An American adventure western directed by Monte Hellman, starring Jack Nicholson and Warren Oates.
A woman hires two men from a gold mine to escort her across a desert. The men's co-worker recently had problems in town and left. All along the way, there are problems with the woman and then another man she knows shows up to join them.
This was listed as adic western, but is not. That doesn't mean it is not a good western, though. The plot of characters traveling to some distant point is one of my favorite premises because so much can happen between. The mysterious woman and her even more mysterious gunslinger made a great contrast to the classic rough cowboy and his seemingly infantile partner. This film was made around the same time, with mostly the same cast and crew as Ride in the Whirlwind, but this was a few thousand times better. Same cameras, so video looked good. Framing and composition was amazingly better, just look at this shot (image). I liked the vast expanses of desert for a setting. There was lots of dialogue which was written well and the acting was convincing. The only part I didn't like was the inconclusive ending. I rate this awesome. Watch it.
An American western directed by William A. Wellman, starring Henry Fonda.
A pair of cowboys ride into town and walk into a saloon. Everyone is talking about missing cattle and a murder. A posse is formed and some strangers are found, but are they the right ones?
Another film grouped with acid westerns. This one was also based upon the idea that the west is not a land of opportunity, but merely the pit of despair leading to death. I'm supposed to be accepting of black and white 4:3 films, since I'm so into movies and have watched so many. I really do prefer 16:9 color though. There was one really good group shot that I noticed (image). The plot of this kind of held my attention, but the characters were not developed very well. This did have a message about not jumping to conclusions, forming a posse and just hanging anyone who seems suspicious. Tragic and with a message as it may be, it was not entertaining. I rate it tolerable.
An American western directed by Monte Hellman, starring Cameron Mitchell and Jack Nicholson.
Three cowboys stop to rest where outlaws are hiding and become fellow targets of a manhunt. One of them is shot and the other two hide out at a farm before attempting another escape.
This was not an acid western, but was listed on the Wikipedia page as such. This is the quote from that page which would best fit this film: "in the Acid Western, it is the reverse, a journey towards death; society becomes nightmarish". However, this lacked the outlandish and counter-culture characteristics of acid westerns I have liked.I could tell that this was shot on the type of Technicolor Cinemascope camera/film combos that I like because the video looked good, but the frequent, treble-biased gunfire grated on my ears. This got 6.5/10 on IMDB and 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, so other people think it's relatively good. I just don't see how it's that much different than the average, regular western of the time. I rate it o.k. because it seemed mediocre to me.
An American acid western directed by Robert Downey Sr.
A frontier town is run by a constipated saloon owner. A Jesus character arrives and performs miracles.
Very strange and funny. It is listed as an acid western and I think it fits the genre well. The rambling plot and religious references would seem more at home in Alejandro Jororowsky's catalog if the humor did not seem like it was written by Tom Green. The Jesus character was great and the suffering woman was unique to the western genre. When the space man talent agent showed up, even I found it a little too absurd. It seems that the only people who liked this wrote about it on IMDB. I rate it awesome for uniqueness alone. Watch it.
An American adventure directed by Jim McBride.
A young man and woman live in post-apocalyptic America. The man has seen a Wonder Woman comic which referenced cities and he has become obsessed with the idea. Their scavenger settlement is visited by an entertainer who gives the man a map and matches. They leave to find the city.
This was strange and sparse. It was referenced in Wikipedia's page about acid westerns because of Rudolph Wurlitzer's writing. I've been tracking down the films mentioned there and this came up on the list. I read a few reviews on IMDB and people wrote about the innocence of the main characters and the "semi-schizophrenic absent-mindedness" of the older characters (raegan_butcher). Most people gave it good reviews and 8 or 9/10 there, but the site's score for it is 4.7/10. I was reminded of the book, Riddley Walker (1980 by Russell Hoban) because nobody was really smart after the apocalypse. Some folks could figure out a little bit, but nobody could put it all together. The adventure element of the couple traveling and trying to find shelter and food was alright, but would not hold up without this specific setting. One of my favorite scenes is toward the end when the main characters are living in a busted trailer, trying to act like the photos and writings from before the world broke (image). It is a timely film to watch now, with the corona virus thing going on. I rate it adequate because I like that it was strange, I just wish there had been more action or dialogue. You might want to watch it.
An American drama directed by John Ford, starring Anne Bancroft and Flora Robson.
