SHOCKULAR

Taut, efficient, economical crime noir that manages to get the most out of its pieces. Nothing in it really feels like much, but it ends up being way more than the sum of its parts, with solid performances of well drawn characters, a simple but effective story, and a catchy as heck score (that reminded me a lot of The Third Man's). Nothing complex, just perfectly sound mistake free filmmaking that adds up to an extremely enjoyable experience.

59 _19%

Red One (2024) - Rated 24 Nov 2024

It's all a bit of a CGI fest and can be shockingly ugly visually at times (especially on 250M)for that reason, but the cast is all into it and it's relatively inoffensive fun in what feels like fairly fresh packaging. You can safely assume every significant plot point from the first ten minutes and the plot holes/premise holes are big enough to drive a giant Santa's sleigh through , but if you're not expecting much it's relatively enjoyable dumb fun/fluff and mostly a nice little Christmas movie

90 _93%

Cape Fear (1962) - Rated 22 Nov 2024

The 1991 Cape Fear is one of my favorite movies, and while the original doesn't quite measure up for me, it makes a damn good run at it. Peck is fairly normal Peck and Mitchum is brilliant, matching De Niro's Oscar nominated performance as Cady. I always appreciate how brave he was taking roles of totally evil characters like this at a time when many leading men avoided them. The endings of the two movies also drastically differ, and I'm not sure which I prefer. They're both very well handled.

75 _56%

Nightfall (1956) - Rated 22 Nov 2024

Tight, solid noir that scratches the itch and hits many of the notes you'd expect without a lot to distinguish it. It's one of those movies where I enjoyed watching it quite a bit but I probably won't remember much about it in a few weeks. Bancroft is really solid and I liked Rudy Bond in it. Solid stuff.

80 _72%

The Big Clock (1948) - Rated 21 Nov 2024

Very sound noir with a couple of good set pieces and strong outings from Milland and especially Laughton. Not breaking much new ground but very little to complain about with a good cast. Laughton is always so great to watch.

76 _62%

Alias Nick Beal (1949) - Rated 19 Nov 2024

Neat noir with a different twist, as it's a political, supernatural, Faustian noir that follows the broad outlines of the genre but with quite unusual details. Mitchell is cast perfectly, and Milland is calm, creepy, and effective playing the Faustian role. Though the film is fairly dark for the time, I kind of thought it would be more effective with a darker ending.

70 _41%

A Double Life (1947) - Rated 18 Nov 2024

Solid, very melodramatic noiry at time drama. Colman is really good as a man playing Othello and getting too into the role. Would make an interesting double feature with something like Black Swan. Very different movies, but similar theme of getting too into a role. The "play within a play" moment is a cute touch, even if it's from another Shakespeare play.

88 _90%

Liebestraum (1991) - Rated 12 Nov 2024

A pulpy, foreboding, brilliantly scored mood piece that might be style over substance but the style is so good that it doesn't matter. It feels like a Lynch homage, an at times surrealist fever dream. I tend to react more positively to this type of vibes/atmosphere heavy movie than most, so your mileage may vary, but I absolutely loved this. What a delightful surprise. Criminally underseen and underrated in my estimation.

80 _72%

Juror #2 (2024) - Rated 11 Nov 2024

It's a shame WB has buried this--it's the kind of serious drama that is very rarely made at this price point any more and Eastwood is the perfect director for it. The fact that they didn't think they could give this a wide release as Eastwood's final film is sad. Great screenplay, bringing together the pieces to construct a truly interesting moral dilemma. Maturely handled with a lot of interesting things to say about the justice system. Slightly heavy handed at times, but really good stuff.

79 _67%

Pushover (1954) - Rated 09 Nov 2024

Entertaining and well made but very generic, especially by this point in the noir cycle, it's a very, very familiar noir plot elevated by Novak's smoldering femme fatale (in her film debut) and a strong MacMurray performance. The music is overbearing and nearly nonstop, which drags it down slightly, but that's really the only significant flaw in this otherwise taut, lean, entertaining but very predictable noir.