cold heart and she leaves for more sexual adventures knowing her son has a better life with Grant and his wife. Lovely Loretta is the whole show in this often very melodramatic film.

Angel Baby (Paul Wendkos, 1961) 5/10

Biting indictment of religion and in particular of evangelical ministers who use their preaching as a flamboyant stage production often with fake attempts at performing miracles. Naive mute woman (Salomé Jens) is "healed" by a young revivalist (George Hamilton) who then discovers God and is guided by an alcoholic couple (Henry Jones and Joan Blondell) to become a faith healer herself. Urged on by a crooked promoter she "heals" a fake blind man and when she is exposed all hell breaks loose. Adding to all the trauma is an extra marital affair between the preacher and the healer. B-film came on the heels of the award winning Elmer Gantry (1960) with an almost similar plot and with the bizzare casting of Hamilton and Mercedes McCambridge as a married couple - the scene where she begs him to have sex with her while flinging open her gown is one of many campy moments in the film. Burt Reynolds has a vivid small part in his screen debut as a sleazy hick rapist who tries to have his way twice with Salomé Jens. Haskell Wexler beautifully shot this over-the-top and often predictable film.

I'll Be Yours (William A. Seiter, 1947) 7/10

Charming film is based on the play A jó tündér / The Good Fairy by Ferenc Molnár. A small-town girl (Deanna Durbin) tells a fib to a wealthy, dirty-old-man (Adolphe Menjou as suave as ever) who is the head of a huge corporation causing many complications. Durbin, dressed by Travis Banton, sings (operatically "Granada" and three other songs), romances a poor uptight lawyer (Tom Drake), befriends a talkative waiter (William Bendix) and charms just about everyone with her natural joie de vivre and superlative singing voice.

Supernatural (Victor Halpern, 1933) 6/10

Serial killer's ghost enters the body of an heiress (Carole Lombard) and tries to seek revenge on a phony spiritualist who betrayed her. Lombard in slinky gowns and with flashing eyes portrays the possessed woman. Beryl Mercer is a hoot as a tipsy blackmailer while Randolph Scott is a staid suitor. Very unusual subject for its time.

Climbing High (Carol Reed, 1938) 4/10

Slapstick screwball from a British studio. Dizzy model (Jessie Matthews) is pursued by rich man (Michael Redgrave) who pretends to be poor while he in turn is pursued by a golddigger. Frantic loud comedy has Matthews singing and dancing and on the edge of a precipice high up on a snowy mountain at the film's conclusion with a lunatic (Francis L. Sullivan) trying to kill her. Conveniently just round the corner is Redgrave who is being pursued by her angry brother (Torin Thatcher). Silly nonsense.

Sinners' Holiday (John G. Adolfi, 1930) 5/10

A barker (Grant Withers) on Coney Island falls in love with the daughter of a feisty old lady who runs a penny arcade. A bootlegger runs his operation below the old woman's house. When he goes to jail the woman's son (James Cagney) takes over the illegal business, pockets the money and later shoots the bootlegger dead. Pre-code crime drama has Cagney in his film debut along with Joan Blondell who plays his sweetheart. Both actors completely outshine the film's actual leads.

Le président (Henri Verneuil, 1961) 6/10

Retired Prime Minister of France, Emile Beaufort (Jean Gabin), is still much sought after as an advisor and under-the-table powerbroker. When Philippe Chalamont (Bernard Blier) appears to be next in line to become Prime Minister, a series of flashbacks reveal the contentious relationship between the old retired statesman and the power hungry new candidate. Will the old man reveal certain secrets he holds against the young candidate or will he let it pass? Gabin and Blier create sparks in this extremely talkative screenplay making this an extremely slow moving film experience. However, Gabin manages to create this enormous personality with his usual understated performance where through mere flickers of facial expression the actor conveys so much depth. Michel Audiard adapted the Georges Simenon novel who created the title character as an amalgamation of Georges Clemenceau, Jean Jaurès and Charles De Gaule.

gunnar wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 10:42 amAbhimaan (1973) - 8/10 - A popular singer falls in love after meeting a talented young woman who also sings, though only for herself. They get married and he pushes her to sing with him. However, she becomes more popular than him and he becomes jealous and starts pushing her away. I thought this was very well acted throughout.

Bollywood remake of A Star is Born

Air (2023) - 8/10 - The story of how Nike signed Michael Jordan and created the Air Jordan line which became a huge success. Before that, Nike was known for running shoes, but had no real impact in the basketball market. It was a pretty good story and Matt Damon did a nice job as well as the rest of the cast.

Death Wish (1974) - 7/10 - Charles Bronson stars as an architect who was a conscientious objector during the Korean War, but served as a combat medic. When his wife and daughter are attacked in his apartment, it leads to his transformation into a vigilante who roams the streets looking for muggers. There certainly do seem to be quite a few of them in NYC. I think that I watched this back in the 1980s, but didn't remember much about it. It wasn't too bad and was certainly much less cartoonish than the sequel I watched earlier in the year.

The Railway Children (1970) - 7.5/10 - A somewhat wealthy family's life is disrupted early in the 20th Century when the father is taken into custody the day after Christmas. The wife and three children are eventually forced to move to a home in the country due to their impoverished financial condition. The three children have a series of small adventures centered around the local train station. It's a fairly wholesome and entertaining family film. Jenny Agutter plays the oldest daughter, reprising her role from an earlier BBC adaptation. She played the mother in another adaptation 30 years later. It was a bit funny that the younger daughter was actually three years older than Agutter.

Fanfare (1958) - 8/10 - A rivalry between two men causes the band in a small town to break into two parts. There is a lot of back and forth with stealing instruments and banners as each band wants to be the one to represent the town in an upcoming contest. I thought it was fun.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) - 7/10 - Vincent Price stars as a famous organist who is thought to have died in a car accident that left him disfigured and injured. He was on his way to his wife's side, but she died. Now he seeks revenge against those he holds responsible for her death. It's not bad and there are some interesting parts plus it is kind of stylish.

The Beast (1975) - 4/10 - A weird film about people who obsessed with sex and erotica. One woman can't stop trying to have sex with one of the servants. There is also a beast in the forest that apparently enjoys sex as well.

Moscow-Cassiopeia (1974) - 6/10 - A genius teenager creates a nuclear engine that can propel a spaceship to nearby stars. A mission is set up to send a group of teens on a mission to explore radio signals from Alpha Cassiopeia. The mission is supposed to take 27 years to get there. I thought the film looked interesting and I was expecting to enjoy it, but the humor didn't really work for me and I found much of it to be kind of boring. There were some neat things once they finally got on board the spaceship, but the film was a bit disappointing.

Teens in the Universe (1975) - 7/10 - This film continues the story from where Moscow-Cassiopeia left off. I enjoyed it more than the first film. The teens arrive at their destination and find humanoid robots there. Unfortunately, the goal of the robots is to make people 'happy' by removing a number of emotions.

Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979) - 5.5/10 - Betrayed on his wedding night, a man sees most of his family and friends slaughtered. He recruits fighters to help him get revenge. There are some semi-decent fight sequences, but the story itself is kind of a slog.

Hotel Monterey (1973) - 3/10 - Chantal Akerman treats us to a silent tour of a dingy hotel in New York with plenty of shots of hallways, the elevator, a room or two, etc. It is very tedious. The last 10 minutes are better as the camera moves to the roof and we get a view of the surrounding part of the city.