A new doctor goes to work at an American mission in China. She is not accepted, but her help is needed because a Mongolian warlord is marauding in the nearby area. There is a pregnant woman there and sick people from a nearby British mission show up.
This is supposedly really important as one of the best films ever and is on several lists of those. Wikipedia also says that John Ford was trying to make a point about morality with it. The point was about those who actually act in a moral manner and those who merely claim morality. I thought it was alright. The plot mostly held my attention because there was always something happening. The characters were cast well and the doctor reminded me of Lieutenant Ripley from the Alien franchise (complete with jacket, red hair and cigarette). What I did not like was the production. I find 1960s production to be lacking in an annoying way. Everyone was announcing their lines and the video had a color balance which was too warm for my taste. Other critics gave it mediocre scores and I am too. I rate it o.k.
A Hungarian American mystery thriller directed by J. S. Cardone, starring Johnathon Schaech.
A man and his rich fiancee are on vacation and have a threesome with a woman they meet at the hotel. He then receives photos of them from someone wanting money.
Really terrible. 8mm (1999) was bad enough, but a "sequel" like this is too much. It only borrowed the part of the plot involving someone having sex videos and had a different name in production. Characters and dialogue seemed like a cut and paste job from every other low budget thriller ever made. When Wikipedia says a film is "direct-to-video", that is always a very bad sign. It may not always turn out to be this horrible, but most are. There are only so many ways to say that a movie is bad. The only positive thing I can say is that there was plenty of nudity. If that's all you're looking for, go watch porn instead. I rate this shit because it is. Do not watch!
A German American crime mystery directed by Joel Schumacher, starring Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini and Peter Stormare.
A private detective is sent by a rich woman to find the origin of a snuff film.
I did not like this one bit. It was formulaic and forgettable. The only good character was the guy who worked at the porno shop and he got dismissed quickly. He had clear back-story and could have worked well with Cage to solve this case. It's not that I have moral qualms about porn or snuff films. Folks can masturbate to whatever they want. Humans kill animals all the time and think nothing of it. I don't see how humans killing humans is all that different. I don't even want to write about this because I was counting down the minutes until it was over. I rate it shit. Do not watch!
An American drama directed by Curtis Hanson, starring Kim Basinger.
A young and poor white rapper is trying to start a musical career.
Okay, since you want to rhyme mean. we'll do it different today
Eminem I think your movie was not O.K.
You talk trash in a mic at a stupid little club
I just don't get what's with all the hubbub
The plot left me so bored I snored on the floorboards
Characters so shallow and predictable, by stupid American pop culture they're adored
Don't get me talking about video style
New Hollywood too perfect looks like a shit pile
Mic check one two one two
You didn't do it and I couldn't hear any of you
It's a good thing there were subtitles
So I could just read your lackluster recitals
Everything just seemed so forced and contrived
When the credits roll, the viewer needs to be revived
IMDB 7.1 out of 10
AllMovie 4 out of 5 is 8 out of 10
Rotten Tomatoes 75% Tomatometer 54% Audience Score
metacritic 77 metascore 8.7 userscore
You can call this a dis or you can call it a taunt
but a C- grade is not something I'd flaunt
Fuck Hollywood, pop culture and Eminem
Every aspect of your movie? bad I rate all of them
A Canadian music documentary by Ron Mann.
A man runs a guitar shop in New York city, building guitars from the wood of demolished buildings.
As with most films, there were positive and negative attributes to this. Production was top notch. Everything looked good because of filming in many areas of the shop and having good camera placement and editing. The audio quality was good, but the audio content was not to my liking. Most of the guitarists who played in the shop were not very good. Sure, they are in popular bands, but their posture and technique are terrible and the material they played sounded like music ended in 1977 or so and was only played in America. Some of them I wanted to say "Stop! put it down, can't you hear that it's suffering?". Fortunately, Jim Jarmusch (film director (image)) made an appearance with an acoustic made of some different wood. The decorative work on the instruments was not exactly my style either. Portraits and text blocks just don't seem to belong on a musical instrument. The whole thing was basically Fender Telecaster worship. I get that it's a historic guitar and obviously great for American rock music of the '60s and '70s. There is just so much "else" out there. There were 2 guitars in the shop which looked cool. 1 was a butterfly body design with a Floyd Rose bridge and the other was a '60s Japanese looking thing. There were also wild unfinished body pieces in the backgrounds. "Screw this stuff that looks cool, I want to copy one of the most boring guitars ever." I liked the interview/conversation style of dialogue, but I think that Rick Kelly (the luthier) should have said a little bit more. There was also crying when the young woman who works there celebrated 5 years(?) of that job. I have to rate this tolerable because there was more negative than positive about it. If you like Fender Telecasters and American rock music from 40 - 60 years ago, this film is for you!
