Breathless (1960)

 

BREATHLESS  (1960)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Jean-Luc Godard

    Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Richard Balducci,

    Daniel Boulanger, Van Doude, Liliane Dreyfus

Godard's first feature and a landmark of the French New Wave, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as a thief on the run and Jean Seberg famously hawking the New York Herald Tribune. Also, stolen cars, newspapers, Humphrey Bogart, cigarette smoke, lies, telephones, a striped dress, a pixie haircut, the streets of Paris, sunglasses and a gun. Critics have praised the film's breakthrough greatness, but that doesn't mean everybody agrees. I once saw it at a revival house in Seattle, and a guy a few seats behind me fell asleep. He snored. On the other hand, nobody ever used Seberg to better effect than Godard. If (like me) you just like watching Jean Seberg, this is the movie you've got to see. 

Last Call: Stacy Keach

 

"Brewster McCloud"

"Doc"

"Fat City"

"The New Centurions"

"Slave of the Cannibal God"

"The Long Riders"

Up In Smoke"

"Nebraska"

"That Championship Season"

"The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean"

(1941-2026)

Amazons and Gladiators (2001)

 

AMAZONS AND GLADIATORS  (2001)  ¢ ¢

    D: Zachary Weintraub

    Patrick Bergin, Jennifer Rubin, Nichole Hiltz, 

    Melanie Gutteridge, Richard Norton, Wendi Winburn,

    Mary Tamm, Darius Miniotas, Tomas Erminas

The Roman general Crassius is dispatched to a remote outpost on the frontier, where a band of women out in the forest have established a woke community of feminist warriors. One of the amazons has a real good reason to want the general dead, and sets out to see if she can make that happen. Patrick Bergin chews the scenery as Crassius. The amazons look like they just stepped off the cover of Cosmopolitan. The crowd scenes are all done in medium shots to obscure the fact that this movie does not have colossal sets and a cast of thousands. The writing is flat and much of the acting reflects that. Nobody asks "Are you not entertained?" but one amazon gladiator says something similar, and even does a riff on Clint Eastwood's last words in "Unforgiven". Some of the cinematography looks good. Filmed in Lithuania.

American Ultra (2015)

 

AMERICAN ULTRA  (2015)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Nima Nourizadeh

    Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Connie Britton,

    John Leguizamo, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins,

    Tony Hale, Bill Pullman, Monique Ganderton

A crazed, screwball action movie starring Jesse Eisenberg as Mike Howell, a stoner who works in a convenience store, unaware that he's a secretly programmed CIA assassin. When somebody at the agency marks him for termination, he's activated by a rogue agent and starts knocking off the commando army that's dispatched to kill him. Kristen Stewart plays his devoted girlfriend, Phoebe, who loves him despite his crippling anxiety and erratic behavior, and isn't quite who she seems to be, either. The two of them have a nice chemistry together in a love story that plays out between fights, explosions, car wrecks and guys getting their teeth knocked out. That Eisenberg is maybe the screen's least likely action hero is part of the fun. Wait till you see what he can do with a dustpan, a spoon, an eyebrow pencil and a can of tomatoes. 

Her Body (2023)

 

HER BODY  (2023)  ¢ ¢

    D: Natálie Cisarovská

    Natalia Germani, Denisa Baresová, Zuzana Mauréry,

    Martin Finger, Cyris Dobry, Zuzana Stivinová

A dramatized look at the short life of Czech diver Andrea Absolonová, whose career arc was altered radically when a spinal injury ended her athletic career and she switched to nude modeling and pornography. Neither vocation seems to have made her very happy, and Natália Germani, who plays her, spends most of the movie looking gloomy and bored. She's beautiful but not much fun. According to Wikipedia, Absolonová made more than 80 adult films before dying of brain cancer at 27 in 2004. 

Morgan (2016)

 

MORGAN  (2016)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Luke Scott

    Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Toby Jones,

    Michelle Yeoh, Paul Giamatti, Jennifer Jason Leigh,

    Boyd Holbrook, Rose Leslie, Michael Yare,

    Vinette Robinson, Chris Sullivan, Brian Cox

A no-nonsense corporate agent is dispatched to a remote research facility where a bio-engineering experiment has apparently gone awry. Her mission is to investigate and decide whether to continue the work or pull the plug. This triggers an ethical debate between the scientists, who could be motivated by something more than just science, and the agent, who might have an agenda of her own. It slips into slasher territory eventually, but even then, Anya Taylor-Joy and her unusual eyes are perfectly cast. 

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