4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on July 13, 2018

After an opening to rival the original film noir The Killers (1946), though nowhere near as atmospheric, Don Siegel’s The Killers asserts itself as a real rough and tumble operation with surprisingly frank violence. However, it might be expected from such a veteran action director on his way t   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on July 11, 2018

We’re all part monsters in our subconscious. ~ Leslie Nielsen as Commander Adams I couldn’t help but recall Han Solo’s line about the Millenium Falcon in the original Star Wars in response to Luke’s derision. After giving his pride and joy an affectionate pat he defends her r   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on July 9, 2018

It would appear that a film like Sunday in New York would never exist today. First, it’s obviously rooted in a stage play and it functions with the kind of moments you might expect out of some of Neil Simon’s works around New York though this particular story was crafted...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on July 6, 2018

Anime is very much a Japanese art form denoted by its style, the visuals, and even the depiction of its characters with wide eyes all the better to convey emotions. Oftentimes the images onscreen are a great deal more stagnant than the real-time action that American animators try and replicate with   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on July 5, 2018

Juzo Itami’s so-called ramen western Tampopo is unequivocably original in its hilarity, opening with what could best be called a public service announcement. A suave gangster is getting ready for the movie screening only to be disrupted by a noisy bag of curry potato chips. He threatens the fo   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on July 3, 2018

Sullivan’s Travels (1941) and Cool Hand Luke (1967) were two films that took a fairly extensive look at what a chain gang actually was in cinematic terms. Meanwhile, Sam Cooke’s eponymous song made almost in jest has added another layer to the tradition. Nowadays Chain Gangs seem a bit a   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 30, 2018

A film such as Pushover is easy to admire for the simple fact that it does not waste a moment in telling its story. As the credits roll a bank job is already in full progress laying the basic groundwork for what will unravel in the subsequent minutes. The introduction...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 28, 2018

While a less heralded picture, this Billy Wilder film is a minor classic built around a contrived comedic situation. Dean Martin opens playing a parodied version of himself as Dino the boozing, womanizing, but altogether good-natured playboy who makes a short pit stop in the gas station of the small   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 26, 2018

It required quite the journey to make it to this film, starting out with a different joker entirely. My introduction to comedian Joe E. Lewis happened because of the late, great Jerry Lewis. Revisiting his life and work I made the discovery that the comedian changed his name to avoid confusion...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 23, 2018

Abbott and Costello can be placed with the most revered comic duos of the 20th century and their greatest skit revolved around a terrible miscommunication. The bit, of course, is “Who’s on First.” Whereas the “failure to communicate” found in Cool Hand Luke (1967) has   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 22, 2018

Everybody’s habitual something ~ Kim Novak as Molly Otto Preminger was the creator of a number of important “issue pictures” because he dared deal with themes that others had shied away from, mostly in part because of the production codes that ruled Hollywood well into the 1960s. T   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 19, 2018

This propaganda extravaganza showcases Hollywood in all its glory from the Brown Derby to the Hollywoodland sign and of course the pride and joy of wartime morale-boosting, the Hollywood Canteen.  It’s a bit of a faux reality, Hollywood’s rendition of what real life might actually be li   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 17, 2018

Caged proves to be a stark, even uncompromising picture for the 1950s. Director John Cromwell had a long career in Hollywood, helmed some quality film noir, and became a subsequent casualty of the Blacklist but this just might be his finest effort. Furthermore, despite being an actress of some accl   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 16, 2018

Emma Stone portraying Billie Jean King was an idea that I had never entertained before but there’s a certain resilience to her coupled with that winsome go-getter attitude which shines through her brunette locks and iconic frames. Simultaneously Steve Carell feels like just about the perfect p   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 13, 2018

On a surface level, Logan Lucky is diverting for the basic fact that it proves to be the utter antithesis of Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean films as far as heist pictures go. As one savvy newscaster notes within the film, it’s Oceans Seven-Eleven, if you will. Sure, the novelty of a...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 11, 2018

This is terribly delayed but I would be remiss if I didn’t submit an entry to this year’s addition of THE REEL INFATUATION BLOGATHON. Without further ado… I’ve only seen Allene Roberts in one film and she’s hardly even the star of the picture. That privilege goes to Ed   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 10, 2018

Hacksaw Ridge is not for the squeamish, its greatest irony being that for a film about a man who took on the mantle of a conscientious objector and would not brandish firearms, it is a very violent film, even aggressively so. But Mel Gibson, after all, is the man who...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 8, 2018

It only became apparent to me after the fact that Isle of Dogs sounds quite close to “I love dogs.” You might even say there was a certain amount of forethought in this play on words. However, the pun only works in English as the Japanese pronunciation of the comparable...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 7, 2018

In some respects, this feels very much like a paint by numbers biopic that takes us through the many paces of such a narrative. The rise, fall, conflict, and self-actualization of our heroes that navigates us to the film’s conclusion. But this is also unequivocally a story that necessitated a   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on June 5, 2018

Back to the Future zooms at us as a lovely mishmash of sci-fi thrills and 50s nostalgia that feels like pure happenstance. The one purported flaw, the fact that Marty McFly has no right to be in his family, is partially understandable. As Michael J. Fox wasn’t even slated to...   read more