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Marriage Story (2019)
Thoughtful and ultimately moving examination of an unraveled marriage...
Marital woes from writer-director Noah Baumbach concerns off-Broadway theatre company director in New York City (Adam Driver) and his actress-wife (Scarlett Johansson) who separate just as she's getting her film career going again on the West Coast, taking their young son with her and establishing residency in California. Once she consults with a lawyer, what was a reasonably amicable impending divorce suddenly becomes swallowed up in legalese. Driver and Johansson look almost too much alike; they brood in much the same way and, when their characters feel beaten down, both actors share the same hangdog look. It takes a little while to feel for them as a couple (in happy moments or in despair), but a confrontation scene after a bruising day in court shows off both stars to a strong advantage. Laura Dern, as Johansson's glamorous-but-tough lawyer, is at the top of her game here, although her first consultation session with her client is far too long and brings the picture to a halt (the capper is funny, but it can't save the scene). Better are Driver's meetings with his lawyers (pugilistic Ray Liotta, followed by quirky Alan Alda). Some of Baumbach's dialogue is thick and abstruse and doesn't play (when Johansson is talking about the "dead space" inside her that became "less dead" when she first met her husband, one can almost hear a character from Woody Allen's chamber dramas speaking). Nevertheless, if a marriage-based piece such as this genuinely moves an audience by its final scene--as this one most certainly does--that means everyone involved did the material justice. **1/2 from ****
The First Omen (2024)
Prequel to 1976's "The Omen" hopes we're still asking, "Who birthed Damien?"
"The First Omen" is better-made than it has any right to be; but, as good as the picture looks, this demonic horror is so derivative, confused and downright stupid, it's hard to imagine audiences doing anything other than laughing at it. Orphaned American novice with "a vivid imagination" (Nell Tiger Free) is invited to take her vows in Rome, but finds the religious order and orphanage a sinister place. Turns out the church harbors a cult trying to produce a male Antichrist--in order to bring people back to the church!--by mating girls with a demonic jackal. They keep coming up short, however: several female infants have perished, supposedly malformed. Director Arkasha Stevenson has seen a lot of movies and pays homage to (or rather, steals from) quite a list: "Agnes of God", "Suspiria", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Ring", "Signs"...maybe even "Bedazzled" and "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark"! It's a terrible picture, though one that looks exceptionally handsome as photographed by Aaron Morton and with some interesting soundtrack choices. * from ****
The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)
Pretty good witchcraft thriller...strong stuff up until the final act
Witchcraft hysteria consumes a 17th-century parish in rural England, with the teenagers of the village under the spell of a Satanic beast. Extremely well-made, well-photographed yarn from Britain's Tigon Pictures has a slipshod narrative and repetitive scenes set in and around a judge's farmhouse, but is otherwise quite creepy. Cinematographer Dick Bush creates a mist-enshrouded atmosphere of mud and twigs and blood that is heightened by Marc Wilkinson's spectacular score. There's not a pleasant moment to be had--and the lack of light relief does make itself felt--yet it's quite a successful shocker just up to the finale, where it falls apart. **1/2 from ****
Apartment 7A (2024)
Handsome production, illogical story...though curiosity factor is high
When I first read about a prequel to "Rosemary's Baby" from Paramount+, I naturally assumed it would be about Rosemary's humble beginnings before she came to New York City and met Hutch and future-husband Guy Woodhouse. But no, writers Natalie Erika James (who also directed), Christian White and Skylar James, working from Skylar's original treatment, have chosen instead to tell the story of Terry Gionoffrio, the Castevet's first choice to bear the child of Satan. Make no mistake, there's promise in that narrative--and the picture, shot mainly in the UK, looks pretty terrific--but making Terry a dancer with dreams of Broadway stardom presents a plot wrinkle: why would the Castevets "cure" Terry's busted ankle and arrange for her to get the lead in a new musical if she's three months pregnant? (Terry is already falling apart in dress rehearsal!) There was nothing in Ira Levin's original novel (nor Roman Polanski's 1968 film) to suggest that Terry was anything more than a reformed drug addict taken in off the street by Minnie and Roman. This Terry (played somewhat insufferably by a withdrawn, red-eyed Julia Garner) is more like the heroine in "Suspiria", discovering shocks around every corridor. Director James goes big on shock cuts and fake-out dreams, presumably because there was nothing in her own script she could work with to honestly drum up scares. Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally are marvelous as the Castevets, but why do they give Terry her own apartment? Wouldn't they want to keep an eye on her? Terry initially sleeps in Minnie's guest room, prompting Minnie to say, "What good is a guest room without a guest to put in it?" Having Terry in her own place is likely meant to pattern this movie after "Rosemary's Baby" (discovering a secret passageway and all that), but it doesn't benefit the Castevets in any way separating Terry from them--and it doesn't jibe with Levin's premise that the girl lived together with the old couple and suspected nothing unusual. There's a wild finale--with a silly dance done by Garner that goes on a bit too long--though I liked the pay-off. But this presents another problem: if the baby is controlling her and won't allow Terry to abort it or stab it, couldn't it prevent her from other ways of self-harm? The dance Terry does is meant to distract the devil worshippers--but can you distract the devil? ** from ****
Ivy (1947)
Minor but entertaining Universal meller...
