1948 suspense, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Farley Granger, James Stewart; IMDb / allmovie. Two students commit the perfect murder, and to prove it host a dinner parry over the corpse.
Ths is not at all a mystery: it's made explicit up front just what has happened, and more or less why. So all that's left is the tension: will they look in the chest? No, not yet. Will Phillip break down and confess all? Yeah, it's only a matter of when. Which makes it a little disconcerting when James Stewart's Rupert clearly things he is in a mystery and that this needs to be solved, when in fact it's must a matter of waiting for the weak reed to break.
The famous trick of shooting without apparent cuts is not terribly impressive to this modern viewer (though I wasn't terribly impressed by Birdman either). You could load up to ten minutes of film into a camera, and up to twenty minutes onto a projection reel, so that sets the parameters: a hard cut every twenty minutes, and soft cuts half-way between them. The soft ones usually manage just to have a few seconds with nobody in frame, while the camera can be stopped and the film changed, but the hard ones seem very blatant to me: oh, we'll zoom in on the back of Brandon's jacket, or on the top of the chest as it's opened, for no particular reason. More to the point, it has nothing to say to the story; it's just a gimmick.
The men here all look very similar to me; presumably a contemporaneous viewer would have been able to read subtle stylings of clothing and hair. As it is, I'm grateful for the different suit colours, like the hair colours in an anime series.
Patrick Hamilton, who wrote the original play (as well as Gaslight), claimed this this was not inspired by the Leopold-Loeb case. But it shows some obvious similarities.
I think the reason I ended up not being impressed with this is that it's got one gimmick (the ten-minute shots) and one point to make (these killers are not the supermen they think they are), and once the gimmick ha fallen flat and the point has been made there's nothing much to enjoy for the remainder of the running time.
I talk about this film further on Ribbon of #Memes.
1951 suspense, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Farley Granger, Robert Walker; IMDb / allmovie. Tennis star and political wannaba Guy Haines meets a strange man on a train, who seems to know too much about his private life and proposes that they each commit the murder that the other would find convenient. The price of fame. Then Guy's estranged wife is killed…
This is based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, but differs in important ways: when the book's Bruno contacts Guy to demand that Guy kill his father, he goes through with it, and is caught in the end only through his own incompetence. This Guy is more sympathetic: he's trying to deal honestly with Miriam (while she boasts to him that of course the baby she's now carrying isn't his, but no court will disbelieve her when she says it is), and doesn't for a moment think of killing Bruno's domineering father.
I'll admit that this film got me on its side in the opening shots, when we see Bruno's two-tone shows walking through the station. I don't know whether the US ever called them "co-respondent shoes" in the way the UK did, but at the very least they implied a chap who didn't care much for the politenesses that let society keep running if they got in the way of what he wanted.
But Robert Walker, reminding me slightly of the young Robert Vaughn, does a fine job of seeming like a reasonable person and then pivoting into being just a bit too creepy. But surely he doesn't mean it about the murders, right?
I found the excuse for not involving the police something of a weak one, but it needs to work for the rest of the film to happen: we have to have Guy blackmailed, Guy on the run, Guy thrown on his own resources much in the manner that Roger Thornhill would be in North by Northwest—but Farley Granger is no Cary Grant, and I never find myself quite believing in the suffering and desperation he's trying to portray. Obviously any film is a work of artifice, but it shouldn't to my mind feel like one.
I find myself unreasonably amused the police tactics here: given a roundabout with a bad guy in the middle and lots of children riding it, they happily open fire in an attempt to hit the bad guy.
I like this for the atmosphere much more than for the characters or plot.
1965 Shakespearean adaptation, dir. and starring Orson Welles: IMDb / allmovie. Falstaff!
2019 horror, dir. Ari Aster, Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor: IMDb / allmovie. After the tragic death of her family, Dani goes along with her boyfriend and other anthropology students to visit a commune in Sweden…
1954 suspense, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, Grace Kelly: IMDb / allmovie. Laid up after an accident, photographer "Jeff" Jefferies becomes suspicious of the goings-on in the apartment opposite.
1960 horror, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh;: IMDb / allmovie. Faced with unbearable temptation, Marion Crane steals some money from her employer and flees the city. Tired and wrung out, she stops for the night at a motel…
1949 black comedy, dir. Robert Hamer, Dennis Price, Alec Guinness: IMDb / allmovie. Growing up in poverty after his mother was cast off by her family for marrying unwisely and below herself, Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini determines to have his revenge.
1988 horror/SF/action, dir. John Carpenter, Roddy Piper, Keith David: IMDb / allmovie. It's all a lie!
1999 found-footage horror, dir. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, Heather Donahue; IMDb / allmovie. Three filmmakers enter, no filmmakers leave.
1972 disaster, dir. Ronald Neame, Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine; IMDb / allmovie. The luxury cruise is not going to end well.
1962 historical drama, dir. David Lean, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif; IMDb / allmovie. In a world… one man… epic.
2002 drama, dir. Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund, Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino Da Hora; IMDb / allmovie. You can be the biggest toughest gang leader on the streets, but you're still on the streets.
1941 drama, dir. Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore; ImdB / allmovie. The newspaper magnate has died, and a reporter goes looking for a unique angle on the story that everybody is writing.
2007 neo-noir, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem; IMDb / allmovie. When you find a bunch of dead guys and a lot of money in the desert, obviously you take the money. What could go wrong?
1976 action, dir. John Carpenter, Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston; IMDb / allmovie. The old police station's being decommissioned, and a skeleton crew just has to get through one last night,
1949 drama, dir. Carol Reed, Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles IMDb / allmovie. The innocent arrives in post-war Vienna to accept a job with a friend…
1925 epic drama, dir. Sergei Eisenstein: IMDb / allmovie. The heroic sailors of the Potemkin will not stand for this!
2015 dramatised non-fiction, dir. Adam McKay: IMDb / allmovie. The not particularly true story of how Just One Guy predicted the 2008 financial collapse.
1944 psychological thriller, dir. George Cukor, Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman: IMDb / allmovie. Is she going mad?
1940 psychological thriller, dir. Thorold Dickinson, Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard: IMDb / allmovie. Is she going mad?
1998 drama, dir. Sam Raimi, Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton: IMDb / allmovie. All we have to do is hide the money for a few months while the heat dies down.
1950 noir, dir. Billy Wilder, William Holden, Gloria Swanson: IMDb / allmovie. Just back away now, you'll end up in the same place and it'll hurt less.
1980 horror, dir. John Carpenter, Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis: IMDb / allmovie. The vengeful ghosts are out to get you.
1993 science fiction, dir. Steven Spielberg, Sam Neill, Laura Dern: IMDb / allmovie. How dare they do science!
1986 action, dir. John Woo, Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung: IMDb / allmovie. Two brothers on opposite sides of the law…
1987 science fiction, dir. Paul Verhoeven, Peter Weller, Nancy Allen: IMDb / allmovie. When do we start? As soon as some poor schmuck volunteers.
1978 horror, dir. John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance: IMDb / allmovie. The killer child has grown up and come home.
