The Case Of The Scandalous Scoundrel (1987)

The editor (Robert Guillaume) of a sleazy tabloid has dirt files on an army general (Yaphet Kotto), a banker (Rene Enriquez), a doctor (George Grizzard) and his ex-wife (Morgan Brittany). But after he is murdered, it's a reporter (Susan Wilder) that he recently fired that is arrested for his murder. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) comes to the rescue as her attorney. Directed by Christian Nyby II (THE CASE OF THE WICKED WIVES). The seventh entry of the thirty Perry Mason telefilms made after the end of the Perry Mason TV series (1957-1966). This one is a very middling effort that feels padded out and probably would have been served better as a one hour episode rather than a 90 minute TV movie. Not enough time is given to the suspects (or the actual murder trial) and too much time is given to the private detective (William Katt) assisting Mason. With Barbara Hale, Wings Hauser and David Ogden Stiers.

Le Secret (1974)

Set in what appears to be a possible police state, a man (Jean Louis Trintignant) in what appears to be a mental asylum strangles a guard and escapes. In the secluded countryside, a couple take him in and while the man (Philippe Noiret) believes the escapee's story of being a political prisoner, the woman (Marlene Jobert) is not so convinced. Based on the novel LE COMPAGNON INDESIRABLE by Francis Ryck and directed by Robert Enrico (AN OCCURENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE). Conspiracy thrillers (Z, THE PARALLAX VIEW, 3 DAYS OF THE CONDOR) are often compelling. This effort keeps you on the edge because you don't know if Trintignant is a political prisoner on the run or if he's a batsh*t crazy killer on the loose. You even begin to suspect that Noiret's sympathetic writer isn't mentally stable either. You begin to expect the worst and when it comes, it's every bit as depressing as you thought it would be! There's only Jobert's suspicious partner (she and Noiret aren't married) to reflect the viewer's uneasiness about the situation. The score is typical Ennio Morricone. With Jean Francois Adam and Solange Pradel.

Man About Town (1939)

A Broadway producer (Jack Benny), who's brought his show to London, is in love with his glamorous star (Dorothy Lamour) but she won't take him seriously. To show her, he picks up an aristocratic stranger (Binnie Barnes), whose financier husband (Edward Arnold) neglects her. Directed by Mark Sandrich (SO PROUDLY WE HAIL). As a movie star, Jack Benny lacks something and for most of the film's running time, I couldn't help thinking how wonderful Bob Hope would be in the part. The film's first 45 minutes are pretty amusing but then the movie fumbles and never quite recovers. Still, many consider this the best of Benny's film efforts though I'd give that honor to GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE. With Betty Grable, Edward Arnold, Monty Woolley, Isabel Jeans, Phil Harris and stealing the movie, Eddie Anderson as Rochester.

Spirited Away: Live On Stage (2022)

A young teenage girl (Kanna Hashimoto) is moving to a new town along with her parents (Kenya Osumi, Miyu Sakihi). Along the way, they enter a tunnel that takes them into a different world, one of Japanese spirits and it is there that her parents are turned into pigs. Directed by the British theatre and opera director John Caird. A stage version of Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar winning 2001 animated film done for the Japanese stage. Caird makes no attempt at hiding the theatricality of the piece. We clearly see the puppet masters moving the marionettes and speaking for them and several actors wear face masks. While not a musical, song and dance (or movement) are an important element in the production. As for the human actors, they're fine with some standouts, notably Mari Natsuki playing the twin sisters. Was this production really necessary? No but I appreciate the inventiveness of the production with its roots in Bunraku (Japanese puppet theatre). After its Japanese production, the play opened in London a year later and a production is scheduled to open in Los Angeles in 2027 in the original Japanese (with surtitles). With Kotaro Daigo, Koharu Sugawara and Tomorowo Taguchi.

The Street With No Name (1948)

An FBI Inspector (Lloyd Nolan) is baffled by the murder of a housewife and a bank teller with no connection between the victims ... except the murder weapon. He sends his best agent (Mark Stevens) undercover to penetrate the inner circle of a notorious gang run by an ambitious crime boss (Richard Widmark). Directed by William Keighley (THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER). Filmed in a semi documentary style which was popular in the late 1940s with films like BOOMERANG, THE HOUSE ON 92ND STREET and CALL NORTHSIDE 777. Shot on the streets (and buildings) of Los Angeles, it has a pseudo gritty environment that contrasts with the stage bound sets at the studio. I found it entertaining it enough but there was still a melodramatic (but not in a good way) artificial quality about it. However, I did find Widmark's performance superior to his debut performance the previous year in KISS OF DEATH. Not so over the top, he's much more believable in a movie of this type. With Barbara Lawrence, Ed Begley, John McIntire and Joseph Pevney (who would later turn to directing).

Gycklarnas Afton (aka Sawdust And Tinsel)

Set during the turn of the century, the owner (Ake Gronberg) of a traveling circus has an intense relationship with his mistress (Harriet Andersson), a horseback rider in the show. When he returns to the town where his estranged wife (Annika Tretow) resides, their relationship is put to the test. Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman (WILD STRAWBERRIES). A complex look at the darker side of the psyche of sex and love and the depths of degradation it drags us into. It's not a pleasant journey. Dismissed by Swedish critics when first released, the film found more favor with international critics. Beautifully shot in B&W, it was the first collaboration between Bergman and the cinematographer Sven Nykvist and they would go on to make over twenty films together. Not one of my favorite Bergmans but essential if you're a Bergman fan. With Hasse Ekman, Anders Ek, Gudrun Brost and Gunnar Bjornstrand.

