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.
The Big Easy (1986, Jim McBride)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jan 1, 2017
There’s not much script structure like The Big Easy’s script structure. It’s an exceptionally constructed screenplay. The film’s great, but it all hinges on how Daniel Petrie Jr.’s script works. As previously introduced (whether onscreen or off) come back into the film, expanding on their read more
The Tiger and the Pussycat (1967, Dino Risi)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 31, 2016
The Tiger and the Pussycat tells the sad tale of forty-five year-old businessman, Vittorio Gassman. He’s just become a grandfather. His college-age son wants to have long hair. All of his wife’s friends are abandoned women; their husbands have run off with younger women. Gassman is dissatisfied. read more
She’s the One (1996, Edward Burns)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 27, 2016
She’s the One has a fantastic first act. Some of the banter doesn’t connect, but all of the performances are strong and when the banter does connect, it makes up for the rest. Director, writer, and star Burns relies a little too much on “gentle” homophobia for the banter between his character read more
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983, Jack Clayton)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2016
Nothing connects with Something Wicked This Way Comes, though Jonathan Pryce’s performance is probably the closest thing to a complete success. Jason Robards is often quite good, but he’s both protagonist and subject of the film, which neither director Clayton nor writer Ray Bradbury (adapting his read more
Flight of the Navigator (1986, Randal Kleiser)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2016
Flight of the Navigator works on a principal of delayed charm; eventually, it’s got to be charming, right? No, no, it doesn’t. The film’s a series of false starts. The only thing approaching a pay-off is Paul Reubens–voicing an alien spaceship–going into a riff on his “Pee-Wee” routine. read more
The NeverEnding Story (1984, Wolfgang Petersen), the international version
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2016
For most of The NeverEnding Story, director Petersen’s ability, the special effects, and active lead Noah Hathaway keep the whole thing going. It’s a gorgeous looking film, with great photography from Jost Vacano and exceptional editing from Jane Seitz. Hathaway’s character, a boy warrior, gets read more
The Last Starfighter (1984, Nick Castle)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2016
The Last Starfighter gets a long way on affability. Lead Lance Guest is nothing if not affable. Robert Preston plays an affable alien grifter. Dan O’Herlihy, completely covered in makeup, is affable as Guest’s alien co-pilot. And the whole concept of the thing–video game wunderkind Guest gets read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin (1989, Christian I. Nyby II)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2016
Right off, the big problem with Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin is clear. Maybe not altogether clear in the first scene, but certainly when director Nyby gets around to having to try to do a suspense sequence. He bungles it. But while he’s bungling the action, he’s also bungling the read more
Dead Silence (2007, James Wan), the unrated version
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 18, 2016
Dead Silence is pretty dumb, but it’s often incredibly well-made, which makes up for a lot of the dumbness. There are a lot of problems with the acting–lead Ryan Kwanten is particularly lacking when delivering the weak dialogue though he’s otherwise acceptable as a scream king. Or, in the case read more
The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975, Lawrence Schiller and Bruce Nyznik)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 17, 2016
The Man Who Skied Down Everest is a peculiar film. It’s straight, methodical narrative non-fiction. In 1970, Miura Yûichirô set out to ski down Everest. His expedition included a film crew. The resulting film doesn’t tell Miura’s story outside the present action–through narrator Douglas Rain, read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder (1989, Christian I. Nyby II)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 17, 2016
Raymond Burr does a fantastic job in Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder. He’s got it down. He even sells some of the sillier one liners in George Eckstein’s teleplay. At times, it seems like Eckstein is trying to goof on the idea of a Perry Mason TV movie. Or maybe he’s sincere and Nyby’s read more
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 11, 2016
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an excellent collection of very funny sketches on a theme. It’s really funny. It’s often exceptionally well performed–acted is a bit of a stretch–and it’s got a wonderful tone. It also lacks narrative momentum, which is kind of extraordinary since it’s read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson (1989, Christian I. Nyby II)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 10, 2016
The Case of the Lethal Lesson is a very strange Perry Mason TV movie. Not just because director Nyby actually doesn’t do an atrocious job, but also because Robert Hamilton’s teleplay is a jumbled mess. Lethal Lesson introduces two new regulars to the main cast, with one of them being the person read more
Champion (1949, Mark Robson)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 9, 2016
Champion is a boxing picture. It ends with a big fight, as boxing pictures are wont to do. However, as the fight starts and the film cuts between all the people Kirk Douglas’s Champion has wrong, the film isn’t asking the viewer to root for the protagonist. Douglas is a bad guy. The entire third read more
Journey Into Fear (1943, Norman Foster)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 5, 2016
Journey Into Fear has a number of insignificant problems, a couple significant ones, and one major one. The major one is Foster’s direction. It’s not bad, it makes good use of the sets, it even uses some of the supporting cast well, but it’s not frightening, it’s not exciting. Journey Into Fear, read more
Series | Superman (1978-1983, 1987, 2006)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 5, 2016
The Superman franchise started alongside, for the most part, the culturally redefining Star Wars and–sort of–Indiana Jones. But it had little in common with those franchises. It had a big studio feel to it. Superman is the culmination of the American epic. It just happened to coincide with the rise read more
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake (1988, Ron Satlof)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 3, 2016
There are many things wrong with Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake, starting with the title being a little long followed by the first red herring in the movie, which is in its first scene. Then the next red herring is in the second scene and so on and so on. Actually, I don’t think I re read more
Dreamscape (1984, Joseph Ruben)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 3, 2016
Dreamscape has a lot of subplots. The main plot barely gets any more time during the second act than the subplots. But I’m getting ahead of myself because I wanted to talk about the first act, which has Dennis Quaid getting reacquainted with mentor Max von Sydow. The film opens with this fast, fun read more