Attack of the Puppet People - 1958

Attack of the Puppet People (also known as I Was a Teenage Doll (working title), Six Inches Tall (UK) and The Fantastic Puppet People) is a 1958 American black-and-white science fiction Horror film directed, produced and written by Bert I. Gordon.

It stars John Hoyt as an eccentric doll maker. It was produced by Alta Vista Productions and distributed by American International Pictures. The film was rushed into production by American International Pictures and Bert I. Gordon to capitalise on the success of The Incredible Shrinking Man, which had been released in 1957.

The film begins with a Brownie troop visiting a doll manufacturing company called Dolls Inc., owned and operated by the seemingly kindly Mr. Franz (John Hoyt). As the girls tour the factory, they see a number of very lifelike dolls stored in glass canisters locked in a display case on the wall. These are part of Mr. Franz’s special collection. Sally Reynolds (June Kenney) answers a newspaper advertisement for a secretary; Franz's previous one has mysteriously vanished. Although she is concerned about his obsession with his dolls, she reluctantly agrees to take the job. She soon meets a traveling salesman, Bob Westley (John Agar), who introduces himself as the best salesman in St. Louis and immediately sets about attempting to seduce her. Their relationship become serious enough that Bob persuades Sally to quit her job, promising to break the news to Franz.

The next day however, Franz informs Sally that Bob has gone back home to take care of business and that she should forget him. She, however, is unwilling to accept this and goes to the police with a theory about Franz' role in her boyfriend's disappearance ("He made Bob into a doll!"), but Sergeant Paterson (Jack Kosslyn) is skeptical. Franz has developed a machine which can shrink people down to a sixth of their original size. He then uses it on anyone who tries to leave him. When he finds that Sally plans to quit, she becomes his latest victim.

Ten Little Indians - 1965

The 1965 version of Ten Little Indians is the second film version of Agatha Christie's detective novel And Then There Were None. Although its background story is the same as the 1945 version (ten people invited to a stranded area by a mysterious stranger), this one takes place on an isolated snowy mountain. The house used in the film was Kenure House in Rush, North County Dublin, Ireland. This version is also the first adaptation of the novel to show the murders on screen. An uncredited Christopher Lee provides the pre-recorded voice of "Mr. Owen". This adaptation has been retooled to fit the attitude of the "swinging sixties," such as changing the character of the repressed spinster into a glamorous movie star, adding a lot more action to complement the mystery, a fight scene and even a sex scene. The film is 91 minutes long and is in black and white. Other changes include William Blore not faking his identity as Mr. Davis and essentially changing the backstory of most of the characters. The ending was changed to a less pessimistic one, heavily borrowing from the upbeat finale Christie wrote for the stage version of the story, which was and remains completely at odds with the very downbeat ending of her original mystery thriller.

Scared Stiff - 1953

Scared Stiff (1953) is a musical comedy film starring the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. One of the 17 movies made by the Martin and Lewis team, it was released on April 27, 1953 by Paramount Pictures and directed by George Marshall. Larry Todd (Dean Martin), and Myron Mertz (Jerry Lewis), cross paths with a gangster named "Shorty" when Larry hits on Shorty's girl. After fleeing from Shorty, they meet an heiress (Lizabeth Scott) who is sailing for Cuba. One unexplained murder and threatening note later, Larry and Myron sail with her to the island. Once there they cross paths with a zombie and other mysterious happenings. Eventually they discover the person behind the mystery and rid the island of him. The movie ends with a cameo appearance by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

A Perfect Murder - 1998

A Perfect Murder is a 1998 American thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen. It is modern a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film, Dial M for Murder, though the characters' names are all changed, and over half the plot is completely rewritten and altered. Loosely based on the play by Frederick Knott, the screenplay was written by Patrick Smith Kelly.

Steven Taylor (Michael Douglas) is a Wall Street hedge fund manager. His investments and speculations allow him to live an extravagant upper class lifestyle with his much younger wife, Emily (Gwyneth Paltrow). Unfortunately for Taylor, his investments are unraveling, so he will need his wife's personal fortune to maintain his status and lifestyle.

