Friday, January 17, 2025

The Top Ten Movies of 2024


The following list was scraped together from the movies I saw last year, either for the first time ever, or for the first time in years. Some I managed to see on a big screen. Others were on Kanopy, or YouTube, or DVDs I watched with friends. Some were rentals from Scarecrow, Seattle's only remaining video store. 

MOVIES I LIKED A LOT:
"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" (2024)
"Love Lies Bleeding" (2024)
"Driving Madeleine" (2022)
"Bad Times At the El Rloyale" (2018)
"A Complete Unknown" (2024)
"The Substance" (2024)
"Empire Records" (1995)
"Incident By a Bank" (2010)
"The Zone of Interest" (2023)
"Strange Darling" (2023)

SECRET TREASURES:
"Lourdes" (2009)
"Lawless Heart" (2001)
"Picture Claire" (2001)
"Murder At Yellowstone City" (2022)

GUILTY PLEASURES:
"Backtrack" (1990)
"Maxxxine" (2024)
"L0nglegs" (2024)
"Carry On Don't Lose Your Head" (1967)

MOVIES I MIGHT WATCH AGAIN SOMETIME:
"Conclave" (2024)
"Blitz" (2024)
"Kill Your Darlings" (2013)
"Gasoline Rainbow" (2023)
"The Burning Sea" (2021)
"Lucky Luke" (2009)
"Wicked" (2024)
"Horizon: Chapter 1" (2024)
"Gladiator II" (2024)
"The Outrun" (2024)

SILENTS, PLEASE:
"Filibus" (1915)
"Running Wild" (1927)
"Beverly of Graustark" (1926)

BACK ON THE BIG SCREN:
"Time of the Heathen" (1961)
"Strongroom" (1962)
"Black Tuesday" (1954)

FOUR FROM THE VAULT:
"The Moderns" (1988)
"Starman" (1984)
"One of Our Aircraft Is Missing" (1942)
"Raggedy Man" (1981)

TOXIC WASTE:
"Gorp" (1980)

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Sins of Jezebel (1953)

 
SINS OF JEZEBEL  (1953)  ¢ ¢
    D: Reginald Le Borg
    Paulette Goddard, George Nader, Eduard Franz,
    John Hoyt, Ludwig Donath, Margia Dean, Joe Besser
A biblical B movie about a beautiful temptress who entices the weak-willed king of Israel to shift his allegiance to the pagan god Baal. You can bet the Lord God Jehovah isn't going to stand for that, and sure enough, bad things start to happen to the Chosen People. John Hoyt plays the prophet Elijah and an equally ponderous narrator who delivers on-screen exposition from time to time. Eduard Franz plays the besotted king. Joe Besser (of the Three Stooges) plays a chariotmaker and provides what passes for comic relief. Paulette Goddard, then in her 40s (the exact year of her birth is uncertain)), plays the sinful, seductive Jezebel.

Sunday, January 12, 2025

The Suspect (1944)

 
THE SUSPECT  (1944)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Robert Siodmak
    Charles Laughton, Ella Raines, Rosalind Ivan
    Henry Daniell, Stanley Ridges, Molly Lamont
Charles Laughton plays a good-natured shopkeeper who has at least two real good reasons to murder his mean-spirited wife. The question's not whether he'll do it, but when and will he get caught. He's Charles Laughton, so it could go either way. Henry Daniell is his usual sinister self as the wife-beating rotter next door. 

Friday, January 10, 2025

Stealing Home (1988)

 
STEALING HOME  (1988)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Steven Kampmann, William Porter
    Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster, Jonathan Silverman, 
    William McNamara, Blair Brown, Harold Ramis,
    John Shea, Richard Jenkins, Thacher Goodwin
A washed-up ballplayer heads back home to carry out a friend's last request, and flashes back on the time when he was a young kid and then a teenager, and the girl who changed his life. A sweet little coming-of-age story, unpretentious, nicely played and not too cute. If you watch it thinking that Mark Harmon's role would be perfect for Kevin Costner, stick around for the scene toward the end when Harmon goes up to bat and the voice over the PA announces that the player he's pinch-hitting for is Costner. A coincidence? I don't think so.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

The Second Coming of Suzanne (1974)

 
THE SECOND COMING OF SUZANNE  (1974)  ¢ 1/2
    D: Michael Barry
    Sondra Locke, Paul Sand, Jared Martin, Gene Barry,
    Richard Dreyfuss, Kari Avalos, Penelope Spheeris
About 14 minutes into this, I found myself wondering whether anything in it was ever going to make sense. Nothing did. There's a painter. And a filmmaker. And Richard Dreyfuss as some sort of production assistant. And some hippies. And a young girl who won't talk. And the title character, apparently lifted from the Leonard Cohen song, played by a sleepwalking Sondra Locke. It ends with a crucifixion, but I'm not sure that's worth hanging around for. The title makes it sound like a '70s porno flick. It's not, but that might've been more interesting. 

