Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring (Manon des Sources)

(France, 1986)

I’m going to treat these movies as a single film, since they were taken from a single story and were filmed at the same time. They are so closely paired, in fact, that I think it would be a mistake to see Manon first. You would miss a lot of the delicious pleasure of seeing two really bad men get what’s coming to them, because you wouldn’t know just how dastardly ... Read more »

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

(1941)

This is no less than the tenth film version of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novella. But the only predecessors that really count are one in 1920 starring John Barrymore, and one in 1931 starring Frederic March. March won the fifth Best Actor Oscar, in a tie with Wallace Beery. I would like to see that one, for several reasons. The famous transformation scenes were done so cleverly ... Read more »

J. Edgar

(2011)

Of all the sorry sacks of shit this country ever spawned, J. Edgar Hoover was the sorriest until Dick Cheney came along. Forget Benedict Arnold, forget all the other spies and traitors, Hoover presented the greatest threat to our constitution and freedoms than anyone else. Like all super-patriots, his real interest was personal power, and he accumulated it every year of his life, until he ... Read more »

Jack Irish: Bad Debts

(Australia, 2012)

The Australian writer Peter Temple has written four novels featuring this character, and ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) has made three of them into full-length television movies. We were alerted to them by a promo on a DVD of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (which we highly recommend).

In this first episode Jack is a sharp lawyer, and very ... Read more »

Jack Irish: Black Tide

(Australia, 2012)

The second of this series is just as good as the first one was. We are eagerly awaiting the DVD of the third one to arrive at the library.

Jack Reacher

(2013)

Lee Child is the author of 17 very popular books featuring the ultimate loner, Jack Reacher. JR is a former Army MP, and now he is a drifter. There is nothing in his pockets but a folding toothbrush, money, an expired passport (to avoid police hassles for carrying no ID), and an ATM card. No driving license, no keys to anything. No backpack or suitcase … Read more »

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

(2016)

Tom Cruise was always the wrong, wrong, wrong guy to play Lee Child’s popular character, Jack Reacher. He was wrong for it in the first one, and he’s wrong here. The first one had some good parts. This one has fewer of them. Don’t bother. And hope this is the last of the series.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

(2014)

If I had any expectations at all for this film, they were entirely negative. Cashing in on the popular Tom Clancy character, I figured, and I was all prepared for brainless action. I’m happy to report that it was much, much better than that. In fact, it reminded me more of a John le Carré story than a Clancy one. It concerns financial shenanigans, Russians, CIA deep cover agents, and stuff ... Read more »

Jack Taylor

(Ireland, 2010)

There were three seasons of three episodes each of this Irish TV series. They were based on characters created by Ken Bruen, a fairly prolific author, who wrote twelve Jack Taylor novels, with another set to be published in November, 2017. Many of the episodes are taken right from the books. Taylor is a train wreck of a man, a former member of the Garda Síochána, the national police force ... Read more »

Jack the Giant Slayer

(2013)

Sometimes an animated adventure has all the bells and whistles you could possibly want, looks real good, but it somehow lacks a soul. I was underwhelmed.

(A FEW MONTHS LATER) I had to give this film another shot, as my initial review was unfair. That’s because I was stoned out of my mind on oxycodone, lying in a hospital bed recovering from knee surgery when I saw the movie. It ... Read more »