Robert and I were both taken by the lived-in experience of the characters, a make-shift family brought together by circumstance, willing to protect their own. We settled on this being less than exploitative because we never see any of the characters on stage; we only ever see them interacting with each other.
We discussed the disappointing nature of the release; cut in nearly half because of the studio’s concerns about reception. A reality that still lives into our present when…
Robert and I had similar reactions to a fun but frustrating ride on the “Shanghai Express”. We discussed the frustrating parts in depth because of the way the connective tissue never lets the full film unravel cohesively. The writing in particular takes too many shortcuts and asks us to assume too many things without actually justifying itself. There are some technical marvels at work here: the night, smoke, lighting is actually incredible and there’s some comedic timing here that works…
It’s nice to see familiar faces as Robert and I have taken this journey into film’s past. “The Front Page” has Adolphe Menjou, our favorite rich guy from “Morocco”, Slim Summerville from “All Quiet on the Western Front”, and of course directed by Lewis Milestone. “The Front Page” isn’t a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination; the script and delivery feel too written to truly get all the way there. However, there is a sense of urgency and anxiousness…
Robert and I discussed “City Lights”, a film that is simultaneously hilarious and moving, and we couldn’t have been more thrilled with it. Charlie Chaplin does it all (again), creating maybe his master “The Tramp” piece—we of course have only seen two but consensus generally means something.
“The Tramp” goes through a variety of genuinely funny set pieces in an attempt to help a blind girl recover from her illness, which will in turn cure her blindness. And in the…