Humain, trop humain (1974) - 7/10 - The film's opening segment takes place at an automotive factory and looks at various aspects of the assembly without narration. The next segment lasts around 15 minutes and takes place at an auto show. The final segment last 40 minutes and returns to the automotive factory. I enjoyed the film, but think it would have been better to combine the two factory sections and condense it a bit, leaving the auto show segment for the end, though I see what Malle was going for with the end bringing things full circle. I started getting a bit bored with the factory segment toward the end.

Fertile Memory (1980) - 8/10 - This was looks at the lives of two Palestinian women and their struggles. One woman is older and struggled to raise her children in poverty after the Israelis took their farmland over 30 years earlier. The other woman is younger and wants to be independent and free, but faces a number of challenges herself. It's an interesting film and like a poem in some ways.

...ere erera baleibu izik subua aruaren... (1970) - An experimental film that reminded me a bit of Brakhage, but I thought it was more interesting than his works. Still, at over 70 minutes, it was too long.

My Way Home (1978) - 6.5/10 - I didn't think this was as interesting as the first two installments in the Bill Douglas trilogy, but it was okay. Jamie goes to live with his father and paternal grandmother, but finds life difficult there. He later ends up in the army and is sent to Egypt.

Abhimaan (1973) - 8/10 - A popular singer falls in love after meeting a talented young woman who also sings, though only for herself. They get married and he pushes her to sing with him. However, she becomes more popular than him and he becomes jealous and starts pushing her away. I thought this was very well acted throughout.

Duvidha (1973) - 4/10 - A merchant's son is sent away to make his fortune, leaving behind his new bride. A ghost sees an opportunity and takes the young man's form while he is away. When the young man returns, the people in town and even his family think that he is an imposter. It seems like an interesting premise, but it is very slow and kind of lifeless. I didn't really enjoy this at all.

Our Daily Bread / Uski Roti (1970) - 4.5/10 - A woman travels a long distance every day to bring her truck driver husband a meal, but one day she is late and he is not happy with her. This is another movie that is very slow and lifeless. It's slightly better than Duvidha, but is still kind of a waste.

In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (1978) - 4/10 - This was like attending a 90 minute lecture from somebody who clearly thinks that he is better than you and knows more than you do , complete with accompanying film clips and slides. Some of the images and film clips were pretty interesting, much more than the accompanying narration.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - 9/10 - I liked Totoro when I watched it 30+ years ago on vhs, but I liked it even more now. The English voice cast did a great job and the movie is very nicely done.

Tokyo Twilight (1957) - 8/10 - A middle aged banker (Chishu Ryu) lives with his two adult daughters. Takako is separated from her husband and has a young daughter herself. Akiko dropped out of college to take English shorthand, is a bit wild, and has a problem with her boyfriend. Things get complicated when the mother who abandoned them 20 years earlier suddenly comes back into their lives. It's a pretty good film.

Late Autumn (1960) - 8.5/10 - Akiko (Setsuko Hara) is a widow who meets with three of her late husband's school friends on the anniversary of his death. Akiko lives at home with her adult daughter, Akiko (Yoko Tsukasa) and the two have a nice relationship. The three men decide to interfere and start trying to play matchmaker and get Ayako married off. However, things don't go as planned since Ayako has no interest in marrying and this eventually leads to a misunderstanding that causes some problems. This is a good film which I enjoyed and my favorite character was Ayako's friend Yuriko (Mariko Okada).

Fast X (Louis Leterrier, 2023) 6/10

Dom (Vin Diesel) protects his family from someone in his past - the opening set piece set in Rio is a flashback with the late Paul Walker and involves the death of a drug lord whose deranged son (Jason Momoa camping it up) is out for revenge. The whole gang is here once again involved in a convoluted series of action set pieces and as always with the screenplay taking a backseat - in reality nothing would make sense as all the set pieces defy logic, physics, chemistry, biology and every other science known to man. Just sit back and enjoy the car crashes, the cartoonish violence, the cool banter, the exotic locations (Rome, Naples, Rio, Lisbon), the star studded cameos (Dame Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Rita Moreno, Jason Statham, Brie Larson, Scott Eastwood, Michael Rooker, Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson), and the unbelievably outrageous stunts. The film ends on a cliffhanger which conveniently heralds the next installment.

Chocolat (Claire Denis, 1988) 7/10

A coming-of-age memory piece with layers of underlying tension between white colonial rulers and the local population who both existed together but with very distinct and strict boundaries as master and servant. A tourist recalls her childhood as the daughter of the Governor (François Cluzet) in French Cameroon in 1957 during the waning years of French rule. The lazy afternoons, time spent with the brooding African houseboy and his sexual tension with her bored mother, while white visitors intrude into the sacred calm space causing disruption in the status quo. Superbly photographed film moves at a slow pace with the camera catching both master and servant in a way that does not hammer in the message of race, religion and the power of the elements, but does so in a very dignified way through subtle changes of facial expression that flicker and express conflict.

Mères et filles / Hidden Diary (Julie Lopes-Curval, 2009) 7/10

The film explores a dysfunctional family linking the festering problem to three generations of women. A doctor (Catherine Deneuve) shows extreme discomfort in the presence of her visiting daughter (Marina Hinds) and refuses to disguise her blunt, prickly and overly critical nature. When the daughter moves into the abandoned beach house of her late grandfather she discovers a hidden diary belonging to her grandmother (Marie-Josee Croze. The vivacious woman wanted more from life during the rigidly conformist 1950s and was constantly judged and her desires supressed by her controlling husband. One day she just walks out leaving behind for good her husband, daughter and son. The daughter grows up with abandonment issues never forgiving the mother who ran out on her. In turn she channels that suppressed hurt and anger onto her own daughter. The flashback sequences showing the grandmother are superbly shot with wonderful production and costume design but the interplay between her and the granddaughter with the past meeting the present does not ring true. What resonates strongly is the combative interplay between the marvelous Deneuve and Hands, with the former invoking disdain and displeasure through subtle flickers of expression which pass across her face. The woman clearly doesn't suffer fools. Or a loving and desperate daughter longing for her mother's love.

The Bedford Incident (James B. Harris, 1965) 6/10

Cold War shenanigans tap into the United States' paranoid obsession with communism which in turn got Hollywood to go into overdrive with production of films on the subject. This film was based on an actual incident although the plot here takes liberties and goes off full throttle. A United States Navy destroyer is sailing in the Greenland, Iceland, and United Kingdom gap. The gung ho Captain (Richard Widmark) has shades of Captain Ahab in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick", and instead of chasing a whale he goes after a Russian submarine playing a cat-and-mouse game much to the concern of the senior crew and passengers - a German Navy NATO naval advisor (Eric Portman), the ship's doctor (Martin Balsam), a civilian photojournalist (Sidney Poitier), and an inexperienced young officer (James Macarthur). The cast is completely overshadowed by Widmark in full-on psychotic mode. Poitier is completely wasted in an underwritten role - shocking considering he had recently won an Oscar - and appears to have taken on the part as a favour to old friend Widmark who was also the film's producer.

