The Stop Button Posted by on July 10, 2012

Half a Death gets off to a troubled start thanks to Tod Andrews. He’s only in the episode (of “Ghost Story”) for the first scene, but he’s just awful. Watching Eleanor Parker act opposite him is painful. While Henry Slesar’s script is no great shakes in the dialogue de   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on July 9, 2012

Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation clearly shows all you need for rousing adventure is enthusiasm, a willful abandon for one’s physical safety and John Williams music. The film is an attempt at a shot-for-shot adaptation of the original, made by and starring children (over approximately seven   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on July 8, 2012

What do penguins and bees have in common? They both show up in Larry Jordan’s transfixing collage animation Duo Concertantes. I know, they’re also both animals too. I’ve never seen any Jordan before and Concertantes might not be the best place to start, but it’s a phenomenal   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on July 7, 2012

I’m not sure the actual story, but I’ll just assume at the height of the “Batman” show’s popularity, the producers thought about doing a “Batgirl” series. The pilot, if it’s any indication of the prospective series, suggests the world didn’t mis   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on July 6, 2012

I always think of Aliens as a precisely choreographed ballet. Director Cameron moves his large cast–though it does winnow over time–around in these cramped sets and everyone has something to do; Cameron draws the viewer’s attention to one character, but the rest are in motion sett   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on July 5, 2012

Decade for Decision isn’t the best documentary short subject. It’s a collection of shots of colleges with narration. The information, however, is (historically) outstanding. For example, Decision opens talking about how American students are years behind their foreign (in this case, the   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on July 3, 2012

Winter is a music video for Vivaldi’s violin concerto of the same name. Kamler does an amazing job with the video–it’s technically unbelievable at times–but it’s just a music video. The concerto, the parts Kamler uses, is in three segments. The first two segments have   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on July 1, 2012

The Return to Reason doesn’t so much study movement as exhibit experiments in movement. Whether they’re photographic tricks or recognizable objects–or unrecognizable ones until you watch carefully–director Ray isn’t putting them together to solve a puzzle. Unless, of c   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 30, 2012

The Iron Man‘s protagonist is not the Iron Man itself (himself?), which shows up after the halfway point. The protagonist is a cantankerous old man with some magic powers. He lives amongst all the adorable cartoon animals who sing and dance happily and he does what he can to ruin...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 29, 2012

With a better director, a competent editor and a slightly stronger screenplay, The Ex-Mrs. Bradford might be more than an amusing diversion. While William Powell and Jean Arthur are great together, the film underuses them in general and her in particular. There’s this great dinner scene where she’s   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 27, 2012

I hope Robert Armstrong got paid well for The Mystery Man, because it doesn’t do him any other good. While it’s nice to see Armstrong in a lead role, the film’s so incompetently produced, it’s sometimes painful. Armstrong acts well but director McCarey doesn’t know how to compose shots. You’ll...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 26, 2012

Captain Kidd’s Treasure runs into a problem I’m unfamiliar with for a docudrama. Its fictive license posits itself as fact, which makes entire short puzzling. There’s a brief recount of Captain Kidd, his execution and his treasure island. I think I’ve heard the name before,   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 25, 2012

Blind Adventure is a genial, nearly successful comedy thriller. Robert Armstrong, playing an unexpectedly wealthy working class American who’s vacationing in London, heads out into the fog and finds himself on a wild night. He encounters espionage, British society, a damsel in distress (Helen Mack)   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 24, 2012

The Man with the Twisted Lip is not a particularly exciting narrative to begin with, but director Elvey does keep the story moving at a decent pace. He paces most of Lip like a play, albeit one with flashbacks. Elvey cannot, however, make it interesting. Some of the problem is...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 23, 2012

The Best Legs in Eighth Grade aired on HBO. Apparently, their original programming has gotten a lot better since the eighties. It’s difficult to describe Legs. Bruce Feirstein’s script seems to be meant for stage–the biggest surprise isn’t just he’s had a career since,   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 21, 2012

Snow Time is another strange cartoon from Foster. It’s wintertime in cute cartoon animal land and everyone’s having a swell time skiing, synchronized skating and so on. Until this cat’s tale gets cut off because he’s messing around in a ski lane. But Foster and co-director D   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 16, 2012

Here’s a weird one. A short pilot for a “Wonder Woman” sitcom. Ellie Wood Walker’s Diana Prince lives at home with her mother (Maudie Prickett), who wishes her daughter would just find a man. The pilot consists mostly of their bickering, which isn’t unfunny–thoro   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 12, 2012

Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies explores the dangers of electric cars. Basically, they can be taken over by radio waves and made to do crazy things. If it weren’t for the gasoline dealer (John J. Richardson) being the villain, one could almost see it as twenties gas company propaganda. The short is   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 10, 2012

The Mischief Makers is undeniably well-made, with great photography from Jean Malige (if lousy editing by Cécile Decugis) and Truffaut’s deliberate and panoramic composition. It’s an adaptation of a short story, about a group of adolescent boys who playfully torment a young woman they&#   read more

The Stop Button Posted by on June 9, 2012

In some ways, No Noise has it all. Kids getting high off laughing gas, then enjoying a little electrocution, there’s some cross-dressing… it seems like there’s even more. The threat of Farina being operated on by the Our Gang kids. Actually, Farina’s practically in drag too.   read more