A Shot in the Dark

60s British Comedy
3 Stars

A Pink Panther sequel, starring the great Peter Sellers. The jokes here are often lowbrow gags, but often times with hilarious effect. Sellers is great, and he lays the seeds for Austin Powers/Dr Evil numerous times throughout. The movie oozes a hip vibe, much more so than say The Knack and How to Get It.

Black Sunday

70s Drama
3 stars

Sheeoot. If they could've cut 45 minutes off this thing, plus rewritten the ending, they would've had something here. First off, the ending is like something out of a bad James Bond movie (bad like A View to a Kill bad). However, up until the final 30 minutes, the movie had some simmer. A plot featuring anti-Israeli terrorists planning to cause major destruction at the Super Bowl is intriguing. Bruce Dern is actually quite good here. Pretty good for the political stuff, awful for a tremendous nose dive at the end.

The Bird With The Crystal Plumage

70s Thriller
3 stars

I know this film has crazy street cred, but I was a little underwhelmed by it. There's style in bunches, but overall what we've got here is a fairly standard story with a less-than-thrilling payoff. This was my first Argento experience, and I'm intrigued to check out more. I'm just not frothing at the mouth to do it. Yet.

For Your Consideration

00s Comedy
3 stars

I fell promptly and soundly asleep. Granted, I had just come back from Las Vegas where I enjoyed a weekend with the fellas, drank a lot of margaritas and slept little. The comedy here was the first I've seen by this team not uproariously funny. A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, and Spinal Tap were all way more memorable. Ok that's cheating because I snored through most of this, so I really can't say.

Die! Die! My Darling!

60s Drama
Older Woman in Danger
3 stars

Another from the crazy old woman series, this one's got an English twist, produced by the Hammer Studios. Not exactly graphic, not exactly gruesome, but no doubt hammy and over the top. This time, the older woman is not in danger, she's causing it. Alternate title is "Fanatic" and that fits this film.

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?

60s Drama
3 stars
Older Woman In Danger

I can say this film was almost so bad it was great, and I suppose in a strange way it is great. A lonely, batty woman knocks off her housekeepers, as numbered by the trees in her garden. A kooky, hammy mess of entertainment, churned up in the wake of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

American Blackout

Documentary
3 stars

A valuable social doc on the disenfranchisement of African-American voters, focused on the '00 and '04 elections. Any elected official who engages with tough questions of the Bush administration-and not ex post facto-deserves some sort of notice. The fact that some of our elected officials feel voter disenfranchisement isn't an issue at all is downright scary. More serious attention needs to be paid to this problem.

Silent Running

Sci-Fi
3 stars

An interesting ecological sci-fi movie that showcases a few precursors of Star Wars. There are no women in this film, and for a rated G film, actually has a murder. I found the subject matter of this film very compelling, although Bruce Dern is a little strange for a leading figure and the movie follows the pattern of early 70s sci-fi with lots of quiet spaces and solitude as subject fodder. This movie is a bit preachy, but with our current climate crises, it seems loaded with foresight. The ending is provocative.

The Amazing Mr. X

Noir
3 stars

A very short film, John Alton cinematography, but kind of fluffy. A woman is tricked by her supposedly deceased husband into fear of carrying on another relationship. They definitely don't make this kind of movie anymore.

Angel Face

Noir
3 stars

Even though I love Mitchum, this one didn't quite do it for me. The violence in this film is shocking, but the film's pace is a bit slow and overall the film is a bit melodramatic. I had high hopes for this one, but Mitchum comes across as weak-willed and that's ultimately what drives the action.

Strange Impersonation

Noir
3 stars

A bit schmaltzy, this is noir melodrama, without too much to distinguish it. The usual "it's just a dream" denouement only makes one realize how much better "The Woman in The Window" is, although a noir from a female character's perspective is always welcomed.

Bug

00s Drama
3 stars

Apparently this movie started life as a play, and it still seems like a play. The acting is good, but ultimately and especially at the conclusion I was wondering why do I care what it's all about? Frenetic, occasionally oddly compelling and pretty good, though hardly great.

Coogan's Bluff

60s Drama
3 stars

I expected more out of the Don Siegel Clint Eastwood partnership in their film before Dirty Harry. This film is nowhere near the level of that one. A bit cheesy, a bit slow, although Lee J Cobb, always a great ingredient, gets a small supporting role.

Lord Love A Duck

60s Comedy
3 stars

Clever Roddy McDowell send up of California living in the early 1960s. It's ok , I guess. Tuesday Weld was great, but the movie is like a stone skipping across themes. Never stays put for very long. Harvey Korman is brilliant, but not sure if I could sit through this one again. Groovy title song.

The Knack...and How to Get It

Groovy Cinema
60s Comedy
3 stars

The premise is interesting, the charm is there, but the film is kind of tedious. Endless yammering and the "rape" twist was more annoying than illuminating, at least to me. It does capture the pressure (often self-imposed) of a young man trying to get laid, however. The stuff of which kingdoms rise and fall.

Seven Men From Now

Western
Lee Marvin
3 stars

I'm not sure why this one is so highly regarded. A very simple film, looks like a very low budget (neither of which is a bad thing) but overall not a super-compelling drama. Ain't much there there. Gotta love Lee Marvin, though. Always.

Jarhead

00s Drama
War
3 stars

Stylish, yes, but ultimately derivative (Full Metal & Apocalypse) movie about a soldier becoming a soldier. Some might go ga-ga over the scenes where the soldiers are covered in oil, but I felt like I'd seen this all before.

Football Factory

British
3 stars

A Rockstar Games film about football hooliganism in Britain, I found this much less good than Green Street Hooligans. Lots of sizzle, not much substance.

Wrong Is Right

80s Drama
3 stars

A very prescient satire, but the movie is a little tweaked out. Connery good, although would this movie be so highly regarded had 9/11 not gone down?

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

70s Drama
3 stars

I'm a big Walter Matthau guy, as I think he's consistently underrated, but this was a little dry for my expectations. Straightforward, minor cops & robbers film.