Emily seems a faithful wife, but, in reality, she is having an affair with a painter, David (Viggo Mortensen), and is considering leaving her husband. Emily thinks she is safe, but Steven knows everything about the affair. He has also been able to uncover David’s past as an ex-convict with a habit of playing con games on rich women.

Steven goes to David's loft, where Emily accidentally left her wedding ring. However, rather than confront the con man or threaten to betray his true identity, Steven instead makes him an offer of $500,000 in cash to murder his wife.

The film received mixed reviews from critics: Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it a "skillfully plotted update of Frederick Knott's play". Roger Ebert wrote "It works like a nasty little machine to keep us involved and disturbed; my attention never strayed".

8 Femmes - (French 2002)

What a FUN film mixed with drama, comedy and music. I loved the music so much that I bought the soundtrack. If you don't mind French with English subtitles...you'll LOVE this one. The BEST part is the mostly women cast of the BEST ACTRESSES 'ever' from France. It's an awesome one to watch over the Christmas holidays, too.

8 Women (French: 8 Femmes) is a 2002 French musical comedy murder-mystery film, directed by François Ozon and based on the play by Robert Thomas. The film was known as 8 femmes to distinguish it from the 1972 play entitled Huit femmes.

The film is set in the 1950s in a large country residence, as a family and its servants are preparing for Christmas, when the master of the house is discovered dead in his bed, with a dagger stuck into his back. The murderer must be one of the eight women in the house at the time, and in the course of the investigations each has a tale to tell and secrets to hide.

The scene opens with Suzon returning from school for Christmas break, finding her mother Gaby, her younger sister Catherine, and her wheelchair-bound grandmother Mamy in the living room, where most of the action of the film takes place. Their conversation drifts to the subject of the patriarch of the family, and Catherine leads the first song of the film, "Papa t'es plus dans le coup" (roughly, "Dad, you're out of touch"). The singing wakes up Suzon and Catherine's aunt Augustine, who picks arguments with the rest of the family and the two servants (Madame Chanel and Louise), eventually returning upstairs, threatening to commit suicide. Mamy jumps out of her wheelchair, trying to stop her, haphazardly explaining her ability to walk as a "Christmas miracle." Augustine is eventually calmed down, and she sings her song of longing, "Message personnel" (Personal Message).

House of Flying Daggers - 2004

I was so mesmerized by the cinematography in this film. The romantic tale really captures the viewer. What a GREAT film!

House of Flying Daggers is a 2004 wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou. It differs from other wuxia films in that it is more of a love story than a straight martial arts film.

The use of strong colours is again a signature of Zhang Yimou's work. Several scenes in a bamboo forest completely fill the screen with green. Near the end of the film, a fight scene is set in a blizzard. The actors and blood are greatly highlighted on a whiteout background. Another scene uses bright yellow as a colour theme. The costumes, props, and decorations were taken almost entirely from Chinese paintings of the period, adding authenticity to the look of the film.

The film opened in limited release within the United States on December 3, 2004, in New York City and Los Angeles, and opened on additional screens throughout the country two weeks later. The film is set in 859 AD. The once great Tang Dynasty is now in decline. Numerous rebel groups have formed, the largest of which is the House of Flying Daggers, based in Feng Tian county. The Flying Daggers steal from the rich and give to the poor, gaining the support of the locals.

The local deputies have managed to kill the leader of the Flying Daggers, but the rebel group only becomes stronger, due to a mysterious new leader. Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Leo (Andy Lau), two police captains, are ordered to kill the new leader within ten days.

In order to accomplish this, they arrest Mei (Zhang Ziyi), a blind dancer who is suspected of being the daughter of the old leader of the Flying Daggers. While Mei is incarcerated, Jin and Leo decide to let her go to track the mastermind; Jin will pretend to be a lone warrior called Wind, and break her out of prison. This will gain her trust, and hopefully, Jin will be led to the headquarters of Flying Daggers. The plan works, but Mei and Jin fall in love on the way. They are followed at a distance by Leo; Jin and Leo meet secretly to discuss their plans. Jin jokes about his seduction of the girl; Leo warns him sternly against getting involved.