1980 science fiction, dir. Jimmy T. Murakami, Richard Thomas, Robert Vaughn; IMDb / allmovie. The villagers know the bandits are coming, so they hire fighters to defend them. In space.
1960 western, dir. John Sturges, Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen; IMDb / allmovie. The villagers know the bandits are coming, so they hire fighters to defend them.
1954 Japanese drama, dir. Akira Kurosawa, Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune; IMDb / allmovie. The villagers know the bandits are coming, so they hire fighters to defend them.
1976 adventure, dir. Richard Lester, Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn; IMDb / allmovie. After many years abroad with King Richard, Robin finally comes home to Marian, but life has moved on.
1947 glurge, dir. George Seaton, John Payne, Maureen O'Hara: IMDb / allmovie. If you don't believe in Santa Claus you're an old meaniehead.
1946 glurge, dir. Frank Capra, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore: IMDb / allmovie. You can't win, you can't break even, and God won't let you get out of the game.
2016 Korean horror, dir. Yeon Sang-ho; Gong Yoo, Kim Su-an; IMDb / allmovie. There's an extra passenger aboard the express. (Vtt Busanhaeng or 부산행.)
2007 Spanish found-footage horror, stylised as "[•REC]"; dir. Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza; Manuela Velasco: IMDb / allmovie. Making a documentary about the night shift at the fire station is not going to end well.
1920 surreal horror, dir. Robert Wiene, Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt; IMDb / allmovie. The mysterious Caligari sets up at the town fair, with his somnambulistic subject, and people start to die…
2009 science fiction, dir. Duncan Jones, Sam Rockwell: IMDb / allmovie. Sam's coming to the end of his three-year shift supervising helium-3 mining robots on the moon…
1995 science fiction, dir. Terry Gilliam, Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt: IMDb / allmovie. After the plague, a man is sent back in time to try to get a sample of the original strain.
1962 shoft science fiction, dir. Chris Marker, Davos Hanich, Hélène Châtelain: IMDb / allmovie. After the war, a man is sent back to his memories of the past.
1955 thriller, dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, Yves Montand, Charles Vanel: IMDb / allmovie. When you're stuck at the end of the world, you'll take any chance to get back.
1999 pseudo-historical fantasy, dir. John McTiernan*, Antonio Banderas, Vladimir Kulich: IMDb / allmovie. Ahmad ibn Fadlan's diplomatic mission to the Volga Vikings goes further than anyone expected.
1957 noir, dir. Alexander Mackendrick, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster; IMDb / allmovie. Compromise enough and there's nothing left; then the film begins.
2023 comedy-horror, dir. Chris McKay, Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina: IMDb / allmovie. What if Dracula's servitor tried to get out from under his thumb?
1947 mystery-comedy, dir. Edward Buzzell, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. That devil music, it's no good!
1944 mystery-comedy, dir. Richard Thorpe, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. There's nothing like going back to your home town.
1941 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. Can new screenwriters revive the series, without Dashiell Hammett's help?
1939 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. Everyone wanted the old man dead.
1936 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. The husband has deserted his wife, and she wants to track him down.
1934 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. Turns out life doesn't have to end at marriage.
1986 martial arts fantasy, dir. John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall: IMDb / allmovie. Jack Burton doesn't care about immortal sorcerers and demon kings, he just wants his truck back.
1963 thriller/horror, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor: IMDb / allmovie. The spoiled socialite goes to the small seaside town to track down her latest potential conquest…
1959 thriller, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint: IMDb / allmovie. The ordinary man is suddenly thrown into Cool Spy World.
1958 psychological drama, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, Kim Novak: IMDb / allmovie. Obsession is not good for you.
1948 psychological adventure, dir. John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston: IMDb / allmovie. Gold fever takes men in strange ways.
1984 adventure, dir. Robert Zemeckis, Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner: IMDb / AllMovie. Joan the mousy romance writer has to travel to Colombia to pay off the people who've kidnapped her sister…
1983 adventure, dir. Brian G. Hutton, Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong: IMDb / AllMovie. It's the 1920s. Eve Tozer's father will be declared dead, and his crooked business partner will take over the company, unless she can find him and get him to a British court. What this needs is a drunken war hero!
1987 science fiction action, dir. Paul Michael Glaser, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Dawson: IMDb / allmovie. The only real game is the game of death.
1987 science fiction action horror, dir. John McTiernan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers: IMDb / allmovie. There's something out there waiting for us, and it ain't no man.
1985 action, dir. Mark Lester, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rae Dawn Chong: IMDb / allmovie. A tragic love story.
1944 noir, dir. Billy Wilder, Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck: IMDb / allmovie. He doesn't get the money, and he doesn't get the woman.
2019 horror, dir. Richard Stanley, Nicolas Cage, Madeleine Arthur: IMDb / allmovie. There's something in the water…
2011 horror, dir. Sean Branney, Matt Foyer, Autumn Wendel: IMDb / allmovie. Albert Wilmarth is about to go deeper into folklore than he ever intended.
2010 horror, Huan Vu, Ingo Heise, Marco Leibnitz: IMDb / allmovie. Why has Dad gone back to a part of Germany he visited during the war? vt The Color Out of Space.
2005 horror, Sean Branney and Andrew Leman, Matt Foyer: IMDb / allmovie. Great-uncle left some very disturbing papers…
2022 whodunnit, dir. Rian Johnson, Daniel Craig, Janelle Monáe: IMDb / allmovie. The tech billionaire hosts a murder mystery party on his private island. It doesn't go well.
2019 whodunnit, dir. Rian Johnson, Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas: IMDb / allmovie. The rich old man is stabbed after his 85th birthday party; whodunnit?
2021 SF, dir. Lana Wachowski, Keanu Reeves, Jessica Henwick; IMDb / allmovie. What if we ignored the films that were not so good?
2003 SF, dir. Wachowskis, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne; IMDb / allmovie. See Neo fight. Fight, Neo, fight.
2003 SF, dir. Wachowskis, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne; IMDb / allmovie. OK, so you're God. Now what?
1999 SF, dir. Wachowskis, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne; IMDb / allmovie. What if it were all, like, a simulation, man?
2021 crime, dir. Michael Sarnoski, Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff: IMDb / allmovie. He just wants his pig back.
2020 drama, dir. Emerald Fennell, Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham: IMDb / allmovie. When she was a medical student, her friend was raped, and killed herself after nobody believed her. She's going to stop that happening again.
2020 pseudo-documentary, dir. Chloé Zhao, Frances McDormand; IMDb / allmovie. Migrant labour is still a thing.
2022 animated action, dir. Angus MacLane, Chris Evans, Keke Palmer: IMDb / allmovie. Buzz the Space Ranger learns to be a good person.
2019 animated action/comedy, dir. Josh Cooley / John Lasseter, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen: IMDb / allmovie. What if God is just a series of children?
2010 animated action/comedy, dir. Lee Unkrich, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen: IMDb / allmovie. Growing up is a thing now.
1999 animated action/comedy, dir. Ash Brannon / John Lasseter / Lee Unkrich, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen: IMDb / allmovie. What is the righteous path to take in your life?
1995 animated action/comedy, dir. John Lasseter, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen: IMDb / allmovie. What if the toys could, like, come to life, man?
