Jackie Brown ★★★★★

Jackie Brown is Quentin Tarantino's third film and finds success in new ways while using the old noir tropes of femme fatale, desperation, and violence. Pam Greer plays the title character as a flight attendant who moon lights as a money trafficker for her boss Ordell Roby (Samuel L. Jackson). She's caught in a sting with ATF and the FBI and that sets up the circumstances for her to make off with half a million dollars fooling her boss and the federal authorities all together. It's a great film as it pays multiple odes to 1970's music, clothes, colors, but situationed in a 90's world. The soundtrack is excellent with multiple noteworthy 70's R&B groups like the Supremes and Delfonics. There is a noticeable improvement or vision by Tarantino with his camera work, using it much more effectively as a storytelling technique. Scenes that come to mind are when Beaumont is about to get into the trunk to be murdered, the trunk almost acts as a character with the camera shooting outwards. Ordell's apartment is shot so that you feel you are sitting in the room with everyone, it feels cramped like the apartment in reality would feel. Everything down to the constant cigarette smoking, shopping malls, and abundance of guns that reeks of a world that is so close to being tangible. Bridget Fonda plays a pot smoking surfer girlfriend of Ordell who at every turn tries to manipulate his business with an old timer associate played by Robert De Niro. She plays an irritating supporting role that is very effective in causing her own demise.  De Niro almost seems out of place but as always he melts into character as Louis, as someone who has lost a touch being an older bank robber recently paroled.

Samuel L. Jackson does a wonderful job again in his 2nd film with Quentin Tarantino as Ordell. Ordell is a man who wants people to know what kind of a big shot he is, talking about selling all kinds of guns to the customers he consequently deals to. This is a great comment on the availability and normalcy of gun access in the United States despite how dangerous and violent they can ultimately be. Robert Forster plays Max Cherry the bail bondsman Ordell asks to bail Jackie out of jail, all with plans to murder her so she doesn't name him to ATF and FBI. Jackie able to foresee this, turns the situation to her advantage as we learn Cherry lends her the gun she pulls on Ordell. From here the film's culmination is setup, as we see a character willing to risk what they have just for a chance to get out. In many ways this film is very much about the American Dream and how desperate some are to achieve it, regardless of cost. Forster really adds a charm as Cherry, he's a man who is morally kind of grey who's really a good guy but helping Jackie elude the feds with Ordell's money. He doesn't take any money other than the 10%, and he lets a woman he loves go even being offered a trip to Madrid with her. It's another very simple story told elegantly by Tarantino, multi layered and bittersweet. It is one of my favorite films of his because it is so deftly done and handled, there is a real intimacy felt that doesn't quite come across his other work.

Pulp Fiction (1994) ★★★★★

Pulp Fiction is a neo-noir series of vignettes told within 48 hours of each other placed in a non-linear format. Again dealing with a corps of professional criminals and the associates they interact with, Tarantino weaves a kaleidoscopic narrative full of impending consequence and reaction. Sprinkled in humor as seen in the quick backstory featuring Christopher Walken as to how Bud (Bruce Willis) came by his father's watch. This is an improvement in many ways over his previous work 1992's Reservoir Dogs, characters branching out under Marcellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) as the criminal protagonist. Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta both play hitmen associates of Wallace who open the film by killing three targets. Another improvement is in the varied and witty dialogue written by Tarantino, They make their reappearance in the final part of the film where they have to clean up a very bloody car, and run into Tarantino's character Jimmie, needing his house to regroup and park the obvious problem. Travolta's character is asked by Wallace to take his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) out and look after her while he is out of town. They have a nice time, they go out and dancing, and Mia mistakenly snorts too much heroin. Hilarity ensues and Travolta has to bring her back to life with an adrenaline shot to the heart. Done poorly this almost sounds comical but it is deftly handled by Tarantino through great cinematography, editing, and scene placement. Watching the film in it's entirety a few times you get the appreciation of how Tarantino knew how he was going to piece all of the scenes together in their non-linear format. 

The pace of Pulp Fiction moves along nicely and the editing greatly enhances this feeling with the screenplay keeping the viewer's attention. There isn't much to talk about because the enjoyment of watching the film really is in watching it. It's colorful, and well acted and has great, smart, witty dialogue that puts life into the scenes. Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames have a great moment of perspective despite one of them being raped. Samuel L. Jackson gives a great performance and demands your attention with every scene he is apart of. He starts and ends the film with memorable and impressive monologues and is one of the more quotable Tarantino characters. Tarantino has also been credited with resuscitating John Travolta's career with this film as he was really not working before he was given a chance in this film. Pulp Fiction is a great film that cleverly and intelligently crafts it's story with style and taste and is all about how it is, not necessarily what it is. Because on the surface it's another simple story, slightly more complex than Tarantino's last picture, woven in a way that demands and keeps your interest all the way through.  

