http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/ 2005-01-31T20:32:30-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/the_man_who_kne.shtml The Man Who Knew Too Much, a film by Alfred Hitchcock with a screenpaly by John Michael Hayes, is another Hitchcock film that excels in so many areas, yet is just lacking or ignorant enough in others to prevent it... nick 2005-01-31T20:32:30-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/strangers_on_a.shtml Strangers on a Train, a film by Alfred Hitchock with a screenplay by Raymond Chandler and Whitfield Cook based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, is a very good execution of a suspense yarn in standard Hitchcock fashion. The story... nick 2005-01-31T20:17:09-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/the_night_of_th.shtml The Night of the Hunter, a the only credited film by actor Charles Laughton with a screenplay by James Agee (based on a book by Davis Grubb) is remarkable for primarily one reason: the performance of Robert Mitchum as disturbed... Film Review nick 2005-01-27T23:04:15-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/the_amityville.shtml Not much to say about The Amityville Horror, which purports to show the 20-day house haunting. The scares are pretty much a combination of open windows and breezes mixed in with false alarms. Basically, it shows no imagination whatsoever, and... Film Review nick 2005-01-24T19:53:29-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/westworld_1973.shtml Apparently, tonight was James Brolin night, as I noticed after renting this and The Amityville Horror that both contained the firm-jawed Christian Bale look-alike. Westworld was a disappointment, though it's pretty clear how writer/director Michael Crichton eventually picked up the... Film Review nick 2005-01-24T19:41:49-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/vertigo.shtml Vertigo is frequently referred to as Hitchcock's most complicated and deep film, and having seen a good majority of his corpus, I have to agree. It's a thriller, a mystery, and a love story rolled into one film, which works... Film Review nick 2005-01-21T00:01:59-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/all_quiet_on_th.shtml The older the film, the more you have to prepare your mind to enjoy it. For example, if I'm about to watch an old German silent film, I have to turn on intellectual mode and make a lot of excuses... Film Review nick 2005-01-19T02:29:19-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/million_dollar.shtml Don't go into Million Dollar Baby with expectations of seeing a Rocky of the 21st century, or you're going to be thrown a curve ball that might knock you over. At least, it knocked me over, and I had to... nick 2005-01-18T01:03:23-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/kinsey.shtml Kinsey is exactly the reason why I really dislike biopics, and why I have no desire to see Ray or Beyond the Sea or any other biopics coming along anytime soon. In a nutshell: the problem with biopics is that... Film Review nick 2005-01-18T00:31:40-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/jules_et_jim.shtml I just saw my first Francois Truffaut movie, and like most European character-driven pieces, it's difficult to judge on first viewing. Also, the fact that it's a renowned work, a Tuffaut film, and in a foreign language all serve to... Film Review nick 2005-01-16T04:46:14-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/predator.shtml Given that I never saw Predator when I was a kid, I don't have any sort of attachment to it that would cause me to defend it in front of sane movie-goers who claim that it is, more or less,... nick 2005-01-13T03:26:53-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2005/01/la_dolce_vita.shtml I have now seen three of Fellini's masterpieces, and I haven't enjoyed or understood a single one. I think I'll come back when I'm older.... nick 2005-01-13T03:25:51-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2004/10/easy_rider.shtml I am not a fan of Easy Rider. Having just seen it, I wonder if I needed to have been alive in the 1960's and 1970's to fully appreciate it, but the point seems to me: show a bunch of... nick 2004-10-17T21:19:03-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2004/10/the_deer_hunter.shtml I'm quite annoyed because the mailman shoved The Deer Hunter into my box, bending it enough to ruin the disc. So I got about halfway through the film, then had to shut it off and report it broken. Second copy... Film Review nick 2004-10-15T00:22:02-05:00 http://www.3rdrate.com/blog/archives/2004/10/primer.shtml I frequently say that the fundamental necessity for any film is first and foremost, ABOVE ALL ELSE (can I stress this anymore?!) a good story. And in this sense, Primer, which opened this past weekend, is a very interesting case.... Film Review nick 2004-10-11T03:19:32-05:00