at my signal, unleash hell

Average rating: 6.25. Isn't it fun to see what I don't like?

The Blue Gardenia (1953) - "Deeply distraught that her GI ex-boyfriend plans to marry another woman, Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter) agrees to go out on a date with lothario Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr). Norah's drunken night out with Prebble ends in a hazily remembered confrontation and the next day a startling discovery: Harry has been murdered, and the police have found Norah's personal effects at the scene. Tipped off to the breaking news, reporter Casey Mayo (Richard Conte) invites Norah to tell her side of the story."
length: 1 hour, 30 minutes

source: I own the DVD
I watched it because: I really liked it the first time (reviewed here)
IMDB: 6.8/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 84% Audience: 62%
my IMDB: 9/10

notable quote: "Honey, if a girl killed every man who got fresh with her, how much of the male population you think there'd be left?"

MPAA rating: Approved

directed by: Fritz Lang

my notes: this is a delicious film. Raymond Burr is terrific, perfect as playboy Prebble. Anne Baxter is awesome in the title role (a.k.a. Norah Larkin), as is Ann Sothern as the wisecracking roommate, Crystal Carpenter. 

    Now that I realize who Lang was, and how revolutionary his vision, I see this with new eyes. The camera work and especially editing is remarkable. Fantastic!

overall:  glowingly recommended

Odd Man Out (1947) - "Taking place largely over the course of one tense night, Carol Reed’s psychological noir, set in an unnamed Belfast, stars James Mason as a revolutionary ex-con leading a robbery that goes horribly wrong. Injured and hunted by the police, he seeks refuge throughout the city, while the woman he loves (Kathleen Ryan) searches for him among the shadows. Reed and cinematographer Robert Krasker (who would collaborate again on The Third Man) create images of stunning depth for this fierce, spiritual depiction of a man’s ultimate confrontation with himself."

length: 1 hour, 56 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: the film noir genre and period included some of the most innovative filmmaking of all time, and this is reputed to be one of the best
IMDB: 7.6/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 100% Audience: 86%
my IMDB: 7/10

notable quote: "'He's doomed.'

    'So are we all.'"

MPAA rating: Appoved

directed by: Carol Reed

my notes: beautifully filmed and lit, this is an incredibly tense film on a very difficult topic. James Mason is surprisingly good in the title role (Johnny McQueen), though he's quite limited by circumstances. I liked Denis O'Dea in the unsympathetic role of Inspector, and Elwyn Brook-Jones, appearing briefly as Tober. (My only quibble is with the overwhelmingly obvious symbolism of the church bells. but nothing's perfect.)

Academy Award nominee: Best Film Editing—Fergus McDonell
overall:  recommended

Gladiator (2000) - "Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) takes power and strips rank from Maximus (Russell Crowe), one of the favored generals of his predecessor and father, Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the great stoical philosopher. Maximus is then relegated to fighting to the death in the gladiator arenas."
length: 2 hours, 35 minutes

source: streamed on Dish
I watched it because: I like Crowe, and it's been on my watchlist
IMDB: 8.5/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 79% Audience: 87%
my IMDB: 6/10

AFI: 100 Years … 100 Heroes and Villains (2003) Hero #50

MPAA rating: R

notable quote: "Strength and honor."

directed by: Ridley Scott

my notes: way too damned long. It's a joke that this was nominated for the Film Editing Oscar, since it should have been cut by a quarter or more. Many loooong shots of scenery, overlaid with swelling dramatic music, should have been dumped into a "director's cut."

    I liked Tommy Flanagan as Cicero, the late Oliver Reed as Proximo, and Djimon Hounsou as Juba. The fight and battle scenes were pretty good, though I acknowledge the critics' derision, that the building modeling is laughably awful. Crowe's motivation was palpable, and I saw it not as "depressing" but inspiring. I would have fought for him.

    The biggest problem with this movie is the dead-obvious Phoenix as the mustachio-twirling Bad Guy™️. There is no nuance, subtlety, or slight, reluctant identification with him, just in your face reprehensible and creepy as Hell. He succeeds in being scary, but is more repulsive than frightening.

Academy Award winner:
• Best Picture—Douglas Wick, David Franzoni, Branko Lustig

• Best Actor—Crowe

• Best Costume Design—Janty Yates

• Best Sound—Scott Millan, Bob Beemer, Ken Weston

• Best Effects, Visual Effects—John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke, Rob Harvey
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Supporting Actor—Phoenix

• Best Director—Scott

• Best Writing, Screenplay written directly for the screen—Franzoni (screenplay/story), John Logan (screenplay), William Nicholson (screenplay)

• Best Cinematography—John Mathieson

• Best Film Editing—Pietro Scalia

• Best Music, Original Score—Hans Zimmer

• Best Art Direction - Set Decoration—Arthur Max (art director), Crispian Sallis (set decorator)
overall:  recommended only for those with strong stomachs

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) - "Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is a charismatic defense attorney who does business out of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Mick spends most of his time defending petty crooks and other bottom-feeders, so it comes as quite a surprise when he lands the case of a lifetime: defending a Beverly Hills playboy (Ryan Phillippe) who is accused of attempted murder. However, what Mick initially thinks is an open-and-shut case with a big monetary reward develops into something more sinister."
length: 1 hour, 58 minutes

source: streamed on DISH
I watched it because: I hadn't seen it
IMDB: 7.3/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 83% Audience: 82%
my IMDB: 3/10

MPAA rating: R

directed by: Brad Furman

my notes: the legal basis is impossibly flawed. Alas, that takes this from a "meh, it's fine" sort of movie down into "WTF, don't bother" territory. McConaughey is all right, though his range ... isn't vast. I really liked Ryan Phillippe as the obnoxious client—has any actor ever been so perfect for an incorrigible frat boy role? And Josh Lucas, as Minton, makes the best of a limited role.

overall: not  recommended

 

[the title quotation is from Gladiator]