Monday, January 6, 2025

Scrapper (2023)

 
SCRAPPER  (2023)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Charlotte Regan
    Lola Campbell, Harris Dickinson, Alin Uzun,
    Ambreen Razia, Aylin Tezel, Carys Bowkett
The protagonist of this movie is a 12-year-old girl named Georgie, living on her own as she tries to process the death of her mother. She's doing just fine hanging out with her best (and only) friend Ali, dodging social services and stealing bicycles for the money she needs to get by, till her long-absent dad drops in. A nicely worked-out character study tracking the grudging, evolving relationship between two people who are a lot alike and, starting out at least, clash more than they connect. Lola Campbell and Harris Dickinson seem just right in the leads - the girl more grown up than most 12-year-olds, and her dad, at 30, still trying to figure stuff out himself. Now, if he'd just upgrade his housekeeping habits, and she'd maybe wash that soccer jersey she wears all the time, and they'd come to some agreement on what color to paint the living room . . . 

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Final Reel 2024

 
JIM ABRAHAMS, 80, writer, producer, director
“Airplane!” 
“Police Squad!” 
 “Top Secret!”
ANOUK AIMÉE, 92, actress
“A Man and a Woman”
 “La Dolce Vita”
"Justine"
JOHN AMOS, 84, actor
“Mac”
  “Die Hard 2”
 “Coming To America”
ERICA ASH, 46, actress
“Scary Movie V”
 “The Big Bend”
 “We Have a Ghost”
JOHN ASHTON, 76, actor
“Midnight Run”
 “Beverly Hills Cop”
 “Breaking Away”
SUSAN BACKLINIE, 77, actress
“Jaws”
 “1941”
 “Day of the Animals”
BOB BANAS, 90, choreographer
“Under the Boardwalk”
 “Heart Like a Wheel”
 “Skatetown U.S.A.”
TOM BOWER, 86, actor
“River’s Edge”
 “Appaloosa”
 “Crazy Heart”
HANA BREJCHOVÁ, 77, actress
“Amadeus”
 “Loves of a Blonde”
 “On the Trail of Blood”
MARSHALL BRICKMAN, 85, writer
“Sleeper”
 “Annie Hall”
"Manhattan"
SUSAN BUCKNER, 72, actress
“Grease”
 “Deadly Blessing”
 “The First Nudie Musical”
JOE CAMP, 84, writer, director
“Benji”
 “Hawmps!”
 “Oh Heavenly Dog”
ADAN CANTO, 42, actor
“2 Hearts”
 “The Devil Below”
 “X-Men: Days of Future Past”
TERRY CARTER, 95, actor
“Abby”
 “Benji”
 “Foxy Brown”
VICTORIA CATLIN, 71, actress
“Ghoulies”
 “Maid To Order”
“Maniac Cop”
JEANNETTE CHARLES, 96, actress
“Born Erect”
 “Queen Kong”
 “Austin Powers In Goldmember”
PEI-PEI CHENG, 78, actress
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”
 “Naked Weapon”
 “Dragon Swamp”
CONNIE CHIUME, 72, actress
“Black Panther”
 “In My Country”
 “Heart of the Hunter”
BILL COBBS, 90, actor
“Sunshine State” 
 “The Hudsucker Proxy”
 “Bird”
MICHAEL CULVER, 85, actor
“A Passage To India”
 “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”
 “The Fast Kill”
DABNEY COLEMAN, 92, actor
“9 To 5”
 “Tootsie”
 “On Golden Pond”
ELEANOR COPPOLA, 87, writer, director
“Hearts of Darkness”
 “Paris Can Wait”
 “Love Is Love Is Love”
ROGER CORMAN, 98, producer, director
“Swamp Women”
 “Sorority Girl”
  “Teenage Doll”
PAUL D’AMATO, 75, actor
“Slap Shot”
 “The Deer Hunter”
 “Suspect”
MARK DAMON, 90, actor
“Anzio”
 “Go For Broke”
  “House of Usher”
