Sleuthing Sunday (Movie reviews): The first is a stylish, purist classic. The second makes odd choices and never has a chance of competing with Bogart’s version.
Book review: Her sixth Poirot novel – though still stepping toward whimsy — stays on the rails more than the fifth.
Frightening Friday (Movie review): The director finds no signs of life among his lead actors in this sci-fi riff on “Assault on Precinct 13.”
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): A bare expansion of a student film from Carpenter and O’Bannon, this SF satire previews the grimy futures to come.
Mel Brooks Monday (Movie reviews): It’s too much for me, but the one joke (you can get rich from a flop) is funny, and the films are nice bookends to Brooks’ career.
Sleuthing Sunday (Movie review): Don’t look to Altman’s adaptation for faithfulness toward the 1953 novel. But it’s a prime illustration of the flexibility of Chandler’s sleuth.
Frightening Friday (Movie review): In a decade of bloodsuckers, John Carpenter checks in with his own respectable vampire-Western.
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): The lava CGI still looks good, and while you might not erupt with applause, you’ll wish all city officials were like Jones and Heche.
Movie review: This Canadian film gets a lot out of a little, with new angles into supernatural horror and cinematographic cliches.
Sleuthing Sunday (Book and movie reviews): The plot’s relative simplicity makes it a good choice, and the casting is solid. But MacDonald’s introspection can’t be mimicked.