The Vast of Night (2020) Andrew Patterson

Have you heard of The Vast of Night? It’s playing on Amazon Prime, and it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. Read my full review here.

The Capture (1950) John Sturges

Like Western film noir? Is The Capture worth your time? Read on….

Thunder Road (2018) Jim Cummings

My review of the 2018 film Thunder Road.

Gold Star (2016) Victoria Negri

Gold Star (2016)
Written and directed by Victoria Negri
Produced by Effie Fradelos, Katie Maguire, Jose Del Carmen Martinez, Victoria Negri, Carlos Oller, Zachary Silverstein, Ellyn Vander Wyden, Greg White
Edited by Chris Steele-Nicholson
Cinematography by Saro Varjabedian
Music by Ben Levin
(1:30)

In the opening shot of Gold Star we see a young woman running, but we’re not sure why. Her breathing is labored and the camera captures her only from the neck up, so we’re immediately asking questions: Is she exercising? Evading someone? Some thing?

Movies Watched in April 2017 Part II

If you missed Part I, look no further.

I’m continuing something of an abbreviated look at these films. Maybe less is more? I hope you’ll find something of interest to check out. Here we go…

Movies Watched in October 2016 Part I (Pre-Noir City DC)

Noir City DC starts today, so I thought I’d post everything that I’ve seen so far this month before the festival gets started. I hope to report on the festival as it happens, so stay tuned. Like last month, many of these entries will be very abbreviated.

Movies Watched in April 2016 Part I

April is shaping up to be a pretty solid month. Here’s the first 10 movies I saw in early April. More to come…

Movies Watched in March 2016 Part II

The second half of March didn’t include as many movie as I would’ve liked, but here’s how things went after the Ides of March, so to speak… If you missed Part I of March, look no further.  And here’s the rest:

Bone Tomahawk (2015) S. Craig Zahler

Bone Tomahawk (2015)
Directed and written by S. Craig Zahler
Produced by Iain Abrahams, Jonathan Feuer, and twelve more
Cinematography by Benji Bakshi
Editing by Greg D’Auria, Fred Raskin
Music by Jeff Herriott, S. Craig Zahler
Costumes by Chantal Filson
Caliber Media Company
(Amazon streaming; 2:13)

In discussing Johnny Guitar a few weeks ago, I mentioned that when the film was released in 1954, Westerns were already in a steady decline. At one time, Westerns reigned supreme in American movie theaters (and later on television). In 1952, 80 Western movies were produced in America. In 1953 that number slipped to 72 and in 1954 plunged to 52. We’ve seen Westerns make small comebacks over the decades since then, but – the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino notwithstanding – Westerns are pretty rare. If my research is accurate, only 12 Westerns were released in the U.S. in 2015. One of those is Bone Tomahawk, a Western far too many people haven’t seen, but should.

Hard Times (1975) Walter Hill

Hard Times (1975) Walter Hill
Amazon streaming (now expired) (1:33)

I’ve been a fan of director Walter Hill for years, but until recently I’d never seen his first film Hard Times. Charles Bronson (above) plays Chaney, a drifter who gets where he’s going by slipping on and off boxcars in the Depression era, picking up a few bucks in pick-up fights before moving on to the next town. A shifty promoter called Speed (James Coburn, below right) sees how Chaney’s fighting skills could help him get out of the financial hole he’s in with a loan shark.

I can’t top Kristina’s excellent review of this film over at Speakeasy, so I highly recommend you check it out if you want to know more.  Instead, I’d like to dwell for just a moment on Walter Hill.