Book Club: The Next Chapter (Bill Holderman, 2023) 6/10

Sequel to the flimsy, paper-thin orginal has the four besties - retired judge (Candice Bergen), happy housewife (Mary Steenburgen), former widow (Diane Keaton) now in a relationship (with Andy Garcia), and newly engaged (to Don Johnson) sexpot (Jane Fonda) - decide to go on a long-planned bachelorette trip to Italy. The idea is always good when the plot of a movie involves a trip to Italy. Hollywood periodically delves into that genre - Roman Holiday (1953), 3 Coins in the Fountain (1954), Summertime (1955), Rome Adventure (1962), Light in the Piazza (1962), Gidget Goes to Rome (1963), Eat Pray Love (2010) - films of varying degrees of success but all celebrating the wonders of Italy. This latest travelogue takes the "girls" to Rome, Venice and the Tuscan countryside where they end up hitchhiking and getting into trouble with a local cop (Giancarlo Giannini). The film ends with a destination wedding - but with a twist - as the entire cast assembles for the finalé. Its still paper thin but the cast makes it a delightful ride.

Random Hearts (Sydney Pollack, 1999) 4/10

Pollack goes the romance route once more but unfortunately this time with dismal results. One fails to buy into the eventual relationship between the two main protagonists. A cop (Harrison Ford) loses his wife in a plane crash. Similarly a congresswoman (Kristin Scott Thomas) loses her husband in that same crash. The deceased were having an affair which comes as a terrible shock to their unsuspecting spouses. While he becomes obsessed by trying to find out every detail about the affair she wants to forget and move on with her life. Eventually the two come together while she is in the midst of her political campaign and he is investigating a murder. These two coming together seems highly improbable in reality except the author - the film is based on the novel by William Adler - cooks up an attraction between them that comes off very forced on screen. The moment where the two slap, grapple, grope and kiss each other comes off comical instead of passionate. Also the two actors have zero chemistry which is another problem that makes their love scenes together a total drag. And on top of all this the film just goes on and on but moving at a snail's pace.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) - 7.5/10 - A group of men travel around one night looking for where a murder victim is buried. The group includes the prosecutor, a doctor, police officers, the murderers, and others. There are a number of false stops since the murderers can't remember exactly where they buried the victim. Along the way, there is plenty of discussion on a variety of topics. It's a good film, though kind of slow and the discussion isn't always the most interesting.

Gomorrah (2008) - 6/10 - A disjointed film about an Italian crime family. There were parts that were interesting, but mostly this isn't all that great.

Spider Baby (1967) - 4/10 - This was pretty weird.

Dear Diary (1993) - 7/10 - This semi-autobiographical film starts with the director driving around Rome on his Vespa. The scenery is more interesting than the commentary. In the second part, the director goes to a couple of islands to get away from things and develop ideas for a movie. The last part is based on his experiences with the medical field when he was struggling with extreme itching and insomnia, but doctors couldn't diagnose it properly. The last part was the one that I found most interesting.

Gerry (2002) - 5/10 - Two friends named Gerry get lost in the desert without food or water. There is minimal dialogue and lots of shots of them trudging hither and yon. The scenery is good, but the film itself is pretty dull.

Violent Cop (1989) - 7.5/10 - Azuma is a detective who doesn't mind bending or breaking rules. He routinely roughs up suspects and seems to enjoy doing it. He become involved in trying to break a drug operation that involves a local yakuza leader, his assassin, various underlings, and one of Azuma's colleagues. Things also get personal when they go after Azuma's mentally challenged sister. It's a violent film, but pretty good.

PTU (2003) - 8/10 - A police sergeant loses his gun to a group of young triad members and he spends the night trying to get it back with the help of friends in the police tactical unit. The Criminal Investigation Division also gets involved and the sergeant needs to find his gun before they find out that he lost it. I thought the film was pretty entertaining.

Samurai Rebellion (1967) - 7.5/10 - In 1725, a domain lord forces the son of one of his vassals to marry his former mistress. The son and his new wife grow to love each other and have a daughter together. Two years later, the lord's heir dies and he orders his former mistress to return, thus setting off a rebellion on the part of the vassal and his son. It's a pretty good film.

Red Beard (1965) - 9/10 - A young doctor is disappointed when he is assigned to a rural clinic where he will work under a demanding doctor known as Red Beard. The young doctor had expected to become a doctor for the Shogun and is rebellious at first since he now has to deal with the poor instead with little prospect for money. Red Beard's rough manner hides a very caring person and the young doctor slowly comes around. I liked this one quite a bit,

80 for Brady (Kyle Marvin, 2023) 6/10

Silly, corny, goofy, but cute sports comedy about a quartet of geriatric fans of NFL quarterback Tom Brady who decide to go to the Super Bowl by hook or by crook to see their team play. The geriatrics are played by Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field and they get upto a lot of shenanigans before finding themselves inside the stadium, sans tickets, and actually get into a box suite where Tomlin ends up giving an inspirational pep talk to Tom Brady when the team is about to lose. Breezy and predictable film coasts on the incredible chemistry of the four stars with at least three of them looking surgically preserved helped in great part by a whole series of wigs and a lot of chutzpah.

Ghosted (Dexter Fletcher, 2023) 4/10

A showcase for Ana de Armas, the Cuban actress, who started her career in Spanish cinema, moved to Hollywood and in quick succession went from the long-awaited sequel to Blade Runner to the Agatha Christie-like Knives Out franchise, to playing a Bond girl, then receiving an Oscar nomination for playing a Hollywood bombshell to this action packed adventure where she leads as a kick-ass CIA agent. Hooking up with an innocent farmer (Chris Evans) they both find themselves in the thick of it on a careening bus down the Khyber Pass and onto Mingora Swat - both in Pakistan but obviously shot elsewhere with a shot of the Badshahi Mosque wrongly representing the latter location. A cartoon-like villain (Adrien Brody), playing a frenchman but speaking with a faux russian accent - wants the code to a brief case containing a deadly biological chemical and the couple are beseiged by assorted goons and bounty hunters clamouring to get their hands on the booty. Nothing in the film is original as the screenplay lazily rehashes moments from assorted equally ridiculous action films along with surprise cameos by Anthony Mackie and Ryan Reynolds. This is the third teaming between the two stars and they seriously lack chemistry as they banter through this messy film while shooting, punching and stabbing their way through yet another streaming entry.

The Pope's Exorcist (Julius Avery, 2023) 5/10

Fact and fiction mingle together in this rehash of "The Exorcist". Father Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe) - an Italian Catholic priest, an exorcist for the Diocese of Rome and a personal friend of the Pope (Franco Nero) - is tasked with investigating a boy's possesseion in Spain. The child, along with his mother and sister, have arrived at a villa which is a family inheritance. When he suddenly becomes possessed, the priest with the help of a local novice priest tries to exorcise the powerful demon who taunts both men for the sins they have committed. The plot takes on an old conspiracy hidden by the Vatican whereby centuries ago a priest's demonic possession at the villa's location during the Inquisition resulted in the Church getting infiltrated by evil. The screenplay goes through all the tropes seen in "The Exorcist" - the child intoning in a deep voice spewing blasphemous dialogue, projectile vomiting, head spinning, family members being tossed around the room and being buried inside a mattress, the priests getting beaten, bitten and abused as the child levitates. Crowe, with a lousy Italian accent, alternates his performance by being serious one minute and then suddenly self mocking. He does have star charisma although here he is clearly in slumming mode in this B-horror flick. Franco Nero as the Pope has one hilarious moment when he projectile vomits a stream of blood into the face of one of his priests. The screenplay is based on the 1992 book "An Exorcist: More Stories" by Father Gabriele Amorth.