To add authenticity to the deception, Leo and his men ambush the pair: the fight is, however, a fake. Further on, they are attacked again, but this time their assailants are apparently for real: Jin and Mei battle for their lives, being saved only by the intervention of an unseen knife-thrower. Furious, Jin confronts Leo: Leo explains that he has reported the matter up the chain of command and his general has taken over the pursuit. Jin realizes that he is now expendable.

The film features the theme of a beautiful woman who brings woe to two men. This theme is borrowed from a famous poem written by the Han Dynasty poet Li Yannian.

Breach - 2007

Breach is a 2007 American docudrama directed by Billy Ray. The screenplay by Ray, Adam Mazer, and William Rotko is based on the true story of Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and later Russia for more than two decades, and Eric O'Neill, who worked as his assistant and helped bring about his downfall. O'Neill served as a consultant on the film.


Eric O'Neill is a young FBI employee assigned to work undercover as a clerk to Robert Hanssen, a senior agent he is told is suspected of being a sexual deviant. Hanssen has been recalled to FBI headquarters ostensibly to head up a new division specializing in Information Assurance.


Initially, Hanssen insists on a strict formality between the two men. He frequently rails against the bureaucracy of the FBI and complains that only those who regularly "shoot guns" are considered for senior positions instead of those, like himself, who are involved in vital national security matters. He calls the bureau's information technology systems antiquated and laments the lack of coordination and information exchange with other intelligence agencies. Eventually, Hanssen becomes a friend and mentor to O'Neill...


eter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor named Breach the best film of the year (2007). Richard Schickel of Time ranked it #6 and called Chris Cooper's performance "brilliant". Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post named it the ninth best film of 2007.

The Bourne 'Film Series' - 2002, 2004, 2007...

2002: THE BOURNE IDENTITY
A man is found floating in the Mediterranean Sea with two gunshot wounds in his back and a device with the number of a Swiss safe deposit box embedded in his hip. Upon reaching shore, the man assumes the name Jason Bourne after finding a passport under the name in the safe deposit box, along with other international passports, large amounts of assorted currencies, and a gun. He subsequently attempts to discover his true identity while countering attempts on his life by CIA assassins, eventually realizing that he is one such assassin who failed to complete his most recent mission. Bourne breaks his connections to the CIA and unites with Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente), a woman who helped him learn about his most recent actions prior to his memory loss. Bourne's conflict with the CIA reaches a climax when he takes the fight to their doorstep.


2004: THE BOURNE SUPREMACY
Some two years after learning that he is a trained assassin and breaking his connections with the CIA Jason Bourne is framed for a crime connected to one of his past missions. A subsequent attempt on his life results in Marie's death, so he decides to take revenge by hunting down those responsible for her death and his forgotten past, thinking that the CIA is hunting him again. Bourne discovers that Ward Abbott (Brian Cox), one of the men who oversaw Operation Treadstone, the program which trained Bourne to be an assassin, stole millions of dollars from the CIA. Abbott meant to implicate Bourne in the theft with the frameup, which would have led the CIA on a wild goose chase had Bourne been killed as intended. Bourne exposes Abbott to Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), the CIA agent in charge of finding Bourne, and Abbott commits suicide. After a long car chase, Bourne later spares a Russian agent who was paid to kill him and was responsible for Marie's death, and then goes into hiding.


2007: THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
Six weeks later, Bourne learns that a British journalist has been investigating his past and contacts him to find out who his source is. Bourne is subsequently targeted by Operation Blackbriar, an upgraded Operation Treadstone, which has also taken note of the investigation. Believing that Bourne is a threat and is seeking revenge, Blackbriar's director Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) begins a new hunt for Bourne. Bourne manages to take classified documents proving that Blackbriar has targeted U.S. citizens and is aided by Landy, who disagreed with Vosen from the beginning and does not support Blackbriar's existence. Bourne finally comes face to face with the person who oversaw his behavioral modification as the first Treadstone operative some years earlier, memories of which resurface. Those responsible for Treadstone and Blackbriar are exposed, and Bourne goes underground.


