Category: Ones

The Curse of the Story Projects like this start with the notion of self-parody. You create funny characters that carry a funny world with them. The Waylons do a good job at this, with the mannerisms so over the top you are aware of the actresses at every moment. TeeVee skits can work on this… Continue reading BAPS (1997)

The Photos Would Have Been Funnier Yow, another formulaic movie that preaches breaking out of the formula. Another staid, risk-free production that promotes the taking of risk. Another film about film writing whose chief fault is the script. The setup is simple: comfortable but compromised person is confronted and sees the error of their ways… Continue reading Banger Sisters (2002)

Playing with Plays Adapted for the screen by the same folks who next did “Casablanca,” incidentally with Lorre. Filmed by someone known for his light touch. I’m not of a fan of Capra’s, as he values the little quirky hooks in the story and dialog and depends on some grand sweep (usually nostalgic) to make… Continue reading Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Short Story Long What astounds me is how things change. Here’s a film that was celebrated in its day. In fact, I remember my third grade class in the DC area taking the day off to go to this. (The year previously, we had gone to see a Cinerama movie in the same theater.) We… Continue reading Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

Away from Home Alone The more I study film ideas, the more I’m amazed at how some ideas continue to live. Take the notion of humorous cruelty. Were the Stooges the first to build a franchise around this. In modern times, it is the “Home Alone” franchise where we are given an excuse for accepting… Continue reading Are We There Yet? (2005)

Multiple Stadia Sometimes I would rather have an ambitious project that fails rather than something simple that succeeds. But that is not the same as comparing something incoherent to careful focus. This project tries too much, has too much narrative, opens too many levels and integrates poorly among them. There is a case to me… Continue reading At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991)

Long Form Loop I study long form film to see how it works. Some times what I end up seeing doesn’t work. That is the case here; only the costumes matter, and one episode has resonance. Does that one episode qualify this as long form? Maybe. Long form has less to do with length than… Continue reading Assault Girls (2009)

Ineptness The gang portrayed here is some sort of a triangulation among the Marxes, Stooges and Laurel and Hardy. We love theatrical movie ineptness, especially in policemen and politicians. Especially if the characters are Brits. And this is true it seems even if the audience is British. The form has fallen by the wayside now… Continue reading Ask a Policeman (1939)

Vision This promises two things. One is a lightweight system to connect an App with a movie. You download the free App and launch it. It listens to the film and synchronises some images and a little video from time to time. This is a fantastic idea, but in this case the experience wasn’t expanded.… Continue reading App (2013)

Ordinary Extraordinary Swedes are the most orderly people on the planet. Their sense of propriety is something that this American can only wonder about. That’s why this little film escapes me. The whole point of this is that the six folks who break in are not odd-looking, but quite ordinary and respectable looking. All the… Continue reading Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers (2001)