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You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941, John English and William Witney), Chapter 8: Boomerang
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 18, 2017
Boomerang is the best chapter of Captain Marvel yet. Not because of Captain Marvel action–there’s some, but it’s perfunctory–rather it’s the plotting. Boomerang springboards off something in the previous chapter (unrelated to the cliffhanger), sort of narratively hopping over something. That read more
Justice League (2017, Zack Snyder)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 18, 2017
Justice League exists, whether intentionally or not, outside a certain kind of critical examination. Director Snyder didn’t finish post-production. Or, at least, when the studio demanded lots of reshoots, Snyder wasn’t involved in a creative capacity. The job went to Joss Whedon, who gets a co-writ read more
Dressed to Kill (1980, Brian De Palma)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 17, 2017
Dressed to Kill has oodles of style. It doesn’t have a lot else going for it–a lot of the acting, sure, but the acting never pays off for anyone–but it does have style. Director De Palma and cinematographer Ralf D. Bode create an ethereal New York for the action to play out in. The film opens read more
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941, John English and William Witney), Chapter 7: Human Targets
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 17, 2017
Starting Human Targets, I couldn’t remember what cliffhanger needed to be resolved. It’s not a good one. More of the “Tom Tyler is bad at being a superhero” same. Once it gets resolved, with William ‘Billy’ Benedict shooting the breeze with Tyler and asking zero questions about why Tyler’s read more
Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Challenge (1979, Don McDougall)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 17, 2017
Some of The Dragon’s Challenge’s problems are because it’s a TV two-parter stuck together then packaged as a theatrical. An overseas theatrical, but still a theatrical feature. The action in the first half takes place in New York, with some cuts to villain Richard Erdman making plans. He needs read more
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973, Peter Yates)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 17, 2017
The Friends of Eddie Coyle is an amusing, intentionally misleading title. Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum) doesn’t have any friends. He has various criminal contacts he sees on a regular basis, but he doesn’t consider any of them friends. Mitchum’s a down-on-luck small-time crook who’s about to read more
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941, John English and William Witney), Chapter 6: Lens of Death
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 16, 2017
Lens of Death has great fistfight in the middle. Sadly, it’s not Captain Marvel fighting, but this guy’s butler. The place is being robbed and the butler takes on the two crooks and keeps them busy until Captain Marvel does arrive. There’s no great fight scene Captain Marvel Tom Tyler, though read more
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941, John English and William Witney), Chapter 5: The Scorpion Strikes
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 15, 2017
The cliffhanger resolution at the beginning of The Scorpion Strikes quickly gives way to a fine Captain Marvel action sequence. Tom Tyler gets lots of dialogue as he threatens punks; he even throws one off a building. He captures the last thug left ambulatory and takes him in for questioning. Only read more
The Lottery (1969, Larry Yust)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 15, 2017
The Lottery has a lot of mood. Isidore Mankofsky’s lucid but muted cinematography captures a routine day, not even special with an entire small town gathering in a large field. Director Yust has a few favorite touchstones among the townspeople, though only until the lottery itself starts. Then he read more
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941, John English and William Witney), Chapter 4: Death Takes the Wheel
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 14, 2017
Death Takes the Wheel sadly does not have a Death character driving. It does have a lazy cliffhanger resolution at the open, which will probably echo in the next chapter’s cliffhanger resolution too. The screenwriters have established their cliffhanger resolution pattern. It’s not a good one, that read more
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941, John English and William Witney), Chapter 3: Time Bomb
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 13, 2017
A couple things in Time Bomb stand out. First, there’s how no one seems to care about how the opening cliffhanger resolves. Not for Captain Marvel (Tom Tyler), but for the expedition member being held hostage. It’s not clear anyone even knows about it after its happened. So, not a good thing, a read more
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941, John English and William Witney), Chapter 2: The Guillotine
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 12, 2017
The Guillotine does not open with a satisfying cliffhanger resolution. It’s only Captain Marvel’s second chapter, which probably ought to have a satisfying cliffhanger resolution; it’s mildly concerning it does not. After that lackluster resolution, the story moves back to the United States. Turns read more
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941, John English and William Witney)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 11, 2017
Adventures of Captain Marvel has a lot of action in its first chapter. Setting up the ground situation is even action. There’s an expedition to Thailand and, although they have permits with the occupying British forces, the native people aren’t thrilled with the expedition coming in to tomb rob. read more
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014, Marc Webb)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 10, 2017
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is bereft of good ideas. It’s also bereft of good music–Hans Zimmmer’s bland “superhero” score rattles the brain, bowdlerizing what might be better scenes and effect sequences. It’s impossible to know, because there’s never a single moment of music without ludicrous read more
De Palma (2015, Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 10, 2017
De Palma is director Brian De Palma talking about his films. He’s talking to the directors, Baumbach and Paltrow, but without ever addressing them by name. De Palma’s filmmakers have zero presence in the film, until the epilogue. Matt Mayer and Lauren Minnerath’s editing is magnificent, especially read more
The B.R.A.T. Patrol (1986, Mollie Miller)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 8, 2017
The B.R.A.T. Patrol is about a group of kids on an airforce base who discover one of the MPs is selling military hardware to literal junk yard arms dealers. None of the adults believe them because it’s a “Wonderful World of Disney” movie and there are rules. There are limits and there are rules. read more
The Dark, Dark Hours (1954, Don Medford)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 8, 2017
The Dark, Dark Hours is the story of two desperate beatnik gunmen who just pulled a job and one of them took a bullet. They need a doctor and they find Ronald Reagan. The beatniks are James Dean and Jack Simmons. Simmons is the shot one. Dean’s the moody one whose undoubtedly tragic life has led hi read more
The Perils of Pauline (1914, Louis J. Gasnier and Donald MacKenzie), the European version
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 6, 2017
What remains of The Perils of Pauline is not The Perils of Pauline. This European version is a condensation of the actual serial. The nine chapter European version is about half the original length of the serial. And it’s also not a good translation. English to French to English again. So the Europ read more
The Perils of Pauline (1914, Louis J. Gasnier and Donald MacKenzie), the European version, Chapter 9: The Floating Coffin
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 5, 2017
The Floating Coffin starts as most Perils of Pauline chapters start. Villain Paul Panzer is loitering around lovebirds Pearl White and Crane Wilbur, trying to figure out a way to off White. This time they’re yachting and White wants to go off on her own in a motorboat. Unlike every other chapter of read more
The Perils of Pauline (1914, Louis J. Gasnier and Donald MacKenzie), the European version, Chapter 8: The Serpent in the Flowers
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 4, 2017
The Serpent in the Flowers only refers to one of the many things in this penultimate chapter of The Perils of Pauline. It comes towards the middle, after Paul Panzer has hired gypsy Clifford Bruce to again do away with Pearl White. Panzer senses he’s running out of time to kill White (accordi read more