Saturday, September 23, 2017
First Lines: André Gide - Lafcadio’s Adventures
In 1890, during the pontificate of Leo XIII, Anthime Armand-Dubois, unbeliever and freemason, visited Rome in order to consult Dr. X, the celebrated specialist for rheumatic complaints.
Friday, September 22, 2017
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009)
A drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigates the killing of five Senegalese immigrants.
Abel Ferrara's masterpiece is stripped down to a hypnotic, at times surreal crime thriller within a world of lost moral barriers; the movie is mainly successful due to Nicolas Cage's intense performance.
Maltin***: "Wacky police procedural...a long, tawdry, wide-ranging yarn in which the good guys and bad guys are hard to differentiate. Cage is terrific in a no-holds-barred performance. Bear no resemblance to the 1992 film..."
Killshot (2008)
A couple, despite being in a witness protection program, are being chased and confronted by the criminals they outed.
Thoroughly clichéd thriller tries hard to be more than it is, exemplified by Mickey Rourke playing a laughably incompetent hitman as a super-cool wiseguy.
Maltin**: "Routine crime thriller...Quintessential B-movie material is drained of action and suspense via pretentious treatment..., although interesting cast keeps it watchable."
First Lines: Edgar Rice Burroughs - At the Earth’s Core
In the first place, please bear in mind that I do not expect you to believe this story.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
When a Stranger Calls (1979)
A psychopathic killer terrorizes a babysitter, then returns seven years later to menace her again.
Above-average
thriller with a good cast strangely falls into three parts; the highly
effective opening could be a movie in itself and is not surpassed by the
rest of the film.
Halliwell (no star): "Middling screamer extended from a short, The Sitter; a passive midsection separates a suspenseful start and finish."
Maltin*1/2: "Unpleasant, improbable melodrama falls apart after OK opening segment."
Unthinkable (2010)
A black-ops interrogator and an FBI agent press a suspect terrorist into divulging the location of three nuclear weapons set to detonate in the U.S.
Highly dubious test arrangement about torture is unnerving with its contrived plot, stilted dialogues - and it's feigned message (in the extended version).
Maltin*1/2: "Attempts to make Jackson's character appear normal only succeed in making him seem even more psychotic. Other than Sheen's chameleon-like performance, there is no upside here. In fact, the whole movie is unthinkable."
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
A surly convicted murderer held in permanent isolation redeems himself when he becomes a renowned bird expert.
Affecting prison drama takes its time to tell its story, but gives room for many touching moments; Burt Lancaster delivers a great performance.
Halliwell*: "Overlong and rather weary biopic of Robert Shroud, who spent nearly sixry years in prison and became a cause célèbre. One cannot deny many effective moments, notably of direction, but it's a long haul."
Maltin***: "Pensive study...Film becomes static despite imaginative sidelights to enlarge scope of action."
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