Meek’s Cutoff (2011), Kelly Reichardt, A-
When I saw this at Sundance I lost my mind and said it was a masterpiece. Maybe it was the elevation, because on second viewing (at home) it was merely very, very, very (very), very good.
In Time (2011), Andrew Niccol, B-
I kinda love this awful picture. It certainly wears its nerdy, nerdy heart on its sleeve.
I had all sorts of original things to say about this movie, then I read what my friend Charlie Jane Anders had to say and I’m reduced, merely, to “ditto that.”
The Texas Rangers (1936), King Vidor, B
Hard to go wrong with Jack Oakie.
The first half of this picture is absolutely fantastic. Then, when the outlaws-posing-as-good-guys have to start, you know, being good lest the Hays Code go nuts, it gets a little standard. . .and then is merely good.
A hilarious Wild West courtroom scene, too – not too dissimilar from what’s seen in Deadwood.
Canyon Passage (1946), Jacques Tourneur, B
A strangely unconventional Western from the expat director better known for movies like Cat People and Out of the Past.
It seems less interested in plot (or establishing who are the heroes and villains) than with setting. It also did a barn raising decades before Witness.
Still, hard to get fully on board with a movie that refers to American Indians, with no compunction, as “Red Beasties.” Tough to take, even if it is coming from Andy Devine’s mouth.
Rented from Netflix b/c it features Hoagy Carmichael singing our wedding song, “Ol’ Buttermilk Sky.” It is the last thing that happens just before the credits roll.
From Beyond (1986), Stuart Gordon, A-
How can a movie with this much phallic imagery also be so … squishy?
Ann had never seen this before and I took it as a personal victory that, a few days later, she referred to something as reminiscent of “the Resonator.”