2019 crime tragedy, dir. Josh and Benny Safdie, Adam Sandler; IMDb / allmovie. Gambling with the mob's money is not good for your health.
2018 animated superheroics, dir. Brad Bird, Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter; IMDb / allmovie. I know, let's give the chick something to do!
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)
2004 animated superheroics, dir. Brad Bird, Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter; IMDb / allmovie. What does a superhero do when superheroes are illegal?
1983 action parody, dir. Dick Clement, Alan Shearman, Diz White: IMDb / allmovie. The dashing Captain Crummond (war hero, flying ace, Olympic athlete, racing driver, and part-time sleuth) defends the Empire against the machinations of the evil Count Otto von Bruno. Later vt Bullshot Crummond.
2018 drama, dir. Alfonso Cuarón; Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira: IMDb / allmovie. A year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the 1970s, as mostly seen through the eyes of their maid.
2017 SF, dir. Denis Villeneuve, Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford; IMDb / allmovie. Turns out slaves may think they're people.
2018 drama, dir. Martin McDonagh, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell: IMDb / allmovie. Her daughter was raped and murdered, and nobody's caught the killer…
2016 SF, dir. Denis Villeneuve, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner; IMDb / allmovie. The alien ships arrive, but nobody knows how to communicate with their occupants.
2018 horror/comedy, dir. Brendan Steere, Greg Cohan, Alyssa Kempinski: IMDb / allmovie. After his parents are killed, a priest travels to China, and finds he's gained the ability to transform into a dinosaur. With a prostitute as his moral guide, he sets out to fight for justice.
2022 action comedy, dir. Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein, Alice Lucy: IMDb. They killed her parents and her boyfriend, and her grandfather, and now Heidi's striking back.
2015 action, dir. George Miller, Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron: IMDb / allmovie. Who killed the world?
1979 action, dir. George Miller/George Ogilvie, Mel Gibson, Tina Turner: IMDb / allmovie. We don't need another hero.
1981 action, dir. George Miller, Mel Gibson, Vernon Wells: IMDb / allmovie. After the end of the world, you can still get petrol and spiked leather. US vt The Road Warrior.
1979 action, dir. George Miller, Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel: IMDb / allmovie. Oil is running out, but there are still cops.
2015 drama, dir. Tom McCarthy, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo: IMDb / allmovie. The Boston Globe's investigative team is going to get to the bottom of this story no matter who tells them to lay off.
2014 science fiction, dir. Doug Liman, Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt; IMDb / allmovie. Groundhog Day meets Aliens.
2009 science fiction, dir. J. J. Abrams, Chris Pine. Zachary Quinto: IMDb / allmovie. A franchise reboot, but yet another civilisation-scale threat.
2014 drama, dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu, Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis; IMDb / allmovie. Back in the day, Riggan Thompson played the hero in the Birdman films; now he's putting on a Broadway play in a bid to be taken seriously for his art.
2013 science fiction, dir. Alfonso Cuarón, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney; IMDb / allmovie. Kessler syndrome is not your friend.
2013 romantic drama, dir. Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy; IMDb / allmovie. Another nine years later, Jesse and Celine are raising their children, but have they turned into their own unhappy parents?
2004 romantic drama, dir. Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy; IMDb / allmovie. Nine years later, Jesse and Celine meet again.
1995 romantic drama, dir. Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy; IMDb / allmovie. Two people meet on a train, and decide to spend the night exploring Vienna.
2012 historical drama, dir. Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman: IMDb / allmovie. How to get six American State Department employees out of revolutionary Tehran? The CIA pretends to make a film…
2011 science fiction, dir. Joe Cornish, John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker: IMDb / allmovie. The aliens picked on the wrong gang.
2011 drama, dir. Michel Hazanavicius, Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo; IMDb / allmovie. George Valentin is a star of the silver screen, but the talkies are coming…
1942 wartime romance and comedy, dir. Michael Curtiz, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman: IMDb / allmovie. As refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe collect in Casablanca on the way to Lisbon and freedom, everybody comes to Rick's Café Americain.
2010 SF romance, dir. Mark Romanek, Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley: IMDb / allmovie. The generic love triangle plays out over a dark background. Spoilers.
2009 horror, dir. Neil Blomkamp, Sharlto Copley, David James; IMDb / allmovie. The people who don't look like us have to be moved on.
2009 war, dir. Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent: IMDb / allmovie. Dakka dakka dakka aieee for you Tommy ze var is over.
2008 war, dir. John Woo, Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro: IMDb 1 and 2 / allmovie 1 and 2. A true historical epic, based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
2008 war, dir. Kathryn Bigelow, Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie: IMDb / allmovie. War is a drug.
2020 documentary, dir. Matt Riddlehoover, Roseanne Cash, Kathy Cash Tittle; IMDb / allmovie. Hello. He's Johnny Cash.
2007 horror, dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Robert Carlyle, Imogen Poots; IMDb / allmovie. The zombies are still out.
2002 horror, dir. Danny Boyle, Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris; IMDb / allmovie. The zombies are out, and now they're fast.
2007 drama, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano; IMDb / allmovie. Horrible oilman is horrible.
2006 SF action, dir. Guillermo del Toro, Ivana Baquero, Maribel Verdú: IMDb / allmovie. As the Spanish Civil War grinds to an end, a woman goes to live with her new husband, taking her daughter with her. But there is dark wonder behind every tree.
2006 SF action, dir. Alfonso Cuaròn, Clive Owen, Clare-Hope Ashitey: IMDb / allmovie. Twenty years after babies stopped being born, there may still be some hope.
2005 biopic, dir. James Mangold, Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon: IMDb / allmovie. Hello. I'm Johnny Cash.
2005 action, dir. David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen, William Hurt: IMDb / allmovie. The guy doesn't do that any more, only this one last time he does.
2004 drama, dir. Mike Leigh, Imelda Staunton: IMDb / allmovie. Vera is nice and helpful to everyone, and that includes helping out girls in trouble.
2004 science fiction horror, dir. Shane Carruth, David Sullivan: IMDb / allmovie. Uh-oh, we've invented time travel.
2003 historical war, dir. Peter Weir, Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany; IMDb / AllMovie. In 1805, HMS Surprise goes out hunting a French frigate…
2003 romantic comedy/drama, dir. Sofia Coppola, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johanson; IMDb / allmovie. Two people in Tokyo find themselves isolated and rootless.
2002 science fiction, dir. Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow: IMDb / allmovie. Precrime stops murders before they happen. But what happens when its boss is named as a future murderer?
2002 drama, dir. Roman Polanski, Adrien Brody: IMDb / allmovie. As the Jews of Krakow are rounded up into the ghetto, one pianist finds out that he's a survivor.
2001 science fiction horror, dir. John Carpenter, Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube: IMDb / allmovie. It's just a routine prisoner transfer.
2001 unclassifiable, dir. David Lynch, Naomi Watts, Laura Harring; IMDb / allmovie. The dame is trouble.
2000 crime, dir. Steven Soderbergh, Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle: IMDb / allmovie. Maybe after a hundred years of throwing more police at the drug problem we might try something different?
