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 Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, Robert Wise)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 26, 2017
The Day the Earth Stood Still opens with these sensational titles. 3D text jumping out, set against the backdrop of space, Bernard Herrmann’s score at its loudest; the titles suggest the film is going to be something grandiose. It is and it isn’t. For the first act, director Wise moves quickly, read more
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976, Nicolas Roeg)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 25, 2017
The Man Who Fell to Earth is an endurance test. The film runs 138 minutes and has a present action of… dozens of years? Eventually Candy Clark and Rip Torn are in old age makeup, milling about the film from scene to scene, like being forgotten by it would be worse. Everyone’s a drunk by the end, read more
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966, Ben Washam and Chuck Jones)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 25, 2017
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! has three rather distinct things going on throughout the twenty-six minute television special. It also some some indistinct things going on–the Whoville songs, while charming, are nowhere near as impressive as the big things. First, but not foremost, is Washam and Jo read more
The Night Stalker (1972, John Llewellyn Moxey)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 24, 2017
The Night Stalker moves with ruthless efficiency. It’s a TV movie, so it’s got a mandated short runtime–seventy-four minutes; Richard Matheson’s teleplay has a brisk pace, something director Moxey embraces. There’s rarely a dull moment in The Night Stalker. It’s always about waiting for read more
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978, Steve Binder)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 22, 2017
The Star Wars Holiday Special elicits a lot of sympathy. Not for the goings on, but for the cast. The easiest cast members to pity are Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford. Not only are they stuck in this contractually obligated ninety-some minute nightmare of terrible television, director read more
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945, Wallace Fox)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 17, 2017
Brenda Starr, Reporter never has a chance. Worse, lead Joan Woodbury never has a chance. Of all the characters in Brenda Starr, Woodbury gets the worst. Well, wait. No. Lottie Harrison gets the worst part. She’s Woodbury’s cousin (and roommate) and she’s constantly making fat jokes at her own read more
Incubus (1966, Leslie Stevens)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 15, 2017
Incubus is the day in the life of a dissatisfied succubus (Allyson Ames) who, after killing three men in the ocean and condemning their souls to hell, decides she wants a challenge. Her sister, also a sucbus (and played by Eloise Hardt), counsels her against the impulse. But Ames won’t be dissuaded read more
Do the Right Thing (1989, Spike Lee)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 15, 2017
There are no clocks in Do the Right Thing. The film takes place over a twenty-four hour period; all the action is on one block, most of the characters live on the block. It’s a Saturday. Some people are working, some people aren’t. It’s a very hot day. And for the first ninety minutes of the film’s read more
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945, Wallace Fox), Chapter 13: The Mystery of the Payroll
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 14, 2017
While most of the thirteen chapters of Brenda Starr, Reporter don’t deal with it, The Mystery of the Payroll is what the whole thing is supposedly about. And it gets solved in the last chapter. Though not really. I mean, it’s solved, but not satisfactorily. In fact, one of the big twists just raisi read more
Hammer, Slammer, & Slade (1990, Mark Schultz)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 13, 2017
Hammer, Slammer, & Slade is a television pilot spin-off of a movie (I’m Gonna Git You Sucka). It has the same writer as the movie–Keenan Ivory Wayans–and much of the movie’s cast. The three “leads” all return from the movie–Bernie Casey is Slade, Jim Brown is Slammer, and Isaac Hayes read more
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945, Wallace Fox), Chapter 12: Murder at Night
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 13, 2017
Murder at Night features two murders at night. It doesn’t, however, have much night. Ira H. Morgan’s day-for-night photography is so inept, most of the action seems like it’s taking place late afternoon. The visual cues run contrary to the script, which has all the action taking place over hours. read more
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945, Wallace Fox), Chapter 11: On the Spot
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 12, 2017
This chapter has Joan Woodbury not just getting out of a trap, she executes a great plan for it too. A surprising one. Not a lot of surprises in Brenda Starr, Reporter, so getting any of significance–even this late (On the Spot is the penultimate penultimate chapter)–is nice. Overall, it’s not read more
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945, Wallace Fox), Chapter 10: A Double-Cross Backfires
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 11, 2017
Brenda Starr is rallying in its last third–A Double-Cross Backfires is a solid serial chapter. Sure, Joan Woodbury gets interviewing and kidnapped duty, but there’s some good action and some actual suspense. The chapter opens in Marion Burns’s house–rigged for her psychic scam–and no one except read more
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945, Wallace Fox), Chapter 9: Dark Magic
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 10, 2017
Dark Magic fully introduces Marion Burns’s psychic character. She showed up at the end of last chapter, but she really didn’t get much to do outside her act. The act, which has everyone panicked this chapter, involves her accusing bad guy Jack Ingram of murder. Then all the lights go out and she, read more
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945, Wallace Fox), Chapter 8: Killer at Large
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 9, 2017
Yes, there’s a Killer at Large, but there are lots of them. The entire gang out bad guys is loose. Brenda Starr’s has all bad ideas when it comes to titling. And, you know, scenes. There’s a scene between lowlifes Ernie Adams and Wheeler Oakman and the conversation repeats itself. Adams might read more
Tampopo (1985, Itami Jûzô)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 8, 2017
Tampopo is a cinematic appreciation of Japanese food culture. Writer and director Itami also has some love of cinema things, but it’s all about the food. Even when it’s played for humor. Or for nurturing. Or for sex. Sexy foodstuffs abound in Tampopo. But Tampopo is also this traditional narrative. read more
The Explosive Generation (1961, Buzz Kulik)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 8, 2017
The Explosive Generation has expert plotting. Joseph Landon’s script; it’s expertly plotted. Even when it high tails it away from the “hook,” it’s still expertly plotted. The film goes from being about teenagers trying to frankly and openly discuss sex in teacher Willi read more
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945, Wallace Fox), Chapter 7: Hideout of Terror
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 8, 2017
There’s a hideout in Hideout of Terror, but there’s no actual terror in that hideout. Most of the chapter is kidnapped Joan Woodbury being traded between kidnappers. First it’s Jack Ingram, then he gets nabbed by Wheeler Oakman. Ingram gets most of the chapter’s action–he’s got to leave read more
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945, Wallace Fox), Chapter 6: Man Hunt
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 7, 2017
Man Hunt is exasperating. All of it. Copper Kane Richmond, who didn’t have the most fantastic part of the previous chapter’s cliffhanger, gets all the resolution. When the story gets back to Joan Woodbury, her initial shock has worn off and she’s just trying to get Wheeler Oakman to leave her read more
Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945, Wallace Fox), Chapter 5: The Big Boss Speaks
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Dec 6, 2017
The Big Boss Speaks does not feature a scene where the Big Boss speaking over the two-way radio setup sets off the cliffhanger. Actually, the part of the chapter where the Big Boss does speak has absolutely nothing important to do with the plot. Except in how wrong the Big Boss is about predicting read more