90 minute running time so the perfect length. Another weird one… post-war mix of romance and violence … guy forces himself on the girl and she submits, not very politically correct … young Lloyd Bridges does some fake fist-fighting … I wasn’t thrilled with this, didn’t think the story was realistic or interesting.
You’re not very courteous!
87 minute running time so the perfect length … deeply weird Fritz Lang movie made before the war ended… about a ring of German spies in London … reminded me at times (the village fête especially) of The Prisoner, the great Patrick McGoohan TV series … but I wasn’t thrilled in the end… it wasn’t interesting, just sort of bizarre. Not sure why Criterion included it in their Collection. “Suffused with dread and paranoia … an unpredictable thriller with style to spare,“ nah, not really. Give it a miss.
Girl from Idaho with unreliable Austrian accent
93 minute running time so the perfect length … had to watch with subtitles since Scottish accents so heavy … a long-haired Ewan McGregor at his most annoying … when semi-good people do bad things tale … the twist at the end was extremely dissatisfying and ruined everything that came before … I wasn’t thrilled. Criterion probably put it in their Collection because it’s low budget, the first movie made by the guys who made Trainspotting, and “stylistically influential.“ Not essential viewing in my opinion.
Scottish yuppies at their most awful
104 minute running time, but I only made it 50 minutes in before quitting. Albert Brooks is a middle-aged guy who moves home with Mom to figure out why he has trouble with women — it’s his Mom’s fault of course. There are some funny bits but I just didn’t want to see this Baby Boomer (Brooks born in ‘47) man-child whining to his aged mother (who must have had him when she was 15 years old) … and I had a major problem with Debbie Reynolds as his Mom since she’s a Gentile and has no business playing a Jewish mother. Marrying Eddie Fisher didn’t make her Jewish. Give it a miss.
I want organic peanut butter, mother
113 minute running time so at least 15 minutes too long, but I liked this one, it’s good. Little James Cagney plays a great psychopathic bad guy, I wonder if he was a little nuts in real life? Crime story, smoggy 1940s LA with City Hall prominently featured, a blonde double-crossing dame, a cop mole in the gang, it has all the elements. See it if you get the chance.
Made it, Ma! Top of the world!
I dig it… especially the opening transitions. Would be a good song to inhale to… thanks to the Spotify algo for recommending it:
86 minute running time, so the perfect length. This is my first Karloff movie and it wasn’t bad, not cheesy at all. Interesting story, decent acting, well plotted … it was really pretty good. It’s in the Criterion Collection for a reason. See it if you get the chance.
Resurrection Joe Looms
Nice live version of Call Off Your Dogs at 32:38 (I don’t think the embed will skip to there).
94 minute running time, but I had to watch it at 2x ffwd. Mid-60s remake of the 1946 movie. More explicitly violent, esp. smacking women around. Lee Marvin plays a good bad guy, Angie Dickinson as femme fatale, President Reagan (who smacks Angie pretty well), John Cassavetes plays Don Draper, Norman Fell looking super Jewish. Soundtrack heavy on the conga drums and blaring horns. Story told in flashbacks again. Pretty lame, no idea why Criterion included it in their collection. Avoid.
Let Ronzo do all the talking
113 minute running time, at least 20 minutes too long. I like Chandler, lots of snappy dialogue (via Faulkner), but the story lost me, too complicated, I didn’t know what the hell was going on. I like Lauren Bacall and her sultry smoker’s voice, her sister (Martha Vickers) was cute too. A complete mystery to me why Humphrey Bogart was a sex symbol, he does nothing for me. Another noir movie from the 1940s that Criterion has put in their collection, but I wasn’t thrilled.
A lot depends on who’s in the saddle