2000 horror, dir. E. Elias Merhige, John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe; IMDb / allmovie. In 1921, Murnau travels from Berlin to make a film about the mysterious Count Orlock.
1922 horror, dir. F. W. Murnau, Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim; IMDb / allmovie. Hutter travels from his coastal German home to sell a house to the mysterious Orlock.
1999 religious comedy, dir. Kevin Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Ben Affleck: IMDb / allmovie. A brief revival of the plenary indulgence gives two banished angels the chance to get back into heaven… but that might be really quite a bad thing.
1999 drama, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, and a large cast; IMDb / allmovie. Stuff happens.
1999 SF noir, dir. Alex Proyas, Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland,; IMDb / allmovie. When you wake up a bath with no memories and a murdered hooker, you don't stop to ask questions.
1998 crime/comedy, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, Jeff Bridges; IMDb / allmovie. That rug really tied the room together.
1997 crime drama and romantic comedy, dir. George Armitage, John Cusack, Minnie Driver; IMDb / allmovie. What could go wrong with combining an assassination job with your high school reunion?
1997 police/crime drama, dir. Curtis Hanson, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce: IMDb / allmovie. In 1950s Los Angeles, even the straight cops are bent.
1996 romantic horror, dir. Stephen Frears, Julia Roberts, John Malkovich: IMDb / allmovie. Mary is a maid of all work in the household of one Dr Jekyll…
1996 crime drama/black comedy, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, Frances McDormand: IMDb / allmovie. Jerry just wants his wife kidnapped so that her rich father will pay a ransom, that he'll then split with the kidnappers. But subcontracting crime rarely pays.
1996 romantic drama, dir. Anthony Minghella, Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas: IMDb / allmovie. As the final victory over Axis forces in Italy approaches, a nurse looks after a badly-burned mystery man in an abandoned monastery.
1995 SF noir, dir. Kathryn Bigelow, Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett; IMDb / AllMovie. Paranoia's just reality on a finer scale.
1995 space history, dir. Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton; IMDb / AllMovie. Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here.
2001 horror, dir. Stuart Gordon, Ezra Godden, Francisco Rabal: IMDb / allmovie. No one leave Imboca. People come, but no one leave.
1985 horror, dir. Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott: IMDb / allmovie. New medical student Herbert West is dedicated to his work…
1994 horror, dir. John Carpenter, Sam Neill, Julie Carmen: IMDb / allmovie. The insurance investigator is sent to find the wildly popular horror author, who's vanished with the overdue manuscript of his latest book…
1994 crime drama, dir. Quentin Tarantino, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson: IMDb / allmovie.
1993 action comedy, dir. John McTiernan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charles Dance: IMDb / allmovie. Danny loves the Jack Slater movies, but he didn't expect to find himself in one.
1993 drama, dir. Steven Spielberg, Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley: IMDb / allmovie. As the Jews of Krakow are rounded up into the ghetto, one Nazi businessman sees a way to get rich.
1992 crime drama, dir. Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth: IMDb / allmovie. What happens if the manager won't give you the diamonds?
1967 crime/revenge film, dir. John Boorman, Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson; IMDb / allmovie. Walker's partner in crime betrayed him, took his wife and left him for dead. Walker wants his money back.
2017 SF horror, dir. Dagen Merrill, Sarah Habel, Dominic Monaghan: IMDb / allmovie. Something's amiss at a nuclear power plant… of the future.
2014 fantasy, dir. Mark Atkins, Scott Martin, Ross Brooks: IMDb / allmovie. In the Second World War, the Nazis have got dragons. That's about it really.
1992 western, dir. and starring Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman: IMDb / allmovie. William Munny was a bad man, until his wife reformed him. But she's dead.
1991 science fiction, dir. James Cameron, Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger: IMDb / allmovie. Two more soldiers from the future, and a different target to kill or protect.
1984 science fiction, dir. James Cameron, Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger: IMDb / allmovie. Two soldiers from the future fight to kill, or save, the mother of the revolution.
1991 drama, dir. Ridley Scott, Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis; IMDb / allmovie. It was just supposed to be a weekend trip to a cabin in the mountains…
1990 science fiction/comedy, dir. Robert Zemeckis, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd: IMDb / allmovie. You're just not thinking fourth dimensionally!
1989 science fiction/comedy, dir. Robert Zemeckis, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd: IMDb / allmovie. We've got to do something about your kids!
1985 science fiction/comedy, dir. Robert Zemeckis, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd: IMDb / allmovie. You built a time machine? In a DeLorean?
1990 Mafia drama, dir. Martin Scorsese, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci: IMDb / allmovie. Henry Hill learns that being a wiseguy is great fun, until it isn't.
1989 black comedy, dir. Michael Lehmann, Winona Ryder, Christian Slater: IMDb / allmovie. Veronica's part of the Top Clique, but isn't actually into pointless cruelty and drunken sex. New student JD seems to offer an alternative…
1989 drama, dir. Spike Lee, Danny Aiello; IMDb / allmovie. On the hottest day of the year, on a block in Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, nobody was planning that the day would end with a death.
1988 thriller/action, dir. John McTiernan, Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman; IMDb / allmovie.
1988 drama, dir. Guiseppe Tornatore: IMDb / allmovie. Salvatore the famous filmmaker learns that Alfredo is dead; but who was Alfredo to him? Released as Nuovo Cinema Paradiso in Italy.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others..)
1968 war, dir. John Wayne and Ray Kellogg, Wayne, David Janssen: IMDb / allmovie.
1987 war, dir. John Irvin, Dylan McDermott, Courtney B. Vance: IMDb / allmovie. Even the breaks between war are fairly hellish.
1987 war, dir. Barry Levinson, Robin Williams: IMDb / allmovie. A laugh a minute in good old Vietnam.
1987 war, dir. Stanley Kubrick, Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey: IMDb / allmovie. Boot camp is hell, then it gets worse.
1986 war, dir. Oliver Stone, Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger: IMDb / allmovie. Turns out war isn't as bad as you thought; it's worse.
1987 drama, dir. John Huston, Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann: IMDb / allmovie. Everybody is miserable (in Dublin in 1904).
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate most things.)
1986 science fiction, dir. James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn: IMDb / allmovie. Game over man, game over.
1979 science fiction horror, dir. Ridley Scott, Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver: IMDb / allmovie. Nobody listens to the woman, and as a result they all die.
1958 science fiction, dir. Edward L. Cahn, Marshall Thompson, Shawn Smith: IMDb / allmovie. The last survivor of the first Mars expedition is being brought back to face a court-martial for killing all the others. But his mad story of a monster might just be true…
1986 drama, dir. Rob Reiner, Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix: IMDb / allmovie. In 1959, four kids go out following a rumour of a dead body…
1985 drama, dir. John Hughes, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald: IMDb / allmovie. Five high school kids are in weekend detention. Much to their surprise, this will actually have a positive effect on them.
2021 thriller/mystery, dir. Jaume Colette-Sara, Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt; IMDb / allmovie. In 1916, Dr Lily Houghton travels up the Amazon in search of a tree that could revolutionise medicine…
1985 drama/tragedy, dir. Mike Newell, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Everett: IMDb / allmovie. In 1955, Ruth Ellis just wants to run a nightclub and do a little prostitution on the side, but things have to get all complicated.
