Movie Reviews
National Lampoon’s European Vacation
Pondering why this third movie in the Vacation franchise just didn’t work, I eventually found the main reason. In comedy, timing is everything. Nothing in this movie is timed well. Scenes go on too long, the punch lines get misplaced. Other reasons: the filming and editing is amateurish. You may not be aware of it, but your eyes are telling your subconscious that this thing just isn’t as ... Read more »
The Return of the Pink Panther
Starts off well with a clever and sometimes dazzling animated opening. Moves nicely into a heist reminiscent of Topkapi. Then gets down to real business with the arrival of Inspector (now demoted to foot patrolman) Clouseau, who manages to completely miss a bank robbery going on behind him as he debates with a blind man playing the accordion as to whether he ... Read more »
A Shot in the Dark
A Shot in the Dark (1964) Here’s where the real Inspector Clouseau was born. The man who has never in his life hung a coat on a peg without seeing it immediately fall off, never walked past a small table without spilling its contents, never opened a door without the handle coming off in his hand, and infinite variations on these gags and others … and yet clings to his tattered dignity ... Read more »
The Pink Panther
Imagine you made a Marx Brothers film, and spent two-thirds of your screen time following Gummo and Zeppo. Looking at this film—which I really liked when it was new—after many years have passed, I realize that no one involved had the slightest idea what they had here. Top billing went to … Robert Wagner? I had entirely forgotten he was even in the film. Second ... Read more »
The Invasion
Four movies are reviewed here, from 1956, 1978, 1993, and 2007. The article was written in 2007.
We just saw The Invasion, the fourth iteration of a Collier’s Magazine story by Jack Finney that later became a novel and then one of the most well-remembered creepy movies from the pulpish days of 1950s science fiction. While watching it I was seized by a ... Read more »
Body Snatchers
Four movies are reviewed here, from 1956, 1978, 1993, and 2007. The article was written in 2007.
We just saw The Invasion, the fourth iteration of a Collier’s Magazine story by Jack Finney that later became a novel and then one of the most well-remembered creepy movies from the pulpish days of 1950s science fiction. While watching it I was seized by a ... Read more »
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Four movies are reviewed here, from 1956, 1978, 1993, and 2007. The article was written in 2007
We just saw The Invasion, the fourth iteration of a Collier’s Magazine story by Jack Finney that later became a novel and then one of the most well-remembered creepy movies from the pulpish days of 1950s science fiction. While watching it I was seized by a ... Read more »
Antitrust
Ryan Philippe is a hotshot programmer working with some friends in a garage to change the world with open-source programs. But he is tempted away by Tim Robbins, the billionaire CEO of a company that is seeking to unite all the stuff in the world into one giant program. It doesn’t take him long to find out that Tim’s methods go way beyond corporate espionage and all the way into the murder ... Read more »
Stephen King’s Silver Bullet
Based on a Stephen King novella, “Cycle of the Werewolf.” He wrote the screenplay, too, and it stinks. I know he is capable of better work than this and I wonder what went wrong. It’s not helped by very amateur directing and shooting. We turned it off after about thirty minutes.
Not Fade Away
It’s 1964, New Jersey, and the British invasion is underway. Beatles, Stones, and all the rest. Some boys form a garage band (actually a basement band, which is the same thing) and start performing for friends. At first it’s just covers of other groups, but soon one of the members is writing stuff, and they are outgrowing their lead singer.
This movie was written, produced, and ... Read more »