Auteur theory has been taking it on the chin lately.

Never especially strong in this country - as opposed to Europe, where it has even been allowed to influence matters of copyright, in a shockingly communistic example of art being given primacy over commerce - it’s really taken a beating in the new New Hollywood, where franchising has taken ( Read more... )

Akira Kurosawa’s films have become something of a sticky wicket for me.  He’s obviously one of the greats of cinema, and at his best he’s nearly untouchable, but with some of his most lionized films, familiarity has bred, if not contempt, at least discomfort.  The more I watch them, the more I notice little patterns and habits, which analysis - or ( Read more... )

Parker, the amoral and ultra-efficient criminal featured in 24 novels by Donald Westlake, has been kicked around Hollywood almost as much as he’s been kicked around in his books.  He was luckiest in his earliest and latest adaptations; Point Blank, the 1967 film that adapted Parker’s debut in The Hunter, was only the second and still the best on- ( Read more... )

“The darkest place is under the candlestick.” - ‘Me’

Devils on the Doorstep manages to pull off, with near-total success, something so frustratingly difficult to do in film, no one has really managed to accomplish it since Kubrick made Dr. Strangelove:  make a work of art that fully captures the insanity and horror of war, while simultaneously ( Read more... )

Program note:  ages ago, some internet fiends and I used to play a constrained writing game called “Mad Ape Den”, where you’d have to re-tell a well-known story (novel, movie, TV show, play, etc.) using only words of three letters or fewer.  I’d completely forgotten about it until today, when I dug up this Mad Ape Den version of Blade Runner.  I’ve ( Read more... )

“You’ll never make big money.  You’re a two-bit guy.  No guts, nothing!  I want action!”

One of the reasons I’ve tried to stay away from well-known films during this month’s discussion of noir - especially ones as well-known as Gun Crazy - is that, well, I’m not the first horse in this rodeo, folks.  Critics a lot more perceptive than I’ll ever be ( Read more... )

So far this Noirvember, we’ve looked at an incredibly dark noir novel masquerading as a domestic drama centered around a dance contest, and a non-fiction noir that frames a series of historical mass murderers as perfect little short stories.  And today, having moved from crypto-noir to non-fiction noir, we’re going to move on to something ( Read more... )

What makes you think anyone’s taking care of the girl?  I wouldn’t be lifting a finger - not one finger - if I could make myself believe she was still alive.  I don’t believe it.  Not for ten minutes after they grabbed her.  (Inspector Donnelly)

Beginning like a classic Paramount actioner, all stark raised capital letters and swirling horns on the ( Read more... )

“I’m not lecturing,” I said, “but you ought to change your attitude.  On the level.  It affects everybody you come in contact with.  Take me, for example:  before I met you I didn’t see how I could miss succeeding.  I never even thought of failing.  And now - “

“Who taught you that speech?” she asked.  ”You never thought that up by yourself.”

( Read more... )

One thing needs to be addressed right off the bat when discussing Rian Johnson’s excellent new sci-fi drama Looper:  yes, its time travel narrative doesn’t make any sense.  Congratulations on spotting this well-concealed flaw, so integral to the essence of the film that Johnson was blowing it off as largely inconsequential before Looper was ever ( Read more... )