Category Archives: movie review

Magnet of Dull

Posted on December 31, 2025 by JE

I watched Melville’s 1963 film L’aîné des Ferchaux (“The Elder Son of the Ferchaux Family”, also known as Magnet of Doom or An Honorable Young Man). It’s got some reputation as a road movie, and for the first half of … Continue reading →

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Viola Davis for President

Posted on April 16, 2025 by JE

When I heard about G20 (directed by Patricia Riggen), an action movie set at the titular summit in which Viola Davis plays an American president in action-hero mode, I knew I would have to watch it. I figured it would … Continue reading →

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Two-and-a-Half Murders in Black and White

Posted on March 30, 2025 by JE

I watched a couple of pretty good new-to-me movies that could loosely be described as noir: Panique (1946) and The Window (1949). Both of them are based on fiction I haven’t read, but now kind of want to. Reviews follow, … Continue reading →

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Lured Lucy

Posted on March 8, 2025 by JE

D and I watched Lured (1947). It was watchable, maybe even rewatchable. With a script by Leo Rosten (of Joys of Yiddish fame), I expected it to be wittier than it was. But, given that it’s about the hunt for … Continue reading →

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State of the Onion

Posted on December 27, 2022 by JE

A kind of review, I guess. Executive summary: a fun satire of techbro billionaires and their self-built cults, set inside a movie about mystery stories and puzzles. It’s maybe half an hour too long, like practically every movie made nowadays. … Continue reading →

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B+ Movie: ME & MY GAL

Posted on December 19, 2022 by JE

Executive summary: this is an interesting pre-Hays-Code comedy/melodrama that’s worth watching at least once. Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett star in this fast-moving but minor movie, directed by Raoul Walsh in 19 days and written by at least seven people … Continue reading →

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Screwball of Fire

Posted on December 16, 2022 by JE

I’m just off a couple weeks of grading at the end of the term. When I’m grading stacks of quizzes, I usually have a video running in the background to assuage the pain of this unnatural activity. This semester I … Continue reading →

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Lang Story Short: Lang’s WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1956)

Posted on July 14, 2018 by JE

The movie I watched tonight while mostly avoiding exercise was Fritz Lang’s While the City Sleeps (1956), a melodrama about newspapermen, and the women who sort love them sometimes, during the hunt for a serial killer. I was hoping for … Continue reading →

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“Enos Marmor Iuvato!”

Posted on July 17, 2012 by JE

Movies don’t generally do space adventure well. The best sf movies involving space travel are mostly science fantasy (e.g. the Star Wars franchise). Which I also like, but which is different. So I was excited to hear about Mars, an … Continue reading →

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The Re-Mazing Spider-Man

Posted on July 11, 2012 by JE

I went to see The Amazing Spider-Man last weekend, like millions of my fellow Americans, some of whom had seen it before. Sometimes I felt like I’d seen it before, too–but as someone who’s been following Spidey’s career for well … Continue reading →

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