Reservoir Dogs (1992) ★★★★★

Reservoir Dogs follows the members of a local criminal group who've just robbed a jewelry store and follows the aftermath and consequences of the botched operation. This is Quentin Tarantino's first film and is an impressive achievement regardless of who's production it is. There are tropes of noir, gangster, and some touches of pop culture dialogue that steadily move the film along. An incredible cast brings the script to life with attitude, panic, and paranoia. Tim Roth playing Mr. Orange is an undercover police officer, a fact unknown until the end of the picture, is shot in the robbery attempt, and spends most of the film writhing in pain on a cement floor. The panic and fear set in his eyes as he is riding to the warehouse, is awesome and unsettling. As we are introduced to more and more of the crew, they all have a different version of events of the botched robbery. Mr. Pink played by Steve Buscemi shoots his way out of the crime scene, wildly and recklessly firing, The cops that pursue act in a similar fashion. Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) shows up and steals nearly every scene he is in even with the impressive Buscemi, Keitel, and Roth. Cousin Eddie (Chris Penn) meets the group at the warehouse trying to pinpoint the police informant. Paranoia ensues as everyone devolves into a shouting match mania with loaded guns. Mr. White (Keitel) keeps pushing for a doctor to come help Orange unknowing he's the culprit they are looking for. He relies on his instincts throughout because without them, where is he? Pink is the only one safely betting on his paranoia proving the old adage just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you. 

 

Reservoir Dogs does an excellent job presenting a very basic and simple premise and allowing the screenplay, acting, and camera tell the story. It flashes back and forth telling each man's story of how he came to be involved in the caper. The tone and atmosphere is almost completely reliant on the written word and the great acting bringing it to life. Long shots that keep your attention and the performances keep you on edge, all of this without a score or soundtrack. Michael Madsen's scene with the kidnapped Police Officer comes to mind, as the entire thing is held together by every movement, gesture, and knowledge from the audience of what is coming. Blonde is a psychopath and enjoys every moment of torturing the officer all the while dancing to the sound of 70's radio. It doesn't matter if he has information that could help them or not, he wants to hurt this man. But like any great film what makes it special is the action on the screen, interaction between characters, and immersion into a world that either is or isn't our own, a vision. Tarantino clearly from the start has films he borrows from, but in his execution he makes it his own.

Orange saves the life of the Police Officer only for him to be murdered moments later as we learn what has been suspected by Pink since the beginning. This successfully allows Tarantino to control how we feel about what we are seeing in the early parts of the plot, to just experience what we are seeing without making judgements of right and wrong or good and bad. This is a world of pure survival. We follow Orange through his infiltration into the criminal group leading up to the jewelry heist. Despite the high tension and rough dialogue the film does an excellent job of sprinkling in humor and pop culture topics that make it relevant even 23 years after it's release. This was the start of Tarantino films commanding attention from the best actors in the industry which of course also is still true. Reservoir Dogs is stylishly put together and filmed without losing any of the substance of the more serious moments that move the plot forward. There is a love of cinema and film so apparent in this wonderful director's repertoire. A great first attempt for Quentin Tarantino who's movie still keeps audiences captivated. 

