Another in the line of recent satires skewering the 1% — that there is a substantial American audience for this kind of thing is a worry in itself. This brutal, nauseating but funny black comedy is platitudinous at times, and it becomes somewhat obvious in the last third, once the survivors wash up on the island. However, the performances are top-notch, including a gleefully stoned Woody Harrelson and a lovely, bitchy turn by Charlbi Dean, who tragically passed away before…
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The Black Castle 1952
Dowdy Universal horror made on the doorstep of Universal’s run of sci-fi films in the 1950s, which William Alland would also go on to produce. It lacks the style of Universal’s classic period (which ended around 1946); however, it remains an entertaining gothic adventure, well directed by Nathan Juran, and supported by good performances from Lon Chaney Jr. (in a typical role as a mute, deformed henchman) and Karloff in a rare, non-villain role. Richard Greene is a sturdy, swashbuckling…
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Foreign Correspondent 1940
With David O Selznick off his back, Hitchcock revels in the Hollywood playground and produces his first blockbuster. It's also, arguably, his most typical adventure thriller until North by Northwest (which is, in some ways, a rehash of this film). It lacks the psychological complexities of Hitchcock's best films (such as his previous masterwork Rebecca), and even though WWII is on the doorstep, it is less pressing a propaganda piece than The Lady Vanishes, for example, apart from the earnest…
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Man's Favorite Sport? 1964
Paula Prentiss's Abigail is so consumed by Rock Hudson's Roger Willoughby — a fraud but also a sweet, gentle soul — she goes a little nuts. She can't leave him alone, which causes Roger no amount of grief, but it also leads him to become the best version of himself. In other words, she makes an honest man out of him. This is Howard Hawks's most extreme statement concerning the battle of the sexes. At one point, Easy (Maria Perschy),…