Police Python 357 (Alain Corneau, 1976) 8/10

Corneau adapts Kenneth Fearing's novel "The Big Clock" which Hollywood made twice - first as the 1946 film noir with Ray Milland and Charles Laughton and much later as No Way Out (1987) with Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman. This french version takes the cue from Hollywood's hard boiled police procedures from the early 1970s and in particular the cop thrillers of Clint Eastwood. A cop (Yves Montand), in the midst of an affair with a young woman (Stefania Sandrelli), finds himself assigned to a murder case. He is shocked to discover that the dead woman is his mistress but is unaware that the murderer was his own jealous boss - the Police Chief (François Périer) - who was also her lover. As the cop was the last person to enter the girl's apartment he has left a number of clues in his drunken state which the investigation will eventually lead to him. Both men are nervous about their involvement which is counterbalanced by the murderer's invalid wife (Simone Signoret) who knows about her husband's affair and the murder and is a calm observer as to how it will all pan out. This ironic thriller has stylish cinematography and taut editing with twists and turns that come with lightning speed. Real life husband and wife - Montand & Signoret - have one memorable moment together at the end.

Harry Black and the Tiger (Hugo Fregonese, 1958) 7/10

The setting of the story in India immediately conjures up images of a travelogue with flora and fauna thrown into the mix. And it does. A tiger threatens a small village by killing a woman and a professional hunter (Stewart Granger) arrives to try and kill it. The man has a past that involved a mishap during WWII which lead to his leg being amputated and in the present an awkward reunion with an ex-army buddy (Anthony Steel) who was the cause of the accident. Adding misery to this is the friend's wife (Barbara Rush) who was once the love of his life. The love triangle adds tension and romance to what is basically an adventure story about a man who redeems himself when he is attacked and mauled by the tiger which leads him to cowardice and the bottle. I.S. Johar - highly acclaimed Bollywood character actor and director who made a place for himself in a number of British films (of which David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia was the most famous) - is a delightful presence as the hunter's talkative manservant and conscience. Johar (older brother of Bollywood producer Yash and uncle of director Karan) steals every scene he is in and was rewarded with a nomination for the British Academy Award. Granger made the film strictly for the money to maintain his life on a ranch with his then wife Jean Simmons. Atmospheric film is more than just a B-jungle quickie reminding one of Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and Herman Melville's "Moby Dick".

La vierge du Rhin / The Rhine Virgin (Gilles Grangier, 1953) 8/10

One of many films that had Jean Gabin as the star and because of his presence automatically spelled solid, intriguing and memorable. His forté was the average joe, down to earth, often with a good sense of humour, and many times seething with suppressed anger which he calmly released not with a bang but with a tinge of quiet resignation. A mysterious army officer (Jean Gabin), thought to be dead during WWII, returns incognito to his home to wreak revenge on his two-timing wife (Elina Labourdette) and her lover who took over his business - running transport barges up and down the river Rhine - and are hell bent on squeezing every drop of money out of the business. As the film begins he manages to get on board a barge run by an old man and his daughter (Nadia Gray) who allow him passage down the river in exchange for work on the barge. She is interested in him but he is quietly focused on his plans which go awry when his wife's lover is shot dead and both husband and wife become suspects in the murder. The whodunnit is easy to guess but the fun is in seeing how Gabin manoeuvres himself back into his old life and how justice is eventually served.

Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997) 5/10

A film with a meditative beat to it as the story unfolds in a deliberately slow but piercing manner. It is a simple, serene, and occasionally humorous film about a subject that is complex, and emotional but usually treated with solemnity. An affluent man (Homayoun Ershadi) drives around the outskirts of Tehran in a Range Rover looking for a stranger to whom he offers a fee to perform a shocking function. The driver interviews a security guard who gathers and sells plastic bags, a timid Kurdish soldier, an Afghan seminarian who quotes from the Quran, and finally an old Turkish taxidermist. Initially, it is not made clear what the driver wants to be done and gradually we discover what his requirement is. The men talk and in the talking, as well as in the eloquent silences, life takes on precious appeal. The film's leisurely shots of the driver's car twisting through the wastelands outside Tehran, crisscrossing a barren industrial landscape of construction sites and shanty towns initially has a harsh effect that gradually segues to a landscape that becomes green with foliage and which takes on a soothing effect reflecting the various moods of the driver as we get totally caught up in the protagonist's psychological and ethical dilemma. Extremely slow, baffling film with an ending that does not give any explanation. What made the Cannes jury award this film the coveted Palme d'Or prize? Kiarostami is a very clever person. In an interview he speaks about censorship in Iran and the many rules and regulations prevalent which mostly hinder filmmakers due to strict Islamic laws. At the same time he strongly defends it and says he is bugged by foreigners asking questions about censorship in his country. With this stance he is playing positively to both galleries - sucking up to his government as he needs them to give permission for his films - and also gaining sympathy from the West. Hence the prize maybe?

Angel and the Badman (1947) - 7/10 - John Wayne stars as an injured outlaw named Quirt Evans who is nursed back to health by a Quaker family. He and the adult daughter (Gail Russell) hit it off and he is tempted to reform his ways. Evans has a fairly big reputation and also has a few rivals from his past who aren't far away. It's not among Wayne's best westerns, but it is good and fairly entertaining.

Paradise Canyon (1935) - 5/10 - John Wyatt (John Wayne) is a government agent who goes undercover to try and break a counterfeiting group operating near the Mexican border. It's pretty lackluster for the most part.

The Dawn Rider (1935) - 5.5/10 - John Mason (John Wayne) returns home after a long time away to visit his father. After his father is killed in front of his eyes and he is shot during the pursuit, John looks for revenge against the man who killed him. Things are muddled when it turns out that there is a connection between the woman who nursed John back to health and the killer. The acting and script aren't the best, but it's somewhat entertaining.

The Return of Ringo (1965) - 7/10 - A Union officer returns home after the war to find that he is thought to be dead, a gang of Mexican bandits has taken over the town, and the leader of the gang plans to force the officer's wife to marry him. The officer goes undercover to try and find out if his wife has been faithful and what the full situation is in the town. This was good, though unrelated to the first film and different in tone. I liked the first film a little more.

El Puro (1969) - 4/10 - Five bounty hunters are looking for a drunken gunfighter with a reward on his head. He's been staying with a woman at a saloon and cleans up his act when the bounty hunters kill his woman. This was very dull.

Vengeance (1968) - 7.5/10 - A man named Rocco looks for vengeance after a gold robbery goes bad. One of his partners betrayed them to a group of bandits and then had another partner tied by ropes tied to multiple horses and torn apart (not shown). Rocco tracks down the betrayer and then the bandits who killed his friend. The film has a good soundtrack and I thought the story and acting were good.

Kanal (1957) - 7/10 - In 1944 at the end of the Warsaw Uprising, a company of resistance fighters try to escape the approaching Nazis by traveling through the sewer system. It is not an easy journey as the Germans employ gas, boobytraps, blocked exits, and so on. This wasn't bad, but I expected to like it more than I did. I'd rate it slightly ahead of Ashes and Diamonds.