Black Mass ★★★☆☆

After seeing the teaser trailer some six months ago, I was pretty blown away at the on screen transformation completed by Johnny Depp in his latest effort "Black Mass". The film follows the true story of local Boston crime lord James Whitey Bulger. Having to wear over fifty wigs during shooting, Depp was required to wear a new hairpiece everyday of filming. The cast is large and diverse, many different faces with many different backgrounds and skills. Scott Cooper directs coming off the Christian Bale/Woody Harrelson thriller Into The Furnace, and does an adequate job moving the picture along, but doesn't add anything either. I try to write these reviews as an unbiased viewer, with no expectations one way or the other. I feel in reality this is probably impossible to accomplish and to do your best to try not to overthink it. Bulger is approached by FBI agent John Connelly played by Joel Edgerton about wiping out the Italians on the north side and setting up a beneficial relationship as they are two old boys from the neighborhood. This relationship is what drives the film and expands on the tonal setting and atmosphere of South Boston. There are signs and clear reminders of the hypocrisy John gets himself into, through his co workers, his wife, and his daily routine. Edgerton plays the man with absolute self righteousness and an egomaniacal world view, he can't be questioned because he's above question, he's with the FBI, he's a good guy. And just as the grey exists within Connolly, the writers don't make Bulger out to be a complete monster. There are shreds that still subtly permeate throughout the film, making it clear to anyone that has an interest, Bulger wasn't always this way.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Bill the brother to Depp's Whitey, the State Senator and white sheep of the family. His use throughout the film suggests his only place for being there is to move the plot along, which is fine but it's a poor job of character development. The film opens with John approaching him about getting in touch with his brother, to be able to assist each other in a mutually beneficial relationship. Bill washes his hands of it, and is mostly a background character of the film, and despite his A lister status, Cumberbatch really muddles a New England accent, it can't really be called Boston or even Massachusetts. Some surprises were subtle performances by Jessie Pleamons who plays Kevin Weeks who you've seen be interviewed if you're familiar with any Bulger documentaries or TV specials, and Rory Cochrane playing Bulger right hand man Steve Flemmi. Cochrane doesn't have much dialogue but makes his screen time worth it with some of the most sorrowful and deeply morose emotions sweeping across his face, especially at the murder of his character's step daughter.  Pleamons who's best known for his work on Breaking Bad, plays the wheel man and muscle for Bulger, breaking noses, assisting in body disposal, and tending bar. He channels a southie version of Matt Damon if he wasn't such a genius in Good Will Hunting.

One of the themes that I wanted to touch on, was while watching the film an unsettling realization came to the surface. At the Saint Patrick's day parade we have all of the environmental elements intersecting in the film. The FBI working hand in hand with a local crime kingpin, narcotics distributor, murdering psychopath. Our national intelligence agency allowing these things to happen so that they could put away the Italian mob. The people we trust to keep us safe, handing us over to the wolves who'd do us nothing short of annihilation, and for what? Promotions? Money? An ego boost? And it's right there. Right in plain sight. Right where anyone who cares to look, will see how power and opportunity built their own version of the American dream. They let the devil loose so that they could catch what they deemed to be a bigger catch, in return they were responsible for dozens of murders and told themselves the ends justify the means. When in reality, that's never the case. Johnny Depp does wonders as Whitey Bulger and gives perhaps the performance of his career, I'm sure he'll be nominated for an academy award as it was a harrowing and spooky performance.

Ultimately while having interesting themes, solid acting, and an accurate environmental foothold Black Mass fails to deliver the full effect of a cinematic experience. It feels like a well done Scorsese imitation by a devoted professional fan. The few montage sequences reminded me of the many Marty pictures I've seen over the years. The direction had some pacing problems in parts and felt driven by Depp more than a sure handed director. Very few scenes have Depp absent from them but in those are veteran actors like Julian Nicholson and Kevin Bacon. Adam Scott is a very good and underutilized actor usually seen in comedies but is again misused here. He has a mustache and a fairly wavy New England accent and might have 7 total lines in a two hour film, he's supposed to be one of the main FBI guys investigating Bulger. He has no development, we barely know his name, no backstory, no understanding of who he is. Maybe I'm just picking at the lack of detail, and it's a movie after all, but this was apparent throughout. Many good actors not being used right or too many scenes that were frivolously used and didn't tie into the story and the ones that did didn't give enough detail and depth. Black Mass was an entertaining but flawed look at a sociopath who isn't given but a sliver of humanity and destroys everything around him, simply to stay in power. Thanks Claudius. Fucking Shakespeare.

Mean Streets (1973) ★★★★☆

When watching Martin Scorsese's first film Mean Streets, it almost immediately occurs to the viewer just how talented the legendary director is at placing music in his scenes. The same deft touch that exists in Goodfellas, Raging Bull, and Taxi Driver is seen in his first film in 1973. Starring Harvey Keitel and Robert DeNiro as two street toughs working numbers for a local bookie, we follow their journey as friends and colleagues in the rugged tight knit community of Little Italy. Charlie(Keitel) works and collects money for his uncle the bookie and his friend Johnny Boy(DeNiro) wants a job too. Charlie runs into different sets of problems surrounding his inability to date the women he wants to, because of his families judgment and the communities close tie nature. He struggles with the expectations those around him have of him and trying to find his place. He spends most of the film working around the screw-ups of Johnny Boy and keeps having to save him from tragedy. This is really all I'll say about the plot because Mean Streets is really about a great director's first attempt. It's rough around the edges regarding plot direction but shows great promise from a technical point of view.

