Movie Reviews
Sleepers
It’s 1966 and four boys from New York’s Hell’s Kitchen pull a “prank” that goes horribly wrong, almost killing a man. The judge sentences them to 6 to 18 months in a juvenile detention facility. This is entirely appropriate; the little fuckers need to be taught a lesson, and have time to think about the harm they have caused.
Nothing else that happens to them is appropriate at all. ... Read more »
Coherence
I love little independent movies like this. It was made in five days in the director’s living and dining room, on a budget that added up to about a large bag of Cheetos and a case of Dr. Pepper. There were more actors (eight of them) than crew. And they made it up as they went along. That can be disastrous, but it worked very well here. And it tackles a subject as arcane as the real-world ... Read more »
Marlowe
First, get it out of your head that the character we see here has anything to do with the Philip Marlowe from the books by Raymond Chandler. That Marlowe was much darker, more cynical, and a bit of an ascetic. His idea of a good time was to sit in his shitty little office and re-play classic chess games. No, what James Garner plays here is a practice session for Jim Rockford, five years ... Read more »
Arthur
It turns out that a movie about a cheerful drunk is not as funny to me now as it was the first time I saw it. Don’t get me wrong, it is still damn funny, but the first time I remember all but rolling in the aisles. Our attitudes about drunks are a little different today. Dudley Moore’s maniacal laugh is still a killer, and some of his lame jokes (which he, and no one else, finds ... Read more »
Stranger Things
Yet another good SF/Fantasy/Horror TV show, and yet another that can be binge-watched the first day of release on Netflix. We would have gone straight to the end, but the Olympics intervened, and Lee and I are Olympics junkies. We plan to get back to it on Monday, August 22nd.
It concerns a young girl who escapes from a sinister facility where they are conducting experiments on ... Read more »
Ghost
In the same way that Groundhog Day is an almost perfect romantic comedy, this is an almost perfect romance for those who prefer their love stories straight up, without the twist of lemon. (I say “almost” perfect because I don’t really believe in perfection, but I couldn’t tell you a thing wrong with either film.) It would have been good anyway, but what really ... Read more »
Hush
In 1967 there was a top-notch thriller titled Wait Until Dark, starring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman threatened by a killer. She ends up using her blindness to her advantage, and after several close calls, manages to kill him. There was another similar films in 1971, See No Evil, where Mia Farrow was a blind woman who is unaware that ... Read more »
Mr. Robot
This one is pretty strange, but I am enjoying it. It reminds me a little of Person of Interest, though it’s not violent, so far. We have seen the first seven episodes. “Mr. Robot” is Christian Slater, a crazy idealist hacker who has recruited a group of four other hackers. Goal: To take down the largest, most powerful corporation in the world, the E Corporation. ... Read more »
Laurel and Hardy Two-Reelers
Laurel and Hardy Two-reelers. In the1950s in my hometown of Nederland, Texas, we came home from school to sit down and watch ancient Z-grade westerns with Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson, and Our Gang comedies. The third leg of this public domain afternoon trilogy, and the best, was Laurel & Hardy two-reelers. How we loved this mismatched set of goofs! A few days ago TMC had a full day of ... Read more »
Laurel or Hardy Shorts
This is one of those “public domain” DVDs that gives you fairly poor prints of movies that have gone out of copyright. I don’t mind much, because anyone who had a financial interest in these films is long dead. In this case it is two feature-length movies, and eleven two-reelers of varying quality. Only one of them has the two together, and it has nothing to do with the beloved characters ... Read more »