1984 drama/black comedy, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, John Getz, Frances McDormand: IMDb / allmovie. Abby was just planning to leave her husband, but then it all got complicated.
1984 drama, dir. Wim Wenders, Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski: IMDb / allmovie. A man stumbles out of the desert, and collapses. Why was he there? What will he do next?
1983 drama/comedy, dir. Bill Forsyth, Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson; IMDb / allmovie. Young privileged man travels from Houston to Charming Rural Land, and learns an Important Lesson about Life.
1982 science fiction horror, dir. John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley: IMDb / allmovie. So the antarctic scientists find an alien spaceship in the ice…
1951 science fiction, dir. Christian Nyby, Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan: IMDb / allmovie. So the arctic scientists find an alien spaceship in the ice…
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Since I started doing a film review podcast I hate slightly less of everything, but I hate generic film with nothing to say if anything more than before.)
1983 aviation/space, dir. Philip Kaufman, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn; IMDb / AllMovie. As the cutting edge of aviation shifts from transonic flight to spaceflight, NASA needs a new sort of hero.
1982 drama, dir. Barry Levinson, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon; IMDb / allmovie. In 1959, young men contemplate growing up, and decide that it's too much like hard work.
1981 adventure, dir. Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Karen Allen; IMDb / AllMovie. In 1936, the treasure-hunting "archaeologist" Indiana Jones tries to beat the Nazis to the lost Ark of the Covenant.
1981 war, dir. Wolfgang Peterson, Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer; IMDb / AllMovie. In late 1941, U-96 goes out hunting Allied ships…
1980 air disaster spoof, dir. Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker, Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty: IMDb / allmovie. It's Zero Hour! all over again, with jokes. vt Flying High!
1974 air disaster film, dir. Jack Smight, Charlton Heston, Karen Black: IMDb / allmovie. Midair collision over Salt Lake… vt Airport '75.
1970 air disaster film, dir. George Seaton, Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin: IMDb / allmovie. Everything's happening at Chicago Airport tonight…
1957 aviation disaster, dir. Hall Bartlett, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell: IMDb / allmovie. Looks like you picked the wrong week to quit smoking.
1954 disaster film, dir. William A. Wellman, John Wayne, Claire Trevor: IMDb / allmovie. A 2,000-mile overwater flight is no place for an engine to explode.
1980 drama, dir. Martin Scorsese, Robert de Niro, Joe Pesci; IMDb / allmovie. The boxer is on the way up, then he's on the way down.
1978 horror, dir. George Romero, David Emge, Ken Foree: IMDb / allmovie. The dead are still rising, and they're still hungry.
1968 horror, dir. George Romero, Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea: IMDb / allmovie. The dead are rising, and they're hungry.
1979 war, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall: IMDb / allmovie. Captain Willard is sent upriver to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, who's fighting the war just a bit too well.
2008 science fiction, dir. Scott Derrickson, Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly: IMDb / allmovie. The aliens land with a message for humanity, and the humans immediately shoot one of them.
1959 science fiction, dir. Ed Wood, Gregory Walcott, Bela Lugosi: IMDb / allmovie. The aliens land with a message for humanity, but that message is apparently "Your stupid brains!" Original vt: Grave Robbers From Outer Space.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. I still hate everything.)
1951 science fiction, dir. Robert Wise, Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal: IMDb / allmovie. The aliens land with a message for humanity, and the humans immediately shoot one of them.
1976 horror, dir. Bert I. Gordon, Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin: IMDb / allmovie. "Based on a Portion of the Novel By H. G. Wells."
1977 science fiction, dir. Steven Spielberg, Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon: IMDb / allmovie. The aliens are coming! The aliens are coming!
1976 drama, dir. Sidney Lumet, Peter Finch, William Holden; IMDb / allmovie. What TV really needs is a lunatic.
1975 thriller, dir. John Huston, Michael Caine, Sean Connery; IMDb / allmovie. The two ex-soldiers have a great idea…
1975 thriller, dir. Steven Spielberg, Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw: IMDb / allmovie. You can't close the beaches if only one person has died…
1973 noir-esque, dir. Robert Altman, Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt: IMDb / allmovie. So one night the private eye's buddy asks him for a lift…
1946 noir, dir. Howard Hawks, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall: IMDb / allmovie. The general hires the private eye to deal with his daughter's blackmailer…
1941 noir, dir. John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor: IMDb / allmovie. So for a third time the dame hires the private eye to find her sister, who ran off with a man…
1936 noir comedy, dir. William Dieterle, Warren William, Bette Davis: IMDb / allmovie. So once more the dame hires the private eye to find her sister, who ran off with a man… Vtt Men On Her Mind, The Man in the Black Hat, Hard Luck Dame.
1931 noir, dir. Roy del Ruth, Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels: IMDb / allmovie. So the dame hires the private eye to find her sister, who ran off with a man… Vtt Woman of the World, All Women, Dangerous Female.
1974 noir, dir. Roman Polański, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway: IMDb / allmovie. They never just want you to follow their erring husband… Spoilers.
1967 crime, dir. Arthur Penn, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway: IMDb / allmovie. Bored girl meets bad man. Death ensues.
1973 crime, dir. Terrence Malick, Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek: IMDb / allmovie. Bad boy Kit meets good(-ish) girl Holly. Death ensues.
2020 fantasy, dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood, Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne: IMDb / allmovie. From the dawn of time they came, moving silently down the centuries…
Inspired by someone's passing comment on M's office in the James Bond films having a "green baize door", which I was fairly sure was wrong, I thought I'd go and check.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)
2020 fantasy action, dir. Paul W. S. Anderson, Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa: IMDb / allmovie. A US Army patrol somewhere in Afghanistan is about to meet something it really didn't expect…
2020, dir. Roseanne Liang, Chloë Grace Moretz, Taylor John Smith: IMDb / allmovie. In 1943, Flight Office Maude Garrett boards a B-17 that's ferrying from Auckland to Samoa, with secret orders and a mysterious package. But she's not the only unexpected passenger on this flight.
2016, dir. Nacho Vigalondo, Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis: IMDb / allmovie. Gloria is a drunken wreck who's gone back to her hometown; and a giant monster is rampaging through Seoul. Spoilers.
2018, dir. James Franco/Bruce Thierry Cheung, Jeff Wahlberg, Suki Waterhouse: IMDb / allmovie. After the androids were used to fight the Last War and civilisation fell, all is sand and motorcycles, and hawt babes are a far more jealously-guarded resource than leather or petrol.
2019, dir. Mike Mitchell/Trisha Gum, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks: IMDb / allmovie
The peace of Brickville is shattered by invaders from Duplo.
2016 action comedy, dir. Paul Feig, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon: IMDb / allmovie.
Two paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker band together to save New York from paranormal threat.
2018 action comedy, dir. Susanna Fogel, Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon: IMDb / allmovie.
