"A Day at the Beach"

"A Day at the Beach" (short), 1938. A family goes to the beach.

Directed by Friz Freleng. Starring Billy Bletcher.

Concept: F
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: B
Enjoyment: Not bad. It feels Old-Timey compared with the Looney Tunes of the time, but it's fairly amusing for what it is. C

GPA: 1.8/4

Downton Abbey: Series Two

Downton Abbey: Series Two, 2011. The goings-on in a large English household during WWI.

Created & written by Julian Fellowes. Directed by Ashley Pearce (2 episodes), Andy Goddard (2), Brian Kelly (2), James Strong (2), & Brian Percival (1). Starring Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Brown Findlay, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Siobhan Finneran, Joanne Froggatt, Thomas Howes, Rob James-Collier, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Amy Nuttall, Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, & Penelope Wilton.

Concept: D
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: C
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: Visually, the scenes in the trenches bring things down quite a bit from series one. B
Acting: B
Music: C
Enjoyment: The story is repetitive and lacks anything in the way of creativity, which is growing tiresome after two series. The characters continue to be poorly developed; I probably couldn't tell half of them apart if it weren't for the good casting. On the other hand, Maggie Smith. C

GPA: 1.9/4

Men in Black

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 55 of 100



Men in Black, 1997. A cop is recruited to a secret space-alien cover-up organization.

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Written by Ed Solomon, based on a comic book by Lowell Cunningham. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, & Will Smith, with Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D'Onofrio, & Rip Torn.

Concept: B
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: C
Music: B
Enjoyment: It's rarely funny; most of the "comedy" just involves people getting slime dumped on them. But the world-building is handled well, and there are enough weird-looking people/creatures to keep it fun. C

GPA: 2.5/4

"Porky's Party"

"Porky's Party" (short), 1938. Porky Pig has a birthday party.

Directed by Robert Clampett. Starring Mel Blanc.

Concept: D
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: A
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: A
Enjoyment: Another very funny exercise in Clampett weirdness. B

GPA: 2.6/4

Shadow of the Vampire

Shadow of the Vampire, 2000. Murnau films Nosferatu with a real vampire.

Directed by E. Elias Merhige. Written by Steven Katz. Starring John Malkovich, & Willem Dafoe, with Udo Kier, Cary Elwes, Catherine McCormack, & Eddie Izzard.

Concept: A
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: B
Pacing: C
Cinematography: When you're making an homage to Nosferatu, you'd damn well better have some great cinematography. C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: D
Music: B
Enjoyment: A thoroughly half-assed film. The idea is cute, but that's all there is. It's bad at being creepy. It's bad at being dramatic. It's really bad at silly accents. C

GPA: 2.3/4

[updated from a previous post - original is here]

Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler, 2014. A "news" cameraman is willing to do anything to get good footage.

Written & directed by Dan Gilroy. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, with Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, & Bill Paxton.

Concept: D
Story: B
Characters: A
Dialog: A
Pacing: A
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: B
Acting: A
Music: B
Enjoyment: I had been dreading watching this movie a little; I'd expected it to be uncomfortable and disturbing. It is not. It's intense and dark, but not off-putting. It manages to communicate the disturbing, and make it real, without actually disturbing the viewer. I don't know enough about film making to understand how they did that, but I'm pretty sure amazing editing is responsible - and an unexpected dose of black comedy helps. A

GPA: 3.4/4

"Porky the Fireman"

"Porky the Fireman" (short), 1938. Porky Pig is a fireman.

Directed by Frank Tashlin. Written by Melvin Millar. Starring Mel Blanc.

Concept: D
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: A
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: A
Enjoyment: Gag-oriented and whimsical, with great comedic timing. And then, near the end, extremely racist. If it weren't for those few seconds of awful, it might have been one of the better cartoons of the era. C

GPA: 2.2/4

American Psycho

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 54 of 100



American Psycho, 2000. A serial killer blends in on Wall Street.

Directed by Mary Harron. Written by Harron, & Guinevere Turner, based on a book by Bret Easton Ellis. Starring Christian Bale, with Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Chloë Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon, Samantha Mathis, Matt Ross, Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe, & Cara Seymour.

Concept: B
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: A
Music: B
Enjoyment: It starts out good - suspenseful and interesting. Then without warning reality breaks and that's about it for the movie. C

GPA: 2.7/4

The X-Files: Season One

The X-Files: Season One, 1993-1994. Two FBI agents investigate spooky cases.

