Dick Tracy, Detective (1945)

Obviously not as elaborate as the 1990 Warren Beatty version, this Dick Tracy still manages to retain some of the comic strip sensibilities of its source material. Here Tracy must find the elusive 'Split Face' who is tracking down and murdering (spoiler) the members of a jury that once convicted him. This was a little more violent then I expected, but has good pacing and was, well, likable. Also it has Jane Greer. Grade: C

Bigger then Life (1956)

Bigger then Life is a film of many layers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, who a year earlier had helmed the iconic teenage rebellion story Rebel Without a Cause, Bigger then Life is also a film about a rebellion of sorts. James Mason is cast against type, and arguable against logic, as Midwestern grade school teacher Ed Avery. He's a nice enough, affable man, if a bland one, a competent teacher whose major problem at the beginning of the film seems to be that he is underpaid. He keeps from his wife and roughly nine-year old son (Christopher Olson) the fact that he has taken a second job, as a dispatcher for a taxi service late afternoons and early evenings three days a week. His wife (Barbra Rush) vaguely suspects that he might be having an affair with an attractive fellow teacher played by Kipp Hamilton.

One night following a brief argument with his wife after a bridge party, Ed Avery collapses. His second job is not the only secret he has been keeping from his wife, he has also been experiencing unexplained pains in his heart for roughly six months. The doctors diagnose this as polyarteritis nodosa, a periodic swelling of the arteries. While previously generally fatal within a year of first symptoms, the medical community had of late being having some success in fighting this condition with the use of cortisone, a popular new wonder drug of the time. Only the cortisone pills cost two dollars a day, a heavy burden on a teachers salary, also it can have side effects.

Avery decides to go ahead and take the pills and for a while he feels fantastic, but then he slowly starts to have personality changes, manifesting in increasing delusions of grandeur and unpredictability. Avery's wife and best friend Wally (Walter Matthau in an early role) try to help but they are largely blocked by concerns of appearances for Ed, and the safety of his career, not to mention the possibility of even more medical costs. So mostly they try to manage his incidents on a case by case basis, this however will prove untenable.

Bigger then Life then is largely a film about refusing to deal with a problem, whether it be a medical condition, an unbalanced relationship, strange behavior, thwarted carer ambitions, prescription drug abuse, or the very specter of death itself. In short a rebellion against reality. The film has apt and often subtle commentary on class consciousness, the educational system, medicine, patriarchy, and a stifling sterile suburbia. A surprisingly uncomfortable movie in many places, it has the feel of films that wouldn't be made for another half century. It's not perfect, but it is observant and arguably a minor classic. Grade: B

(500) Days of Summer (2009)

I liked this. This felt honest, it felt fresh (even though there are some obvious similarities to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). It felt hopeful, and more then anything it wasn't a standard Hollywood romance story. I was greatly impressed. Fine work by the leads, Zooey Deschanel as charming as ever, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets you wondering why he isn't a bigger star, especially in a world with Shia LaBeouf. Grade: A-

The Violent Proffesionals (1973)

Cliche film about a cop who plays by his own rules, and a plot to overthrow the Italian government. Lead Luc Merenda is a terrible actor, so he fits in well with the rest of the cast and the script. I'll admit the film was more watchable then I'd expected, it's still bad though. Grade: D

Across 110th Street (1972)

Three desperate men steal $300,000 dollars from a mob money drop, killing seven people in the process, and thus sending both the police and the mob down after them. Anthony Quinn is the grizzled old Italian police Captain, and Yaphet Kotto the fast rising young black Lieutenant, of course at first they butt heads, but in time comes a grudging respect/possible admiration. I like that the three culprits are not all together unsympathetic, but in general this film felt pretty standard and uninspired, though there is an unexpected little surprise in its last thirty seconds. This is the movie from which we get that cool song that plays over the credits of Jackie Brown. Grade: C

Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938)

Bulldog and Phyllis travel to Switzerland to get married, but it doesn't work out any better there then when attempted in England. Plot involves the manufacture of artificial diamonds, a man in a fake beard, oh and a penguin. Tenny gets to ride a motorcycle. Better then average Drummond adventure, grade: C

Jesus of Montreal (1989)

This was just amazing, it is profound! This film takes the story of Jesus, something we've heard again and again so many times before that its become stale, and turns it on its head, and makes us see it anew. I tell you I felt a love for Christ after watching this movie that I haven't felt in years! Somethings coming together for me now, this could be a life changing movie! A+

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

Unique film by Edgar Wright, best known for directing the Pegg/Frost comedies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Movie feels somewhat reminiscent of an early Wright, Pegg/Frost project, the britcome Spaced, only more hopped-up. Like Spaced this film draws heavily on gen-xish pop culture homage, here particularly centered on retro video games, anime, comic books, and a vaguely defined hipster/indie music scene. The film takes all this stuff and layers it on a story about the difficulty of relationships. Fractured, meta story structure, a large cast of characters, and lead Michael Cera's expert comic timing all come together in a fun, delightfully unusual outing that made me laugh more then any recent movie I can think of. It also helps that its populated by a lot of young actresses with definite geek appeal. Romantic comedy as the game Mortal Combat, appropriate. Grade: B+

The Sunset Limited (2011)

HBO adaptation of the play by Cormac McCarthy (I'm starting to think he's the living writer I'd most like to meet). It is done as a stage play, or rather as those television plays from the so-called 'Golden Age of Television' were staged, here a single set, a room in a tenement house in New York City. The players are Tommy Lee Jones, a suicidal professor, and Samuel L. Jackson, a poor working man and committed Christian. Jackson (I'll use the actors names as the characters have none) has just saved Jones from committing suicide he intended to do by jumping in front the Sunset Limited, a passenger train. Jackson takes Jones back to his more then modest apartment, there they have a philosophical discussion. That's it, its an hour and a half long and it, is, good. Grappling with issues of God and the meaning of life in a very direct manner, two very disparate points of view beautifully and I think truthfully rendered. It's the kind of thing they don't make enough of. A-