Drew dumped Audrey by text message a few days ago… then two men claiming to be from the CIA interrogate her… then Drew comes in suddenly through her window. Then he gets shot by someone her roommate Morgan picked up the night before…
2019 documentary, dir. Jack Bennett: IMDb / AllMovie.
The surviving cast and crew of Galaxy Quest discuss, twenty years later, the making and reception of the film.
2020 documentary, dir. Kate Stirr: IMDb.
The Makani project tried to solve a simple problem: wind turbines are already big and expensive, but there's more wind at higher altitudes. So why not put a wind turbine on a kite rather than on a pole?
2020 thriller/mystery, dir. Harry Bradbeer, Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill; IMDb / allmovie.
On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Enola Holmes finds that her mother has disappeared without a word. But since she's the younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock, she doesn't wait to see what will happen next. On the way to London, she runs into someone fleeing from his own problems…
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: if you don't know by now…)
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: The experiments that the Payne Fund carried out concentrated on such issues as the extent to which children learnt from film and how well they retained what they learnt; the possibility that exposure to film affected attitudes; and how moral standards might be affected by what was viewed. The findings of these studies showed that the human mind could be shaped and moulded by persons in positions of influence; and, in this context, the film maker was in an almost unique position of influence.)
1973 animated children's comedy, dir. Wolfgang Reitherman; IMDb / allmovie. They sing and dance in the forest…
1938 adventure, dir. Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland; IMDb / allmovie. Prince John oppresses the Saxons; a Saxon lord fights back.
1922 adventure, dir. Allen Dwan, Douglas Fairbanks, Wallace Beery; IMDb / allmovie. The Earl of Huntingdon goes off to the Crusades with King Richard…
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: The success of most Hollywood films these days is down to the fact that they're comforting. They tie things up in nice little bows and give you answers, even if the answers are stupid, you go home and you don't have to think about it.)
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: a pastime for helots, a diversion for uneducated, wretched, worn-out creatures who are consumed by their worries, … a spectacle which requires no concentration and presupposes no intelligence,… which kindles no light in the heart and awakens no hope other than the ridiculous one of someday becoming a "star" in Los Angeles…)
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them; things seem to have got started again, though there are more TV series trailers in the mix than usual. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: When you've got these kinds of sums involved in creating another two hours of entertainment for Western teenagers, I feel it crosses the line from being merely distasteful to being wrong.)
Some trailers I've seen recently, at least the few that are still being released, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: There is only one thing that can kill the movies, and that is education.)
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation, or creed.)
2019 thriller, dir. Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott; IMDb / allmovie.
The Townsend Agency is a covert international force for justice. Now they have to prevent a new technology from being turned into a universal assassination tool.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: Hatreds are the cinders of affection.)
2015 animation, dir. Mark Burton, Richard Starzak; IMDb / allmovie.
When the sheep get bored with the hard work of life on the farm, they lock the farmer in a caravan for a day off. Chaos ensues.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: It was his love of hatred that kept him going.)
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: When our hatred is too keen it places us beneath those we hate.)
In 2018 I watched 5 films; in 2019 I watched 32.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: It does not matter much what a man hates, provided he hates something.)
2017 action horror, dir. Alex Kurtzman, Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella; IMDb / allmovie. A treasure-hunter uncovers the tomb of a female pharaoh who’s been erased from the historical record; ignoring all the warnings, he lets her out.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: There is nothing like just indignation for fostering unreasoning hate.)
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: Hatred is a vice of narrow souls; they feed it with all their meanness, and make it a pretext for sordid tyranny.)
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: If you hate your enemies, you will contract such a vicious habit of mind, as by degrees will break out upon those who are your friends, or those who are indifferent to you.)
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: the state abhors only one thing in the end, and that's the sound of laughter. Violence it can understand.)
2019 drama/comedy, dir. Stephen Merchant, Florence Pugh, Jack Lowden; IMDb / allmovie. Siblings Raya and Zak Knight come from a wrestling family in Norfolk, but is that going to be enough to get them to the top?
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I didn't know the cybernetic death squads would be used for violence.)
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: Stabbing people is fun.)
2013 zombie romance, dir. Jonathan Levine, Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer; IMDb / allmovie. After the zombie apocalypse, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy is still dead.
2018 SF-horror, dir. Jon Turteltaub, Jason Statham, Li Bingbing: IMDb / allmovie. Five years ago, submarine rescue expert Jonas Taylor had to make a hard decision and leave some of his men behind to save the rest. Now, not only is there another submarine lost, his ex-wife is aboard. (A giant shark will also feature.)
2018 SF-horror, dir. Darin Scott, Danielle Savre, Rob Mayes: IMDb / allmovie. Another offshore research station, another giant shark. Must be Thursday.
1999 science fiction horror, dir. Renny Harlin, Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane: IMDb / allmovie. On a remote floating shark research station, things are going to go very badly wrong.
2018 Scottish zombie Christmas musical, dir. John McPhail, Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming; IMDb / allmovie. Zombies have risen, and we're all going to die. In a small Scottish town just before Christmas.
2013 horror/comedy, dir. John V. Knowles, Allison Scagliotti, Francia Raisa: IMDb / allmovie. Leah is a blue-state girl in a red-state town, trying to get into a good college by breaking a really big story in the school paper. But when a new "abstinence educator" comes to town it may be a bigger story than she can handle.
2015 action comedy, dir. Paul Feig, Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham; IMDb / allmovie. In a James Bond-style world, when all the CIA's field agents are compromised, it's up to an analyst to go undercover and look for a missing nuclear weapon.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: Burn it. Burn it all.)
2015 action comedy, dir. Kyle Newman, Hailee Steinfeld, Dove Cameron: IMDb / allmovie. Number 83 grew up in a secret government training school for assassins, with no emotional connection to anyone. But when she's left behind on a mission, she decides to find what she's never had: a normal childhood. Pity that childhood ideal is built on 1990s high school comedies…
2013 action-horror, dir. Tommy Wirkola, Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton; IMDb / allmovie. After they escaped from the witch, Hansel and Gretel set up as witch-hunters for pay.
1996 horror, dir. Andrew Fleming, Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk: IMDb / allmovie. When Sarah moves to a new high school, she reluctantly falls in with the witchy crowd; but first the power is surprisingly real, then it's surprisingly hard to handle.
2018 romantic comedy, dir. Victor Levin, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder: IMDb / allmovie. Frank and Lindsay have each been invited to San Luis Obispo for the flashy wedding of someone they don't much like. She's the groom's ex; he's his half-brother; they're both bitter people. Naturally, they meet.
2016 comedy with romantic elements, dir. Jake Szymanski, Zac Efron, Adam DeVine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza: IMDb / allmovie. Manchild brothers Mike and Dave are told that they can't come to their sister's wedding unless they bring dates (to calm them down and stop them hitting on other women). Not knowing any women, they advertise. Alice and Tatiana, who are just as messed up but in different ways, decide that a free trip to Hawaii is worth a few days of good behaviour…
2016 animated fantasy, dir. Ron Clements and John Musker, Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson; IMDb / allmovie. Moana lives on a Pacific island and has always wanted to see more, but the tribe forbids anyone from venturing beyond the reef; then Ocean chooses her to find the demigod Māui and break an ancient curse.