Created by Chris Carter. Directed by David Nutter (6 episodes), Daniel Sackheim (2), Joe Napolitano (2), Jerrold Freedman (2), William Graham (2), Larry Shaw (2), Michael Lange (2), Robert Mandel (1), Harry Longstreet (1), Michael Katleman (1), Fred Gerber (1), Rob Bowman (1), & R.W. Goodwin (1). Written by Carter (9 episodes), Glen Morgan (6), James Wong (6), Howard Gordon (6), Alex Gansa (5), Kenneth Biller (1), Chris Brancato (1), Larry Barber (1), Paul Barber (1), Scott Kaufer (1), Marilyn Osborn (1), & Chris Ruppenthal (1). Starring David Duchovny, & Gillian Anderson.

Concept: Conspiracies and bad science as the foundation for a series. D
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: D
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: Duchovny is terrible. Anderson's performance carries the entire show. Which is actually kind of fitting. C
Music: C
Enjoyment: Despite being apparently written by idiots, and being formulaic and predictable on top of that, I find myself loving this show even more than when I watched it as a kid. It never drags, and even at it's dumbest - and boy howdy is it dumb - it's always entertaining. There's just something about Mulder and Scully that's inexplicably endearing. (I suspect a lot of it is that most of the TV shows I've watched in recent years have had ensemble casts, while the two-character set-up means that every detail and moment in the show is contributing to their characters in some little way. I can see why the pair-of-investigators trope is a thing.) B

GPA: 2.1/4

Hook

Hook, 1991. A grown-up Peter Pan returns to Neverland.

Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by James V. Hart, & Malia Scotch Marmo; story by Hart, & Nick Castle, based on works by J.M. Barrie. Starring Dustin Hoffman, & Robin Williams, with Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins, Maggie Smith, Caroline Goodall, Charlie Korsmo, & Amber Scott.

Concept: B
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: C
Pacing: D
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: B
Enjoyment: Sullen children, a lazy character arc, and a bad sense of humor. It's almost impressive how little fun this movie is, considering the potential. It still has a certain charm, though, especially since it has a clear respect for the source material. C

GPA: 1.9/4

Nosferatu

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, 1922. A vampire moves to Germany.

Directed by F.W. Murnau. Written by Henrik Galeen, based on a book by Bram Stoker. Starring Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, & Greta Schröder, with Georg H. Schnell, Ruth Landshoff, Gustav Botz, Alexander Granach, & John Gottowt.

Concept: A
Story: C
Characters: D
Dialog: C
Pacing: C
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: B
Acting: D
Music: B
Enjoyment: When I saw this before, it was some public domain copy from Netflix, and it was awful. This time I saw the Kino version on Amazon, and there is a world of difference. It is a different movie. I'm still hesitant to say I liked it, though. It has nothing in the way of characters, the cast is awful (except for Schreck, who, let's be honest, just stands around in a cool costume), and there's a lot of mediocrity to sit through to get to the good parts. C

GPA: 2.4/4

[update of a previous post - original is here]

"Now That Summer Is Gone"

"Now That Summer Is Gone" (short), 1938. A squirrel chooses gambling over hard work.

Directed by Frank Tashlin. Starring Mel Blanc, & Billy Bletcher.

Concept: D
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: C
Music: B
Enjoyment: It's not even recognizable as a Warner Bros. cartoon, it tries so hard to imitate Disney. There are some gags in an introductory section, before they get around to moralizing, that are okay. C

GPA: 2.0/4

Breathless

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 53 of 100



À bout de souffle, 1960. A car thief shoots a cop, then hangs out with a girl for a few days.

Written & directed by Jean-Luc Godard; story by François Truffaut. Starring Jean Seberg, & Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Concept: B
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: D
Pacing: F
Cinematography: Bonus point for the editing. B
Special effects/design: C
Acting: B
Music: A
Enjoyment: I simply will never understand the French New Wave. The more I see of it, the more bored it makes me. This movie has a great sort of stylistic energy that made me really want to like it. But no. So boring. D

GPA: 1.9/4

The Fugitive

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 52 of 100



The Fugitive, 1993. An innocent convict becomes a fugitive.

Directed by Andrew Davis. Written by Jeb Stuart, & David Twohy, based on characters by Roy Huggins. Starring Harrison Ford, & Tommy Lee Jones, with Sela Ward, Julianne Moore, Joe Pantoliano, Andreas Katsulas, & Jeroen Krabbé.