In gaslight London, scheming young woman with both a husband and a secret lover sets her sights on a wealthy older man. According to a fortune teller, there's money to be had if she dumps the lover, but this presents a problem when the smitten man refuses to give her up. Tidy, well-wrought melodrama written by Charles Bennett from the book "The Story of Ivy" by Marie Belloc Lowndes offers Joan Fontaine another juicy role; she's quite good when juggling the affections of her three men, less so when she feigns grieving and takes to her bed. Universal production is stylish--perhaps too stylish. With little-to-no money, Fontaine's Ivy manages to dress exquisitely and mix with the cream of the crop. Of the male roles, Herbert Marshall's millionaire is the most interesting: a fair and decent man, he almost succumbs to Fontaine's charms but stops himself because "I've always believed the most despicable thing a man can do is make love to another man's wife." Director Sam Wood was a nominee at Cannes for Best Feature Film. **1/2 from ****
Perfect Friday (1970)
Not a complete success, but frisky and entertaining...
Highly entertaining heist comedy has a frisky edge and a wonderful collection of characters. Assistant bank manger in London's West End arranges a loan for a flirtatious blonde, later formulating a scheme to rob his own branch with her help and that of her husband, a shifty Lord who lives beyond his means. Teaming of Stanley Baker (never better), Ursula Andress and David Warner a winning combination. Andress--usually dressing, undressing or completely undressed--is a charming nudie-cutie, while director Peter Hall stages the trio's complicated plot with hairbreadth timing. Disappointing finish but...that's the way it goes sometimes when you're a divine b*st*rd. *** from ****
Sole Survivor (1984)
Derivative low-budget horror, but with good acting from no-name cast
Low-budget, independently-produced horror has an interesting set-up: young woman is the only person to survive a plane crash; she seems fine in the hospital--even flirting with her doctor--but soon begins hearing a voice calling her name and seeing ghostly strangers in her path. Her doctor thinks she has survivor's guilt, but then people start turning up dead. Written and directed by Thom Eberhardt (who filmed the movie in Tustin, CA without permits), "Sole Survivor" was inspired by 1962's "Carnival of Souls" but, after about 45mns, the picture becomes a zombie slasher, instead looking more like 1974's "Messiah of Evil". It doesn't quite hang together, but pithy Anita Skinner is natural and funny in the lead. Caren Larkey (who plays the once-famous "beach party actress") was also one of the producers. ** from ****
Ironside: Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Murder (1972)
Terrific guests, a slack script, and sleepy Burr just rolling along...