THE BOURNE LEGACY is scheduled for release in the Summer of 2012:
Universal Pictures originally intended The Bourne Ultimatum to be the final film in the series, but development of another film was underway by October 2008. George Nolfi, who co-wrote The Bourne Ultimatum, was to write the script of a fourth film, not to be based on any of the novels by Robert Ludlum. Joshua Zetumer had been hired to write a parallel script—a draft which could be combined with another (Nolfi's, in this instance)—by August 2009 since Nolfi would be directing The Adjustment Bureau that September. Matt Damon stated in November 2009 that no script had been approved and that he hoped that a film would begin shooting in mid-2011. The next month, he said that he would not do another Bourne film without Paul Greengrass, who announced in late November that he had decided not to return as director. In January 2010, Damon said that there would "probably be a prequel of some kind with another actor and another director before we do another one just because I think we're probably another five years away from doing it."


However, it was reported in June 2010 that Tony Gilroy would be writing a script with his brother and screenwriter Dan Gilroy for a fourth film to be released sometime in 2012. On October 29, Universal set the release date for The Bourne Legacy at August 3, 2012.


On October 11, 2010, it was reported that the Bourne character will not be in The Bourne Legacy. Although Damon denied these claims in the media, restating that he would be in the new film.


On February 24, 2011, a list of actors met with Gilroy for a role in the film, possibly filling a role that would either replace Damon, or co-star with Damon. The list included Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Josh Hartnett, Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Alex Pettyfer, Paul Dano, Taylor Kitsch, Kellan Lutz, Benjamin Walker, Oscar Isaac, Luke Evans, Michael Pitt, Chris Evans, Dominic Cooper and Joel Edgerton. On March 24, the studio had screen tested actors Edgerton, Cooper, Hedlund, Luke Evans and newcomer Erryn Arkin for the role. On April 2, 2011, Latino Review reported that Jeremy Renner is expected to headline the new film. Renner will allegedly be playing a new character. Rachel Weisz is in talks, and may be the love interest. Actor Edward Norton is said to be in talks to play the film's villain. On May 28, 2011, Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director Tony Gilroy had chosen Manila as location for "The Bourne Legacy." Gilroy said that 40 percent of the film will be shot in Manila.


Film Development Council of the Philippines head Briccio Santos said the country bested other Asian countries as location for the film.

Tell No One - 2006

Tell No One (French: Ne le dis à personne) is a 2006 French thriller film directed by Guillaume Canet and based on the novel of the same name by Harlan Coben. It was written by Guillame Canet and Philippe Lefèbvre and stars François Cluzet. Miramax and Focus have bought the rights for an English language remake, which will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and has a tentative date of 2010 for the beginning of principal photography.   It won four categories at the 2007 César Awards in France: Best Director (Guillaume Canet), Best Actor (François Cluzet), Best Editing and Best Music Written for a Film.

Alexandre Beck (François Cluzet) is a doctor who has slowly been putting his life back together after his wife Margot (Marie-Josée Croze) was murdered by a serial killer. Eight years on, Alex is doing well, until he finds himself implicated in a double homicide, which has plenty of evidence pointing to him as the killer - though he knows nothing of the crimes. The same day, Alex receives an e-mail that appears to be from Margot, which includes a link to a surveillance video clip that features his late wife looking alive and well. The message warns Alex that they are both being watched. He struggles to stay one step ahead of the law , while a gang of henchmen intimidate Alex's friends into telling them whatever they might know about him - the henchmen eventually kill one of them, Charlotte. In the meantime, Alex's sister Anne (Marina Hands) persuades her well-off wife Hélène (Kristin Scott Thomas) to hire a respected attorney, Élisabeth Feldman (Nathalie Baye), to handle Alex's case.  It is gradually revealed that Margot is apparently still alive.  Tell No One was extremely well received both critically and commercially.

Academy Award winning British actor Sir Michael Caine said of the film it was the best he had seen in 2007 on the BBC's Film 2007 programme. He also included it among his Top Ten movies of all time in his 2010 autobiography, The Elephant to Hollywood.

