Month: June 2014

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)

Strangers on a Train

I’m currently re-reading Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, so I figured I’d repost my review of Hitchcock’s adaptation, which originally appeared on Collider last year…

Everyone, at some point in their lives, secretly wishes death on another person. We all do it. Homicidal thoughts are as natural as breathing. Hopefully you’ve never acted on yours, but if you are reading this from a prison cell, congratulations on being assertive. The notion that we all want someone dead is what drives smarmy psychopath Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) into asking tennis star Guy Haines (Farley Granger) for a good ol’ round of murder in Hitchcock‘s Strangers on a Train.

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Recent Reviews From Beyond

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Here are a buncha links to stuff I’ve written recently for Bloody Disgusting. Lots of indie goodness with some trash thrown in for good measure. Hey, they can’t all be WOLFCOP.

TORMENT – a slick and brooding indie thriller.

JOY RIDE 3 – the threequel nobody wanted.

WILLOW CREEK – Bobcat Goldthwaite’s found footage Bigfoot movie. I sorta loved it.

WITCHING AND BITCHING – absolutely bonkers horror comedy. It’s ridiculously fun.

ANNA – decent psychological thriller.

WOLFCOP – about a werewolf cop, C’MON!

LUCKY BASTARD – pretty creative found footage flick about porn.

SX_TAPE – another found footage stinker. This one really sucks.

 

ACE IN THE HOLE (1951)

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Shhh…you guys hear that? Sounds like some kinda music…it’s just over this dusty ridge. Yeah, it’s music. And they’re singing about…some guy named Leo stuck in a cavern. Oh! It must be Ace in the Hole, Billy Wilder’s blistering indictment of American sensationalist culture! Initially deemed too cynical on its release in 1951, Ace in the Hole stands today as powerfully ahead of its time. The public loves a good, rotten news story about death, that’s never changed. What Wilder does here is place the spectators, the politicians, and the journalists on the chopping block for the crime of producing such a vile atmosphere where the good people are exploited by the media to make a buck.

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SLEEP, MY LOVE (1948)

Sleep, My Love

German director Douglas Sirk is probably best known for his 1950s Technicolor melodramas that focused on female and domestic issues. Since their initial release, films like Magnificent Obsession  and All That Heaven Allows have grown into critical and cult successes for their intelligent criticisms of American society. Bridging the gap between his early work and these celebrated melodramas is Sleep, My Love – a psychological noir that has a familiar plot, but sharp directing and top notch acting all around.

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