See also: God on Trial (2008)

A Man Called Peter (1955)

Bio-pic of Peter Marshall, the Scottish born Presbyterian minister who long held the pulpit of Washington D.C.'s historic New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, and twice served as Chaplin to the U.S. Senate. Richard Todd does an excellent job of conveying the strong personality and charisma of Marshall, and there are several sequences where he preforms lengthy extracts from the ministers sermons, and these prove to be quite arresting. Jean Peters (a future Mrs. Howard Hugh's) does a good job as Marshall's wife Catherine, who wrote the book upon which this film was based and would go on to write the popular novel Christy on which a mid-90's CBS television series was based (it was also called Christy). The reset of the cast is no-names, but they did a sufficiently good job, I especially liked Senator Harvey (Les Tremayne) and that thing Marjorie Rambeau would do with her eyes.

I didn't expect to like this film, and its presented with no particular directorial flourish, but Todd's rendering of Peter Marshall wins you over as he's quite likable. I enjoyed how little quarks of Peter's personality like his fondness for cheap mystery novels and the ocean provid extra rounding for the character. He's saintly, but particularly near the beginning of the film you can see how Peter is a little bit arrogant and obtuse at times. Cathrine's speech to the youth rally in Georgia was almost shockingly anti-feminist, and the couples relationship as depicted in the film had a nonchalantnes about its patriarchy that's kind of striking now. In many ways nothing really happens in this film, but it drew me in and kept me fully engaged throughout the whole thing, and I'm really rather surprised that it did that. I think I'll give it a B-

The Book of Eli (2010)

Rats, I was all set to rip into this one and turns out I kind of liked it. Post-apocalyptic film with a story structure kind of like a western, features Denzel Washington as our requisite lone wanderer, Gary Oldman as the villain and Mila Kunis as the girl. While much of it is The Road as imitation Robert Rodriguez film, it has more hope and the whole biblical angle gives it a little something different. A satisfying film, with a few neat cameo roles for older British actors. Grade: B-

Cavalcade (1933)

Cavalcade is probably the most obscure film to ever win a Best Picture Oscar. I heard once that its seldom scene status owes to the fact that no one in the film ever went on to be a big star, but I think it probably has more to do with the fact that its bad. Adapted from the Noel Coward stage play of the same name, Cavalcade covers two British families over the years 1899-1933, with a special emphasis on watching them react to various historical events. The first part of the film is practically unbearable, with stilted, stagy acting, one note characters and Diana Wynyard wailing (which she continues to do through the picture), it improves with time, but not that much.

The main story is mostly choppy and episodic, all segments melodramatic, and most far too talkie and seemingly aware of the audience. Wynyard is the much suffering matriarch of the Marryot clan, she gets quite tiresome and doesn't seem to warrant her hysterics until late in the picture. The films moderately somber, melancholy ending leaves lightly bitter taste. All but one of the four children in the film die, and the one who lives sings a song called 20th Century Blues, and that's one the films lighter, more engaging moments. This movie does have a few well done montages, and fair musical moments that almost awkwardly intrude on the action. There's a moment where you see a young girl dancing, unaware that her father just died nearby, that should have been more effecting, as should the whole picture. You can see some genesis of things that would later be done much better in subsequent movies, the concept I think was right enough; but this picture just couldn't quite pull of its Edna Ferber like story structure, though it did try. Grade: D

Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937)

Phyllis is kidnapped by dastardly French criminals who force Bulldog and his good friends Algy and Tenny to go on a scavenger hunt for clues with which to find her. These are kind of the Marx Brothers of serial mysteries. The copy I saw of this seemed almost bleached in places, and may have had a few minutes missing. 2 out of 5.

Jennifer's Body (2009)

I don't know if I understand this movie. I mean I could follow the plot no problem, I'm just not sure what this movie is. Is it just a horror movie? A dark comedy? Is it a metaphor for something? Screenwriter Diablo Cody says it's suppose to be about female empowerment and the complicated relationships between best friends. So it's an exploitation movie then? I don't know, it was weird but it was pretty consistently interesting. I'm not positive yet if I liked it or not, but I was surprised and kind of impressed. So I'm gonna give it a C+

Moon (2009)

To barrow a bit from Roger Ebert's review of this same movie, hard science fiction films are an endangered species and this is one of that rare breed. Directed by Duncan Jones, the son of rock star David Bowie, Moon is the story of Sam Bell (played by the great Sam Rockwell, who essentially has to carry the entire movie and does a good job of it). Sam is coming to the end of a three year contract as the sole human crewmember of a mining operation on the far side of the moon. He doesn't have a lot to do really, mostly maintenance and filling reports, but he's been away from his wife and daughter for as he says 'far too long' and is just pinning for his last three weeks to pass so that he can go home, but then there's an accident. To say much more than that would be to spoil the movie, which given that its such an especially dry picture I will not risk doing, you need that mystery to keep going. The movie is very intentionally evocative of classic hard sci-fi films from the late 60's and early 70's like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running, and the original Russian version of Solaris. I will stress again that its dry, and its hard sci-fi, meaning that its not a casual shot-em-up or mear visual spectacle that constitutes the essence of that genera for so many 'main-stream' viewers. While I don't think the movie entirely works, and if your at all an aware viewer your going to figure out whats going on long before the lead does, I did appreciate it just the same, mostly for daring to give us something we don't get much of. I think between this and the short film included on the DVD we can see some definite promise in director Duncan Jones, lets hope something comes from it. 2 1/2 out of 5.