Every Which Way But Lose (1978), Hard Candy (2005), Nineteen Eighty- Four (1954)

I watched this and Every Which Way You Can out of order. I don't think the formers as good as the later, this first one feels more somber, can I say that about a comedy featuring and Orangutan? The first one features most of the plot elements, characters, and structure of the second. The theme here though I think is slightly superior. I love the comic sensibilities of these films.

Grade: B-

Hard Candy is something. An independent film, few sets, a small group of then mostly upcoming actors and a controversial and creepy story line. Ellen Page may appear at first to be a naive 14 year old girl who meets a much older man (Patrick Wilson) on the Internet and is destined to be his sexual victim. But she is more then Wilson takes her for, a former abuse victim, whip smart, viscous, determined and out for revenge; she  also spouts beyond her years, witty per-Juno dialogue. She not Wilson has actually done the luring. Once at his bungalow she drugs him, ties him up, emotionally destroys him and then castrates him. Fascinating, dark and just damn good. It goes without saying this is not for every one, but for those it is Grade A.

An British television adaptation of George Orwell's iconic book, Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of the best of the black and white era teleplays. Good cast, Peter Cushing as Winston, Donald Pleasence as Sim. Despite flimsy sets and slow parts, especially near the beginning, this is a perfectly decent adaption, and I would suspect strikingly good television for the era in which it was produced. It's neat to have seen this story made in a context of roughly the same time in which the book was first published ( a mear five years later).

Grade: B-