JAMES DARRIN, 87, actor
“Gidget”
 “Diamond Head”
 “The Guns of Navarone”
ALAIN DELON, 88, actor, producer, writer
“Purple Noon”
  “Red Sun”
 “The Yellow Rolls-Royce”
SHANNEN DOHERTY, 53, actress
“Heathers”
 “Mallrats”
 “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”
SERGIO DONATI, 91, writer
“Duck, You Sucker!”
 “The Big Gundown”
 “Man On Fire”
SHELLEY DUVALL, 75, actress, producer
“Nashville”
 “Popeye”
 “The Shining”
RON ELY, 86, actor
“South Pacific”
 “Slavers”
"The Fiend Who Walked the West"
ANNIE EPPER, 83, stunts
“Romancing the Stone”
 “The Blues Brothers”
 “Con Air”
EVANS EVANS, 91, actress
“Dead Bang”
 “Bonnie and Clyde”
"The Iceman Cometh"
ANDEZ, 75, singer, actress
“Diva”
 “La Bohème”
APRIL FERRY, 91, costume designer
“Donnie Darko”
 “Mike’s Murder” 
“The Big Chill”
JOE FLAHERTY, 82, actor
“Stripes”
 “1941”
 “Used Cars”
RICHARD FORONJY, 86, actor
“Repo Man”
 “Midnight Run” 
“Carlito’s Way”
KINKY FRIEDMAN, 79, writer, musician, actor
 “Prime Time”
 “The Being”
 “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2”
VINCENT FRIELL, 64, actor
“The Angel’s Share”
 “Fast Romance”
 “Trainspotting”
TONY GANIOS, 64, actor
“The Wanderers”
 “Porky’s”
 “Die Hard 2”
TERI GARR, 79, actress
“Tootsie”
 “Young Frankenstein”
 “The Conversation”
CHRIS GAUTHIER, 48, actor
“Freddy vs. Jason”
 “Riding the Bullet”
 “Watchmen”
MITZI GAYNOR, 93, actress
“South Pacific”
 “Bloodhounds of Broadway”
 “The Joker Is Wild”
IAN GELDER, 74, actor
“Pope Joan”
 “King Lear”
 “King Ralph”
MICKEY GiLBERT, 87, stunts
 “Apollo 13”
 “The Last of the Mohicans”
 “Old Gringo” 
TERESA GIMPERA, 87, actress
“The Spirit of the Beehive”
 “Night of the Eagles”
 “Love Letters of a Nun”
LOUIS GOSSETT JR., 87, actor
“An Officer and a Gentleman”
 “Iron Eagle”
 “Jaws 3-D”
GARY GRAHAM, 73, actor
“The Hollywood Knights”
 “The Last Warrior”
 “The Spy Within”
KATHRYN GRANT, 90, actress
“Anatomy of a Murder”
 “Operation Mad Ball”
 “The Big Circus”
FRANK GRIFFIN, 95, makeup artist
“Scarecrow”
 “Urban Cowboy”
 “Peggy Sue Got Married”
MARK GUSTAFSON, 64, writer, director, animator
“Return To Oz”
 “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
 “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
GEORGINA HALE, 80, actress
“The Boy Friend”
 “The Devils”
 “Castaway”
FRANÇOISE HARDY, 80, singer, composer, actress
“Masculine Feminine”
 “Grand Prix”
“Nutty, Naughty Chateau”
RON HARPER, 91, actor
“Pearl Harbor”
 “Below Utopia”
 “The Poughkeepsie Tapes”
DAVID HARRIS, 75, actor
“The Warriors”
 “A Soldier’s Story”
 “Brubaker”
JONATHAN HAZE, 95, actor
“The Terror”
 “Forbidden Island”
 “The Little Shop of Horrors”
DARRYL HICKMAN, 92, actor
“The Grapes of Wrath”
 “Leave Her To Heaven”
 “Keeper of the Flame”
BERNARD HILL, 79, actor
“Titanic”
 “Shirley Valentine”
 “The Scorpion King”
EARL HOLLIMAN, 96, actor
“Giant”
 “The Rainmaker”
 “The Sons of Katie Elder”
OLIVIA HUSSEY, 73, actress
“Romeo and Juliet”
 “Lost Horizon”
 “Black Christmas”
NORMAN JEWISON, 97, director, producer
 “Moonstruck”
 “Rollerball”
 “In the Heat of the Night” 
GLYNIS JOHNS, 100, actress
“Mary Poppins”
 “The Sundowners”
 “The Ref”
BARBARA O. JONES, 82, actress
