Saturday, November 17, 2018
Friday, November 16, 2018
The Woman in Black (2012)
A young lawyer travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.
Old-fashioned ghost story has good production value, style and atmosphere, but isn't quite suspenseful and offers nothing new to the genre.
On renewed viewing: what it lacks on plot is well compensated with Goth style and atmosphere.
Maltin**1/2: "Fairly satisfying thriller refreshes familiar ideas but takes an awfully long time to get up to speed. Radcliffe is satisfactory as the increasingly unnerved lead."
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
First Lines: David Morrell - The Fifth Profession
No single historical event marks the origin of Savage's profession.
Savages (2012)
Pot growers face off against the Mexican drug cartel who kidnapped their shared girlfriend.
Basically a standard crime thriller with a highly contrived plot, but made with expertise and a capable cast; the double entendre ending is superfluous and disappointing.
Maltin**: "Stone encourages his actors to go way over the top in this long, boring look at mostly scummy characters. Travolta comes off best as a corrupt DEA agent."
Navajo Joe (1966)
A Native American warrior called Navajo Joe seeks revenge on a gang of sadistic outlaws who has massacred the people of his tribe.
Violent and rompous Spaghetti Western hardly takes a breath to stop the action; Burt Reynolds is curiously cast as some kind of "half-breed" superhero.
Maltin***: "Gory, quite savage spaghetti Western with some rousing action and a good score by Ennio Morricone..."
