The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 18, 2017

Boomerang is the best chapter of Captain Marvel yet. Not because of Captain Marvel action–there’s some, but it’s perfunctory–rather it’s the plotting. Boomerang springboards off something in the previous chapter (unrelated to the cliffhanger), sort of narratively hopping over something. That someth   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 18, 2017

Justice League exists, whether intentionally or not, outside a certain kind of critical examination. Director Snyder didn’t finish post-production. Or, at least, when the studio demanded lots of reshoots, Snyder wasn’t involved in a creative capacity. The job went to Joss Whedon, who gets a co-writ   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 17, 2017

Dressed to Kill has oodles of style. It doesn’t have a lot else going for it–a lot of the acting, sure, but the acting never pays off for anyone–but it does have style. Director De Palma and cinematographer Ralf D. Bode create an ethereal New York for the action to...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 17, 2017

Starting Human Targets, I couldn’t remember what cliffhanger needed to be resolved. It’s not a good one. More of the “Tom Tyler is bad at being a superhero” same. Once it gets resolved, with William ‘Billy’ Benedict shooting the breeze with Tyler and asking zero questions about why Tyler’s trying...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 17, 2017

Some of The Dragon’s Challenge’s problems are because it’s a TV two-parter stuck together then packaged as a theatrical. An overseas theatrical, but still a theatrical feature. The action in the first half takes place in New York, with some cuts to villain Richard Erdman making plans. He needs to...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 17, 2017

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is an amusing, intentionally misleading title. Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum) doesn’t have any friends. He has various criminal contacts he sees on a regular basis, but he doesn’t consider any of them friends. Mitchum’s a down-on-luck small-time crook who’s about to go away   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 16, 2017

Lens of Death has great fistfight in the middle. Sadly, it’s not Captain Marvel fighting, but this guy’s butler. The place is being robbed and the butler takes on the two crooks and keeps them busy until Captain Marvel does arrive. There’s no great fight scene Captain Marvel Tom Tyler,...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 15, 2017

The cliffhanger resolution at the beginning of The Scorpion Strikes quickly gives way to a fine Captain Marvel action sequence. Tom Tyler gets lots of dialogue as he threatens punks; he even throws one off a building. He captures the last thug left ambulatory and takes him in for questioning....   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 15, 2017

The Lottery has a lot of mood. Isidore Mankofsky’s lucid but muted cinematography captures a routine day, not even special with an entire small town gathering in a large field. Director Yust has a few favorite touchstones among the townspeople, though only until the lottery itself starts. Then he c   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 14, 2017

Death Takes the Wheel sadly does not have a Death character driving. It does have a lazy cliffhanger resolution at the open, which will probably echo in the next chapter’s cliffhanger resolution too. The screenwriters have established their cliffhanger resolution pattern. It’s not a good one, that   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 13, 2017

A couple things in Time Bomb stand out. First, there’s how no one seems to care about how the opening cliffhanger resolves. Not for Captain Marvel (Tom Tyler), but for the expedition member being held hostage. It’s not clear anyone even knows about it after its happened. So, not a...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 12, 2017

The Guillotine does not open with a satisfying cliffhanger resolution. It’s only Captain Marvel’s second chapter, which probably ought to have a satisfying cliffhanger resolution; it’s mildly concerning it does not. After that lackluster resolution, the story moves back to the United States. Turns   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 11, 2017

Adventures of Captain Marvel has a lot of action in its first chapter. Setting up the ground situation is even action. There’s an expedition to Thailand and, although they have permits with the occupying British forces, the native people aren’t thrilled with the expedition coming in to tomb rob. So   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 10, 2017

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is bereft of good ideas. It’s also bereft of good music–Hans Zimmmer’s bland “superhero” score rattles the brain, bowdlerizing what might be better scenes and effect sequences. It’s impossible to know, because there’s never a single moment of music without ludicrous bombast   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 10, 2017

De Palma is director Brian De Palma talking about his films. He’s talking to the directors, Baumbach and Paltrow, but without ever addressing them by name. De Palma’s filmmakers have zero presence in the film, until the epilogue. Matt Mayer and Lauren Minnerath’s editing is magnificent, especially   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 8, 2017

The B.R.A.T. Patrol is about a group of kids on an airforce base who discover one of the MPs is selling military hardware to literal junk yard arms dealers. None of the adults believe them because it’s a “Wonderful World of Disney” movie and there are rules. There are limits...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 8, 2017

The Dark, Dark Hours is the story of two desperate beatnik gunmen who just pulled a job and one of them took a bullet. They need a doctor and they find Ronald Reagan. The beatniks are James Dean and Jack Simmons. Simmons is the shot one. Dean’s the moody one...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 6, 2017

What remains of The Perils of Pauline is not The Perils of Pauline. This European version is a condensation of the actual serial. The nine chapter European version is about half the original length of the serial. And it’s also not a good translation. English to French to English again....   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 5, 2017

The Floating Coffin starts as most Perils of Pauline chapters start. Villain Paul Panzer is loitering around lovebirds Pearl White and Crane Wilbur, trying to figure out a way to off White. This time they’re yachting and White wants to go off on her own in a motorboat. Unlike every...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on November 4, 2017

The Serpent in the Flowers only refers to one of the many things in this penultimate chapter of The Perils of Pauline. It comes towards the middle, after Paul Panzer has hired gypsy Clifford Bruce to again do away with Pearl White. Panzer senses he’s running out of time to...   read more