The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 17, 2018

At the Mercy of Atom Man! has one of the serial’s laziest cliffhanger resolutions so far. And Atom Man vs. Superman, now seven chapters in, has had some really lazy resolutions. This one has the added bonus of Kirk Alyn not using his superspeed to catch the bad guy. Because...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 16, 2018

The last twenty or so minutes of Darkman are when director Raimi finally lets loose. He’s been building to it, hinting at how wacky the movie’s going to get, but it doesn’t all come together until the end. And the end is when Darkman has the most standard action sequences....   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 15, 2018

The third act of Sunset Boulevard just gets darker and darker. The film digs down into one level, then finds another, then another, then maybe even another. Director Wilder and co-writers Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman Jr. find a way to fully condemn the film’s setting–Hollywood, with Paramount   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 14, 2018

Wait a minute, why does Lex Luthor (Lyle Talbot) still have a secret base? The cops found it last chapter and Talbot and company had cleared out. Does he keep remaking the same evil laboratory in a different cave? Atom Man’s Challenge does not answer this question. Sadly, I don’t...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 13, 2018

Atom Man Tricks Superman disappoints in just about every possible way. It doesn’t have a good cliffhanger resolution–it might even be a cheat from the footage shown last chapter–and no one is at all surprised Kirk Alyn didn’t vaporize. Well, almost no one. Noel Neill is surprised until Alyn gives...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 12, 2018

Flying Padre has three types of impressive shots. The first two types involve an airplane. The short is about a New Mexico priest who flies around his 4,000-square mile parish. There are interior and exterior shots of the plane and director Kubrick gets some fantastic shots from inside out. He’s...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 11, 2018

Superman Meets Atom Man! has what ought to be a big scene–Lyle Talbot’s Lex Luthor (in his Atom Man disguise) vanquishing Kirk Alyn to oblivion. Only it’s not a big scene, not even in the moment. Obviously Superman’s not going to be vanquished in the fourth chapter, but still. They...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 10, 2018

Chicken in the Rough is constantly charming. It feels incomplete, but it’s still constantly charming. Chip ‘n’ Dale are collecting nuts near a farm. On that farm, the rooster is waiting for a hen’s eggs to hatch. Anthropomorphizing roosters and hens is one heck of a thing, i   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 9, 2018

Coffins on Wheels opens with Roy Gordon directly addressing the camera, explaining used car salesman–despite most being all right (check your Better Business Bureau)–can be dangerous. There’s a scrupleless “lunatic fringe.” Then the narrative starts with trusting Walter Baldwin buying a used car fr   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 8, 2018

The Stepford Wives puts in for a major suspension of disbelief request in the second scene–what is Katharine Ross doing married to Peter Masterson. They’ve gone from being a somewhat posh New York couple to a New York couple with kids and so they’re moving to Connecticut. Lawyer Masterson is...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 7, 2018

Ablaze in the Sky! has got a bunch of action. Kirk Alyn is in his tights for some of it, but not all of it. Not even most of it. Instead, he gets to duke it out–twice–as Clark Kent. Alyn’s willingness to put himself in danger makes Noel Neill’s accusations...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 6, 2018

A Child Is Waiting had all kinds of production clashes between producer Stanley Kramer and director Cassavetes. And, apparently, between stars Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland and director Cassavetes. Kramer even fired Cassavetes during editing; none of those problems come through in the finished pr   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 5, 2018

Atom Man, complete with his sparkling bucket helmet, does indeed appear in Atom Man Appears!. He and his goons kidnap Tommy Bond (pretty much by accident) and Atom Man gives Bond a villain speech before sending him back to the Daily Planet. The Daily Planet where boss Pierre Watkin doesn’t...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 4, 2018

Superman Flies Again establishes a few things I’m very curious to see if Atom Man vs. Superman keeps going with over the course of the serial. Firstly, is Pierre Watkin always completely wrong about everything. Playing newspaper editor Perry White, Watkin calls his staff–Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill, Tomm   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 3, 2018

The first chapter of Judex doesn’t get a chapter title; it’s just the prologue. While the action in the prologue leads directly into the action of the first chapter, throwing young, wealthy widow Yvette Andréyor into despair (financial and emotional), the first titled chapter ends up having less to   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 2, 2018

The Last Jedi is a long two and a half hours. It’s an uneven split between Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, and John Boyega. Ridley’s off with Mark Hamill–but really having a FaceTime via the Force arc with Adam River–while Isaac is doing his damndest to get everyone killed because he...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on June 1, 2018

Somewhere early in Touched with Fire’s third act, it becomes clear there’s not going to be any performance potential from leads Luke Kirby and Katie Holmes. The movie doesn’t really want to be about them. Director (and writer) Dalio skips all the character development, leaving Holmes dulled and Kir   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 31, 2018

Judex’s epilogue further wraps things up for the cast. There’s some definite resolution for young René Poyen as far as his living situation, some humor with Marcel Lévesque, and some humility from Louis Leubas. René Cresté and Yvette Andréyor get a romantic send-off, with Cresté finally able to wea   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 30, 2018

The title of the episode is Love’s Forgiveness so there’s not much in the way of surprises. René Cresté risks it all by reuniting Yvette Andréyor with father Louis Leubas, then discovers mom Yvonne Dario has already told Andréyor all and she–Andréyor–is in love with him–Cresté. The multiple decepti   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 29, 2018

Hot Biskits refers to lead Thurston Briggs. He’s Hot Biskits, only he uses a pseudonym because he’s a con man. He’s got a cushy job as a miniature golf course manager; the owner is a crooked cop, who’s fine just so long as the managers don’t make any money on...   read more