Oof.  This may be the most daft film noir I actually enjoyed. The movie begins with a priest getting stabbed to death in a dark alley.  Tony Curtis was a ward of the orphanage the priest ran.  Now a motorcycle cop, Curtis presses his superiors to let him go undercover to investigate a hunch he […]

“Sadists never understand why nobody else is enjoying his sadism as much as he is.” We are only a few minutes into the 2022’s Resurrection when Rebecca Hall delivers this line.  It is obvious her character was at some point on the receiving end of such behavior, as she is trembling with barely restrained rage. […]

Heartbreakers stars Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt as mother and daughter con artists. The mother ropes wealthy men into marriage, the daughter then seduces the new husbands into compromising positions where they will be discovered by the mother, and the duo walks away with large settlements. Hewitt longs to set out on her own, […]

Most of the movies later labeled as film noirs were made simply to fill the second slot of a double bill.  They were made on the cheap and were expected to deliver a moderate amount of satisfaction, at best. Outside The Law may be the most average noir I have seen so far.  It is […]

1985’s My Science Project is one of the most 80’s movies I have seen.  It may seem strange I haven’t seen it until now but I don’t have any nostalgia for an era I grew up in. John Stockwell stars as a gearhead who won’t graduate high school if he doesn’t deliver his project for […]

Most of the fictional works I have seen from an extreme right-wing point of view have been risible.  In general, it seems the left-wing makes better entertainment.  And, yet, when an ostensibly hard-left work faceplants, it seems to fail harder than their counterparts on the other end of the political spectrum.  Which is why 1999’s […]

I have long been aware of 1976’s all-kids gangster musical Bugsy Malone and now, having finally seen it, I just have a few lingering questions.  One of these is “What the fuck?”.  Another question is “What the fuck?”.  OK, I have a long list of questions and they’re all “What the fuck?” But, really, why […]

As I write this, I have just finished being devastated by 2007’s Lust, Caution.  This is a 2 ½ hour picture set in Japanese-occupied WWII China, with dialogue in Chinese.  And, oh yes, it’s NC-17. Honestly, it might as well be NC-40, because this picture is too sophisticated for those who are just looking for […]

I keep thinking I hate Chevy Chase, and then I keep liking him in the films I see him in.  Such was the case with 1978’s Foul Play, but then it isn’t really his film.  It’s a showcase for Goldie Hawn. My feelings about Hawn are neutral—I never think about whether I like or dislike […]

A WWII drama produced by the legendary British studios Ealing.  1945’s Pink String and Sealing Wax would have to faceplant hard to get a harsh critique from me. And it’s not going to get one.  This drama concerns two groups of characters on a collision course: the family of a stern pharmacist, and a contentious […]

Things were easier back in my day.  It used to be all one had to do to get dismembered was to say “Bloody Mary” in a bathroom mirror three times and turn the lights off and on.  But that’s not good enough for these kids nowadays.  They have to do all kinds of shit online […]

I suspect John Candy would have been able to make any comedy into a movie worth watching.  God knows I can’t imagine how bad 1985’s Summer Rental would have been without him. This is the typical slobs vs. snobs comedy, pitting John Candy against Richard Crenna in a coastal Florida town.  Crenna hates the summer […]

Some movies start out as one thing and then become something entirely different.  The problem is the result is usually something where one half or the other will appeal to different audiences, but neither will be happy with the whole thing.  Such is the case with the 2021 film from Thailand, The Medium. The first […]

2008’s Mad Money is an enjoyable but forgettable heist movie wherein three women who work menial jobs at the Federal Reserve in Kansas City steal great sums of bills about to be shredded. The operation is masterminded by Diane Keaton, who used to be living the upper-crust life until her husband (played by Ted Danson) […]

It’s hard to believe now, but Capitol Records was initially uninterested in The Beatles, so some very minor US labels (Vee-Jay, Swan and Tollie) pounced on the opportunity and licensed some of their early singles from EMI.  Once the group’s popularity spread to the colonies, Capitol sought control of those tracks, so Vee Jay tried […]