Mean Streets is wonderfully shot and the fact that most of it was done on hand cameras forty two years ago speaks to the craft of the young director. Great shots of the New York skyline, communities, and naturalistic interactions between characters fill the scenes with authenticity and takes you away to that time and place. The dialogue is quick and at times muddled and tough to understand, this I feel was to add a realistic quality to the people living in Little Italy in the 1960's. We're shown Charlie's soft side in his romantic interactions with his girlfriend Teresa(Amy Robinson) who reminded me at times of Lorraine Brocco, and added a touch of vulnerability to an otherwise jagged and mania filled world. The atmosphere of Mean Streets is as prevalent as any Scorsese picture and fills the scenes with detail and vibrance and action. It's wonderful to see such a long history of work have a basis and foundation from which it was formed. There is an energy that he brings to the atmosphere of the picture and all of his work that followed that turned into his signature.

The film is technically well done but is rough around the edges, the editing wonderful and acting superb and on point. Mean Streets suffers from a lack of perfectionism and a crowded timeframe of like-themed films. It's a little sloppy, it's a little messy all that is to be expected of a first director's attempt at art. But Scorsese did a wonderful job showing the life of these characters in Little Italy, characters that in part he knew. There are just better films tackling similar subjects during the years preceding, proceeding and including the year it was released. But for what it was, in the context of all these years later, the film was made with great skill and heart and has stood the test of time in many people's minds.

Kids (1995) ★★★★☆

In the first minutes of screen time of the Larry Clark film Kids, the viewer is challenged by the actions taking place in front of them. Perhaps the most shocking thought racing through someone's mind is that this could be and likely is happening somewhere in America, in some city, some town, some place that has a loose restriction on access to excess. Filmed in New York City in the summer of 1994 and starring future successful actresses Chloe Sevigny and Rosario Dawson, kids is a look at a day in the life of multiple teenagers engaging in underage drug use and unprotected sex. The language is what grabs your right away and the coarse vocabulary regarding girls, boys, and the casual and somewhat obvious ignorant nature of sexual relationships. One boy in particular, Telly(Leo Fitzpatrick) is especially cavalier about "fucking bitches", Telly is 14. After deflowering a virgin to start the film, he brags to his friends that his plan is to deflower as many virgins as possible and so we follow him on his quest. We then visit a group of girls(including Sevigny and Dawson) who casually and openly talk about their sexual histories and experiences.

Following this group talk between the girls, we follow Dawson and Sevigny to a clinic so they can be tested for HIV. Coming out at the time that it did, AIDS was a really big deal at the time and something these kids were really dealing with when hitting sexual puberty. Jenny(Sevigny) tests positive for HIV. She has had sex with only one boy who we come to find is Telly, the boy who's vowed to sleep with as many virgins as possible. So now that we know how Telly is affecting his environment we see him meet girl after girl throughout the film, unaware of what he is doing. It's in this element that the film presents such a harrowing narrative, little demons let run amok not knowing what they do. As we follow Jenny, she effortlessly tries to track down Telly to let him know of the news that burdens her throughout the 2nd and 3rd act. Sevigny has a true vulnerability that really comes through and we understand her plight better than she does because of what we know.

Kids is energetically shot, the camera acting almost as a ghost who's drifting through the party scenes...watching the actions of undeveloped emotionally confused little people surrounded by the ever widening abyss. The film falls short because it only gives us surface insights into these people's lives, mostly not seeing their home life, scattered hangout with cigarettes and 40's...rolling a blunt in Washington Square park after dumping the tobacco to the asphalt. But that's the direction of these characters, all they have are the highs of the every day and it's all they care about even if it's at the expense of someone else. We see this mania reach it's peak at the end of the film where a soul crushing rape scene takes place and leaves you in that dark place that exists in your mind most people try not to go to. So there could of been more character substance, more of a directed plot but that's also staples of the independent film scene of the 1990's. Great art asks many more questions than it answers, and so that is what we're left with, a lot of questions.