Show Me Love / Fucking Åmål (1998) - 8/10 - Agnes has been at her school for a year and a half, but has no friends, though she has a crush on a younger girl named Elin. Agnes is turning 16 and her mother insists on throwing her a party, expecting lots of friends to show up. Elin and her sister show up to the party out of boredom and play a joke on Agnes, but it bothers Elin and she ends up going back and spending time with Agnes. I thought this was fairly realistic and a good story. The two leads did a nice job. The last 10 minutes or so was my favorite part.

Begotten (1989) - 2/10 - Mother Earth dies I guess? This is a pretty weird movie.

Hangover Square (1945) - 7/10 - In 1903, Laird Cregar stars as a talented composer who is subject to amnesiac moods. During one of these moods, he stabs a man and sets the building on fire. He starts writing songs for an up and coming singer (Linda Darnell) who leads him on for dinner and gifts along with the songs. Cregar is good, though unfortunately he died prior to the release of the film. The film itself doesn't quite rise to greatness, but is still pretty entertaining.

House of Horrors (1946) - 7.5/10 - A sculptor whose work is unappreciated saves a man drowning in the river. The man turns out to be a serial killer named 'The Creeper' who proceeds to kill the sculptor's critics, though suspicion falls on another artist. I thought this was fun and entertaining.

Targets (1968) - 8/10 - Boris Karloff portrays an aging horror film star (essentially himself) who has decided to retire, much to the chagrin of his agent and others who want to see him make more movies. The second storyline involves a disturbed young man who is a good shot. One day, he decides to go on a killing spree, using rifles for long distance sniping. Their two paths eventually intersect. It's a very good film.

Decision at Sundown (1957) - 7.5/10 - Randolph Scott stars as Bart Allison. Allison blames Tate Kimbrough for his wife's suicide and has been tracking him down for the past three years. He happens to arrive in the town of Sundown on the day of Kimbrough's wedding. It's another nice collaboration between Boetticher and Scott.

Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) - 8/10 - Randolph Scott stars as Buchanan, a man on his way back home to West Texas who stops in the town of Agry along the way. Unfortunately for him, the town is run by the Agry family and he soon finds himself in jail as an accessory to murder, having his money stolen by the sheriff in the process. I liked this one more than Decision at Sundown. Scott is very good.

Westbound (1959) - 7.5/10 - Randolph Scott stars as a Union officer who takes charge of a stagecoach line bringing gold shipments from California. He runs into trouble in one town with Confederate sympathies where a wealthy man is a former acquaintance. This is regarded as one of the weakest of the Boetticher/Scott collaborations, but I enjoyed it and think it is a decent film. I do wonder why gold shipments wouldn't be more heavily guarded, though.

The Captain from Köpenick (1931) - 7.5/10 - A man gets out of prison after many years for fairly minor offenses and finds himself unable to get a passport or work. He becomes dispirited and comes up with a scheme to impersonate an officer using a second hand uniform. This version seems to have a harder edge than the 1956 version from what I can remember. Both are very good, but I enjoyed the later version a little bit more.

The Good Boss (2021) - 8/10 - Javier Bardem stars as the owner of factory that makes scales. The company is up for a regional award for excellence and he really wants to win the award, but there are a number of problems with his employees and their lives and he starts meddling to try and get things to go perfectly. A recently fired employee is protesting across the street, one of his managers is distracted due to his wife having an affair, and the attractive new intern also catches the attention of the boss. Bardem is very good here and it's a nice satire.

Lemonade Joe (1964) - 7.5/10 - A singing cowboy/lemonade salesman only drinks lemonade and he comes to a wild west town with the intention of cleaning it up and eliminating the effects of alcohol. There are a number of fun gags and I liked the visual style with the tinted picture. I thought it dragged a little on occasion later in the film, but is still pretty entertaining.

The Ballad of Little Jo (1993) - 7.5/10 - Josephine Monaghan heads out west and finds that being a woman alone isn't a pleasant prospect so she starts dressing and acting as a man and goes by just Jo instead of Josephine. She gets a job, builds a ranch, and fits in well. I thought this was pretty good.

Hej-rup! (1934) - 6/10 - A wealthy man who owns a milk canning factory is swindled out of his fortune and left to wander the streets with one of his workers. He learns the benefits of cooperative actions with the workers as they eventually start up a collectivist dairy. I didn't find the movie to be all that funny. It was okay, though.

Poison (1991) - 4/10 - Three strange stories intermingle here. I didn't like it much.

The Last House on the Left (1972) - 4.5/10 - A girl is kidnapped on her 17th birthday along with her friend. They experience rape and torture from a gang of escaped killers. The acting is pretty bad and the soundtrack is kind of weird. It's sort of a comedy horror film.

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Kasi Lemmons, 2022) 5/10

By-the-numbers screen biography with Naomi Ackie doing a credible job playing the part of the late pop singer and lip syncing her memorable songs. Adding good support is Stanley Tucci as record producer Clive Davis.

The Last of Us (Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson & Ali Abbasi, 2023) 9/10

When the world is engulfed by a mass fungal infection causing humans to turn into ferocious, flesh-eating zombies, a smuggler (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with delivering an immune teenager (Bella Ramsey) to a medical facility across a ravaged post-apocalyptic United States. Riveting 9-part drama series, based on a video game, has outstanding production design, a strong storyline with a couple of highly unusual episodes (one of which was very moving but was censored here), and two compelling lead characters. Apparently a second season has been greenlit.

Shehzada (Rohit Dhawan, 2023) 4/10

Bollywood regurgitates that old chestnut - kids switched at birth - from under a rock and tries to make a go of it. The kid (Kartik Aaryan) of a prosperous couple (Ronit Roy & Manisha Koirala) is switched at birth by a jealous man (Paresh Rawal) who then watches his own son grow up as the pampered son of the man he hates. A sexy lawyer (Kriti Sanon) loves the poor boy but her rich parents want her to marry the rich boy. In between bouts of choreographed action and dancing the truth is revealed. Tired plot should never have seen the light of day. Also a shock to see lovely Manisha Koirala relegated to a supporting role as a mother.

The Mother (Niki Caro, 2023) 4/10

Highly improbable, over-the-top screenplay allows Jennifer Lopez to go into full-on action mode. It could have been believable if the plot was not always one-sided in allowing Lopez (playing a former marine turned assassin) to always win out against the two dastardly villains she is up against - a nasty marine (Joseph Fiennes) and an arms dealer (Gael García Bernal) - both of whom not only her former partners in crime but also her lovers, with one of them the father of her daughter. Turning against both men she becomes an informant for the FBI and is forced to give up the child for her safety. Twelve years pass and both men are after the girl so she comes out of hiding to recover her and offer her protection. Lopez gets to shoot, maim, stab, burn and blow up her opponents with the final encounter taking place in snow-bound Alaska. Both Bernal and Fiennes have underwritten parts playing stock villains while Lopez is one-note throughout - a single anxious expression on her face as she mouths her dialogue in a monotone.