American horror films mostly by Don Mancini and David Kirschner, starring Brad Dourif.
A murderer is shot by the cops and uses voodoo to put his soul into the body of a doll. The possessed doll is trying to put his soul into a new human body.
Entertaining is the best description for these. The plots were all along the same lines, but showed a little bit of variety. The first two (1988 & 1990) were my favorites because they were the originals and fit together well with plot, characters and the Andy Barclay actor, Alex Vincent. The other characters came and went, but of them, Jennifer Tilly was most memorable because she was Chucky's bride. The first film was "scariest" because it was more serious and the premise was still fresh. All of the gags, tropes and cliches had not been overused yet. I can still remember the scene when Andy's mother finds that the doll has no batteries in it. As the series went on, humor made more of an impression than horror. Nobody is going to be afraid of the killer doll after the novelty of the gimmick has worn off. Like most horror film villains started in the '80s, Chucky seems immortal. He is repaired, reshaped, repossessed, reincarnated, etc... His motivation is better than Michael Myers of Halloween because he is trying to put his soul in a human body. Unfortunately, like Michael, he just kills anyone anywhere. If you like Nightmare on Elm Street, Critters, Hellraiser, Leprechaun, Puppet Master and Wishmaster, this is another good series to watch. I rate it awesome because although the films declined in quality over time, I still liked the foul-mouthed doll killing people. Watch it.
A French Italian drama directed by Frederico Fellini, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Caredinale and Anouk Aimée.
A director is trying to start making a film, but has trouble making decisions.
This is a very famous film, but I did not like it. The plot seemed extremely desultory and did not serve well to develop the characters. The only character who stood out to me was the director (in the movie). I'm alright with watching black and white films with subtitles sometimes, but the amount of reading in this was too much. There were about as many subtitles as Night Is Short, Walk On Girl (2017). This culminated at the climax, when everyone is asking the director what they should do as he shows up to begin filming. I've been in his place before and it is not fun. I had written a simple script for a scriptwriting class and the professor not only insisted the whole class go with, but he brought a superfluous camera operator who was not even in the class. That was when it turned out that our audio guys went through the whole shoot without recording anything. There was some creative camera placement and blocking in this, but not enough to merit the fame it holds. I rate it bad because the whole film was people yammering and chattering while I was speed reading subtitles. You probably should not watch it.
An American documentary by Reed Cowan and Steven Greenstreet.
People in favor of same-sex marriage speak and protest against the Mormon church and their political actions to prevent it.
Not really a subject which interests me, but it was made quite well. There was more talk than techno. Most of it was interviews. This also made it more information than entertainment. There was only 1 camera placement per interview, but they looked good and there were enough of them that it did not get repetitively boring.I have to add another documentary criteria: crying. There were 2 people in this who cried far too much. This behavior only damages their ability to communicate. The gay couple only cried once (I think, not going back to check), which was alright. I rate this o.k. because it was fine, but not something I'm interested in.
A British American crime comedy directed by Tom Schulman, starring Joe Pesci, George Hamilton and Dyan Cannon.
A mobster loses his bag of decapitated heads at an airport baggage claim. They are picked up by a young man on vacation with his girlfriend's parents. Insert standard stupid American comedy plot here.
Dumb and stale. The plot seemed like every other American comedy with a missing item I've ever seen. Like it was copied and pasted from a previous film. Joe Pesci plays a great mobster (obviously) and David Spade makes great comic relief in a Stephen Chow deadpan delivery, but with Jim Carrey absurdity. The humor(?) was not very funny, except 1 scene: Joe Pesci is sleeping in a hotel room with the heads on a table and dreams that they sing to him. Video looked exactly like every other film from 1993 to 2001 or so. Audio had dialogue I could hear and Mr. Sandman on the soundtrack. I rate this poor because it was not good, but I've seen much worse. You probably should not watch it.
A Spanish American acid western comedy directed by Alex Cox, starring Ed Harris, Richard Masur and Peter Boyle.
A military leader who is totally detached from reality and nearly impervious to bullets leads a mission to bring civilization and democracy to Nicaragua.