S05-E21 of the eight-season crime-drama starring Raymond Burr in his second most-famous TV role. He's wheelchair-bound Robert T. Ironside, a San Francisco consultant to the police paralyzed after being shot, here investigating the case of a murdered apartment building owner who was killed soon after yelling at some kids playing down in the basement. We meet just two of the children involved: a mentally-challenged young man who helps out in the building with odd jobs and Jodie Foster as a pre-teen into witchcraft (!). Foster explains to "Uncle Bob" that she's a white witch, but that she wished the building owner dead after he yelled at her and now feels guilty for what happened. Other guests in this episode include veteran character actor Milton Selzer, John Schuck (doing fine work), and Rod Serling (with a mustache and Van Dyke beard) as the co-owner of a neighborhood occult shop. Written by Sy Salkowitz and directed by Christian I. Nyby II, this episode would be a complete miss were it not for the famous faces involved. Foster is so young she doesn't even sound like herself, but she's still as confident a child performer as ever (except for the finale when she kisses Burr on the lips--and then wipes her mouth!). The murder case isn't at all involving or surprising, though the basic witchcraft techniques (lighting candles, spreading salt, chanting spells) are bizarre with a little girl at the helm. Lee Paul--another acting veteran in his first of four "Ironside" appearances--plays backward Billy with care, but sleepy Burr is just rolling along, phoning his performance in. Paging Della Street!
The Substance (2024)
"You can't escape from yourself..."
Upon learning she's being dumped from her weekly TV fitness program, aging Hollywood actress Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is ready to try anything to get her youth and beauty back. She learns of a new, semi-secret program which promises the answer, "a better version of yourself" in the form of a cell-replicating liquid substance. When injected into the bloodstream, the substance produces (or rather, births) a younger version of the user--a curvaceous, wrinkle-free, buttocks-tight doppelgänger. There's just one catch: the user and the copy have to trade off their weeks of living on a strict seven-day schedule...with no exceptions. Perhaps taking her cue from 1988's "The Rejuvenator" (which in turn took its cue from 1959's "The Wasp Woman"), writer-director Coralie Fargeat has come up with a body-image horror story for the age-conscious 2020s. Fargeat, who appears to have been raised on David Cronenberg and John Carpenter movies, has the germ of a good idea here--and she's not without an over-the-top, cartoony sense of humor--but she's gross out-oriented instead of clever. As a result, "The Substance" is flashy and empty-headed, a splatter-flick designed to warn us *and* turn our stomachs. Moore and Margaret Qualley take some real chances here as actresses (Moore in particular); but, with limbs turning brown, teeth falling out, and blood dripping and spurting and spraying everywhere, this is not exactly a movie to show off your skills. *1/2 from ****
Margaret (2011)
It's an amazing movie, but is it a good movie?
Writer-director (and co-star) Kenneth Lonergan's ode to urban anxiety. Rarely have I seen such a combative film, with a quick-tempered, belligerent main character named Lisa (Anna Paquin) who turns every conversation into an argument. A high school student on New York City's West Side, the daughter of an actress who is raising her two kids as a single parent, tries waiving down the driver of a city bus in motion; she likes his cowboy hat, he's amused by her apparent flirtation, and then tragedy happens: he blows through a red light, hitting a woman in the crosswalk. Lying to the police out of guilt, anxiety and shock, Lisa initially wants to spare the bus driver any additional grief, but she's soon overcome by responsibility and wants the truth to come out (especially after she arrives at the bus driver's home uninvited and immediately goes off the rails). That's the crux of the story, but Lonergan introduces many other characters into the mix, some of them very interesting (like Jean Reno's Cuban romanticist and fan of the girl's mother). Unfortunately, these side-plots elongated Lonergan's final cut to nearly three hours, causing Fox Searchlight to balk at a 2007 release. It took four years (and the help of Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker) to get the picture down to 150mns, though the film still feels overworked from an editing standpoint, with some scenes lasting five seconds or less. The ensemble cast is good, though these people are a mercurial lot: each individual scene seems to have been conceived as a battle, leaving viewers tied up in knots. It's easy to see what should have been cut: Lisa's request to a bad boy student (Kieran Culkin) to take her virginity, Lisa seducing one of her teachers (Matt Damon), Lisa stopping that teacher outside the school and telling him she had an abortion, plus two trips to the Met to hear opera. However, what's here is still intriguing, and Paquin walks an acting high-wire as Lisa (the 'Margaret' of the title is referenced in a poem read in Lisa's classroom). The actress (who looks college-age, but let it pass) has some amazing moments of youthful (and angry!) conviction; she's so full of impassioned rage she's likely to be a turn-off for the audience, but it is superlative work from an actor's position. Also good (and a nice surprise): Jeannie Berlin as the bus victim's best friend; she's also ready to explode, but Berlin never goes over-the-top--she seethes instead, her eyes like slits and her mouth tight. Lonergan wants us to be uncomfortable watching this story unfold. He wants the situation to be turbulent and uneasy, and this is acutely felt. It is not Lonergan's "Cassavetes movie", though it can sometimes feel free-flowing (Cassavetes would never go for all this hostile fury, so readily displayed--he also cracked a smile every now and then). "Margaret" is an amazing movie, but is it a good one? Personal taste will have to determine that. **1/2 from ****
