What I’ve Caught Up With, November 2024:
Film: The Naked City (1948)
An almost textbook police procedural, The Naked City starts with the death of a young woman and follows the police’s case to find the killer and discover the story behind her death. It’s a convoluted case that we’re going to follow, eventually implicating a society doctor and more in a web of murder and jewel thieves. The investigation is overseen by a veteran detective (Barry Fitzgerald) and his young protégé (Don Taylor). While the focus here is on the crimes, the story is really how the police go about solving the case. It’s also a film that features heavy use of a narrator for good or for ill. Cut this into pieces, and it’s a multi-part episode of Dragnet.
Film: Superman (1978)
I was the right age in 1978 to think that Superman was one of the greatest movies ever made, even if Supes is a bit of a Mary Sue character. The lovely thing about this movie is that it really holds up pretty well. It’s not perfect by any means, but it would have been really easy for this to become kids’ fare and dive head-first into silliness, but Superman plays it straight, and it’s all to the benefit. The cast—Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Glenn Ford, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Valerie Perrine, Jackie Cooper and the infamous 10-minute Marlon Brando cameo all work really well, and it sets up the sequel perfectly. If you haven’t seen this, track it down, because it really is filled with wonder. The MCU would almost certainly still exist without it, but this movie blazed a lot of trails for comic book films and did it very well.
Film: Superman II (1980)
Some will suggest that Superman II is better than the original, but I’m not in that camp. It’s a pretty good sequel and contains arguably the greatest villain line in 100 years, Terrence Stamp’s “Kneel before Zod.” The problem with Superman as a character is that he can essentially do anything. It’s solved here by temporarily stripping him of his powers. It’s a great idea, but it’s also something that lasts in the film only for a couple of minutes. Also...Superman has amnesia kissing powers and emblem on his chest powers? I suppose the other problem with Superman is that because he can pretty much do anything, you have to keep adding powers to his suite to allow him to counteract the situations he gets put in.
Film: Teen Titans Go! Vs. Teen Titans (2019)
I’m not the right age to have been a fan of any of the versions of the Teen Titans, but when a movie is recommended, I watch it eventually. The original version of the Teen Titans lasted a few years and was cancelled because it didn’t sell enough toys (yes, that’s the real reason), so the much less grimdark version, Teen Titans Go!, was created. Teen Titans Go! Vs. Teen Titans mashes up the two versions, but very much plays to the goofier versions. I’m not the target audience for this, and while it definitely has its moments, this was not my speed. At about 75 minutes, it was still about 30 minutes more than I needed.
Film: Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men (1933)
A little pre-code almost comedy/almost romance, Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men features the all-but-forgotten Wynne Gibson as a street smart woman attached to Red (William Gargan), a guy who runs crooked dice games and fights with cops. When Red gets thrown in prison for fighting with the police, Aggie is put out on the street. Her friend Sybby (Zasu Pitts), a maid, lets her sleep in a room where the occupant is out for the day. But he shows up early, and he’s a rich, sheltered geek named Adoniram Schlump (Charles Farrell). A relationship blooms despite “Schlumpy” being engaged to a woman named Evangeline (Betty Furness!) back home. A lot of expectations get subverted in the final act of this. It’s better than the premise by a great deal.
Film: Whip It (2009)
A lot of people have told me over and over that I really need to watch Whip It, and with it finally streaming on Hulu, I got the chance. Everybody was right. This movie is wildly predictable, and it doesn’t matter. It’s honestly just nice to see a coming-of-age movie for a girl (a pre-transition Elliot Page) that isn’t entirely about sex. Bliss Cavendar (Page) is a reluctant pageant girl who really wants to join the roller derby, and keeps it secret from her parents (Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern) with the help of her friend Pash (Alia Shawkat). It’s a good cast all around (despite the presence of Juliette Lewis) and is also Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut. If you haven’t seen it, track it down—sometimes fun is all you need.
Film: King and Country (1964)
War films are very much their own thing, as are anti-war films. King & Country is an anti-war film. A soldier named Arthur Hamp (Tom Courtenay) has been accused of desertion after years at the front in World War I, and after his entire company has been killed. Assigned to defend him is Captain Charles Hargreaves (Dirk Bogarde), who struggles to understand Hamp’s desertion, and then struggles to understand the military’s desire to make Hamp an example. The trial is interspersed with scenes of the men trying to stay alive and sane in the trenches. While there are good performances here all the way around (Leo McKern is a standout), this film belongs to Bogarde and Courtenay.