Dahaad (Reema Kagti & Ruchika Oberoi, 2023) 7/10

Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti use their screenplay about a police procedural to expose patriarchy and the divisive caste structure in India. Set in a small village in arid Rajasthan the story focuses on a team of cops trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of 27 low caste women. All of them supposedly ran off with a man who showed them pity, love and understanding. What the cops don't know is that it is one man - a school teacher (Vijay Varma) - who is behind it all as he lures the innocent women and kills them. A local Sub-Inspector (Sonakshi Sinha), the lone female on the force, deduces that the disappearances are linked to a serial killer. She is a rebel and because of her own low caste faces discrimination everywhere including amongst her own colleagues (one cop keeps spraying incense in the room she has been in). At 8 episodes the series is a bit overlong but is tautly directed and acted with important comments on caste and gender discrimination. Sinha is ably supported by Gulshan Devaiah (as her boss who is facing his own demons at home in loggerheads with his "backward" wife), and Sohum Shah (a jealous colleague also in conflict with his wife over her pregnancy - he wants her to have an abortion). The screenplay has a tendency to preach at times with scenes involving the female cop where she berates a high caste man who refuses to let her enter his home and later when she admonishes her mother for trying to set her up with men and marriage. These moments, although important in their message seem artificial as presented, but do reflect in hindsight the dark ills prevalent in the minds of so many. For that the series and the two filmmakers are to be commended for their continued efforts in trying to bring societal change through cinema.

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) - 8/10 - In 1931, three Aboriginal girls are taken from their home and sent to a camp for re-education. It's all in their best interests of course. They escape and make their way home by following the rabbit-proof fences in the Outback.

Pure S (1975) - 5/10 - Heroin junkies chasing a fix. They don't seem to be very good at it.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - 7.5/10 - Lorelei (Marilyn Monroe) and Dorothy (Jane Russell) are showgirls who are best friends. Lorelei likes men for their money while Dorothy likes them for their looks. Lorelei is about to get married in France to the son of a wealthy man, but has to take passage to France separately from the man she is going to marry. Dorothy goes along as chaperone. Russell and Monroe are each very good here and I enjoyed the various musical numbers. The plot is a bit thin, but it doesn't really matter.

The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) - 6/10 - A small rural town called Paris survives in part by causing accidents for people who drive through their area and then salvaging what they can from the bodies and the wrecks. One person happens to survive, though he now has a fear of driving in cars. The mayor tries to integrate him into the town. The film is a little slow and odd. It's not bad, but doesn't seem to really go anywhere until near the very end when there is a sort of Death Race 2000 feel to it.

The Castle (1997) - 7.5/10 - A man receives notice that the state is using the law to purchase their property whether they agree or not and that they will need to vacate the premises soon. The man takes the case to court to try and stay in their home. The film is a comedy and while it isn't really laugh out loud funny, it was still a decent story and entertaining.

The Efficiency Expert (1991) - 7.5/10 - Anthony Hopkins stars as an efficiency expert who is brought in by the owner of a small moccasin factory that seems to be stuck in the past in the way that they do business. He goes about his job to make recommendations to improve the bottom line, but eventually finds himself being affected by the character of the workers. Toni Collette makes her film debut here and Russell Crowe (who seemed to be in about every Australian movie in the 90s) also appears. I enjoyed it.

Oh, Susanna (1936) - 5/10 - Gene Autry is heading to visit a friend that he hasn't seen in 15 years when he is robbed and thrown off a train by a wanted bandit. When Autry gets to town, he is arrested by the sheriff who thinks he is the notorious bandit who robbed him. The movie is kind of dumb and the acting isn't all that great, but it is watchable and the music is decent.

Across the Wide Missouri (1951) - 7.5/10 - Clark Gable stars as a beaver trapper in the 1830s Northwest. He marries a Native American woman as a means to gain access to their territory, but later falls in love with the woman. There is conflict with a strong warrior who also desires the woman. It was generally fun.

'Neath the Arizona Skies (1934) - 5/10 - John Wayne stars as the guardian of a young half-Native American girl whose mother died in childbirth and whose father left before she was born. Oil has been discovered on her mother's land and a gang of bad guys are after the girl in order to grab the claim which is worth $50,000. Wayne also runs across other bad guys along the way. The acting is generally pretty bad, but the story is watchable at least.

To Kill a Man (2014) - 8/10 - A gang of thugs is harassing people in a somewhat poor part of town. Jorge works hard and tries to keep to himself, but he is mugged, his son is shot, and his daughter is assaulted by the leader of the gang and the authorities do very little to stop it. Jorge is left with having to take matters into his own hands to protect his family, but it goes against his nature and affects him as well. It's a good film.

Braindead / Dead Alive (1992) - 7/10 - In 1957, the bite of a Sumatran rat monkey kills Lionel's domineering mother and turns her into a zombie. The infection spreads, slowly at first, turning others into zombies as well in this horror comedy from Peter Jackson. He certainly does go for the blood and guts here. The movie was kind of disgusting at times, but good.

El Infierno (2010) - 8.5/10 - Benny Garcia is deported back to Mexico after 20 years in the U.S. He returns to his hometown and finds that his younger brother was a much feared cartel member before being killed years earlier. Drugs and violence are rampant in the area. Benny doesn't have any interest in that life, but is eventually drawn into it by necessity. The film is very violent, but also very good.

Jeremiah Johnson (1972) - 8/10 - After the Mexican War, Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) moves to the mountains of Colorado and looks to take up the life of a hermit. He eventually gains a Native American wife and an adopted son and life seems good. However, he eventually comes into conflict with the Crow and wages a one man war against them. The film is pretty scenic and I enjoyed it.

White Sun of the Desert (1970) - 6/10 - A Red Army soldier is wandering through a desert when he comes across a man buried in the sand. He frees him and continues on his way, later encountering and escorting a group of burqa wearing harem girls who were abandoned by their husband. They end up at an old museum by the sea and have to fight off guerrillas led by the husband of the harem girls. It was a mishmash of different genres and the result was just okay.

Lonely Are the Brave (1962) - 8/10 - Kirk Douglas is a cowboy who doesn't have much use for modern society. He has no fixed address and sleeps wherever ends up. When he finds that a friend of his has been placed in jail for two years, he decides to get himself arrested in order to break him out. Douglas is very good here and the movie is pretty entertaining.

Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) - 7.5/10 - James Garner stars as a man 'on his way to Australia' who visits a lawless western town undergoing a gold rush. He witnesses a murder in the saloon his first day in town and after he takes the job of sheriff, arrests the murderer (Bruce Dern) and puts him in jail. One problem is that the jail cells don't have bars yet, but that doesn't stop him. The arrested man has a father and brothers who do pretty much whatever they want. This is a fun comedy and Garner is pretty good here. Harry Morgan and Walter Brennan also have supporting roles.

Vera Cruz (1954) - 8/10 - Gary Cooper stars as a soldier who heads to Mexico after the Civil War to fight as a mercenary in the war between France and Mexico. He meets a gunman (Burt Lancaster) and his men soon after arriving in Mexico. They are hired to escort a Countess to Vera Cruz. There is also a subplot about a valuable shipment of gold. Cooper and Lancaster give very nice performances here in a pretty good film.

Meek's Cutoff (2010) - 6.5/10 - A group of settlers in a wagon train get lost in the desert while on the Oregon Trail. It's got nice cinematography, but is pretty slow moving.