The Walking Target (1960)

After serving five years in prison for a payroll heist, an ex-convict (Ronald Foster) still refuses to tell law enforcement where the money is hidden. As he plots to recover the money from its hidden place, it's not only the cops who want the money but an ex-girlfriend (Merry Anders) and her new boyfriend (Robert Christopher) have plans for that money themselves. Directed by Edward L. Cahn (IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE). A moderately entertaining B programmer that's compromised by a tiresome romantic subplot between the "bad" ex-con and a "good" girl (Joan Evans) and we all know how that's going to turn out. Nothing out of the ordinary here but it's watchable enough to pass the time. With Norman Alden and James Callahan.

Predator: Badlands (2025)

A young exiled creature (Dimitrius Schuster Koloamatangi) of the Yautja race is exiled to a dangerous and hostile planet. In order to survive, he reluctantly joins forces with a damaged synthetic android (Elle Fanning). Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (PREY). This is the seventh entry in the PREDATOR franchise. This time around, the predator is not the bad guy but the hero. Heavily laden with its CGI effects, the film takes awhile to kick in but when it does, it becomes a thrilling sci-fi action piece. Even though she's playing an android, Elle Fanning infuses the movie with some much needed humanity, something missing in its other characters. While I'm a big fan of the original PREDATOR (1987), its subsequent spawn didn't interest me but I liked this well enough.The film's final image assures us that a sequel is on the way. With Reuben De Jong and Mike Homik.

Down With Love (2003)

Set in 1962 Manhattan, the feminist author (Renee Zellweger) of a best selling book suggesting that women can be as free sexually as men catches the ire of the playboy writer (Ewan McGregor) of a men's magazine who concocts an elaborate plan to bring about her downfall. Directed by Peyton Reed (BRING IT ON). One can make a comedic satire out of the western genre (BLAZING SADDLES), the disaster genre (AIRPLANE!), the spy genre (the Matt Helm movies) but how does one make a comedic satire of a comedy? Judging by this attempt, you can't. This is a satire of the Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedies (PILLOW TALK, LOVER COME BACK) but it lacks wit and charm. Day and Hudson played their roles seriously which allowed the comedy to come through. Zellweger and McGregor give smug "wink-wink" performances cluing the audience that they're in on the joke. They're imitations of the real thing and while Zellweger is pert and McGregor is a good actor, they're both poor substitutes for the genuine article. The same can be said for David Hyde Pierce channeling Tony Randall from the Day/Hudson movies. Actually, the movie comes across as a remake of SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL (not a good movie but still better than this one) which starred Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis, not Day and Hudson. With Sarah Paulson, Jeri Ryan, Rachel Dratch, Chris Parnell and Florence Stanley.

Les Dames Du Bois Boulogne (1945)

After she is spurned by her lover (Paul Bernard), a society woman (Maria Casares) concocts a plot for revenge. She arranges for him to meet a young girl (Elina Labourdette), a former prostitute and cabaret dancer that is trying to put that life behind her. Based on the novel JACQUES LE FATALISTE by Denis Diderot (with Jean Cocteau adapting it for the screen) and directed by Robert Bresson (DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST). This was only Bresson's second film and it's rather lush and elegant without the austerity of his later and more famous movies and reputedly Bresson disowned the film and refused to talk about it. The narrative is very similar to LES LIAISONS DANGERUSES. I found it absorbing although the ending seems like a cop out, a tearjerker of a "happy" ending. Still, the movie is a favorite of Jacques Demy, Francois Truffaut, Bernardo Bertolucci and Jacques Rivette, so it has its proponents. Oddly enough, I liked Casares' malevolent scorned woman much better than Bernard's obsessive stalker (toward Labourdette) of a lover. With Lucienne Bogaert and Jean Marchat.

Impulse (1990)

A Los Angeles undercover cop (Theresa Russell) teeters on the thin line separating her "normal" life as a cop from the lurid and tantalizing life of neon glitz she pretends to lead. Directed by actress Sondra Locke (THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER). Russell's out of control cop living on the edge is a compelling character and Russell is excellent and while Locke's direction is assured and taut, it turns into a one woman show because Russell has no one to play against. The two male protagonists (Jeff Fahey, George Dzundza) are stereotypes played by uninteresting actors so it often seems that Russell is acting in a vacuum. Instead of focusing on her, the screenplay by Leigh Chapman features an prosaic drug deal plot that's pedestrian. Still, Locke's direction is good enough that one wishes she had continued directing (she directed only three other movies) but with better material. With Alan Rosenberg and Nicholas Mele.

Trooper Hook (1957)

A first sergeant (Joel McCrea) in the cavalry captures an Apache village. When rounding up the women and children, he discovers a white woman (Barbara Stanwyck) with an Apache son.  She had been taken captive nine years before.  He attempts to return her to her husband (John Dehner) but will the husband accept her son? Directed by Charles Marquis Warren (ARROWHEAD). A potentially intriguing subject matter is reduced to a routine western. The movie sets up a confrontation between the husband and wife but doesn't resolve it, instead preferring to eliminate an unsolved situation by a convenient and abrupt event. The film is fortunate to have the the aging McCrea and Stanwyck in the leads, their star presence accounts for something. With Earl Holliman, Susan Kohner, Edward Andrews, Royal Dano, Rodolfo Acosta and Celia Lovsky.