Our third classic of 2014 is a taut crime thriller from 1962 titled Experiment in Terror. It was known as The Grip of Fear in the United Kingdom, but under any title it is a beautifully written and directed suspense mystery. […]
Continue reading »Month: January 2014
Experiment in Terror (1962)
by Barb Lentz The five movies Bob provided for me from which to choose were these: Arizona (1940) Catch-22 (1970) Experiment in Terror (1962) The Lost World (1925) The Seventh Seal (1957) I chose Experiment in Terror as it […]
Continue reading »Elmer Gantry (1960) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Our second classic of 2014 is Elmer Gantry, a melodrama that takes aim at revivalist religion, based upon a satirical novel by Sinclair Lewis. As adapted by writer-director Richard Brooks this 1960 film becomes a period piece of the late […]
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by Barb Lentz The five movies Bob provided for me from which to choose were these: The Americanization of Emily (1964) Elmer Gantry (1960) The Guns of Navarone (1961) The Naked Spur (1953) Out of the Past (1947) […]
Continue reading »The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Director Martin Scorsese has the knack of filling his better films with an intense energy, and I cannot think of a story better suited to Scorsese’s urgency than this tale of a fearless financier taking advantage of everyone around him. […]
Continue reading »Nebraska (2013) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Alexander Payne is becoming mid-America’s version of Woody Allen, making small-scale, personal movies in unique, interesting ways. His feature films Election (1999), About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (2004) and The Descendants (2011) feature quirky characters in realistic situations taken to absurd limits, enacted by wonderful […]
Continue reading »August: Osage County (2013) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Adapting plays for the big screen is a tricky business, especially when a playwright takes on the task him or her self. Sometimes they come across as artificial or very cramped or stagy in some respect. When done right, however, […]
Continue reading »The Naked City (1948) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Our first classic of 2014 is a police procedural shot on location in New York City back in the days when that fact was actually a big deal. The Naked City is truly a cinematic love letter to New York despite […]
Continue reading »The Naked City (1948)
by Barb Lentz The five movies Bob provided for me from which to choose were these: Atlantic City (1981) The Caine Mutiny (1954) Dracula (1931) Melvin and Howard (1980) The Naked City (1948) I chose The Naked City as […]
Continue reading »American Hustle (2013) ☆ ☆ ☆
Some movies are essentially indescribable, at least in terms of genre, type or even effect. Such is the case with American Hustle, David O. Russell’s new exploration of the 1970s. On the surface it is a very loose interpretation of […]
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