“Bush Mama”
 “Freedom Road”
 “Daughters of the Dust”
JAMES EARL JONES, 93, actor
“Dr. Strangelove”
 “Matewan”
 “The Great White Hope”
QUINCY JONES, 91, composer
“Mirage”
 “Walk Don’t Run” 
“In Cold Blood”
JAN A.P. KACZMAREK, 71, composer
“Get Low”
 “The Officer’s Wife”
 “Finding Neverland”
HIRAM KASTEN, 71, actor
“Dill Scallion”
 “The Candlelight Murders”
 “Comic Cabby”
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, 88, musician, actor
“Lone Star”
 “Trouble In Mind”
 “Heaven’s Gate”
MICHELLE LAFRANCE, 45, actress
“Road To the Well”
 “Dynamite Swine”
 “The Downside of Bliss”
JON LANDAU, 63, producer
“Avatar”
 “Titanic”
 “Dick Tracy”
LINDA LAVIN, 87, actress
“Bakery In Brooklyn”
 “Wanderlust”
 “The Muppets Take Manhattan”
STEVE LAWRENCE, 88, singer, actor
“The Blues Brothers”
 “The Lonely Guy”
“The Contract”
JENNIFER LEAK, 76, actress
“Yours, Mine and Ours”
 “Agent On Ice”
 “Eye of the Cat”
MARGARET LEE, 80, actress
“Five For Hell”
 “Asylum Erotica”
 “Killer’s Carnival”
BARBARA LEIGH-HUNT, 88, actress
“Frenzy”
 “Henry VIII and His Six Wives”
 “The Nelson Affair”
RICHARD LEWIS, 76, actor
“Leaving Las Vegas”
 “The Elevator”
 “Robin Hood: Men In Tights”
TONY LO BIANCO 87, actor
“Nixon”
 “The French Connmection”
 “City Heat”
ELIZABETH MACRAE, 88, actress
“The Conversation”
 “Everything’s Ducky”
 “The House of the Dead”
MASUIMI MAX, 45, actress
“Inland Empire”
 “Upside Downtown”
 “The Devil’s Muse”
BRIAN MCCARDIE, 59, actor
“Rob Roy”
 “200 Cigarettes”
 “The Ghost and the Dakness”
CHAD MCQUEEN, 63, actor
“The Karate Kid”
 “New York Cop”
  “The Other Man”
HUDSON MEEK, 16, actor
“Baby Driver”
 “90 Minutes In Heaven”
 “The School Duel”
ALEC MILLS, 91, cinematographer
“The Living Daylights”
 “Licence To Kill”
 “Lionheart”
SANDRA MILO, 90, actress
“General Della Rovere”
“Juliet of the Spirits”
 “Herod the Great”
KENNETH MITCHELL, 49, actor
“Miracle”
 “Home of the Giants”
 “Captain Marvel”
CINDY MORGAN, 69, actress
“Caddyshack”
 “Tron”
 “Up Yours”
PAUL MORRISSEY, 86, director
“Flesh”
 “Trash”
 “Heat”
DON MURRAY, 94, actor
“Bus Stop”
 “Advise and Consent”
 “The Hoodlum Priest”
BOB NEWHART, 94, comedian, actor
“Catch-22”
 “Hell Is for Heroes”
 “Elf”
LYNDA OBST, 74, producer
“Contact”
 “Interstellar”
 “The Fisher King”
WILLIAM O’CONNELL, 94, actor
“High Plains Drifter”
 “Paint Your Wagon”
 “The Outlaw Josey Wales”
CHRISTIAN OLIVER, 51, actor
“The Good German”
 “Rattlesnakes”
 “Ninja Apocalypse”
GRANT PAGE, 84, stunts
“Mad Max”
 “Mad Dog Morgan”
 “The Pirate Movie”
KEN PAGE, 70, actor
“Dreamgirls”
 “Torch Song Trilogy”
 “Shortcut To Happiness”
JANIS PAIGE, 101, actress
“Silk Stockings”
 “The Caretakers”
 “Welcome To Hard Times”
CONRAD PALMISANO, 75, stunts
“Tough Guys”
 “Angels & Demons”
 “Sleepless In Seattle”
MARISA PARADES, 78, actress
“High Heels”
 “All About My Mother"
 “The Skin I Live In”
SILVIA PINAL, 93, actress
“Viridiana”
 “Simon of the Desert”
 “The Exterminating Angel”
LOURDES PORTILLO, 80, director
“The Devil Never Sleeps”
 “Corpus”
 “The Days of the Dead”
MICHELINE PRESLE, 101, actress
“The Prize”
 “King of Hearts”
 “Devil In the Flesh”
NICHOLAS PRYOR, 89, actor
