Confirm or Deny

1941, US, directed by Archie Mayo

Very enjoyable Don Ameche-starrer set in Blitz-era London, and while it's obviously a "preparedness" picture for an American audience it's also rather well done, with a decent sense of time and place and some very enjoyable character turns (Eric Blore, Arthur Shields -- whose Irish accent isn't hard to detect); the emotional climax is well-earned, with Ameche doing a fine job with an unusual kind of soliloquy. The budget goes to good use, too -- there are several highly convincing scenes dealing with the aftermath of various bombardments. 

Gas-oil

1955, France, directed by Gilles Grangier

A fine Gabin/Gilles Grangier collaboration, with some dialogue from the pen of Michel Audiard (Gabin gets a few pearls, very nicely delivered). Gabin is a truck driver -- as in the following year's much bleaker Des gens sans importance -- who inadvertently comes to the attention of some gangland figures, with Jeanne Moreau as his love interest. Gabin's role hearkens back to some of his most iconic working-man parts and it's not hard to see his character as an evolution of that of La Belle équipe, while the overall picture of the trucker's life is filled with enjoyable vignettes of working class/small town life in central France. 

Train to Busan

2016, South Korea, directed by Yeon Sang-ho

Korean genre fare, occasionally quite inventive and witty, though ultimately not as distinctive as I had hoped even if it's a decent addition to the voluminous recent series of zombie entries. Still, it makes intelligent use of its effects budget in combination with some decent storytelling skills. Based purely on the content of the film, my sense is that Korean audiences might be more comfortable with syrupy tones, which seemed more amusing to a Western audience in the dramatic/action context – watching it with a US cinema audience the slightly nervous laughter tended to break up the overall effect. 

Ixcanul

2015, Guatemala, directed by Jayro Bustamante

A striking film from Guatemala that blends an often blunt, earthy realism with occasional hints of something more mystical. Set among a group of indigenous people scraping together a life on the side of a volcano, it reminded me at times of several African films in its blend of domestic detail and spirituality (except with a good deal more sexual frankness) -- parts of Idrissa Ouédraogo's early films, as well, of course, as those of Ousmane Sembène, though with a very different visual approach than the Senegalese director.

La Prochaine fois je viserai le coeur

2014, France, directed by Cédric Anger

Directed by former Cahiers critic Cédric Anger, the film deals with a bizarre and brutal true-life episode in the 1970s in which a series of murders/assaults was committed by a police officer whose role on the investigation team caused delays and misdirection in bringing events to a conclusion. Guillaume Canet plays the lead, and he's pretty good in an absolutely buttoned-down role, while the northeastern setting is very well-used, echoing, at times, Bruno Dumont’s earlier films. One of the French reviews I read suggested it had something of Zodiac about it, which whatever the film's other characteristics isn't true at all in plot terms -- although we follow the real-life chronology this isn't a procedural, rather a character study, albeit one that doesn't suggest much at all about the character's psychology, simply presenting him as a blank slate.

The Prisoner of Zenda

1937, US, directed by John Cromwell

While Selznick’s high-end picture is a ripping yarn in the best tradition of the 1930s studios, I had forgotten the extent to which this is rather more of a drama/romance than a straight swashbuckler -- there are some wonderfully odious villains, and Ronald Colman, C. Aubrey Smith and David Niven all look like they had loads of fun on set, but the action – in stunt terms at least – is compressed into the final ten minutes or so, with a good deal of fairly complicated back and forth in the lead in. As tales set in invented Mitteleuropa locations go, I still prefer the more comically-inclined TheLady Vanishes, or even Night Train to Munich...

Ant-Man

2015, US, directed by Peyton Reed

After the large-scale destruction of the various other Marvel movies we consumed recently, Ant-Man was refreshingly smaller in scale -- and while the film shows some development executive fingerprints it still retains at least some of the less conformist approach taken by its original script team. Whatever their origins, there are also several highly enjoyable set-pieces, notably those that play with onscreen/offscreen narration, as well as a sense that there is at least a superficial level of character development.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

2015, US, directed by Joss Whedon

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

2014, US, directed by Anthony & Joe Russo

Captain America: Civil War

2016, US, directed by Anthony & Joe Russo

Lost in La Mancha

2002, UK/USA, directed by Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe

One of those films where you wonder at the sheer volume of self-incriminating material committed to tape/film at the time -- the filmmaking process here has a kind of dual aspect, with the actual film accompanied by a filmed reflection on that film as it evolves or, in this case, fails to evolve. The sense of an unraveling dream is quite unnerving, though it's never entirely clear exactly how the plug gets pulled -- it just all somehow falls apart, just as it all somehow seemed to come together at the beginning with a variety of financiers and other players. Gilliam, for his part, is remarkably sanguine most of the time -- deeply committed to his vision, and infectiously enthused by the few moments they do manage to commit to celluloid, but perhaps naive that the whole thing could have worked at all.

Inside Out

2016, US, directed by Pete Docter (co-directed by Ronnie del Carmen)

Sing Street

2016, Ireland, directed by John Carney

Ghostbusters

2016, US, directed by Paul Feig

Le Chien jaune

1932, France, directed by Jean Tarride

Tarride's Maigret appearing the same year as Renoir's adaptation of La Nuit du carrefour, and the year before Duvivier's very fine La Tête d'un homme, and while it's not at the level of either of those it's certainly an interesting screen version of one of the most atmospheric and characteristic of all Maigret books -- the character himself had first appeared in print only the previous year, though given Simenon's prolific rate of production Maigret had rapidly become a ubiquitous figure in popular culture. The novel and film are set in Concarneau, in the rainy, desolate off-season, and the film makes excellent use of some limited location filming to add authenticity -- just as Chabrol did a half-century later for a non-Maigret Simenon adaptation. The film is a generally faithful adaptation of the source novel, and as much an examination of the local bourgeoisie as it is a murder mystery. Abel Tarride, the director's father, plays Maigret, though there's little of great note in his portrayal; Robert Le Vigan plays one of the local notables and, as so often, lingers much longer in the memory.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

2016, US, directed by Jake Szymanski

Just awful: even being trapped on a plane for seven hours was a poor excuse for a viewing choice like this.

Trouble with the Curve

2012, US, directed by Robert Lorenz

A counterpoint to Moneyball, valorizing the scout above the number, though its unsubtle in the extreme in both storytelling and characterization, and doesn't do much with a solid cast -- though the actors are professional enough to deliver right down the middle.

Big

1988, US, directed by Penny Marshall

As charming as it was on release, with Hanks' sweet, wonderfully physical performance the absolute center of the film. Also very much of its era, with eye-popping shoulder pads and New York a haven of crime -- though some things, notably the depiction of grasping business types, never go out of style.

The Nice Guys

2016, US, directed by Shane Black

Very much enjoyed this, for the performances by the principals and also for the sense that Shane Black finally managed to get down on film what he'd been trying to capture since Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Crowe and Gosling make for a remarkably well-matched pair, and Gosling's comic timing is very fine at times.

Dark Passage

1947, US, directed by Delmer Daves

The only Bogart-Bacall I hadn't seen, though it's less notable for that pairing for my money, lacking most of the crackle of their other appearances together. It's a good deal more interesting for the noir elements, and the sense of a deepening nightmare as the bodies pile up. Overall, though, I found it less satisfying than its parts: several sequences to be treasured, and a number of wonderful character turns, but somehow the final product lacked that ineffable magic.