Saturday, November 16, 2013
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First Lines: John Phillips Marquand - The Late George Apley
George William Apley was born in the house of his maternal grandfather, William Leeds Hancock, on the steeper part of Mount Vernon Street, on Beacon Hill, on January 25, 1866.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Gaslight (1944)
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Years after her aunt was murdered in her home, a young woman moves back into the house with her new husband who has a secret which he will do anything to protect, even if that means driving his wife insane.
Classic psycho-drama with a genuine paranoid atmosphere, great performances and excellent Noir photography.
Halliwell**: "Grossly overblown and less effective version of the story, but with moments of power, effective performances and superior production."
Maltin***: "The bloom has worn off this classic chiller..., but lush production, Victorian flavor, and fine performances remain intact."
Jud Süss - Film ohne Gewissen (2010)
Rise and fall of actor Ferdinand Marian, who takes the chance and stars in the anti-semitic movie Jud Süß (1940).
A fascinating and tragic story gets a fully unsubtle and lurid treatment; Moritz Bleintreu overacts his role of Josef Goebbels and turns it into a parody.
The Hunger Games (2012)
A teenager voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to compete.
Despite some production value and a good lead performance the movie itself is overlong, predictable and at times quite boring; one wonders what all the fuss is about.
Maltin**1/2: "Faithful, if uninspired and unsubtle, rendition of the first volume in author Suzanne Collins' fatalistic (but phenomenally popular) young-adult trilogy. Violence is soft-pedaled for the sake of a tween audience and a PG-13 rating."
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
First Lines: Harold L. Davis - Honey in the Horn
There was a run-down old tollbridge station in the Shoestring Valley of Southern Oregon where Uncle Preston Shively had lived for fifty years, outlasting a wife, two sons, several plagues of grasshoppers, wheat-rust and caterpillars, a couple or three invasions of land-hunting settlers and real-estate speculators, and everybody else except the scattering of old pioneers who had cockleburred themselves onto the country at about the same time he did.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Midnight Run (1988)
An accountant is chased by bounty hunters, the FBI, and the Mafia after jumping bail.
Mildly entertaining buddy action comedy with Robert De Niro in a role you really don't want to see him in.
Halliwell**: "Fast-paced action comedy, full of quick-fire wit and graced by some excellent performances."
Maltin***1/2: "Sensational byplay between the stars is matched by first-rate action and a sharply written by George Gallo. Director Brest handles the blend of violence and comedy as well as he did in BEVERLY HILLS COP:"
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