Citizen Kane (1941) ★★★★★

Orson Welles and Citizen Kane are synonymous with classic film, cinematography, and being named one of if not the greatest film of all time. Much of the praise comes from the technical brilliance of Welles behind the camera, a film many years ahead of it's time for shot selection, cinematography, and lighting. Beautiful light and dark shadowing is performed expertly and does a wonderful job hinting at these themes found throughout the film. Citizen Kane is the story of Charles Foster Kane and his meteoric rise to power and his abrupt decline. The film starts out with the death of the newspaper icon Charles Kane, we start at the beginning of his life showing his childhood where he grew up poor only to be adopted by a wealthy man. This is where Kane inherits his money and good fortune and thinks it would be fun to open and run a newspaper. The plot is told in a nonlinear fashion, alternating between a reporter revisiting Kane's life by interviewing the players involved and the present inquiry of his last word: "Rosebud". Citizen Kane is about the very human nature of our personalities and the flaws that allow us to succeed and rise to power are the same ones that eventually are the cause of our downfall or shortcomings. Rosebud is that thing in which we cannot taste, touch, define or grasp. It is the unescapable emptiness that permeates our very souls, that thing we cannot buy, cannot get back, cannot escape from. When it's all said and done and final chapter is written, nothing changes the inevitable: we're all black smoke rising into an empty atmosphere.

Orson Welles dons makeup throughout many of the scenes as Kane and it is done remarkably well even for a film made in 1941. As he gets older we see the graying hair, the white mustache, we see the extra weight added on and it's quite authentic. One interesting note is that at the end credits it states that many of the actors are new to motion pictures and proudly promotes this. It makes you remember how good this film was when it came out and how it still stands up to time is pretty remarkable. Most noteworthy, is the scene where the camera is shooting from the floor, making Welles look like an absolute giant, towering over his domain. There are numerous shots of Kane showing his physical stature, his presence reflecting his projection. There are multiple shots of Orson Welles where I'm reminded of Brando and Tom Hardy, they seem to have the same well of deep emotional resources. The real currency of Citizen Kane is in it's empathetic masochism of it's main character and that he ultimately is the most tragic of all characters. He has everything except that which matters most. Love.

Rosebud. It's his sled when he was a child. A gift that he couldn't buy, a feeling he couldn't duplicate, a symbol of his inability to love himself or to obtain that thing which truly matters most to him. We all have our own Rosebud, I believe. That this film speaks to a larger human condition than just a look at one man who had all the material things anyone could ever want but not the thing that he needed. Kane's projection like Oedipus is completely without self awareness, it's all about being just and righteous and telling people what the right thing is. It's all about his infallibility as a "man of the people" he doesn't like criticism, he treats people like his sycophantic play things because it's all about what they can do for him. The only thing he loves is himself(ego), he loves being loved but only on his terms. At the end of the day he has nothing because he isn't even fully aware of his own reality, it is what he perceives it to be. This is what makes Kane such a classically flawed fool, didn't you know silly man? You're just a human, and we're all flawed, we're all carrying around some crevice from an old wound.  And then there's the last shot, his sled being burned with the other posessions. Rosebud. And that's it. Everything you've ever loved, anything you'll ever become, everything you ever were is just smoke and ash, drifting off into the horizon....just..gone.

Touch Of Evil (1958) ★★★★☆

Power, corruption, greed, and murder all intersect in Orson Welles 1958 film noir Touch Of Evil. The third and what many consider definitive version is Welles restored Director's cut, put together after his death upon the request of his last will and testament. Touch Of Evil stars Charlton Heston in the lead as Mike Vargas, a local narcotics officer who's working a case against a rather notorious mob patriarch. He's met head on during his investigation by local police Captain Hank Quinlan who is as slovenly as he is corrupt. Played by Orson Welles in an engrossing and idiomatic performance, Welles gives himself completely over to the role of a deeply hypocritical and insecure police official. Set in a California-Mexico border town, the film's plot is set after a dynamite explosion sends two people to their deaths and their car flying into pieces scattering across the night sky. The bomb we learn was meant for Vargas himself. This is setup brilliantly by a three and a half minute opening tracking shot that culminates with a murder investigation.

Considered a classic for being ahead of it's time in lighting and cinematography, Touch Of Evil is wonderfully and expertly handled cinema done by one of the finest film directors' of our time. Welles sets the tone in a dusky, quiet town where dread is waiting to be located around each corner. There are some interesting philosophical themes at play especially in regard to the role of the police in society. Welles character represents the establishment, using the law as a function of his will to punish evil. Whereas Vargas(Heston) believes the law is there to protect the guilty and the innocent and that police work should be hard, it should be nuanced and dissected. The idealist eventually becomes the establishment, it takes consistent vigilance to serve true justice. White and black film lends itself to the cinematography and beautifully shot scenes leave the landscapes either drenched in sunlight or moonlight converging with shadow reflecting the mood and tone of the underlying narrative.