The Affair (1973)
Not a great dramatic vehicle for either Wood or Wagner, but she excels in a handful of scenes
32-year-old lady songwriter, on crutches due to polio, begins an affair with a divorced lawyer with two young boys, but she's on her guard (he tells her "I love you" to which she replies, "I know...thank you"). Aaron Spelling-Leonard Goldberg movie-of-the-week gently exploits the reunited Hollywood couple Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, who had just married for the second time. This is a cordial, polite and sensitive love affair with the usual self-doubts and complications of a new relationship, presented in soft focus. Still, knowing how this union turned out in real life tends to mar one's enjoyment. Wood does well in a handful of dramatic scenes, but when Wagner searches his soul and his conscience it does nothing but make us uneasy. ** from ****
Operazione paura (1966)
It could have used stronger characterization and less ritzy accoutrement
Italian horror film from director Mario Bava is so full of showmanship (rich color photography, incredible sets, an excitable camera, and the spooky ghost of a laughing/pouting child) that several directors have claimed it an influence and many genre fans have deemed it a masterpiece. It might have been, perhaps, with a less ritzy script. Residents of a Carpathian village in the 1900s believe they are under a curse; seems a 7-year-old child was trampled by horses after a festival and bled to death while trying to ring the church bell for help. Using her dotty mother as a medium, the child's ghost avenges her death by compelling those who have wronged her into taking their own lives. Certainly worth a look for several stunning set-pieces, such as an endless room and a dizzying spiral staircase; but the characters don't merit much interest, and the eerie accoutrements are just that: atmosphere. **1/2 from ****
Sette note in nero (1977)
Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes
Jennifer O'Neill plays a newly-married woman in Italy who has been having psychic visions since she was a child--when she 'saw' her mother commit suicide in a fall. Her latest troubling vision includes such details as a broken mirror, a bloody face, a limping man, a flashing red light, a cigarette, a magazine, and an older woman being sealed up behind a wall in a red room--maybe the same room she finds in an old country manor owned by her disbelieving husband. Creepy Italian thriller from co-writer and director Lucio Fulci is well-done and enjoyably spooky, featuring a music score from Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi and Vince Tempera that is a favorite of Quentin Tarantino's. O'Neill, attractive but not usually a strong actress, does just fine here. **1/2 from ****
English Teacher (2024)
First three episodes very promising!
Brian Jordan Alvarez, probably best known for playing Estefan on "Will & Grace", stars in this cable comedy he created and executive produces for FX Network and distributed by Disney+ and Hulu. Playing a gay English teacher at an Austin, Texas high school, Alvarez's Evan Marquez is just out of a relationship with a fellow teacher whom he once kissed in front of students. In the pilot, the mother of one of the kids is trying to get Evan fired for "turning her son gay". It's a ridiculous argument, of course (and we never meet the mom in question), but these type of news items in real-life *are* exasperating and ridiculous, so the situation never feels too silly. In the second episode, "Powderpuff", Evan is asked by the football team to help them with their drag performance while cheerleaders take the field as players. It's over-the-top TV for Evan to bring in a seasoned drag performer to help the boys (and for the guys to respond), and equally preposterous for said drag queen to turn out to be a thief, but the side-plot with the football coach (Sean Patton) getting schooled on girl's self-defense by teacher Gwen Sanders (Stephanie Koenig, who wrote this installment) is very funny. In the third episode, Evan is partnered on the decorating committee for Homecoming with a new teacher whom Evan feels is gay and hot for him (and this after he's been ordered not to date any more co-workers). The subplot about a student pretending to have a made-up disease doesn't really come off--the kids are really unappealing in this episode--and the start-and-stop flirting between Evan and the horse-hung new teacher hits an early wall. Still, this is a very fresh, bright new show and the humor here--witty, very dry, quick and offhand--is delivered expertly by Alvarez and his cast.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
The new writers are big on narrative and nostalgia but scant on humor...
