Why are you looking that way, man?

Been a few years since I last saw Rear Window, and it's always a great experience. I don't know why any man whose girlfriend was Grace Kelly would spend so much time looking outside, but other than that it's basically a perfect thriller. One of Hitchcock's best, and thus one of the best, period.

Straight on 'til morning

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which I watched yesterday, is the other Trek film directed by Nicholas Meyer, director of KHAAAN, and that film's only contender for the best entry in the series. It's a very fitting farewell to the original crew. Most characters get some snappy lines, but Spock, Valeris and the Klingons are perhaps best served.

KHAAAN!

Whoever guessed tonight's movie shall win no prizes.

Odds are Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan is the best Trek movie not only now, but for all time. It's been beautifully remastered for HD - reputedly the most extensive restoration work of the six films with the original cast. I had no complaints.

The best hacker movie?

My favorite is Sneakers, which I rewatched again tonight. Killer cast, snappy dialog, heart in the right place, and no stupid made-up GUIs. Most of what they do is "human hacking" or social engineering. If you accept the central McGuffin, most of the rest isn't too far-fetched, just exaggerated. I also liked how the heroes don't shoot their way out of trouble; they carry guns a couple of times, but fire exactly one warning shot.

Rapid fire dialog

Besides Hitchcock, there's another director whose name begins with an "H" whom I hold in very high regard, and he is Howard Hawks. "Three great scenes, no bad ones" was his own pragmatic definition of a good movie, but it's safe to say he surpassed that frequently.

Today I watched His Girl Friday, one of the first movies where people talk over each other instead of waiting politely until the other actor has said his piece. More importantly, it's an extremely funny film. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell play wonderfully off each other.

Not a perfect murder

Tonight's entertainment was Dial M for Murder. It was the first film out of three in which Hitchcock cast Grace Kelly as the leading lady. Originally shot in 3D, but almost always shown flat, it's a very enjoyable suspense film even though the plot is kind of convoluted. As it often is with Hitch, it's not so much about the events of the script but rather how they are told.

And hey, Grace Kelly.

A Lapland odyssey

Napapiirin sankarit is, in fact, called Lapland Odyssey in English. It is Dome Karukoski's fourth full-length film; besides this one I have only seen his first, Tyttö sinä olet tähti, which might be my favorite Finnish film, certainly among the best. The new film was very entertaining and I'm happy I went to see it.

That's Montgomery Clift, honey!

Sung about by The Clash, and playing a priest in I Confess. It's not among Hitchcock's finest, but that still leaves plenty of room to be pretty good. It takes some time to get going, but towards the end there's enough suspense and twists. Clift plays the role well, even if he has better hair than any priest I've ever seen. The supporting cast is also fine.

This makes it 50 posts. I'm not bored yet, so I'll keep going... Project Hitchcock alone is good for more than a dozen entries!

Hush-hush and on the QT

When I first saw L.A. Confidential, I only knew Russell Crowe from The Quick and the Dead, and Guy Pearce not at all. Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito were of course more familiar. I hadn't even read the novel or anything else by Ellroy - safe to say this has been rectified since. I just knew that here was a movie where everything worked.

This must've been the fourth or fifth time I see it, and the impact hasn't been lessened at all. On BD it is very easy to appreciate the wonderful cinematography, set design, and costumes.