Very strange. The humor was almost Stephen Chow style, with deadpan delivery of absurd lines. There were many anachronisms, including modern magazines, a computer and a helicopter. I was unsure whether it was a comedy until this guy was reading Newsweek (image). It was also a violent bloodbath. The plot was not so great, but I think that it was intended to point out America's tyrannical military ventures. The characters were saying that they were bringing democracy to this undeveloped country and then it turned into a massacre. Speaking of characters, the main character was the only one who really counted for anything. His financeer was also important and was cast and acted well. The video looked fine, but I didn't see much outside of standard Hollywood filmmaking style. Audio was in English and Spanish with subtitles which also included the sign language sections. 1987 does it again. I rate this good and it's going in my Acid Western folder. You should probably watch it.
A French Mexican British acid western directed by Jan Kounen, based on a comic by Jean Giraud A.K.A. Moebius, starring Vincent Cassel, Juliette Lewis and Michael Madsen.
Treasure hunters have founs a map to the Native American sacred mountain. The sheriff recognizes one of them as an old enemy and tries to stop him. Luckily, the sheriff is friends with the local shaman, who helps him.
This was like a western, but more. The cowboys were rougher and tougher and there was Indian magic. The plot held my attention very well because there was always something going on. The characters were pretty good, but I would have cast a more extroverted hero. Michael Madsen played a good villain, but should have had more dialogue. Video was high quality and very creative. There was a wide range of shot lengths and camera placements. There were also some CG dream sequences which were very convincing. It was alright that it didn't look photorealistic because it was only used for dream material and worked well like that. Audio was good. I could hear the dialogue, there was appropriate music and I found subtitles which included English as well as all of the foreign language parts. I rate this best, mostly for plot and video. Watch it!
A French Italian musical mystery directed by François Ozon, starring Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Ledoyen, Ludivine Sagnier and Firmine Richard.
A group of women are meeting for Christmas, but find that the man of the house is dead. The grandmother, mother, aunts and daughters are trying to find who killed the husband, but they are all lying for different reasons.
Strange genre combination with lots of reading. The plot was a typical murder mystery, but all of the characters were women from the same family. There was a range of affluenza represented in these characters. All of them were quite famous and featured in many films. They all looked good too. Video was excellent, probably because of post-production color work. I'm referring to high contrast and saturation here. Audio was all in French and the subtitles were on time. The 'subtitles were 'screwy and 'scribbled by 'someone 'stupid who pluralized with apo'strophe's. I have a feeling that in a few year's, the S will grow an apo'strophe in every in'stance. I rate this adequate because the plot held my attention and the video looked amazing. However, it just did not do it for me. I know it's good, but did not suit my personal taste. You should seriously consider watching it.
A British Netherlands Luxembourg German drama directed by Peter Greenaway, starring Toni Collette and Amanda Plummer.
An old woman dies, leaving her husband and son together after the funeral. Being astronomically wealthy, hey decide to build a harem for themselves and collect women who sign contracts to be their concubines.
Excellent! I would put this in a folder with La Grande Bouffe (1973) and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), labeling it "too much of a good thing". The plot took a little while to develop clearly, but it definitely got interesting. I liked the middle section most, which is weird because I usually like film beginnings most. The characters weren't that great, but this was more about plot anyway. Amanda Plummer played Lydia in The Fisher King (1991), Yolanda/Honey Bunny in Pulp Fiction (1994) and Claude's mother in Ken Park (2002) (one of my more popular posts). Toni Collette played Princess Yum Yum's Nanny Witch in The Thief and the Cobbler (1995), Mandy Slade in Velvet Goldmine (1998) and Lynn Sear in The Sixth Sense (1999). Video all looked good. I liked how each section started with script text. There were also manufactured earthquakes which looked convincing. An odd note, this movie about sex has no graphic sex scenes. Audio was terrible. Everything except the helicopter landing was really quiet. The father spoke mostly in whispers. I'm rating this awesome because it's a keeper. If you like the weird, but coherent stuff like I do, this would be a great choice. Watch it.
A French romance directed by François Ozon, starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi.
A couple meet, fall in love, get married and get divorced. It happens backwards though.