Vertigo - 1958

Vertigo is a psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor, based on the 1954 novel D'entre les morts by Boileau-Narcejac.

It is the story of a retired police detective suffering from acrophobia who is hired as a private investigator to follow the wife of an acquaintance to uncover the mystery of her peculiar behavior.

The film received mixed reviews upon initial release, but has garnered acclaim since and is now frequently ranked among the greatest films ever made, and often cited as a classic Hitchcock film and one of the defining works of his career.

Urbania - 2000

Urbania is a 2000 independent drama film based on the play Urban Folk Tales. It premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and played a number of LGBT film festivals as well as playing in limited release throughout the year.

Urbania follows Charlie (Dan Futterman) through a sleepless night. After an unsuccessful bout of masturbation to the sound of his upstairs neighbors having sex, he prowls the streets looking for a man he saw several months earlier. The implication is that he's had a one night stand with the man, cheating on his boyfriend Chris (Matt Keeslar). This is reinforced by several phone calls Charlie places, leaving messages on Chris' answering machine. As he's walking, he has momentary flashes akin to hallucinations or waking dreams: a man's mouth; a bottle breaking; a man with a blood-stained shirt.

The Third Man - 1949

Would you like to see a film from the 1940s that is so captivating visually? How about a film that also has a great, mysterious plot? This is it! I was looking for a movie that starred Orson Welles only because I kept hearing his name mentioned here and there. This shows Orson at his best. I also love the street scenes of Vienna, Austria 'at night'. Classic!


The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score. The screenplay was written by novelist Graham Greene, later becoming his novella of the same name. Anton Karas wrote the score, which used only the zither; its title cut topped the international music charts in 1950.


Vienna, devastated by and recovering from World War II, is divided into four separate zones, each governed by one of the victorious Allies, and a jointly-administered international zone. American pulp Western writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives seeking an old friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles), who has offered him the opportunity to work with him there.


Arriving at Lime's apartment, Martins discovers that Lime was recently hit and killed by a lorry while crossing the street. Shocked, Martins heads to the cemetery to attend his friend's funeral, where he meets two British Army Royal Military Policemen: Sergeant Paine (Bernard Lee), a fan of Martins's books, and his superior, Major Calloway (Trevor Howard). After the services, Martins accepts an invitation to speak to the members of a local book club, delaying his departure to do so. He is contacted by a friend of Lime's, Baron Kurtz (Ernst Deutsch), who wants to talk about Lime's death. Kurtz relates that he and Popescu (Siegfried Breuer), another friend of Lime's, had picked Lime up after the accident and brought him over to the side of the street, where before dying he had asked them to take care of Martins and Anna, Lime's actress girlfriend. Kurtz mentions the theatre where Anna (Alida Valli) works, but advises that the case is pointless to pursue and best left.

Blue Velvet - 1986

Blue Velvet is a 1986 American mystery film written and directed by David Lynch. The movie exhibits elements of both film noir and surrealism. The film features Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern. The title is taken from the 1963 Bobby Vinton song of the same name. Although initially detested by some mainstream critics, the film is now widely acclaimed, and earned Lynch his second Academy Award nomination for Best Director.


As an example of a director casting against the norm, Blue Velvet is also noted for re-launching Hopper's career and for providing Rossellini with a dramatic outlet beyond the work as a fashion model and a cosmetics spokeswoman for which she had until then been known.


After the commercial and critical failure of Lynch's Dune (1984), he made attempts at developing a more "personal story", somewhat characteristic of his surreal style he displayed in his debut Eraserhead (1977). The screenplay of Blue Velvet had been passed around multiple times in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with many major studios declining it because of its strong sexual and violent content. The independent studio De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, which was owned at the time by Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis, agreed to finance and produce the film. Since its initial theatrical release, Blue Velvet has achieved cult status, significant academic attention and is widely regarded as one of Lynch's finest works, alongside Eraserhead and Mulholland Drive (2001). It is also seen by many critics as representing a modern-day version of film-noir, "neo-noir", present in many thrillers from the early 1980s to the mid 1990s.