2016 minimal-budget horror, dir. Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski, Aaron Poole: IMDb / allmovie. Sheriff's Deputy Daniel Carter wasn't having a great day, but he's going to have an even worse night.
2017 French animation, dir. Patrick Imbert, Benjamin Renner; IMDb / allmovie. vt The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales
The countryside is not as peaceful a place as one might expect, as comedic bunglers try to do the right thing and are appropriately punished for it.
2018 animation, dir. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman; IMDb / allmovie.
Kid bitten by radioactive spider, great responsibility, blah blah. But this isn't just another retread of the usual origin story: universes are colliding, and each of them has its own Spider-Man.
2018 caper film, dir. Gary Ross, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett; IMDb / allmovie. Con-artist and thief Debbie Ocean gets out of prison, and immediately plans her biggest heist yet.
2007 caper film, dir. Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, Brad Pitt; IMDb / allmovie. After one of their number is ripped off by a business partner, the gang gets together again for another casino robbery.
2017 satirical action film, dir. G.J. Echternkamp, Manu Bennett, Marci Miller: IMDb / allmovie. In the dystopian future of America, the most popular entertainment is a cross-country road race with bonus points for slaughter en route.
2004 caper film, dir. Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, Brad Pitt; IMDb / allmovie. The crooks' victim from the first film wants his money back, and he's a Scary Guy. How to get it for him? Steal it, of course.
2001 caper film, dir. Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, Brad Pitt; IMDb / allmovie. Gambler and con-man Danny Ocean gets out of prison, and immediately plans his biggest heist yet.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate you. I hate everything. Open that damn' door and let me out.)
1960 crime/drama film, dir. Lewis Milestone, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin; IMDb / allmovie. Old war buddies from the 82nd Airborne get together again, to rob five Las Vegas casinos in one night.
2011 action, dir. Ernie Barbarash, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins: IMDb / allmovie. Two assassins find themselves working together on one last job.
2015 horror comedy, dir. Todd Strauss-Schulson, Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman: IMDb / allmovie. Max misses her mother Amanda, who died in a car crash having never transcended her role in Camp Bloodbath, a schlock horror film of the 1980s. After an anniversary screening goes wrong, Max and some friends find themselves living, and dying, in the world of that film.
2014 Australian zombie horror, dir. Kiah Roache-Turner, Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradley: IMDb / allmovie. vt Wyrmwood. After a night of shooting stars, most people seem to have turned into zombies; Barry sets out to rescue his sister Brooke. But the military seem to know more than they're saying. vt Wyrmwood.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)
1999 crime/drama film, dir. John McTiernan, Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo; IMDb / allmovie. In New York, a painting by Monet is stolen from the Met; insurance investigator Catherine Banning helps the police to track down the thief, who may be the businessman Thomas Crown.
1968 crime/drama film, dir. Norman Jewison, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway; IMDb / allmovie. A successful businessman masterminds a Boston bank heist, coordinating five other men who've never met each other – or him. It's the perfect crime… but an insurance investigator is on his trail.
2018 sequel to Wreck-It Ralph, dir. Phil Johnston and Rich Moore; IMDb / allmovie.
After the events of the first film, all seems to be well in the secret life of the arcade; but when part of Vanellope's game cabinet gets broken, the only way to replace it is to venture onto the Internet. Also marketed as Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2.
2012, dir. Phil Johnston and Rich Moore; IMDb / allmovie. Ralph is the villain in a Donkey Kong-like arcade game, Fix-It Felix Jr. – and, like most video game characters in this world, a thinking person too. He's tired of being the bad guy, and sets out to prove that he can be good.
1999 caper film, dir. Jon Amiel, Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones; IMDb / allmovie. Gin the insurance investigator tracks down Mac the art thief, but are either of them really what they seem? Of course not.
1999 science fiction comedy, dir. Dean Parisot, Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver; IMDb / allmovie. Galaxy Quest was a big SF show in the early 1980s, but by the present day the cast are reduced to convention appearances and store openings. Then some particularly odd fans turn out to be rather more into the show than anyone expected… Spoilers.
2011 crime drama/comedy, dir. John Michael McDonagh, Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle; IMDb / allmovie. On the rural Connemara coast, Sergeant Gerry Boyle has no time for people who don't want to let him do things his own way, but he still gets the policing done. Now, with the possibility of a huge cargo of cocaine coming in, there's an FBI agent in town…
2008 thriller film, dir. Danny Lerner, Stephen Baldwin, Vanessa Johansson: IMDb / allmovie. A shark is killing divers in Venice, but we can't let the word get out or the tourists will be scared off. US vt Sharks in Venice.
2015 Norwegian disaster film, dir. Roar Uthaug, Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp: IMDb / allmovie. The Åkerneset mountain overlooks the tourist village of Geiranger, but a landslide could cause a tidal wave along the fjord. It's going to. vt The Wave.
2015 drama, dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse, Kate Winslet, Judy Davis: IMDb / allmovie. In 1950s rural Australia, Tilly Dunnage is coming home to upend the small town that threw her out as a child.
2017 science fiction disaster film, dir. Dean Devlin, Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess: IMDb / allmovie. Earth's climate problems have been casually solved by a network of weather-control satellites, but now they seem to be going wrong.
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. These trailer posts are now not on a strict monthly rotation any more, but are being mixed into the automatic post scheduler that runs the rest of the blog.)
2011 science fiction, dir. Neil Burger, Bradley Cooper, Robert de Niro: IMDb / allmovie
Eddie Morra is a struggling writer, until his ex-brother-in-law offers him a new drug that makes him smarter.
2016 short romantic comedy, dir. Travis Hedges Williams, Kacie Barnes, Tyler Grezaffi: IMDb
When Quinn meets David, she has to decide whether he is a worthy suitor: she knows the rules, just as she knows the rules of her favourite games. But he doesn't seem to be following them.
1962 war, dir. Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki and others: IMDb / allmovie
The tale of the D-Day invasion in 1944, with a literal cast of thousands.
2015 short science fiction, dir. Luke Gilford, Pamela Anderson, Dree Hemingway: IMDb.
An ageing fitness instructor is dissatisfied with her life, in particular feeling disconnected from the world, and looks for a way to fix it.
2016 superhero comedy (miniseries re-presented as film), dir. Chris Marrs Piliero, Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart: IMDb
Low-level superheroes Electra Woman and Dyna Girl move to Los Angeles to make the big time. But can they be true to themselves?
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube.)
2012 horror, dir. Drew Goddard, Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth: IMDb / allmovie
Five teenagers go for a weekend trip to a remote cabin. It doesn't end well.
For the last few years I've been making predictions of the Academy Award winners. Last year I called six winners out of twenty predictions; this year it was eight out of twenty-three.
2013, dir. Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud; IMDb / allmovie
The former supervillain Gru is trying to be a good father. But supervillainous schemes are still afoot.
2013, dir. Mike Slee, Mark Strong, Jock McLeod; IMDb / Wikipedia
A brief history of the Great Martian War, combining interviews with veterans and archive footage.
