Saturday, February 8, 2020
Dead Men Walk (1943)
The twin of a kindly small-town physician returns from the grave for vengeance against his brother, who secretly killed him because the twin served Satan.
Pretty bad low-budget horror movies is mainly risible, but entertainingly so.
Halliwell (no star): "Incompetent chiller partly sustained by its star performance."
Maltin**: "...standard low-budget vampire tale - but it's hard to dismiss any film with Dwight Frye as a maniacal assistant."
Friday, February 7, 2020
Weit. Die Geschichte von einem Weg um die Welt (2017)
Two young Germans spend three and a half years traveling around the world just by hitchhiking, bus, train and ship.
This documentary monitors a truly admirable feat and succeeds in portraying the universal hospitality and kindness of the people the travelers meet along their journey, but it's soaked in old-fashioned hippie mentality which is mainly blind to the socio-political environments they are visiting.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
The Irishman (2019)
A mob hitman recalls his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa.
A return to form for Martin Scorsese (and for both Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci as well) once again intensely analyzing mob mentality, but with mature mastery and a more subtle and at times even humorous approach and, nonetheless, with great emotional power.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
First Lines: Naomi Novik - His Majesty’s Dragon
The deck of the French ship was slippery with blood, heaving in the choppy sea; a stroke might as easily bring down the man making it as the intended target.
Monday, February 3, 2020
The Creeper (1948)
A man is turned into a "catlike" killer by means of a serum invented by a crazed scientist.
Mediocre, low-budget horror tale with some pretty lame - and - bad effects.
Halliwell (no star): "Nonsense horror item with stalwart cast."
Maltin**: "Indoorsy, talky sleep-inducing."
Tarantula (1955)
A spider escapes from an isolated desert laboratory experimenting in giantism and grows to tremendous size as it wreaks havoc on the local inhabitants.
Classic 50s monster movie is still fun and in so many ways much better than its present-day clones.
On renewed viewing: A guilty pleasure since my childhood, I rewatch it every view years.
Halliwell (no star): "Moderate monster hokum with the desert setting which became a cliche; the grotesque faces are more horrific than the spider, which seldom seems to touch the ground."
Maltin ***: "One of the best giant-insect films, with fast-pacing, convincing special effects, and interesting subplot detailing formula's effect on humans. That's Clint Eastwood as the jet squadron leader in final sequence."
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (2007)
When a broken-hearted boy loses the treasured wooden nativity set that links him to his dead father, his worried mother persuades a lonely ill-tempered woodcarver to create a replacement.
Old-fashioned, fairly likable Christmas movie adequately staged to get into the right mood for the season; interesting to see, almost unrecognizably, Tom Berenger in an unusual role.
Sunday, February 2, 2020
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