The film centers on college student Jeffrey Beaumont (Maclachlan), who, returning from visiting his ill father in the hospital, comes across a human ear in a field in his hometown of Lumberton. He proceeds to investigate the ear with help from a high school student, Sandy Williams (Dern), who provides him with information and leads from her father, a local police detective. Jeffrey's investigation draws him deeper into his hometown's seedy underworld, and sees him forming a sexual relationship with the alluring torch singer, Dorothy Vallens (Rossellini), and uncovering psychotic criminal Frank Booth (Hopper), who engages in drug abuse, kidnapping, and sexual violence.

The Axe (Le Couperet) - 2005

Le Couperet is a Belgian-French-Spanish (2005) film. The English title of this film is The Axe. You can SAVE the film at NetFlix as it is titled under the name "Le Couperet".  It's an excellent thriller.


Directed by Costa Gavras and starring José Garcia, Karin Viard and Olivier Gourmet, Le Couperet is an adaptation of the novel The Ax by Donald E. Westlake. The film follows the "hero", Bruno D. (Garcia), trying to do the right thing but having no choice than to take the wrong path.


The thirty-nine-year-old executive Bruno Davert has been working for fifteen years in a paper company. After a merging operation with a Romanian company, he is fired in a downsizing. While unemployed for two years, Bruno loses his self-esteem and sanity and his family loses the middle-class lifestyle without cable television, Internet and regular consumption. He concludes that there is too much competition in his sector for a few job positions and decides to literally eliminate his competitors, killing those more qualified than him.

Brotherhood of the Wolf - 2001

Brotherhood of the Wolf is a 2001 French film directed by Christophe Gans, starring Samuel Le Bihan and Mark Dacascos, and written by Gans and Stéphane Cabel. Its original French title is Le Pacte des loups, which literally means "the pact of the wolves."

The film is loosely based on the book L'Innocence des loups ("The Innocence of the Wolves"), by the French zoologist Michel Louis, a study about a real-life series of killings that took place in France in the 18th century and the famous legend around the Beast of Gévaudan. Parts of the film were shot at Château de Roquetaillade. Being a historical drama film, it has anachronistic martial arts fight sequences; it also contains elements of erotica, mystery, horror, politics, romance, and fantasy.

This $29 million-budgeted film was an international box office success, grossing over $70 million in worldwide theatrical release. In the United States of America, the film also enjoyed commercial success; Universal Pictures paid $2 million to acquire the film's United States distribution rights and this film went on grossing $11,260,096 in limited theatrical release in the United States, making it the second-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States in the last two decades (this film also did brisk video and DVD sales in the United States).

Cypher - 2002

Nothing is as it seems in this film. I loved it. Jeremy Northam gives a fantastic performance.


Cypher (also known as Brainstorm), is a 2002 science fiction thriller film starring Jeremy Northam and Lucy Liu. The film was written by Brian King and directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film was shown in limited release in theaters in the USA, and released on DVD on August 2nd 2005.


The film received mixed to positive reviews. Derek Elley of Variety called the film "consistently intriguing" and "100% plot driven" with excellent performances from the cast. This film may not be for everyone but it keeps you wondering. I love the futuristic and suspenseful feel of it.

Rebecca - 1940

I read this classic book by Daphne du Maurier and then I watched the movie. I strongly recommend one read the book before the film. It's amazing how an old Alfred Hitchcock film can still hold its own after so many years.


Rebecca is a 1940 psychological/dramatic thriller and it is Alfred Hitchcock's first American project. It was Hitchcock's first film produced under his contract with David O. Selznick. The film's screenplay was an adaptation by Joan Harrison and Robert E. Sherwood from Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan's adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel of the same name, and was produced by Selznick. It stars Laurence Olivier as the aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter, Joan Fontaine as his second wife, and Judith Anderson as the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.


The film is a gothic tale about the lingering memory of the title character, Maxim de Winter's dead first wife, which continues to haunt Maxim, his new bride, and Mrs. Danvers. The film won two Academy Awards, including Best Picture out of a total 11 nominations. Olivier, Fontaine and Anderson were all Oscar nominated for their respective roles. Since the introduction of awards for actors in supporting roles, this is the only film named Best Picture that won no other Academy Award for acting, directing or writing.