I really didn't get this. The plot was extremely unclear because there was no mention or indication that anything was happening in reverse until they get married near the end and then meet at the very end. It opens with the couple getting divorced and then goes to a sex scene. The characters were almost reverse-developed. As the movie went on, it seemed like I knew less about them. The video was decent quality, but predictable and standard. Dialogue was mostly in French and I got subtitles for that, but there were Italian sections which were not included in those subtitles. I didn't notice anything worth mentioning about music. I have to rate this bad because it was so unclear about what was happening.
A Palestinian Israeli French documentary by Emad Burnat.
A man from a small village films protests about the village's land being taken. New housing is being constructed for settlers and there is a barrier, guarded by soldiers.
I think this illustrates a subject that lots of people know is happening, but do not know the details about. Conflict in the Middle East is as old as time itself, but what this film does is show how that effects individual people, families and a village. They are regular humans too, not just something mentioned in passing on the nightly news. There was lots of talk (in Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles) and not much techno (or music). What music there was stayed out of the way. It was definitely more about information than entertainment. 4:3 TV video doesn't float my boat, but it was for POV/PBS and needed to be that way. Emad Burnat spends any footage not involved with protests on filming his youngest son, Gabreel (image). By my documentary criteria, this was great. I just didn't find it all that engaging or interesting. That is just a matter of personal taste. I rate it adequate because it is a great documentary, but I did not really get into it.
An Australian drama directed by Sophie Hyde.
A teen girl's mother is having gender re-assignment to become a man. The girl also makes new friends with whom she experiments with sex.
This seemed longer than it was. The plot was all about relationships between people: family and friends. The characters were developed very well and most of them changed over the duration. Video was newer Hollywood style, but included "found footage" pieces which the main character filmed. Audio was good. I could hear the dialogue, music stayed out of the way and there were good subtitles. A quick note on subject matter: The transgender agenda is really big in the news now for a reason. It's not that so many people want to be the other gender. The real reason is part of a larger depopulation agenda. Trans folks are not going to reproduce. Everyone can see that the world can not handle more people with the way things are. Instead of changing anything to make our society more "sustainable", the globalist elite decided many decades ago that we should just have less people. Check the Georgia Guidestones if you doubt this. I rate this adequate because it was interesting. You might want to check it out.
An American crime film directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Roy Schneider and Ann-Margret.
Criminals record a video of a man cheating on his wife and try to blackmail him. They also catch and kill his mistress on video. He doesn't have enough money, but tries to make a deal with them. The criminals then turn against one another, trying to get a larger share of the money.
This was alright. The plot was clearly presented, but not really what I enjoy watching. The characters were cast and acted unevenly. Some of them were very convincing while others seemed contrived and forced. Video looked more '70s than '80s and there was a really long ending pull out shot, which is a very 1970s thing to do. Audio was a little biased to higher midrange, but I could hear the dialogue. There was a song in the soundtrack which I think may have been used on multiple occasions, but I'm not going back to check. I rate this o.k.
An American drama directed by Jonathan Levine, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anjelica Huston.
A young man gets cancer and has a hard time dealing with it. He breaks up with his girlfriend when his best friend catches her cheating on him. He also begins a romantic relationship with his doctor.
This is about as sappy a film as I can take seriously. The plot was not extremely eventful, more like "slice of life" style. Casting was awesome, so the good actors played their parts well. Some references to note here: Joseph Gordon-Levitt was also in A River Runs Through It (1992), The Lookout (2007), he was Hesher in Hesher (2010) and Wilee in Premium Rush (2012). Anjelica Huston was the Grand High Witch in The Witches (1990) "GRANDMA!". She was also in This is Spinal Tap (1984), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), Art School Confidential (2006), The Darjeeling Limited (2007) and Isle of Dogs (2018). Video was nothing fancy, but it got the job done. There wasn't much creative camera placement that I noticed, but it was not all too dark (horror style) or all too bright (romantic comedy style) either. Audio mostly worked. There was some inaudible whispering and were some crappy soundtrack songs, but I could hear dialogue and music stayed mostly out of the way. I rate this good, but it's not a keeper. Mostly I like who was in it because of what else they were in. You should probably watch it.
An American romantic comedy directed by Peter Segal, starring Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Sean Astin and Dan Aykroyd.
A veteranarian at a sea animal park falls in love with a woman whose memory is erased every night while she sleeps.
Sappy sappy sappy. The simplistic plot had all static characters. Video looked alright, but there was absolutely nothing creative or different about it. Almost like 1940s style camera placement. All of the dialogue was audible, but the soundtrack music was so mainstream and insipid it almost made me puke. I really don't like writing about movies like this. I hate it so bad that I don't even want to mock it or hurl insults. I rate this shit. DO NOT WATCH!
