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I Cover the War! (1937)
DRAMA FOR HIS NEWSREEL CAMERA!
Filmmaker(s): Arthur Lubin

Bob Adams, ace newsreel cameraman, is told by his boss, "Get the picture---we can't screen alibis." He heads for Samari, a desert hot-bed of tribal unrest in Africa, to do just that, which includes getting footage of El Kadar, bandit and rebel leader. He gets his pictures but only after a romance with the Colonel's daughter Pamela, saving his wimpy, hacked-off brother Don from being a dupe of the gun-runners, and run-ins with spies and throat-cutting tribesman. For a finale, he saves the British Army.

Picture Snatcher Before ‘Stagecoach’ turned John Wayne into a celebrated wooden actor, he was a an ordinary uncelebrated one in a series of odd projects. Probably the most interesting of these odd deals is this movie. It doesn’t seem to be rentable. In terms of the actual...


Published November 28, 2022
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The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

Practical Summer movies, what a zone to enter! What a collection of thrills, disappointments and adventures of different kinds! Sometimes for me they take me to a sublime place: “King Kong”, “Van Helsing”. Most times it is just noise. If it is cinematic, I’ll credit it with...


Published November 28, 2022
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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Sex. Murder. Mystery. Welcome to the party.
Filmmaker(s): Shane Black

A petty thief posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl and a detective who's been training him for his upcoming role...

Gossamer Connections I’m like most people I guess. For me, there are movies that are “just” movies, things I enter for fun. And there are others I enter as part of lucid living, what are usually called “art” films. Its an artificial division that exists only because of...


Published November 28, 2022
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King Kong (2005)
The eighth wonder of the world.
Filmmaker(s): Peter Jackson

In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious movie producer coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter Kong, a giant ape who is immediately smitten with the leading lady.

The Tempest We can all celebrate. Jackson has now solidly replaced Spielberg. Most folks know that the 1933 "Kong" changed the world in fundamental ways. The world of movie imagination was in its earliest phases, so quite apart from the innovations of animation and dramatic scoring, the...


Published November 28, 2022
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Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (1978)
Filmmaker(s): Raúl Ruiz

Two narrators, one seen and one unseen, discuss possible connections between a series of paintings. The on-screen narrator walks through three-dimensional reproductions of each painting, featuring real people, sometimes moving, in an effort to explain the series' significance.

Thieves There’s a blanket term in film criticism, reflexivity. Its an odd word. It denotes something where outside and inside are merged or mixed, where viewer and viewed overlap. And yet the word itself is not reflexive, it stands aloof. While the root comes from reflection,...


Published November 27, 2022
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Hiroshima Mon Amor (1959)
From the measureless depths of a woman's emotions...
Filmmaker(s): Alain Resnais

The deep conversation between a Japanese architect and a French actress forms the basis of this celebrated French film, considered one of the vanguard productions of the French New Wave. Set in Hiroshima after the end of World War II, the couple -- lovers turned friends -- recount, over many hours, previous romances and life experiences. The two intertwine their stories about the past with pondering the devastation wrought by the atomic bomb dropped on the city.

The Pull of Connection I saw this thirty or so years ago. I don’t remember it moving me profoundly, but then so many things at that age routinely inject you with massive change without you knowing. Seeing it now gives me great, great appreciation for what...


Published November 25, 2022
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Anatomy of Hell (2004)
Filmmaker(s): Catherine Breillat

A man rescues a woman from a suicide attempt in a gay nightclub. Walking the streets together, she propositions him: She'll pay him to visit her at her isolated house for four consecutive nights. There he will silently watch her. He's reluctant, but agrees. As the four nights progress, they become more intimate with each other, and a mutual fascination/revulsion develops. By the end of the four-day "contract", these two total strangers will have had a profound impact on each other.

The Grace of Stupidity, the Beauty of Blood Some of us are more nimble than others at being and some of us hide it well, but it is the human condition to be stupid. We all are and that’s that. The best we can hope for...


Published November 25, 2022
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Jungle Jitters (1938)
Filmmaker(s): Friz Freleng

Starts out with a tribe of African cannibals imitating Native Americans. After this, they do the new Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theme "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down." Then a sloppy stuttering salesman knocks on their doors, and they bring him in and put him in a pot of boiling water. The queen of the tribe wants to see the man. She falls in love with him. They get married, but when the salesman sees he has to kiss the bride, he decides he'd be better off being dinner for a tribe of hungry cannibals.

Bamboozled I usually see these “banned” things and react variously. I think Amos and Andy, for instance is ennobling, and the often respected “Song of the South” disgusting in it racial typing. This one seems pretty offensive too, especially at the beginning where multi-hued cannibals prance around...


Published November 24, 2022
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Fatty Joins the Force (1913)
Filmmaker(s): George Nichols

Fatty rescues the daughter of the police commisioner and is given a job as an officer as a reward, but its not all its cracked up to be!

Behind Bars Sometimes it is a joy rummaging around in the old Hal Roach and Mack Sennett comedies. There’s an assumption behind the humor that by itself is rewarding: physical stuff and often heartfelt goodness. But sometimes they fall into sour recall, the times not being so...


Published November 20, 2022
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First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
You are there … on man’s most incredible journey!
Filmmaker(s): Kurt Maetzig

A mysterious magnetic spool found during a construction project is discovered to have originated from Venus. A rocket expedition to Venus is launched to discover the origin of the spool and the race that created it.

The Beginning In 1958 Russia changed the world by launching Sputnik. This really was a shock; modern readers may not appreciate it as of the magnitude (in the US) of 9-11. In terms of national will, there was a more universal mobilisation and commitment of resources...


Published November 14, 2022
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