The Astounding She-Monster (1957)

 

THE ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER  (1957)  ¢ ¢

    D: Ronald V. Ashcroft

    Robert Clarke, Kenne Duncan, Marilyn Harvey,

    Jeanne Tatum, Shirley Kilpatrick, Ewing Brown

A meteor from a distant planet crashes to earth, carrying a passenger: a woman who looks all blurry because she's supposed to be naked, but she's really wearing a shimmering, radioactive bodysuit. Anyway, she's astounding. Drive-ins would not have existed without movies like this. And vice versa.

Trick or Treat

Hangmen Also Die! (1943)

 

HANGMEN ALSO DIE!  (1943)  ¢ ¢

    D: Fritz Lang

    Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Anna Lee,

    Gene Lockhart, Dennis O'Keefe, Margaret Wycherly,

    Alexander Granach, Tonio Selwart, Lionel Stander

A World War Two propaganda piece in which heroic Czechs stand up to evil Nazis in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on despised German commander Reinhard Heydrich. There's some epic scenery-chewing in this. If the actors playing the Nazis had handlebar moustaches to twirl, they'd be twirling them. Walter Brennan sheds most of his backwoods persona to play a resistance leader. Brian Donevy plays the assassin. Bertolt Brecht worked on the script. 

I Really Hate My Job (2007)

 

I REALLY HATE MY JOB  (2007)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Oliver Parker

    Neve Campbell, Shirley Henderson, Danny Huston,

    Alexandra Maria Lara, Anna Maxwell Martin 

Five women, all with unrealized hopes and ambitions, try to make it through a hectic shift at work in a London restaurant. A funny, fast-paced comedy with some distinct parallels to Stanley Tucci's "Big Night". Neve Campbell as a burned-out waitress (and aspiring actress) gets a brief nude scene, but it's Shirley Henderson as the overworked cook (and would-be writer) who stands out in the ensemble.

Marie Antoinette (2006)

 

MARIE ANTOINETTE  (2006)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Sofia Coppola

    Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn,

    Steve Coogan, Judy Davis, Asia Argento,

    Shirley Henderson, Molly Shannon, Marianne Faithfull,

    Danny Huston, Rose Byrne, Aurore Clément

In 1770, a 14-year-old Austrian countess named Maria Antonia Josefa Johana is sent off to fulfill her dynastic destiny in an arranged marriage to the future king of France. Once there, she'll become much better known as Marie Antoinette. We all know how that turned out, but before it does, there are masked balls and splendid feasts and elegance and opulence and decadence in magnificent surroundings. (The movie was actually filmed at Versailles.) Sofia Coppola's script tries to make the case that Marie Antoinette was a victim of history, which you might buy into if you can get beyond the fact that she seems unwilling, unable, or just too oblivious to look outside the privileged bubble she was born into. But you don't have to be a socialist to see the yawning divide between the pampered nobles and the miserable masses, or to conclude that if any place ever was in the market for a revolution, it was 18th-century France. In fact, you don't see much of the revolution, but you do see a lot of powdered wigs, and as sumptuous as everything looks, it's all just kind of boring. (Remember "Barry Lyndon"? Same thing.) On the other hand, most movies set in the 18th century don't feature tunes by The Cure, Adam and the Ants, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bow Wow Wow. "I Want Candy"? Sure, why not?

Last Call: Tom Skerritt

 

"M*A*S*H"

"Alien"

"Contact"

"Steel Magnolias"

"A River Runs Through It"

"East of the Mountains"

"The Turning Point"

"Smoke Signals"

"Top Gun"

"Thieves Like Us"

(1933-2026)

Naza (2026)

 

NAZA  (2026)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Yuvak Abraham, Rachel Szor

The movie - or one of the movies - Benjamin Netanyahu would like you not to see, a sobering documentary in which 24 members of Israel's intelligence service speak matter-of-factly about the methodical extermination of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. You could start with the Hamas attack on October 7 - a horrific atrocity - and throw in the way its operatives mix with the general population, and still be appalled at the speed with which Israel's response morphed from a quest for justice to a campaign of retribution to a calculated exercise in mass murder. The witnesses, assigned to plan, execute and even photograph Israeli strikes on civilian targets, call themselves technicians who are told to "trust the system" and not think too much about the moral implications and consequences. They describe the exhilaration that comes with a mission accomplished, and compare their remote-controlled assaults to a video game. They talk candidly about leveling whole neighborhoods, with casualty counts in the hundreds and even thousands. They kill hungry people running to get food. They kill children. Some express remorse and some don't. In the end, you're left with an unsettling question, briefly brought up in the film: What's the difference between what the Nazis did during World War Two  and what Bibi and the IDF are doing in Gaza? The answer seems to be, not much. 

Major League II (1994)

 

MAJOR LEAGUE II  (1994)  ¢ ¢

    D: David S. Ward

    Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen,

    Dennis Haysbert, James Gammon, Omar Epps,

    Eric Bruskotter, Takashi Ishibashi, Bob Uecker,

    Michelle Burke, Margaret Whitton, David Keith

The outcasts and misfits who made a surprise run to the playoffs in the first "Major League" movie are back to try again in this tired, recycled sequel. Everybody goes through the motions, but nobody comes up with anything original. Maybe they needed more batting practice. 

Go Brewers!