A British war film directed by Michael Powell, starring Lawrence Olivier, Raymond Massey and Anton Walbrook.
A German submarine sinks near Canada. Six of the Germans are stuck in Canada and trying to get back to Europe. They meet trappers, pilgrims, settlers and an author studying native Americans among others.
Really really boring. The plot did not even suggest that I might care what happens. The characters did not offer the option of caring what happened to them. In fact, they were down to 3 guys before I realized the others were not there anymore. Black and white 4:3 video doesn't float my boat, but there were a few scenes with good camera placement. This military command center shot from above looks great (image). The audio was very much of the time. Everyone announced their lines and there was not much non-diegetic music. I rate this bad for being so boring. I would seriously advise against watching this.
An American crime film directed by Walter Hill, strring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy.
Loose cannon cop, Nick Nolte rents criminal, Eddie Murphy from jail to catch other criminals.
Mediocrity... The plot was tired and stale by the 1970s. Casting stars as the cop buddies did not help much, but I like those 2 actors. Wikipedia says it might be the first "buddy cop" movie, but I find that difficult to believe. A memorable scene involved Eddie Murphy bullying a country bar full of rednecks, pretending that he was a cop "experience my bullshit". Video looked '70s and the audio was midrange-biased, exaggerating Nick Nolte's gravelly voice. There's really not much to write about a film like this. I rate it o.k.
A Canadian horror directed by Warren P. Sonoda, starring Ron Perlman.
A group of 5 girls are the first class of a catholic school where a girl disappeared 5 years before. The headmistress is trying to sacrifice them to bring back the missing girl.
Terrible. When I'm counting down minutes until a movie ends, it's really bad. The plot was basic and not very interesting. The characters were underdeveloped to the point that it was not made clear that one of the girls had an eating disorder until she became posessed. Video was alright, but there was too much CG. Some physical effects mixed in would have blurred the line between live action and digital effects, but nobody does that. I want page views, so here's some tits (image). Audio was muffled, compressed and bass-heavy. It may have just been the copy I got, but I think there were original master copy mixing issues as well. If you like The Craft (1996) and Stigmata (1999) and want to know what would happen if they mixed and turned to crap, this is it. I rate it shit. Do not watch!
A Japanese anime romance by Makoto Shinkai.
Takaki Tono is in love with Akari Shinohara, but they move far away from one another for school. They meet once by train, but continue living at a distance. Takaki has 2 girlfriend (consecutively), but can not forget Akari.
Almost cool. The sparse and inconclusive plot was very realistic, as was the intention of Makoto Shinkai. The characters were a little vague. I was having trouble determining whether the boy or girl was the same or different in each episode. I liked the animation style because the settings were extremely realistic, but the characters looked "standard anime" to me. It reminded me of FLCL and some Miyazaki films. The audio was in Japanese and the version I got had hard-coded English subtitles, but that meant I spent most of the duration reading, rather than watching the animation. I rate this adequate. If you're into slower anime without monsters and spaceships, this would be a decent choice.
An American spy film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring James Mason and Danielle Darrieux.
A valet for a British embassador is selling photos of secret documents to the Germans during World War II. He tries to form a relationship with a woman spy, but is unsuccessful. A British counter-intelligence agent is trying to find who is leaking the secret documents.
This was not bad, but not very interesting. The plot did not hold my attention very well because I'm not interested in political intrigue. The characters were acted well and I really like the casting of the counter-intelligence agent. He seemed to fit his role very well. Black and white 4:3 video is really nothing interesting and camera placement of that time seems too obvious and standard now. The audio worked and I could hear all of the dialogue. I rate this poor for being so boring. You probably should not watch it.
An American western mystery directed by Henry Hathaway, starring Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum.
A card game goes terribly wrong when a man is lynched for cheating. Men from the game are being found strangled and there is a new preacher in town.
Pretty cool. I haven't seen many western mysteries (if any) and I think the genre cross works well. The plot held my attention and made me want to know what happened next. The characters were cast and acted well. They made me care what happened to them. Video was Technicolor: YES! Audio was mid-range biased and a little gritty, but I could hear everything. There was also an intro/ending song with card game lyrics. There really isn't much to type when a film is made of all working parts. I rate this good. You should probably watch it.