Ghost-seer Lydia Deetz hosts a haunted house TV show, but is called away after the death of her father (he survived a plane crash but was eaten by a shark, ha ha). Her stepmother Delia has become a renowned artist and her teenage daughter a bitter college student who doesn't believe her mom has any special abilities (after all, her widowed mother can't see the kid's father, the most important ghost of all!). Meanwhile, bio-exorcist Beetlejuice is still hanging around the attic in the Maitland's old house, unaware his former wife--now a "soul sucker"--has stapled herself together and is on the prowl in the netherworld. Tim Burton's follow-up to his slow-growing hit from 1988 reunites stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara, but he can't seem to get the juices flowing again. New screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are more nostalgic (and narrative-happy) than they are funny; everyone's trying really hard for a jovial mood, but the writing team doesn't display much humor. I smiled at a quick swipe at Disney, and O'Hara brings a bit of comic quirkiness to her character, but Burton (who goes heavy on pop, rock and disco songs on the soundtrack) does nothing with Ryder's Lydia (she's in a funk throughout). There's a grandiose finale that takes its time tying the plot together--and Keaton is funny spinning his head around to the music--but the tag is a dud, much like the rest of "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice". *1/2 from ****
Sunshine (1973)
High on life, stalwart in death
20-year-old girl, living sort of a hippie lifestyle in a shack in the Northwest mountains, meets a drifting musician and falls in love (he's not deterred by the fact she's pregnant by her absent-husband from a teenage marriage she walked away from). Soon after that, however, she's diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, which means losing her leg or beginning radiation treatments. She opts for radiation (although her gorgeous mane of brunette hair pretty much stays intact), but the cancer spreads to her lung. TV-movie for CBS (released theatrically in some overseas markets) comes with the caveat it's "suggested by" a true story and based in part on the real-life heroine's recorded journal. Of course it was popular and garnered big ratings: it's "Love Story" for television, and frosted with sentimental folk songs donated by John Denver and his collaborators. Bill Butler's cinematography is uncommonly good for the medium, although director Joseph Sargent pitches the drama at too high a decibel (this is a very noisy movie). There's the boyfriend's music trio constantly practicing in the apartment, young people banging on pots and pans, a screaming baby, and the heroine's bad temper after the side-effects of the radiation and pain pills take over. The acting by leads Cristina Raines and Cliff DeYoung is adequate, though the role of the boyfriend-turned-second-husband is a chore (and what is the state of this guy's finances? We hear one aside from a friend about "daddy's money", which doesn't exactly endear us to him). In support, Brenda Vaccaro is excellent in a non-showy role as Raines' doctor and Meg Foster is nicely subdued as the sexy single lady who lives downstairs. Is the movie sincere? I would say it is--viewers obviously thought so--and the early-'70s milieu (the hippie aesthetic, the naïve optimism) is almost embraceable. ** from ****
Peeper (1975)
"Do you think--" .. "Twice as fast as you do."
Flop comedy stars Michael Caine as a British private investigator in 1947 Los Angeles who's hired to find a missing woman--adopted years before as an infant--which leads him to a Beverly Hills family and two glamorous sisters, Natalie Wood and Kitty Winn, one of whom may be the unwitting girl in question. Talented screenwriter W. D. Richter bottoms out with this tongue-in-cheek "Big Sleep"/Bogart wannabe adapted from Keith Laumer's novel "Deadfall" (no relation to the 1968 Michael Caine film which derived from Desmond Cory's novel "Deadfall"). Snippy-facetious, unfunny nonsense in ugly color was reportedly shelved for a year under the title "Fat Chance" by Twentieth Century Fox, who finally released it December 1975 with the suspiciously brief running-time of 87mns. Director Peter Hyams, who rewrote Richter's script without credit, claimed he bore the brunt of the movie's failure, which nearly sank his career until the success of "Capricorn One" in 1978. NO STARS from ****
A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
"One thing about New York City: you're here or you're nowhere. You cannot achieve this level of anxiety, hostility and paranoia anywhere else. It's really exhilarating!"
Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning star in this Woody Allen relationship-comedy about a cheerfully blithe student in upstate New York who takes his sweetheart to Manhattan for a tour around the city, a romantic getaway that doesn't go as planned. She gets sidetracked while attempting to interview a film director for her college paper, while he meets up with the kid sister of an ex-girlfriend whose flip talk matches up perfectly with his. An above-average quota of sharp lines and funny digs from writer-director Allen almost makes this handsomely-produced effort worth-seeing. Ultimately, the central characters aren't as engaging as they're meant to be (some of Chalamet's friends dotting the movie's peripheral lines are more entertaining). Allen is on the right track here, doing solid work with his young players (with Chalamet as a Woody stand-in)...if only he'd broaden his scope a bit. What these neuroses lack in freshness they make up for in tidiness. **1/2 from ****
Le plus vieux métier du monde (1967)
Worth a look for Raquel's appearance...the rest is lukewarm at best
Six rather tepid episodes in the history of prostitution, from prehistoric times (not featuring Raquel Welch) to The Gay 1890s (featuring Raquel Welch). French-Italian-West German co-production (in French with subtitles) was helmed by six different directors: Claude Autant-Lara, Mauro Bolognini, Philippe de Broc, Franco Indovina, Michael Pfleghar, and Jean-Luc Godard (who directed the "Anticipation - Love in the Year 2000" segment). A bit more levity and spice might have helped; this seems awfully tame for 1967. Welch's sassy installment involving the bedding of an elderly banker is the liveliest of the lot. *1/2 from ****
Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres (2022)
The epitome of "nice"
This documentary on author/interviewer/DJ/philanthropist Ben Fong-Torres is the epitome of "nice". The son of Chinese immigrants attending school in Oakland, CA, Fong-Torres (his surname deriving from the story his father told of buying the appropriate papers to leave China on the black-market, becoming a "Torres" inadvertently) lucked into a job at the then-fledgling newspaper-styled magazine Rolling Stone, a countercultural publication mixing rock music and politics. Crafting "The Rolling Stone Interview", Fong-Torres became a celebrity himself among music business insiders, with some famous names only willing to talk with him. We learn almost as much about the rest of the RS team (co-founder Jann Wenner, writer Cameron Crowe, photographer Annie Liebowitz, etc.) as Ben Fong-Torres himself, even going back to visit the old office building where it all happened. An entertaining 99mns featuring guests Elton John, Steve Martin, Bob Weir, Country Joe McDonald, Carlos Santana and Quincy Jones. There's nothing kinky or scandalous or salacious about Ben Fong-Torres. He still grieves the murder of his older brother Barry (the target of '70s-era anti-Asian violence), but he's also a beloved husband and father who isn't into drugs and remains devoted to his still-living mother. He's a nice guy. **1/2 from ****
Opening Night (1977)
Gena Rowlands' Greatest Hits
When most actors forget their lines on-stage, it's an excruciating moment for the performer but not always for the audience; we're not familiar with this presentation and are not sure what is or is not intentional. John Cassavetes' "Opening Night" captures some of that audience hesitation: do we laugh at what might be a mistake or is this part of the drama? The problem with "Opening Night" is with the lead character, a famous stage actress portrayed by Gena Rowlands. She feels miscast in a play about a slightly older woman and can't get a grip on the material. When she's good, she's great--but she's falling apart backstage and begins acting unprofessionally. Everyone throws their arms around this lady when she's clearly not able to perform, and I didn't find her so lovable. A second problem: Cassavetes, who wrote, directed and co-stars in the picture, is so madly in love with both Rowlands (his spouse in real-life) and her character that he can't see what a burden she is to the entire company. The film is set in New York City but was filmed in Pasadena, CA and the dislocation is acutely felt. However, there are good scenes in the movie--a young fan getting killed in a car accident outside the theatre, Rowlands feeling the girl's ghost in her dressing room and, later, attending her wake uninvited--but the play-within-the-film doesn't look like something that would keep an audience in their seats (it's a psycho-drama straight out of Cassavetes' repertoire). Gena Rowlands is a great camera subject, but this role is rather like her Greatest Hits: we keep seeing Rowlands' previous movie personalities instead of learning about this new one. ** from ****
The Strange Woman (1946)
"Don't forget to bite your lip. Men LOVE red lips!"