Touch Of Evil is a great film about character, cinematography, and taking you away to a specific place and time. It does this very very well and it is even more impressive when it was done and how it's narrative challenged the current, rising police state and how that is still a relevant topic today. It addressed the rights of the individual and why they are important, how power can corrupt and absolute power can corrupt absolutely. When you consider yourself the absolute law, how can you ever hope to serve justice? The one flaw that was a little glaring to me while watching the film was the performance of the night manager played by Dennis Weaver. I'm not sure what type of performance he was supposed to be given, but I found him to be absolutely irritating and annoying. To the point I didn't care what he was saying or what function he served to the plot. It's why I'm taking a star away, his performance took a little something away from what was otherwise a terrific film.

It Follows (2015) ★★★☆

The horror genre has been lacking for quite some time, occasionally revitalized by a new filmmaker or a specific vision that is so striking it requires the world to stop and take note. It Follows is one of the few movies as an adult I've viewed and inspired such an endless sense of dread. Set against the backdrop of suburbia, our film revolves around a group of teens and specifically one girl, Jay(Maika Monroe). After sleeping with her date, Jay is kidnapped and relocated to a remote part of town where she is haunted and stalked by a fully naked woman. We learn that this stalker has been passed onto Jay through sleeping with her date and the only way to rid herself of it is by sleeping with someone else. This ghoul can resemble a total stranger or someone that the person loves, whatever will help it get near its prey. So we have somewhat of the conventional "rules" of horror films that these are the parameters by which the story or plot is told. I've never been a fan of this because it seems to inhibit creativity, but in this case it is done so expertly and with nuance, it's quite refreshing and engrossing. The filmmaker does a great job with the score, electronic music filling the scenes with dread and terror, ramping up the frenzied nature and tone of the picture. The film is beautifully and expertly shot, set during autumn, we see the rich detail in the changing of the seasons. 

The lighting is gorgeous in almost every scene, and the shooting environments are so varied and different. Shots in the pool, in the sun, by the beach, a school and inside of various houses. It really speaks to the craft of filmmaking and how skilled some of the young directors working today truly are. One of the more notable visual cues from the film is not being able to place the story in a specific timeframe or decade. The clothes, houses, cars could all be anywhere from the late 80's up until today, which gives it a sort of classic appeal and aesthetic. It Follows does a wonderful job reeling you into the absolute dread and mania of the haunting, setting up an inescapable scenario where no matter what, it will come for you. There's an inevitability to the horror here, something you can't really stop, something that will keep coming no matter what. You can delay, but you're just delaying the inevitable. Which may sound unsexy and and not scary, but it's executed so effectively captured through the score, camera work, and genuine horror on the face of Maika Monroe(who really has to carry the picture, acting wise) that it ends up working. The achievement is in captivating the audience, keeping them from looking away, the balance of the super quiet moments and the frenzied terror of the haunting.

It Follows is probably one of the best horror films of the last ten or fifteen years, with absolutely gorgeous cinematography, sure handed camera work, and a truly inspirationally terrifying story. It does fall short in the wrapping up of the plot. The film keeps us engaged nearly three quarters of the way through and runs out of gas near the pool scene. This is where the story is wrapped up and given some sort of conclusion. We don't really get that per se, so we're contemplatively haunted by the notion we may be visited. It is an interesting narrative though, what would you do to survive? Would you just keep affecting people with the hope that you can outrun time? Or would you face that horrible oncoming train, knowing you would never wish this on another being? That's why the film is so good, because it stays with us...continuously haunts us. The execution was nearly perfect, but that pool scene was a mess. Three out of four stars. 

Tangerine (2015) ★★★★

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North By Northwest (1959) ★★★★

I'm still coming down from how exuberant I feel after viewing this great piece of cinematic history. North By Northwest might very well be one of the best films I've ever seen. The film is nearly flawless from start to finish, Hitchcock grabbing your attention not three minutes into the picture with Roger Thornhill(Cary Grant) a madison avenue advertising executive, being kidnapped by a pair of men and not told what they want with him. He is delivered to a mansion outside of the city where what appears to be a wealthy man(James Mason) tells him he is some kind of agency operative. At this point Roger tells the man at great length he is mistaken and has no idea what he is talking about, which of course devolves into disbelief and disregard for his "story". The plot that continues is winding and convoluted, though Hitchcock expertly shows a firm grasp on his storytelling abilities juggling multiple characters, events, and narratives. The plot of North By Northwest weaves us from New York to Chicago to Indiana to South Dakota, ending at Mount Rushmore. The one classic scene that stand out in terms of cinematography and reference points for cinephiles, the crop dusting plane in the field in Indiana. The plane running down Cary Grant, we feel the doom closing in, and the hopeless dread.
















