Movies I Watched in June, Part 1

Here goes -- Part One of what turned out to be a pretty movie-packed month...



I realize this 1971 movie is considered a blaxploitation classic (possibly THE blaxploitation classic), but to be honest, I didn't find myself loving it. If you ask me (and by reading this blog, you sort of tacitly are asking me), it’s too straightforward and too straitlaced, failing to hit the wild heights of less respectable fare like “Truck Turner” and “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” to say nothing of genuinely disreputable films like “Super Soul Brother,” “Welcome Home, Brother Charles” or the oeuvre of one mister Rudy Ray Moore. “Shaft” isn’t bad by any means, but it feels like your average ‘70s cop drama with a quick coat of blaxploitation slapped on it. Richard Roundtree is iconic as John Shaft, of course, and Moses Gunn is great as the head of the black mob, but the whole movie just never quite came together for this viewer. By all means, check out the Isaac Hayes soundtrack, then  skip ahead to “Shaft’s Big Score,” the 1972 sequel that I find much more entertaining. Check out my blog post on that film here .



One of my all-time favorite movies just got a swanky new Blu-ray from the fine folks at Arrow Films, which means I had to (a) buy it and (b) give it a rewatch. Ray Milland stars as George Stroud, editor of a true crime magazine that’s part of the publishing empire run by the power-crazed Earl Janoth (a wonderfully feverish Charles Laughton.) When Janoth kills his mistress, he orders Stroud to track down the guy seen leaving her apartment, intending to pin the crime on him. What Janoth doesn’t know is that Stroud was that man, meaning he’s leading a manhunt for himself. (Yes, it’s the same basic story as the Kevin Costner movie “No Way Out.") What follows is a wildly entertaining cat-and-mouse game, with Stroud trying to figure a way out of the ever-tightening net while dealing with a crazy artist (Elsa Lanchester), his own frustrated wife (Maureen O’Sullivan), Janoth’s weaselly assistant (George Macready, who made a career of playing weasels) and, most surprisingly, Janoth’s mute brute of a thug (played by Col. Potter himself, Harry Morgan). It’s fast-paced, it’s smart and the setting of the Janoth Building, which combines midcentury modern design with leading-edge technology (for 1948, that is) is consistenly fascinating. Highest possible recommendation, kiddos.



Sure, it’s not any more complex than “What If Superman Were Evil?,” but within that seemingly limited range, this movie (written by Brian and Mark Gunn, directed by David Yarovesky) generates some darkly comic creepiness. I like how little Brandon Breyer (played by Jackson A. Dunn) slips bit by bit, taking revenge on the kids and parents who’ve wronged him and even crafting a snazzy little costume and logo (based on his BB initials). I also like how his parents, played by Elizabeth Banks and David Denman (Roy from “The Office”) have no idea how to handle their changing son. (Would you? Would anyone?) Most of all, I like how the movie goes in a certain direction, then keeps going, much further than I would’ve predicted. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s a good one, in all the best bad ways.
Up next: a very '80s look at some very '80s economic issues, a bizarre noir I'd never heard of and a terrifying, gory, nasty shocker that I chose to unleash on my poor, innocent daughter.