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You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
Nugget, or: Dream of the Sugar Fiend
The Stop Button Posted by on Jan 1, 2020
Every swallow has weight. I’m not sure if it’s the sugar, the alcohol, or what seems to be a coming nausea, but every swallow weighs. The bubbles in the champagne should help though. I just ate about a fifth or sixth of a Bavarian creme butter braid, a “Fun Size” Snickers, and a 60% Cacao Dark read more
Lords of the Deep (1989, Mary Ann Fisher)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 31, 2019
Lords of the Deep exists for reasons. Some of them seem interesting enough I’m disappointed the trivia section on IMDb doesn’t offer any explanations. But just going on what it’s like watching the film and what it’s good for? You hate top-billed Bradford Dillman and want to simultaneously be read more
Pope Hats (2009) #6
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 30, 2019
I’ve read Young Frances, which collects Pope Hats, but haven’t actually read any Pope Hats issues. Based on this issue, it’s different to the point I can’t imagine what it’s like to read Young Frances serialized, not if Hartley Lin intersperses it with his one or two page lyrical comic strips. read more
Becket (1964, Peter Glenville)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 29, 2019
Becket has some genre constraints. Significant ones. It’s a king-sized 70mm Panavision English history epic only it doesn’t feature any big battles. In fact, it goes out of its way not to show battles. It’s also an early sixties historical epic and it’s trying to be a little edgy in how it shows read more
The Mandalorian (2019) s01e08 – Redemption
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 28, 2019
It’s a good thing series creator and episode writer Jon Favreau has seen Terminator 2, otherwise this episode wouldn’t have an ending. It’s not clear who decided they ought to straight rip off the flashback sequence from For a Few Dollars More, Favreau or episode director Taika Waititi (who’s read more
A Man for All Seasons (1966, Fred Zinnemann)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 27, 2019
What’s so incredible about A Man for All Seasons is how big director Zinnemann makes it while keeping it small while keeping it big. The settings are big—palaces, estates, and so on—but Zinnemann keeps the set pieces small. He and cinematographer Ted Moore will do big establishing shots, but only read more
Watchmen (2019) s01e07 – An Almost Religious Awe
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 27, 2019
Seriously, they couldn’t come up with anything better? This episode has a bunch of reveals and every time it’s… really, this reveal is the best thing presumably well-paid writers could come up with. Worse, it starts like it’s going to be a Regina King episode and therefore safe but… no. King read more
The King’s Speech (2010, Tom Hooper)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 26, 2019
There’s a lot of fine direction in The King’s Speech. Hooper does exceedingly well when he’s showcasing lead Colin Firth’s acting or showing how Firth, who starts the film as Duke of York and ends it King of England, moves through the world as this sheltered, unawares babe. Of sorts. These successf read more
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019, J.J. Abrams)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 25, 2019
It is a dark time for the Star Wars franchise. Although the second highest grossing film franchise of all time, white men really weren’t okay with Kelly Marie Tran getting a lot to do in the last “trilogy” movie, not to mention women telling ostensible alpha Oscar Isaac what to do, and nobody read more
The Witcher (2019) s01e07 – Before a Fall
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 24, 2019
“The Witcher” never expressly says “we’ve been Westworlding you” but this episode is where they show how they’ve been Westworlding the viewer. It’s Freya Allan’s part of the pilot, only with Henry Cavill mixed in. It’s been twelve years since Cavill was last in Jodhi May’s kingdom, read more
The Witcher (2019) s01e08 – Much More
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 24, 2019
Did they intentionally wait until the last episode of the first season to bring in the biggest “Game of Thrones” comparisons? Like, not only is there a “Wall” to defend—sorry, sorry, a “Keep” to defend from the North (wait, wait, is it the South)—but the episode opens with Henry Cavill read more
The Frontier Experience (1975, Barbara Loden)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 24, 2019
The strange thing about The Frontier Experience is how it’s really bad with exposition for an educational film. Watching it, you can imagine an accompanying quiz and if the filmmakers do acknowledge the potential test question instead of just ignoring it, they treat the plot point or detail like a read more
The Witcher (2019) s01e06 – Rare Species
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 24, 2019
So this episode, set sometime after the last episode as far as Henry Cavill and Anya Chalotra are concerned but still before the first episode as far as Freya Allen’s storyline (there’s some exposition about the political situation leading up to the attack in that first episode, but still just prop read more
The Witcher (2019) s01e05 – Bottled Appetites
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 24, 2019
This episode has storylines converging, something I really thought they’d wait to do until the season finale cliffhanger. Instead, Henry Cavill and Joey Batey run across Anya Chalotra in their quest for a cure to Batey’s magically inflamed throat. The episode opens with Cavill trying to find a djin read more
The Witcher (2019) s01se03 – Betrayer Moon
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 23, 2019
I didn’t even realize Freya Allen’s princess on the run character was missing from the episode until she shows up for the cliffhanger setup. Because Anya Chalotra’s B plot is so compelling; also Henry Cavill’s A plot. The monster plot is decent this episode. But Chalotra’s story is all about read more
Clue: Candlestick (2019) #1
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 23, 2019
Dash Shaw’s style is perfect for Clue: Candlestick. His cartooning is through, detailed, and loose. His figures seem to expand and contract as needed, when they’re pontificating they seem big, when they’re recoiling they seem small. Works with them being noisy and not as well. The comic opens read more
The Witcher (2019) s01e04 – Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 23, 2019
Is tricking a viewer with time periods called a Westworlding it yet? “The Witcher” does a soft Westworld this episode; initially I thought they were just cheap with the CGI establishing shots—Henry Cavill and returning sidekick Joey Batey go to a royal wedding auction (we get a little about the read more
Chasing Echoes (2019)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 22, 2019
The most perplexing thing about Chasing Echoes isn’t how it got made—there’s a writer, there’s an artist—but how it got published. Specifically, the market research saying there are people who are going to buy this thing. If it weren’t for the swearing and the women always bonding over the read more
Gowanus, Brooklyn (2004, Ryan Fleck)
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 22, 2019
Gowanus, Brooklyn is quite possibly the best you could hope for early aughts digital video short. Director Fleck and cinematographer Chris Scarafile know the limitations of the medium. Some of those limitations are seemingly self-imposed—if a scene isn’t obviously handheld, it’s because Scarafile read more
The Witcher (2019) s01e01 – The End’s Beginning
The Stop Button Posted by on Dec 22, 2019
There are so many names to learn in this episode. There are at least seven principals and then there’s a bunch of supporting cast and then everyone they’re information dumping about. “Witcher” is all about the exposition. Except when it’s not and then so long as it’s not about titular character read more