Concept: C
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: C
Acting: B
Music: C
Enjoyment: I'm with Tommy Lee Jones' character: I don't care whether or not Ford killed anyone - or about the one-armed man, and definitely not about a pharmaceuticals conspiracy. The movie's still entertaining, though. When it stays simple - just a hunter and a fugitive - it's quite well done. B

GPA: 2.5/4

Laura

Laura, 1944. A detective investigates a woman's murder.

Directed by Otto Preminger. Written by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, & Elizabeth Reinhardt, based on a book by Vera Caspary. Starring Gene Tierney, & Dana Andrews, with Clifton Webb, & Vincent Price.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: C
Acting: B
Music: B
Enjoyment: It's a more intelligent film than your typical murder mystery, and the ending is effectively suspenseful. It does drag in places, though - mostly because one of the main characters is a tedious person. B

GPA: 2.7/4

[update of a previous post - original is here]

X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand, 2006. The government weaponizes a cure for superpowers.

Directed by Brett Ratner. Written by Simon Kinberg, & Zak Penn. Starring Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, & Famke Janssen.

Concept: C
Story: D
Characters: Why is Professor X suddenly and inexplicably a villain in this movie? When did that happen? F
Dialog: D
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: C
Enjoyment: The action doesn't work. The characters don't make sense (particularly Phoenix, who is described as a creature of unfiltered joy and rage and yet just stands around doing nothing and looking vacant for most of the movie). There's nothing to the plot except an allegory which is undermined by its own idiotic writing. I mean, it's a movie about oppression which basically makes a case for oppression. Who are we even supposed to be rooting for in that last battle? The only good thing in the entire movie is the shamelessly cartoonish Juggernaut. D

GPA: 1.5/4

Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing, 2013. A "prince" plays matchmaker while his brother plots sinister mischief.

Written & directed by Joss Whedon, from a play by William Shakespeare. Starring Amy Acker, & Alexis Denisof, with Nathan Fillion, Clark Gregg, Reed Diamond, Fran Kranz, Jillian Morgese, & Sean Maher.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: C
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: F
Special effects/design: D
Acting: A
Music: C
Enjoyment: Wow, they managed to make Shakespeare funny. And it's a great performance besides that. It's too bad the production is so distractingly amateurish. You'd think with someone like Joss Whedon, he could spare some cash to at least get a real camera. B

GPA: 2.4/4

Airplane!

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 51 of 100



Airplane!, 1980. An illness dooms a passenger plane; hilarity ensues.

Written & directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, & Jerry Zucker. Starring Robert Hays, & Julie Hagerty, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen, Lorna Patterson, Robert Stack, & Stephen Stucker.

Concept: F
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: A
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: C
Enjoyment: I rarely find parody to be funny, and most of what this movie is parodying are disaster movies that are now lost to time. So it really should not work. But it has some of the best jokes in film history. B

GPA: 2.0/4

Interview with the Vampire

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 50 of 100



Interview with the Vampire, 1994. A vampire tells his life story.

Directed by Neil Jordan. Written by Anne Rice, based on her book. Starring Brad Pitt, with Christian Slater, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Stephen Rea, & Antonio Banderas.

Concept: C
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: D
Pacing: B
Cinematography: I suspect it's just the DVD that's crappy quality, but it looks like it's filmed on videotape. D
Special effects/design: B
Acting: It's bizarre how bad Pitt is in this movie. C
Music: B
Enjoyment: Even though the characters and romance - which are essentially what the movie is about - are corny and uninteresting, it's still a good movie. There's enough serious fantasy and horror to give it a compelling gravity. B

GPA: 2.2/4

Game of Thrones: Season Four

Game of Thrones: Season Four, 2014. Various factions plot to gain political control over a fantasy world.

Created by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss, based on books by George R. R. Martin. Directed by Alex Graves (4 episodes), Michelle MacLaren (2), Alik Sakharov (2), Weiss (1), & Neil Marshall (1). Written by Benioff (7 episodes), Weiss (7), Bryan Cogman (2), & Martin (1). Starring Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, & Kit Harington.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: A
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: Dinklage is great this season. B
Music: C
Enjoyment: Easily the best season of the show so far. It adapts the end of a book, so the biggest problems I had with seasons two and three - seeming to just start and stop at arbitrary points in the story - are avoided. (I kind of wish we had waited a few years to start watching the show; these first four seasons probably need to be watched in one go to be at their best.) A

GPA: 3.1/4