“Collateral Damage”
 “Hail Caesar”
 “Less Than Zero”
ALAN RACHINS, 82, actor
“Showgirls”
 “Heart Condition”
 “Meet Wally Sparks”
DICK POPE, 77, cinematographer
 “Mr. Turner”
 “Honeydripper”
 “The Way of the Gun”
FRED ROOS, 89, producer
“Barfly”
 “Lost In Translation”
 “Apocalypse Now”
GENA ROWLANDS, 94, actress
“Faces”
 “Another Woman”
 “Night On Earth”
CHITA RIVERA, 91, singer, dancer, actress
“Chicago”
 “Sweet Charity”
 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
ALBERT S. RUDDY, 94, producer, writer
“The Godfather”
 “Million Dollar Baby”
 “Death Hunt”
BARBARA RUSH, 97, actress
“Hombre”
 “The Young Lions”
 “Robin and the Seven Hoods”
PAMELA SALEM, 80, actress
“Gods and Monsters”
 “God’s Outlaw”
 “Never Say Never Again”
JOHN SAVIDENT, 86, actor
 “Tom & Viv”
 “Impromptu”
 “Little Dorritt”
PETER SCHICKELE, 88, composer
“Silent Running”
 “Funnyman”
 “Horowitz In Dublin”
ADRIAN SCHILLER, 60, actor
“Wild Target”
 “The Danish Girl”
 “Suffragertte”
DAVID SEIDLER, 86, writer
“The King’s Speech”
 “The Queen of Spades”
 “The King and I”
RICHARD SHERMAN, 95, composer
“Mary Poppins”
 “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”
 “The Jungle Book”
CHARLES SHYER, 83, writer
"Private Benjamin"
"Smokey and the Bandit"
"I Love Trouble"
JAMES SIKKING, 90, actor
 “The Pelican Brief”
 “Scorpio”
 “The New Centurions”
BUD SMITH, 88, editor
“Flashdance”
 “Sorcerer”
 “Personal Best”
MAGGIE SMITH, 89, actress
“Murder By Death”
“Gosford Park”
 “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”
EMILY SOMERS, 38, actress
“Awaken the Shadowman”
 “Girls Like Magic”
 “Playing For Keeps”
ADAM SOMNER, 57, producer
“West Side “Story”
 “The Post”
 “Killers of the Flower Moon”
DAVID SOUL, 80, actor
“Magnum Force”
 “The Hanoi Hilton”
 “Johnny Got His Gun”
MORGAN SPURLOCK, 53, writer, director
“Super Size Me”
 “Rats”
 “Where In the World Is Osama Bin Laden?”
MARTIN STARGER, 90, producer
 “Barbarosa”
 “Nashville”
 “Sophie’s Choice”
DONALD SUTHERLAND, 88, actor
“M*A*S*H”
 “Klute”
 “Don't Look Now”
MATT SWEENEY, 75, special effects
“Apollo 13”
 “Galaxy Quest”
 “Maverick”
ANTHEA SYLBERT, 84, costume designer
“Rosemary’s Baby”
 “Chinatown”
 “The Last Tycoon”
TONY TODD, 69, actor
“The Crow”
 “Bird”
 “Platoon”
ROBERT TOWNE, 89, writer, director
“Chinatown”
 “The Last Detail”
"Personal Best"
GUDRUN URE, 98, actress
“The Diamond Wizard”
 “Man With a Million”
 “Terror Street”
M. EMMETT WALSH, 88, actor
“Blood Simple”
"Blade Runner"
"Cannery Row"
ROBERT WATTS, 86, producer
“Raiders of the Lost Ark”
 “Alive”
 “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”
CARL WEATHERS, 76, actor
“Rocky”
 “Death Hunt”
 “Predator”
FRITZ WEPPER, 82, actor
“The Bridge”
 “Question 7”
 “Cabaret”
ANNE WHITFIELD, 85, actress
“White Christmas”
 “Juvenile Jungle”
 “Pete ‘n’ Tillie”
PATTI YASUTAKE, 70, actress
“The Coverup”
 “Drop Dead Gorgeouos”
 “Star Trek: First Contact”
BOB YERKES, 92, stunts
“Ratboy”
 “Hook”
 “Color of Night” 
ROBERT M. YOUNG, 99, director, cinematographer
“Dominick and Eugene”,
“Triumph of the Spirit”
 “Talent For the Game”

"Who wants to admit they were
  born to play Olive Oyl?"
   Shelley Duvall