It was the opening film at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival. It's a true motion-picture classic.

Dark City - 1998

My personal friend, Dov Hoenig, was the film editor to this film as well as the classics The Last of the Mohicans, The Crow and The Fugitive (to name a few). His editing touches make a difference in a film. This one--in particular--called DARK CITY is a neo noir sci-fi film that is quite different. I loved the focus, search and yearning for "Shell Beach".


The film depicts a city in which human inhabitants never see the sun, as their lives are manipulated by extraterrestrials referred to as the "Strangers", who masquerade as humans. The Strangers are committed to studying the race of humanity through experimentation. Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jennifer Connelly star in principal roles. Dark City explores the subject matter of murder, as well as abstract ideas such as hallucination, simulated reality, and the relationship between memory and personal identity.


Dark City is a retelling of the "Allegory of the Cave" used by Greek philosopher Plato, who conveyed the allegory as a fictional dialogue between his teacher Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon. In the film, the city inhabitants are prisoners who do not realize they are in a prison. John Murdoch's escape from the prison parallels the escape from the cave in the allegory. He is assisted by Dr. Schreber, who explains the city's mechanism as Socrates explains to Glaucon how the shadows in the cave are cast. Murdoch however becomes more than Glaucon; Gerard Loughlin writes, "He is a Glaucon who comes to realize that Socrates' tale of an upper, more real world, is itself a shadow, a forgery."


Murdoch defeats the Strangers who control the inhabitants and remakes the world based on childhood memories, which were themselves illusions arranged by the Strangers. Loughlin writes of the lack of background, "The origin of the city is off–stage, unknown and unknowable." Murdoch now casts new shadows for the city inhabitants, who must trust his judgment. Unlike Plato, Murdoch "is disabused of any hope of an outside" and becomes the demiurge for the cave, the only environment he knows.


The city in Dark City is described by Higley as a "murky, nightmarish German expressionist film noir depiction of urban repression and mechanism". The city has a World War II dreariness reminiscent of Edward Hopper's works and has details from different eras and architectures that are changed by the Strangers; "buildings collapse as others emerge and battle with one another at the end". The round window in Dark City is concave like a fishbowl and is a frequently seen element throughout the city. The inhabitants do not live at the top of the city; the main characters' homes are dwarfed by the bricolage of buildings.


"The Matrix" was released one year after "Dark City" and was also filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia using some of the same sets. Comparisons have been made between scenes from the movies, making note of similarities in both cinematography and atmosphere, as well as the plot.

Monsieur Hire - 1989

Here is a French film that I saw many years ago that is still reflective in my mind.   It has a lot of instrumental music and not so much dialogue.   It is quite suspenseful.  The film is based on Belgian-born French writer Georges Simenon's novel. Simenon wrote many popular detective books.  The original music by Michael Nyman is wonderful.  

Monsieur Hire works as a tailor but he is also a voyeur who spies on his gorgeous neighbor from across the street.  There's a subplot and it keeps you wondering.  I can't tell you more but it's worth a screening.  The ending may be a little flat (I really cannot recall)---but when that happens I add my own version of the next scene.  I need to see this one again myself.

Roman de Gare - 2007

I love foreign films and this is the first of many you will see on this blog that I have pre-screened and "loved".   This one is called ROMAN DE GARE which is French slang for "trashy novel one reads on a train or at a train station".   Another translation for the title is "Crossed Tracks".  

I remember seeing this film in a New York City movie theater and actress Uma Thurman was seated two rows away with a girlfriend.   Uma obvioulsy likes a movie with a good plot twist, too.

As the movie opens, a woman writer with a recently bestselling novel is being questioned about a murder. The story cuts to a young woman abandoned by her traveling companion at a roadside rest stop. A helpful man offers to give her a ride.  The story turns on a series of mysterious identities.   I certainly cannot give away the story but it's well worth watching.  By the end of the movie, the plot threads come together and the audience identifies each of the three mysterious characters.