North By Northwest is a very suspenseful, mysterious, and engaging thriller in the first 40 to 45 minutes, all the way up to Roger getting on a train to Chicago where we meet Eve Kendall(Eva Marie Saint). This is where the tone and atmosphere changes and as their scene continues together, we're sucked in by the romance, the melancholy of the violin score, soaring and taking us with it. It's so moving and beautiful that we almost forget how much of a wanted man our protagonist is, we truly forget. Though as in any suspenseful thriller nothing is what it seems and the film seems to borrow quite a bit from noir. And then we are pulled back into the conspiracy of the plot, that the men chasing Roger, Phillip Vandamme(Mason) and Vincent(a very young Martin Landau) are secret operatives of nefarious means and that the identity of the man they're after is a red herring and he's now caught in the middle. Believing he is a secret opposing operative named Caplan they continuously hunt Roger with several assassination attempts being unsuccessful. Playing the female lead Eve Marie Saint was absolutely wonderful in her role as Eve Kendall playing a double agent that Roger doesn't find out until the last act. Their romance complicated but poignant, reaching a level that makes her question her own objectives. She plays a conflicted, warm, and witty young woman caught in the middle of this clustered web of deceit and misinformation. The note of sadness and melancholy below the surface is truly stunning. 

This is one of those films that is on everyone's list and actually lives up to the classic film hype. It's suspenseful, mysterious, exciting, adventurous, romantic, beautiful, and has absolutely breathtaking cinematography and visuals. Some of the shots even by today's standards are just phenomenal, the entire end with Mount Rushmore and having a daring cliffhanging action climax. Shooting the plane running down Cary Grant in the field in Indiana. The film has an even keel all the way through keeping the audience engaged and captivated. The romantic/love scenes between Cary Grant and Eve Marie Saint are absolutely wonderful as I spoke to earlier in the review, so much so that they literally take you away from the anxiety and fear of the ongoing plot. But even as you are taken away, events are in motion and nothing has stopped you've been merely looking in the other direction. Such is the skill of a great director, much like a magician. And even though they are tricks, they are beautifully done and executed with precision. This is Hitchcock's third film in a series that I call his obsession films. Dial M For Murder, North By Northwest, and Vertigo all deal with obsession and specifically romantic obsession. I can't tell you how good it felt seeing Roger pull up Even Marie Saint and fall back onto the train car bed, heading for that happy ending. 

I'd be remiss if I didn't speak to how iconic Cary Grant's performance as Roger Thornhill truly was. I kept seeing Don Draper, and as a huge fan of the TV series Mad Men, I really took notice. The gray flannel suit, the haircut, the look. Not to mention the madison ave advertising executive occupation, it was really great to see where some of Matt Weiner's influence originated. What is so impressive about Grant's performance is half of his acting is done with his face, reacting, reflecting, thinking and observing having just the slightest movement in his forehead, nose, or the twitch of a brow. It's pretty incredible to see and take in, the kind of attention and ability to lose yourself in a character. He's a twice divorced bore of a man who just so happens to reach through to a double agent femme fatale, and as crazy as all that sounds, as ridiculous of a premise, Hitchcock brilliantly weaves the story for us. It is truly a beautiful thing to see, and probably why it is still considered one of the greatest films of all time. Iconic performances, excellent direction, phenomenal editing and cinematography, North By Northwest absolutely exceeds all expectations from the viewer and makes you wonder where you've been the last 136 minutes. 

Dial M For Murder (1954) ★★★★

Twists and turns, mystery and suspense, and the fate of a beautiful woman are all at the center of Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant film, Dial M For Murder. We enter the scene with a unfaithful woman and the man she loves hiding this secret away from her husband. Little does she know, her husband is fully aware of her activities and plans to set her up for murder and make away with her inheritance. Grace Kelly playing the beautiful Margot Wendice as the lead role and target of Ray Milland(Tony Wendace) well thought out plan to bump her off. John Williams plays the inquisitive inspector Hubbard who tenaciously pokes and prods the minute holes in Tony's plot. This film is an absolute classic and because of this it has been reviewed many times over by critics greater than myself, but I was absolutely glued to the screen. The shooting is tight and controlled, the scenes have crisp action and acting, not a movement wasted or without import. 