Little female ruffian, growing up with an alcoholic father in 1800s Maine, becomes a great beauty, learning early that putting forth a do-gooder façade will cover up for her other, more nefarious deeds such as stealing men and using them for her own benefit. Star and executive producer Hedy Lamarr gives herself a juicy role in this technically mediocre melodrama distributed by United Artists, and she's more than capable of carrying the picture on her amply-evident, luscious shoulders. Adapted from the 1941 novel by Ben Ames Williams (who wrote "Leave Her to Heaven" a few years later), the screenplay was worked on by a handful of writers, giving final credit to Herb Meadow (likewise, director Edgar G. Ulmer was said to have gotten help from Douglas Sirk). Supporting cast including George Sanders is solid, yet it all rests on Lamarr, who appears to relish this opportunity at bringing to life a scheming, cunning woman with an angel's face. **1/2 from ****
They Came to Cordura (1959)
Brutal, grueling western appears to have been an unhappy experience for all concerned...
US Army Major in 1916 Mexico, who's been accused of cowardice after "taking cover" during battle, is ironically assigned to pick five men as candidates for the Medal of Honor after showing bravery in America's war with Mexican revolutionary Poncho Villa. Horse trek through the barren desert to Texas has our six men--and one woman, taken prisoner after being accused of aiding the enemy--tired, thirsty and angry (seems they'd rather have the woman than the Medal!). Box-office disappointment for Columbia Pictures had its running-time cut by the studio, though it still feels lengthy at 123mns, particularly without much levity (but instead a heavy dose of psychological examination). Gary Cooper was thought to be too old for his role--and, indeed, when he's dragged by a rolling railroad handcar, the picture takes on a masochistic tone. That said, Cooper gets the job done; it's not a flattering role (John Wayne famously called the movie "unpatriotic"), but the actor gives it a bit of shading and he's very good in his scenes with Rita Hayworth. The supporting ensemble is solid and the Utah locations are well-captured, making the film an above-average western, though it isn't one that leaves good memories behind. Director Robert Rossen, who also co-adapted the screenplay with Ivan Moffet from the novel by Glendon Swarthout, was still trying to restore the cut footage when he died in 1966. **1/2 from ****
Copshop (2021)
Fake-edgy dialogue from the Tarantino school...
Officers working from a state-of-the-art yet practically empty police station in the Nevada desert have in their custody a hitman (Gerard Butler) and a con artist (Frank Grillo), the latter of whom has punched a female rookie cop (Alexis Louder) in the face in order to get himself arrested on purpose. Turns out the con-man has a contract hit out on him and, having barely escaped a bomb-laden car, is tired of being on the run. Next on the scene is a second assassin (Toby Huss), a psychotic who mows down several officers. There's also a dirty cop stealing drugs on the side who's committed a murder and has no choice but to join the bad guys. Directed by Joe Carnahan and written by Kurt McLeod and Joe Carnahan, from a story by McLeod and Mark Williams, "Copshop" has a jazzy opening with '70s exploitation-action music and quick editing to match--but after that, it's all downhill. The dialogue is fake-edgy, the scenario is would-be tense, and the characters are a collection of Tarantino drop-outs. NO STARS from ****
Killjoy (1981)
TV junk
Chief of pathology at a teaching hospital hopes to wed the daughter of the head of the Governor's Board; seems they grew up together (but hardly look the same age) and, while she's a sexy lady, a marriage would benefit his career, according to his mother, a doctor herself. Complicating matters is the girl's relationship with yet another doctor, a ladies' man who does second-rate work in the operating room (gee, that's comforting). This terrible teleplay by Sam H. Rolfe works in a murder, an overeager cop who snoops around like Hercule Poirot, and an attempt at a twist ending that defies explanation. Kim Basinger (with a whopper crop of frosted blonde hair) has her moments, but Robert Culp--preening and seething and popping up every few minutes like a bad penny--is way over-the-top. * from ****