Movie Reviews

The Wizard of Oz

(1925)

Not Judy Garland but Dorothy Dwan. Not Ray Bolger but Larry Semon. Not Jack Haley but Oliver Hardy. And not Bert Lahr but … G. Howe Black? That was the credit name for Spencer Bell, who played a character called “Snowball,” before he became the Cowardly Lion. Bell specialized in bug-eyed, eye-rolling, knee-knocking, “feets do yo’ stuff!” darkies, often opposite Larry Semon, who was a big ... Read more »

Witness to Murder

(1954)

It starts out as a pretty good noir thriller. Barbara Stanwyck gets up in the middle of the night to shut her window, and sees someone across the street strangling a woman. She calls the cops. Meanwhile, George Sanders, the murderer, has time to drag the corpse to an empty apartment. When the cops arrive, there’s no body, no evidence. The detective, Gary Merrill, suggests she just had a ... Read more »

Brokeback Mountain

(2005)

So at last we see the movie that stirred up so much fuss last year. The “gay cowboy” movie. And what do we see? Well, they were actually herding sheep. Does that make them sheepboys?
The movie is solemn, and overlong. And about halfway through you realize that, without the gay element, which I quickly began to regard as a gimmick, you’ve got a really conventional ... Read more »

Without a Paddle

(2004)

This is Deliverance with the degenerate morons inside the canoe as well as outside, and no great banjo music. I’m not sure why we didn’t start the car and leave. I guess it was because there were a few laughs, but so few and so widely separated that I almost missed them as they sped by. Avoid this turkey.

Withnail and I

(1987)

Here is a movie with a cult following that we just couldn’t get into. I understand it’s based on fact. Halfway through I realized I just didn’t want to spend any more time with these assholes, drinking and drugging themselves to death. I had the same problem with Leaving Las Vegas. I don’t object to a depressing story, but it needs a little more than the simple ... Read more »

Broadway Melody of 1938

(1937)

Another movie designed to showcase the incredible tapping feet of Eleanor Powell. Her career only included 13 movies, not all of them starring roles, though she continued dancing in night clubs until the 1960s. This was her third big one, and she delivers all the spectacle we expect of her, along with dancing partner George Murphy. Robert Taylor is the love interest, but since he can’t ... Read more »

Without a Clue

(1988)

The beloved character of Sherlock Holmes has passed into the public domain, so he’s now fair game for anyone who wants to do a pastiche. This can produce good stuff, as in They Might Be Giants, where George C. Scott is a delusional man who thinks he’s Sherlock, and Joanne Woodward is Dr. Watson, his psychiatrist. (Oddly enough, this is out of print and very ... Read more »

With a Friend Like Harry

(Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien, France, 2000)

(Apparently also known as Harry, He’s Here to Help.) I almost didn’t watch this when, five minutes in, I knew for sure that it was dubbed. I HATE dubbed movies. But I stuck with it, and I’m glad I did.

Michael and Claire and their three young daughters encounter Harry and Brynn on the way to an old farmhouse they’ve spent five summers renovating. Michael ... Read more »

Winter’s Bone

(2010)

Most critics won’t admit it, but I think that mood has a lot to do with it. How are you feeling when you watch a movie? Are you distracted by things in your personal life. Did you get out of bed on the wrong side, as they say? Suffering a bout of indigestion? Just generally feeling sour about things? Sometimes I’m in the mood for a good movie that just happens to be depressing … and ... Read more »

Winter Passing