No need to remake that one...

The Coen brothers tried, anyway. I haven't seen their version of The Ladykillers, but I have seen the original now and find it hard to see how it could be meaningfully improved upon. Wonderfully black English humor.

Kane

Tonight was the second time I watched Citizen Kane. I recall I found it good but not great as a young adult. What can one say about "the best film of all time" (which it certainly isn't, because no single film is)?

Well, I can say I found it pretty compelling. Effective non-linear narrative, ace cinematography, Bernard Herrmann score, and young Orson Welles kicking ass on both sides of the camera. Good, intelligent reasons to like it. But it's the story itself that sticks to me. A poor boy gets everything and finds out he has nothing. That is simply a great, powerful myth.

The transfer on the DVD I have was nothing to write home about, though.

Twice the nostalgia value

When Back to the Future was released, if offered a hefty slice of 1950s nostalgia. Watching it yesterday, I realized another 30 years will soon have passed since 1985, and 80s nostalgia was very much in effect. Huey Lewis, Van Halen, Walkman... ahhhh.

As a film it is of course still impeccable entertainment, guaranteed to lift your spirits. This time around I particularly liked Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson's performances. To no one's surprise, the Blu-ray looks and sounds great.

I remember parts II-III as somewhat less entertaining. But it's been much longer since I last watched those, and now that I have the whole trilogy it will be revisiting time soon.

Project Hitchcock lurches back into life

After an all-too long break we managed to continue the project by watching The Trouble with Harry. It was very funny but quite different from any other Hitch movie I've seen. Shirley MacLaine featured in her first film appearance.

A driving visionary

H.B. Halicki was a man who really wanted to make a superior car movie. He directed, wrote, produced, and starred in the original (and vastly better than the remake) Gone in 60 Seconds, and did his character's stunt driving while at it. He also owned many of the vehicles used in the filming.

The result is half endearing low-budget filmmaking without much of a script, and half amazing chase sequences. Halicki was injured twice while driving. You can see that cars were something the crew was passionate about, and in a movie like this you don't need much else.

Cary Grant on fire

It wasn't really news to me that Grant is an excellent comedian. But Arsenic and Old Lace, which I hadn't seen, was still amazing. Every other actor did their job well (I particularly liked "Karloff" and "Roosevelt"), but it is Grant's show and he carries it brilliantly. Insanity's rarely been so exhilarating.

Rambo 1-2

A TV channel is showing the Rambo movies, and I watched most of First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II (I managed to miss the beginning both times). First Blood is still a decent film and recognizable as the story of the novel, even though I do prefer the book version. Part II is mostly awful: it's poorly directed and looks like a cheap Cannon film. As far as I can remember, the quality would go still lower in part III.

At least I'm reading about them...

As I sadly haven't been watching much recently. New arrivals to the film book pile include Mark A. Vieira's Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits (1998), Donald Spoto's Blue Angel: The Life of Marlene Dietrich (1992), and Jeanine Basinger's The Star Machine (2007) which I am reading now.