Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 16th):
One of Alfred Hitchcock’s more uncustomary, yet distinguished, offerings is 1953’s I Confess
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 17th):
Top Ten Western #6 is Howard Hawks' 1948 Red River
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Thursday, August 8, 2024
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 20th):
Few biopics are as inspirational as Michael Curtiz’ Jim Thorpe - All American (1951)
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 28th):
"Complaining about the far-fetched circumstances in films noir is like objecting to the lack of realism in a Picasso painting. What I mean is that lovers of these criminally rich cinematic delights oughtn’t to bother picking out the implausibilities, since they are practically a hallmark of noir's style."
I've written this before when introducing Split Second (1953)
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 5th):
“Imagine a dish like this married to a mug like Benny McBride... the naked and the dead.”
If you are a fan of crime films, do not miss Richard Fleischer’s little powder keg of a film noir, Armored Car Robbery (1950)
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, July 8, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until July 13th):
A couple on their way to New York City are about to have a serious reality check in 1970’s “comedy” The Out-of-Towners
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until July 12th):
Many experts have claimed that this next TCM recommendation is the first identifiable film noir made in the U.S. and released during the category's classic time period (1940 - 1959): Boris Ingster's 1940 Stranger on the Third Floor.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, June 24, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until July 1st):
Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951), previously reviewed here, may sound like some forgotten Douglas Sirk melodrama but certainly has its fair share of film noir qualifications delivered with assuredness by director Felix Feist.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Thursday, June 20, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until June 30th):
1972's The Getaway, is not nearly as meaningful or resonant as some of Sam Peckinpah's earlier films; still, as a genre piece, it punches solidly above its pay grade.
Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until June 23rd):
Anthony Mann’s low-budget, up close and personal foray into the war genre is an artistic triumph of the highest order: 1957’s Men in War
Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until June 14th):
“How does it feel to be a decent, respectable married man?”
Dick Powell’s Everyman faces a mid-life crisis, including a far more considerable threat to his well being in the form of Raymond Burr’s jealous contractor in Pitfall (1948)
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, May 27, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until June 9th):
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), is an incisive look into how each of three returning servicemen adapt to civilian life at home after World War II.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until June 10th):
Roadblock (1951) is a nifty little noir featuring a hard cop who, understandably, goes soft for a dame and thus turns to the dark side.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until May 23rd):
There have been quite a few movies centred around boxing over the years from 1937’s Kid Galahad to 2018’s Creed II with plenty of standouts in-between such as 1947’s Body and Soul, 1956’s Somebody Up There Likes Me, 1962’s Requiem for a Heavyweight, 1972’s Fat City and 1980’s Raging Bull. None of these, however, get as straight to the punchline as 1949’s knockout noir The Set-Up,
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until June 15th):
Next is Strange Cargo (1940) which I previously listed as one of my Top Ten: Guilty Treasures.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until May 15th):
Otto Preminger’s directed classic, 1944’s Laura, is the exacting director’s slick and assured amalgamation of mystery (whodunnit) and film noir (obsessive desire, gruesome murder etc) elements.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, May 6, 2024
Currently available on Watch TCM (until May 12th):
Ace in the Hole (1951) is Billy Wilder's scathing examination of American opportunism and moral depravity via cocky newspaper reporter Chuck Tatum,
Read More
Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Today on TCM:
Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 magnum opus Apocalypse Now
Read More