Mark Halliday(Robert Cummings) is Margot's not so secret lover, and through several revelations is the film's moral compass and emotional center. Tony, discovering the affair, persuades Captain Lesgate(Anthony Dawson) a former college classmate, through blackmail to murder his wife therefore reaping the benefit of her will upon her death. Of course the act goes wrong and the rest of the film Tony tries to jump from one rock to the next, trying to avoid the inevitable. Ray Milland is absolutely wonderful as the obsessed, conniving, believably manipulative, husband. He meticulously plans each step and move out to such a degree that he nearly isn't discovered and we see how long he must have agonized over each moment and action. And as we close things out, it's sort of beautiful to see the stoicism of the British and acceptance of one's fate. Obsession is a theme of Hitchcock's that is touched here as well as in Vertigo. Obsessed over the intricate execution of a well laid plan, of ridding yourself of a tiresome problem, of outsmarting all of them and laughing all the way.

Dial M For Murder is a classic film because it keeps us engaged for the entire one hundred and thirty minutes that it's on the screen. Hitchcock's sure direction and hand keep us enthralled wanting to know how it will end, a murder mystery with intelligent and captivating players. Margot is played with such vulnerability by Kelly and we feel so much for her disadvantage and disposition. The dynamic of her trying to figure it all out and the shock of being told her own husband set her up to be murdered. Despite the serious tone there are moments of levity throughout and as a whole the film is superb in every way. Hitchcock has us all the way until the credits role, not sure if there is one more surprise in store hiding in the shadows. 

The Maltese Falcon (1941) ★★★★

 "It's the stuff dreams are made of". As Humphrey Bogart delivers this classic line at the end of the film, bars slam shut, lights go out, and we wonder just what we would do for the promise of our desires. Directed in 1941 and penned by now legendary icon John Huston, The Maltese Falcon is film noir mystery set in San Francisco surrounding a private investigator named Sam Spade(Bogart) and his partner Miles Archer. The film opens with a femme fatale named Brigid O'Shaughnessy(Mary Astor) weaving a tale about a missing sister who's in a trouble with a new beau. Archer is shot and killed while investigating, and Brigid's story comes apart. This is where the movie really takes off and we're in and engaged from thi point. This film has been talked about and reviewed to death so I won't waste time delving into plot points and all the technical tools used that have been the foundation of countless great films. This film is dark, everyone has a play, everyone has an angle, you can't trust anyone, and you've got to keep on your toes. While navigating through this seedy world even the hero, Sam Spade, he's got to play it close to the vest and not show what hand he's got.

Humphrey Bogart is one of the few quintessential icons of the classic movie. Marlon Brando, James Deen, Orson Welles and Humphrey Bogart make up a pretty short list of men that were purely iconic in the way they were and still are perceived by so many. The Maltese Falcon is the best we see of Bogart. As Spade, he is in command, he doesn't take anyone's shit, he's sure of himself in what he needs to do, he has a strong moral compass that doesn't falter even when he's manipulating another character. He's whatever he needs to be in this world, but ultimately never falters from being righteous. Cher chez la femme informs us for what to look for from the start, but nowhere along the way does this deter the excellent performances from Bogart, Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet as Gutman. The film is shot in a tight, claustrophobic manor that adds tension and focused nuance to the plot and overall feel of the film. 

Taking in all of the action, performances and technical brilliance behind the whole of the picture it's easy to see why this film has remained a classic among so many seasoned movie watchers. A sense of romance, danger, and dread fill the sets with a wonderful atmosphere and tone while the actors cooly deliver their lines, acting within acting. Mary Astor in playing the femme fatale gives off such desperation, such remorse, she makes you want to believe, even if in doing so you're signing your death warrant. She sings a song that you long to hear, and even as you hear it knowing where it will lead...you're still tempted to follow it, to sing that song too. It's not an unfamiliar feeling to have, to see what's really not there, to see what you want. Beautiful, tragic, haunting, the Maltese Falcon is a great piece of cinema that still stand up 74 years later. 

Starting back up

To get back in the swing of things, to start just reviewing TV and Film. See you then.