Ulzana's Raid (1972) - 7.5/10 - Ulzana is an Apache warrior who breaks out of the reservation with a small band and goes around raiding - killing, raping, stealing from those in the area. A group of U.S. cavalry along with a couple of scouts, one of them Apache, are detailed to capture or kill Ulzana. It's a pretty good film.

They Call Me Trinity (1970) - 7/10 - We first meet Trinity as he is dozing on a travois being pulled by his moving horse. We later learn that he is nicknamed the Right Hand of the Devil due to his incredibly fast draw. His brother is the Left Hand of the Devil. The two team up to help a group of Mormons who are threatened by a greedy landowner who wants the valley that they are occupying. The comedy here generally worked for me and I enjoyed the film.

High Plains Drifter (1973) - 8/10 - A mysterious stranger rides into the mining town of Lago. Word is out that three outlaws are out of prison and likely headed for Lago so the people of the town hire the stranger to protect the town, giving him free rein on whatever he wants. He takes full advantage of this offer.

Junk Mail / Budbringeren (1997) - 6/10 - Roy is a postal carrier who snoops on the people on his route and sometimes goes through their mail. He gets in over his head when he steals keys to a woman's apartment and goes inside. Much of the film was way too dark even for taking place at night I did like the ending.

Rio Bravo (1959) - 9/10 - I watched this multiple times on cable back in the 1980s and loved it. Rewatching it now for the first time in 35+ years hasn't changed my feelings toward the film. John Wayne is an older sheriff who arrests the brother of a prominent rancher for murder. All he has to keep him secure in the jail is the town drunk (Dean Martin) and an old geezer (Walter Brennan). He gets some assistance later from a young gunfighter (Ricky Nelson) and love interest gambler (Angie Dickinson). There's plenty of humor and a fair amount of action and I think the film holds up pretty well.

Rio Lobo (1970) - 7.5/10 - This was another rewatch after 35+ years, but I didn't remember much about this one. I've seen it described as a Rio Bravo remake, but it really only borrows from Rio Bravo toward the end of the film. Even then, it lacks the tension from the earlier film. Still, the train heist at the beginning of the film is pretty good and the film is certainly enjoyable on its own. The supporting cast isn't quite as good this time around, but isn't bad. The film starts at the end of the Civil War and then follows a U.S. Army Colonel (John Wayne) as he travels to Texas in search of the traitor who sold army secrets and caused the death of the Colonel's friend. The Colonel is joined in his hunt by a former Confederate officer that he met during the aforementioned train heist escapade.

The Night Agent (Seth Gordon, Guy Ferland, Ramaa Mosley, Adam Arkin & Millicent Shelton, 2023) 8/10

While the world waits for a new actor to be cast as James Bond and the franchise is revived we get assorted screen imitations in the espionage genre. This one also has a strong whiff of Jason Bourne and may not be completely upto mark but most certainly has enough action packed thrills built into the screenplay that successfully juggles at least four different plots that seem to be leading towards a cohesive whole. A low-level FBI agent (Gabriel Basso), working the night action desk at the White House, receives a call from a lady (Luciane Buchanan) in distress who says her aunt and uncle have been murdered and suspects that certain higher ups at the White House are involved. So begins a cat-and-mouse game as the agent helps the woman stay alive as assassins come after them. Other plots involve detectives guarding the teenage daughter of the Vice President, kinky and deranged assassins trying to navigate a sexual relationship while they shoot, stab and garrotte their victims, and a train bombing that opens this 10-part series where the agent saves a train load of passengers when a bomb goes off. All the plot threads join up during the exciting conclusion. Hong Chau is quietly kick-ass playing a character who is suspected of not being who she pretends to be.

John Wick: Chapter 4 (Chad Stahelski, 2023) 8/10

The film's opening pays homage to the very famous "Match Cut" shot in David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia", following which we find John Wick aka Baba Yaga (Keanu Reeves), hell bent on revenge, galloping in the desert of Wadi Rum in Jordan. The film is a series of spectacular set pieces, dazzlingly photographed with a neo-noir bent, highlighting the complicated choreography of epic shootouts filmed at famous locations around the world - in Japan there is a stunning fight sequence at the Osaka Continental Hotel where the balletic action is highlighted by an intoxicating flickering of lights as a cat-and-mouse game ensues amongst large samurai portraits, and in Paris we get four detailed set pieces - a head-spinning, breakneck car chase sequence which culminates in an epic martial arts battle in the middle of traffic circling the Arc de Triomphe, followed by a fight scene set in a water-drenched, multi-level nightclub featuring hundreds of revelers who barely notice the face-off between Wick and his gold-toothed adversary, a gun battle between Wick and hordes of deadly killers in an apartment building which is ingeniously filmed from overhead with a floating camera that follows the continuous deadly action, and another fight sequence that takes place up and down the stairs leading up to the Sacré Coeur Basilica - Wick reaches the top only to be kicked all the way down - culminating in a duel to the death with pistols. Wick is surrounded by a gallery of friends and foes - the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), Winston Stock (Ian McShane), the manager of the New York Continental hotel, Shimaza (Horoyuki Sanada), the manager of the Osaka Continental hotel who battles alongside his daughter (singer Rina Sawayama), the blind and dapper assassin Caine (a superb Donnie Yen), the bounty hunter Mr Nobody (Shamier Anderson) and his German Shepherd (who gets the film's biggest laugh), and the deadly Marquis (Bill Skarsgård) who seems to conduct his business in such venues as Versailles, the Paris Opera House and the Louvre, whose position is challenged by Wick which sets the plot in motion. At almost three hours in length the film can be a tad hard on one's ass but this installment, while resembling a video game, is in turns stylish, exhilarating, quite a bit bloated and illogical, but a kick-ass action thriller held together by the deadpan presence of Keanu Reeves at his silent best.

A Bill of Divorcement (John Farrow, 1940) 7/10

A family's tranquil life turns upside down when Father (Adolphe Menjou) unexpectedly returns after fifteen years from a mental asylum. Mother (Fay Bainter) has divorced him and is about to marry her lover (Herbert Marshall). Judgemental, Bible-thumping aunt (Dame May Whitty) disapproves of everything and everyone. Firebrand daughter (Maureen O'Hara) is also in love but her father's return and interaction with him makes her realize that he was not suffering from WWI shellshock and his "illness" is hereditary. Based on a rather stuffy melodramatic British play by Clemence Dane (out-dated hysteria about insanity and divorce) the film is a remake - the first sound version in 1932 was Katharine Hepburn's film debut and she famously co-starred opposite John Barrymore. Here Menjou hams it up but O'Hara, a lovely presence, is sublime as the scared but sensible daughter who ends up making an unusual sacrifice. Bainter and Whitty offer great support.

The Medusa Touch (Jack Gold, 1978) 1/10

A disturbed novelist (Richard Burton) causes disasters - a car accident that kills his adulterous wife (Marie-Christine Barrault), a fire that burns four kids, crashing a Jumbo jet - via telekinetic powers. One of the many films Burton starred in which were absolute rubbish. This one is at the bottom of that heap. Sadly along for the ride with him are Lino Ventura as a cop trying to discover the cause of all the accidents and Lee Remick as a doctor. Awful waste of all the talent.

