Welcome to BlogHub: the Best in Veteran and Emerging Classic Movie Blogs
You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
100 Men and a Girl (1937)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 3, 2018
It’s fascinating how history works. Deanna Durbin and Judy Garland came up at the same time. In their day, stars were groomed from an early age and MGM had both the starlets under contract. But instead of holding onto both talents it turned out that Garland remained and Durbin signed a new ag read more
Fear Strikes Out (1957)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 1, 2018
I can’t think of another actor more apt to play this version of Jimmy Piersall’s story than Anthony Perkins. History reflects a more multifaceted even complicated individual. By other accounts Piersall could be a real cut-up; here the story is very singular-minded in how it portrays it read more
The Stratton Story (1949)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 31, 2018
If you’ve never heard of the baseball player Monty Stratton, you’re not alone. In my days of wanting to be a ballplayer myself, I knew quite a bit about baseball Hall of Famers going back to the genesis of the game. But Stratton was not a Hall of Famer like Honus Wagner or Ty Cobb, Geor read more
Lady Bird (2017)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 30, 2018
Greta Gerwig has a deep connection with Sacramento that I failed to appreciate when I first saw her in Frances Ha (2012). In that film, she’s making a life for herself in New York but stops off in Paris and returns home to the west coast. Now with Gerwig directing in lieu of Noah Baumbach, we read more
Only Yesterday (1991)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 28, 2018
Only Yesterday’s opening images resonate with me because of their sheer familiarity. The reflections of urban life in a skyscraper. Office buildings with desks, computers, copy machines. All those necessities of the modern working world. This is the personification of the status quo that man read more
From Up on Poppy Hill (2011)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 26, 2018
The song “Sukiyaki” sung by Kyu Sakamoto proved such a charming enigma for me. Here was a record that was so quintessentially Japanese, a melodious ballad, that was nevertheless branded in the West with a more novel title and became a smash hit. However, here within the framework of this read more
National Velvet (1944)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 24, 2018
“Everyone should have a chance at a breathtaking piece of folly, once in his life.” ~ Anne Revere as Mrs. Brown There’s been many a boxing and a ball sport movie and so it seems only fair that there be room for at least one more Technicolor horse drama, especially one with the bre read more
Four Daughters (1938)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 22, 2018
The entire packaging of this Warner Bros. film includes director Michael Curtiz, screenwriter Julius Epstein, composer Max Steiner, and Claude Rains all who (not unsurprisingly) would have their hand in that revered classic Casablanca (1942). Here the Lane Sisters are joined in their quartet by Gal read more
Shack Out on 101 (1955)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 21, 2018
Like a Cry Danger (1951) or a Private Hell 36 (1954), this low budget film noir flick is such a joy to watch because it wears what it is right on its sleeve, clear out in the open. What we get is an utterly absurd paranoia thriller that also happens to be a heaping plate of b-noir fun. It’s read more
Silk Stockings (1957)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 20, 2018
In full disclosure, though I admire Ernst Lubitsch’s directorial eye and Billy Wilder’s trenchant wit, the Ninotchka (1939) premise alone never intrigued me. But as with all the great pictures, it’s not necessarily the main conceit but the execution of the story with its own uniqu read more
Les Girls (1957)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 18, 2018
Classic Hollywood musicals usually have a very common framework that they rarely seem to deviate from. There’s almost an accepted unwritten rule that they will function like so. Typically, there is an overarching story being told and yet the narrative is conveniently broken up by song and read more
Take Me out to The Ball Game (1949)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 17, 2018
There’s something perfectly in sync between Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor so I could never choose another duo over them but Kelly and Frank Sinatra are such wonderful entertainers that they help make this period baseball number a real musical classic even if it has to fall in line behin read more
Review: The Way Way Back (2013)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 15, 2018
“Kyrie Eleison along the road that I must travel…” ~ Mr. Mister Liam James is undoubtedly a kindred spirit to many young men because he’s the epitome of awkward. His posture is terminally awful. He has no confidence, no presence, his hair could use a trim, and he’s pal read more
The Killers (1964)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 13, 2018
After an opening to rival the original film noir The Killers (1946), though nowhere near as atmospheric, Don Siegel’s The Killers asserts itself as a real rough and tumble operation with surprisingly frank violence. However, it might be expected from such a veteran action director on his way read more
Forbidden Planet (1956)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 11, 2018
We’re all part monsters in our subconscious. ~ Leslie Nielsen as Commander Adams I couldn’t help but recall Han Solo’s line about the Millenium Falcon in the original Star Wars in response to Luke’s derision. After giving his pride and joy an affectionate pat he defends her read more
Sunday in New York (1963)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 9, 2018
It would appear that a film like Sunday in New York would never exist today. First, it’s obviously rooted in a stage play and it functions with the kind of moments you might expect out of some of Neil Simon’s works around New York though this particular story was crafted from a play by l read more
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 6, 2018
Anime is very much a Japanese art form denoted by its style, the visuals, and even the depiction of its characters with wide eyes all the better to convey emotions. Oftentimes the images onscreen are a great deal more stagnant than the real-time action that American animators try and replicate with read more
Tampopo (1985)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 5, 2018
Juzo Itami’s so-called ramen western Tampopo is unequivocably original in its hilarity, opening with what could best be called a public service announcement. A suave gangster is getting ready for the movie screening only to be disrupted by a noisy bag of curry potato chips. He threatens the read more
I Am A Fugitive From a Chang Gang (1933)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jul 3, 2018
Sullivan’s Travels (1941) and Cool Hand Luke (1967) were two films that took a fairly extensive look at what a chain gang actually was in cinematic terms. Meanwhile, Sam Cooke’s eponymous song made almost in jest has added another layer to the tradition. Nowadays Chain Gangs seem a bit a read more
Pushover (1954)
4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on Jun 30, 2018
A film such as Pushover is easy to admire for the simple fact that it does not waste a moment in telling its story. As the credits roll a bank job is already in full progress laying the basic groundwork for what will unravel in the subsequent minutes. The introduction of our stars follows soon ther read more