Carpenter brings ‘Elvis’ (1979) down to Earth in TV biopic
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): The director’s only non-genre film is a fine one, filled with music but not the details you’d need for a full portrait.
Movies
Carpenter brings ‘Elvis’ (1979) down to Earth in TV biopic
‘Lady in the Lake’s’ (1947) direct-POV experiment is all wet
Sleuthing Sunday (Movie review): Unfortunately, the mystery of Chandler’s strong fourth novel gets lost in a quest for a new style.
Carpenter quietly makes mark with ‘Assault on Precinct 13’ (1976)
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): The director’s style-over-story-details approach is present in his first major film.
Marlowe properly comes to screen in ‘Murder, My Sweet’ (1944)
Sleuthing Sunday (Movie review): The screenplay reassembles elements of “Farewell, My Lovely” in an intriguing way, and Dick Powell is a pleasing Marlowe.
‘Great Muppet Caper’ (1981) is clever, cute, capricious
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): Jim Henson makes his directorial debut in the second “Muppets” movie.
Mitchum ably fills Marlowe’s gumshoes in ‘Farewell, My Lovely’ (1975), ‘Big Sleep’ (1978)
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.
‘Ghosts of Mars’ (2001) will have Carpenter fans seeing red
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.”
‘Dark Star’ (1974) smartly but too slowly makes fun of ‘2001’
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.
‘The Producers’ (1967, 2005) maximizes its one joke, and then some
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.
‘Long Goodbye’ (1973) brings a skewed Marlowe into a scary L.A.
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.