Summer's Lease (Martyn Friend, 1989) 10/10

Sir John Gielgud's mellifluous voice deliriously moves through this charming little film - based on the novel by John Mortimer - making every moment of its languid pace count. Also helping is the lovely Tuscan location where this story is set. A bored wife (Susan Fleetwood) decides to rent a villa in the Italian countryside for the summer and arrives along with her three young daughters, her staid but philandering husband (Michael Pennington) and her eccentric and randy old father (John Gielgud). While the old man hilariously talks with a blue streak and takes up with an old friend (Rosemary Leach) his daughter gets involved with a local mystery - the disappearance of the villa's owner and a dead body. Quirky film won Gielgud a richly deserved Emmy. This film would make a superb double bill with My House in Umbria (2003) with Dame Maggie Smith's Emmy-winning performance.

God's Country (Julian Higgins, 2022) 7/10

In subtle ways the screenplay highlights how gender and colour plays a part in defining a person and how others perceive him or her in return. At its center the conflict in the story is between a Professor and two men which gradually escalates into a series of confrontations that border on violence. The Professor (Thandiwe Newton) is a woman and is black. She has moved from New Orleans to teach at a small university in a remote part of Montana and lives away from town near a forest. When she finds a car parked in her driveway she politely requests the two white men not to trespass on her property. They return the following day defiantly ignoring her request. The local sheriff gets involved but the two men are not disuaded and the confrontations continue which leads the woman to take matters into her own hands. Meanwhile we get glimpses into the psyche of the woman - flashbacks to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and her life there in a different avatar, a difficult relationship with her mother whose funeral opens the film, and confronting racism at the hands of fellow teachers at the university where she teaches. She is fed up and all of life's negative tinkerings finally catches up leading to a final catharsis. Or is there final peace? Newton is solid as the woman who just wants to be left alone but life has left her simmering underneath the placid facade.

The Hustle (Chris Addison, 2019) 2/10

Once upon a time there was a charming, wicked and funny film called "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" about two con men (Michael Caine & Steve Martin) who defraud their prey in sunny South of France. That film was in turn a remake of the moderately funny film "Bedtime Story" also about two con men (Marlon Brando & David Niven). Hollywood, which can never let go of a winning formula, came up with yet another go at the same scenario but instead changed the gender of the crooks. So now we get the tall, slim but flat-chested high class lady (Anne Hathaway) reluctantly teaming up with the short, obese, big-boobed low life (Rebel Wilson) to try and bilk millions from unsuspecting men. And what do you know they came up with an absolute turd of a film totally devoid of laughs. Pick this one up with a barge pole and bury it in your backyard. Along with Hathaway and Wilson.

Smilin' Through (Frank Borzage, 1941) 6/10

Jane Cowl wrote and starred in the play in 1919 on Broadway which then came to the screen first in a silent version in 1922 with Norma Talmadge and followed by the first sound version in 1932 with Norma Shearer. MGM further tailored this piece of schmaltz as a vehicle for Jeanette MacDonald and she ofcourse not only gets to sing (seven songs) but play a double role. In Technicolor she gets to play a tragic lover to Brian Aherne in the past and in the present falls in love with soldier Gene Raymond who has a connection to that tragic past. While Aherne and Ian Hunter, as his close friend, both spend most of the film's running time in white whiskers, MacDonald (dressed by Adrian) is radiant in both her roles getting the studio's full treatment of being lushly photographed through a gauze which makes her look young. The film's underlying message shuns bitter hatred and is an ode to love.

Nice Girl? (William A. Seiter, 1941) 5/10

Ofcourse she is a nice girl. How can Deanna Durbin not be although she does throw herself shamelessly at the suave bachelor publisher (Franchot Tone) who comes to her small town to meet her dad (Robert Benchley) about a book on nutrition he has written. Americana set during the War years - Durbin sings her heart out as she navigates her love life around the older man (weirdly the teenage Durbin made three films with much older Tone) and the car mechanic-soldier (Robert Stack presented like a buffed up pin-up) who loves her. The wonderful supporting cast add colour - Helen Broderick as the housekeeper, Walter Brennan as her love interest and mailman, Elisabeth Risdon, and as Durbin's sisters - Ann Gillis & Anne Gwynne. Wartime propaganda gets a look-in with Durbin singing during the closing moments "Thank You America" and for the British version of the film she sings "There'll Always Be an England". Corny but not without interest.

Vigil in the Night (George Stevens, 1940) 4/10

Tragedy upon tragedy in this relentlessly grim film about a noble nurse (Carole Lombard) as she goes about her career in hospitals and nursing homes in England. Peter Cushing plays a former beau, Brian Aherne a senior doctor who loves her and Anne Shirley her selfish and silly sister (also a nurse) who gets into trouble when a child in her care dies of diptheria. An attempt by Lombard - one of the great screen comediennes - to show she could do just as well in drama. She did just fine only the film's mood is so heavy that one is totally put off by all the gloom.

Lucky Me (Jack Donohue, 1954) 4/10

Perky Doris Day leads a third rate musical troupe (Phil Silvers, Nancy Walker, Eddie Foy, Jr.) and tries to find work on stage courtesy of a famous songwriter (Robert Cummings) who in turn convinces the rich father of his fiancé (Martha Hyer) to finance the show. Day and Cummings sing and fall in love while Silvers does his usual comedy shtick. Very minor musical with Day in excellent voice as usual.

H.M. Pulham, Esq. (King Vidor, 1941) 4/10

A lovely career woman (Hedy Lamarr) tries to put some life into the dull man (Robert Young) she loves but he is quite content to coast along in his regimented life as a Boston blueblood with the woman (Ruth Hussy) he grew up with and was always expected by his family to marry and grow old with. For some reason this long and rather dreary film was a favorite of star Hedy Lamarr.

Hot Saturday (William A. Seiter, 1932) 4/10

Gossip in a small town but without the sex as a virtuous bank clerk (Nancy Carroll) finds herself in a compromised position with a rich womanizer (Cary Grant) during a weekend party. She is not only shunned by the townfolk, loses her job and is judged to be a tramp by a man (Randolph Scott) she likes. So she decides to do exactly what she has been accused of and finds her rainbow. Minor film is worth seeing strictly for an early appearance by a dashing Grant (who has bad teeth here) and although he and Scott have no scenes together this is where they first met, became roommates and started their long alleged affair.

Day One (Joseph Sargent, 1989) 7/10

Straight forward, if rightly a bit simplistic, look at the Manhattan Project - the research and development of the atomic bomb during World War II. The project was a collaboration between many scientists but at the forefront were three men - the first was Dr. Leo Szilard (Michael Tucker), a physicist and inventor, who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear fission reactor in 1934, and in late 1939 wrote a letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb. The second was General Leslie Groves (Brian Dennehy) who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the top secret research project that developed the atomic bomb. The third was Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer (David Strathairn) who served as the director of the Laboratory during World War II, and is often credited as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project. Historically accurate tv drama goes on to show President Truman's dilemma towards the end of the War - peace talks with Japan, a blockade of Japan, an invasion of Japan or dropping the bomb. The highly controversial latter decision was taken by the President against the advice of General Eisenhower. Critically acclaimed film won an Emmy as the year's most outstanding tv film and is especially worth seeing before the highly anticipated version of the story coming out later this year - Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer".