Month: April 2022

Posted on 2022-04-02 | No Comments |

Jack London (1943)

This is a tedious, episodic biopic on the life of author Jack London, portrayed by Michael O’Shea. I don’t know how faithful it is to his actual life, but there is a forced quality here to make it relevant to the World War II era by framing the entire story around the 1943 launch of the liberty ship named Jack London. The episode involving his time as a foreign correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War even gives him a chance to foretell Japanese attacks in the future. None of this is helped by the poor quality copy on Hoopla, but at least it features a decent role for Louise Beavers as his beneficiary early in the film.

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

Posted on 2022-04-01 | No Comments |

Kill the Messenger (2014)

When news reporter Jeremy Renner investigates the CIA’s involvement in cocaine trafficking to fund the Contras in Nicaragua, it triggers a smear campaign against the author that ruins his life. The details of the story are infuriating and shout the necessities of a free press, an almost impossibility when editors and other journalists will bend to power. The performances are generally solid even while the story feels a bit tedious at times. This was apparently a passion project for Renner and it shows in the performance he personally gives.

Posted on 2022-04-01 | No Comments |

Prom Night in Mississippi (2009)

In the 1990s, Morgan Freeman offered to pay for the prom in his hometown of Clarkston, Mississippi if they agreed to have a desegregated dance. When he tried it again in 2008, the school and students took him up on the offer, but inexplicably white parents still decided to host a separate whites only prom. I went to a large enough high school that while dances were still a big deal to many, the whole community didn’t get involved as they seem to do here. The documentary suffers in that only one opinion is shown and those who try to interpret the other side’s reasons do so with the most unsympathetic interpretation. Not that I can imagine they’d come off as anything but racist or bigoted as their lawyer seems to fear, but it’d still feel more complete to hear them say why. It’s also very weird that the integrated prom then started with a prayer, but I guess it’s one issue at a time.

Posted on 2022-04-01 | No Comments |

Oldest Living Confederate Woman Tells All (1994)

Closing in on her 99th birthday, Anne Bancroft shares the details of her life as a child bride married to former Confederate soldier Donald Sutherland. Perhaps because she’s set to age many years through the miniseries, a late 20s Diane Lane unconvincingly portrays the woman as a teenager, but has a better feel for the role as the character ages and faces many hardships. The scope of the film reminds me of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman , which both feature Cicely Tyson, except the build up of the Civil Rights Movement in that other film is exchanged for the rantings of an aged defender of Southern mythology.

Posted on 2022-04-01 | No Comments |

Panda and the Magic Serpent (1958)

With the help of his animal friends, Xu-Xian attempts to overcome obstacles placed by a local monk in order to reunite with his princess love. Known for being the first color anime and one of the first to reach United States soil, the animation is adorably rendered, particularly the two animals. Sadly the version I watched on Hoopla was a poor copy and the colors and line work are rather faded and washed out.

Posted on 2022-04-01 | No Comments |

Brighton Rock (1948)

Teenaged gangster Richard Attenborough murders the newspaper reporter he blames for killing one of his fellow gang members. To establish a different time of death, he sends out his gang to carry out the promotional stunt the reporter was supposed to complete. Several blunders results in Attenborough needing to seduce young waitress Carol Marsh and shake a suspicious Hermione Baddeley off his tail. Gangster films are generally dark, but this one is particularly bleak. Attenborough is convincingly ruthless in pursuing his goals, uncaring whether he leads his fellow gangsters to death or psychologically damaging a young girl. Though presumably about a real time in Brighton’s history, the beach setting makes for a strange juxtaposition between frivolous fun and indiscriminate murder.