Dead of Night is an Ealing anthology from 1945. I don’t know where it fits in the history of anthology films–films composed of a number of shorts, with or without a “bridging” sequence to tie them–because I’m not particularly familiar with the genre. I saw Dead of Night because movielens recommended it, recommended it a […]
Entries from November 2005
Dead of Night (1945, Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer)
November 18th, 2005 No Comments
Recommend on MahaloGremlins (1984, Joe Dante)
November 17th, 2005 No Comments
Okay, I don’t get it. How did Zach Galligan not succeed as an actor? He’s not astoundingly good or anything, but he’s incredibly likable. From his filmography, it looks like he just disappeared… Anyway, I watched Gremlins because I haven’t seen it in ten years and, I don’t know, I thought Blockbuster was sending me […]
Antarctic Journal (2005, Yim Phil-sung)
November 16th, 2005 No Comments
I guess this film has gotten some bad reviews. Or just excessively mediocre ones. It’s not quite populist enough–it sets itself up as a supernatural thriller set in Antarctica, but it’s all really about internal human conflicts and some creepiness sure. I’m trying to think of a good way to describe it and I suppose […]
Sling Blade (1996, Billy Bob Thornton), the director’s cut
November 15th, 2005 No Comments
I’m going to assume Sling Blade was a labor of love for actor/writer/director Billy Bob Thorton (remember how much of a big deal he used to be?), just because it has all the trappings of a labor of love. I watched the newish director’s cut DVD, which runs twenty-two minutes longer than the theatrical version […]
My Name is Nobody (1973, Tonino Valerii)
November 14th, 2005 No Comments
What a peculiar Western. Sergio Leone produced it and directed some of it, so there are a few familiar trappings, particularly Ennio Morricone’s score. Oddly, it’s probably his worst. But the film also stars Henry Fonda and it’s a sort of a follow-up to Once Upon a Time in the Western, except Nobody manages to […]
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005, Shane Black)
November 11th, 2005 No Comments
It’s nice to have Robert Downey Jr. back. Val Kilmer is hardly doing anything, so I always looked at Kiss Kiss Bang Bang as a Kilmer film, but then, watching, I realized that I hadn’t seen Downey in anything since… Wonder Boys? Probably Wonder Boys. But he’s the lead in Kiss Kiss and it reminds […]
The Philadelphia Story (1940, George Cukor)
November 9th, 2005 No Comments
George Cukor must have cheated on his wife at every opportunity, given The Philadelphia Story’s (and The Women before it) rewarding of unfaithful husbands. I watched Philadelphia Story on a lark–I’d never seen it, but had heard of it, and it came up this week. Holy shit–Cukor was gay! I just read it. Huh….
Umm. So, […]