1965, dir. Harvey Hart, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Mark Richman; IMDb / allmovie
San Francisco, 1891. Playboy Brett Kingsford is secretly an occult detective. When his best friend's fiancée comes to him describing her husband-to-be's strange mental state, he starts to look into it.
2010, dir. Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud; IMDb / allmovie
The supervillain Gru finds that he needs three little girls for his latest nefarious scheme: to steal the Moon. But he's not as much of a hard case as he thinks he is.
2015 action comedy, dir. and starring David Sandberg: IMDb / allmovie
The toughest martial arts cop in Miami goes back in time to kill kung fu Hitler.
2012 horror, dir. Brad Parker, Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowski: IMDb / allmovie
A tourist trip into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone goes horribly wrong.
1979 drama, dir. James Bridges, Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon: IMDb / allmovie
A TV news reporter uncovers dirty secrets at a nuclear power plant.
2014 comedy, dir. and starring Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi: IMDb / allmovie
Four vampires share a flat in modern New Zealand. Comedy happens.
2014, dir. Lynn Shelton, Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz; IMDb / allmovie
Megan is approaching thirty, but her career and personality more or less went on hold when she left high school ten years ago. One night, as she's fleeing from an unwanted marriage proposal and other complications, some high-school kids ask her to buy them beer, and she gets on with Annika better than with her own peers. Things move on from there. vt Say When in the UK and Ireland.
2010, dir. Chris Morris, Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak; IMDb / allmovie
Four Muslim men from Sheffield aspire to be suicide bombers. Black comedy ensues.
2014, dir. Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith; IMDb / allmovie
In this spin-off from the Madagascar series, four penguin secret agents attempt to foil the plot of the sinister Dr Octavius Brine. Or at least to find Cheesy Dibbles to eat.
For the last few years I've been making predictions of the Academy Award winners. Last year I called ten winners out of twenty predictions. I've updated this post with the actual winners now that the results are out.
2012, dir. David Gelb, Jiro Yoshino: IMDb / allmovie
Ono Jiro is the oldest chef ever to get a third Michelin star; his restaurant in Ginza only seats twelve people.
2013, dir. Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson, Caitlin Stasey, Sianoa Smit-McPhee: IMDb / allmovie
Outcast girl Maddy manages to get onto the cheerleading squad after its leader dies in a bizarre accident. But she has revenge in mind, for what is not yet clear, and that's only the beginning.
Some people may review the new Star Wars trailer. I find this one more interesting.
1998, dir. Peter Howitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah: IMDb / allmovie
A woman just fired from her job does, or does not, catch a particular Underground train, and does, or does not, catch her boyfriend in bed with another woman; her life diverges from that point, and we see both halves.
2014, dir. Gabe Ibañez, Antonio Banderas, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen: IMDb / allmovie
After the vast majority of humanity has been killed by solar storms, robots keep the remainder alive in a small numer of cities. But some robots seem to be breaking their rules.
This highly influential book on screenwriting lays out a standard structure to which all saleable scripts should conform.
2012, dir. Lorene Scafaria, Steve Carell, Keira Knightley: IMDb / allmovie
The world will be hit by an asteroid in three weeks, and there's nothing more that can be done about it. Dodge and his neighbour Penny set out to get him to his high school sweetheart, and her to her family in England.
1932, dir. Ernest B. Schoedsack, Joel McCrea, Fay Wray: IMDb / allmovie. Also known as The Hounds of Zaroff for its British release.
A famous hunter is shipwrecked, then makes it to the shore of a supposedly deserted island. But his host has plans for him.
2014, dir. Brian Horiuchi, Frank Langella, Rosario Dawson: IMDb / allmovie
As a runaway biological weapon devastates the world, three couples consider the meaning of love.
2012, dir. Brandon Cronenberg, Caleb Landry Jones: IMDb / allmovie
In a world where the cult of celebrity involves taking on their diseases… pretty much everything that can go wrong with such a setup does.
2011, dir. Steven Soderbergh, Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon: IMDb / allmovie
A contagious disease spreads across the planet; civilisation starts to fall apart.
2005, dir. Ben Rekhi, Christopher Masterson, Ajay Naidu: IMDb / allmovie
After a presumed terrorist attack pollutes the water supply of Los Angeles, three groups of people do their best to keep going as society collapses.
2013, "Dabba", dir. Ritesh Batra, Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur: IMDb / allmovie
An old-fashioned epistolary romance, conducted via notes passed in a lunchbox. Plot discussion, which may be considered to include spoilers, follows.
2013, dir. Bong Joon-ho, Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton IMDb / allmovie
After the world has frozen, all that's left of humanity lives aboard a train eternally circling the planet.
2013, dir. Francis Lawrence, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson: IMDb / allmovie
After winning the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen is a post-traumatic wreck. The perfect time to send her on a publicity tour! Spoilers for book and film will follow.
2014, dir. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks: IMDb / allmovie
In a world where… one man must… and it's all made of Lego.
2013, dir. Dean Parisot, Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker: IMDb / allmovie
Frank Moses, former CIA special operator, is still retired, and trying to be domestic; but once again the past just won't leave him alone.
2011, dir. Steven Soderbergh, Gina Carano, Michael Angarano: IMDb / allmovie
An agent betrayed and framed by her boss sets about taking him down.
2012, dir. Julian Roman Pölsler, Martina Gedeck: IMDb / allmovie
A woman staying in a remote lodge discovers that an invisible barrier is separating her from the rest of the world. (In German, viewed with subtitles.)
2010, dir. Stephen Frears, Gemma Arterton, Luke Evans: IMDb / allmovie
Tamara Drewe, formerly the ugly duckling and now a glamorous journalist, returns to the village where she grew up… and everything is upended.
2013, dir. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, Idina Menzel, Kristin Bell: IMDb / allmovie
The new queen flees from her coronation, plunges the country into winter, and disappears; her sister goes to find her.
2013, dir. Ruairi Robinson, Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas: IMDb / allmovie
Towards the end of a manned mission to Mars, things start to go wrong.
2013, dir. Caradog W. James, Caity Lotz, Toby Stephens: IMDb / allmovie
Some time in the nearish future, researchers try to build a self-directed robot soldier/assassin. It doesn't go well.
2011, dir. Gonzalo López-Gallego, Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen: IMDb / allmovie
The found-footage story of the secret final Apollo mission in 1974.
2012, dir. Colin Trevorrow, Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass: IMDb / allmovie
A journalist and two interns, trying for a human-interest story, interview a man who's placed an advertisement for a companion in time travel.
1996, dir. Jan de Bont, Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton: IMDb / allmovie
A team of atmospheric scientists chases tornadoes. Action ensues.
I've updated my Academy Awards Predictions post now that the results are in. I called ten out of twenty winners, not bad for me.
For the last few years I've been making predictions of the Academy Award winners. I'm almost always wrong. Let's see what happens when I do it in public.
1965, dir. Michael Anderson, George Peppard, Sophia Loren: IMDb / allmovie
This is a highly-fictionalised account, a triple-stranded story of the German V-weapon development programme, the British efforts (the actual Crossbow) to work out what was going on and develop countermeasures, and as part of that a mission to insert agents into the rocket development and construction programmes.