Out Of The Fog / Anatole Litvak (1941). Based on a 1939 play called “The Gentle People” written by Irwin Shaw and mounted by the Group Theater. The title Gentle People are Olaf Johnson (John Qualan), a short order cook and Jonah Goodwin (Thomas Mitchell), a shop owner. They live by a Brooklyn pier and all they want is to fish in the bay from their small canoe. Their dream is to retire to their own large boat and fish full-time. But an obstacle rises in the person of Harold Goff (John Garfield) who demands “protection” money, $5 a week, or he will torch their boat. Another problem arrives when Jonah’s daughter (Ida Lupino), engaged to a boring, ordinary guy (Eddie Albert), finds the dangerous amoral Goff attractive and falls for him. Olaf and Jonah, unused to violence, are helpless in Goff’s power. Mitchell is the standout performer here.
Mainly because of the soft ending imposed on the picture by the Production Code, changed from the more cynical play, this is not a true
film noir even though the atmospheric cinematography by James Wong Howe may say otherwise.
This movie was the last time (maybe the only time) that John Garfield, often cast as a morally compromised man, played an outright nasty bad guy.
Divergent / Neil Burger (2014). Ah, that dystopian future. It’s comin’ to gitcha. But not Lionsgate whose future still looks rosy. This film production company, responsible for the mega-hit “The Hunger Games” series, acquired Summit Entertainment in 2012. Summit owned the Twilight series and had the “Divergent” trilogy in development. Both of these romance-adventure series came with the deal so Lionsgate had the Young Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Market pretty much sown up but no dystopia in its own foreseeable future. “Divergent” and its sequels are based on three YA books by author Veronica Roth and are set in a post-apocalypse (of some unspecified sort) city that greatly resembles Chicago.
Young people coming of age are given a mental aptitude test to see which of the four groups (Factions) in society they are best suited for. Following the test, they get to choose whatever Faction they want to try for, even if it goes against their test. Some do not test into any faction but show aptitude for creative thinking outside the lines. These are the Divergents. They are culled out as dangerous. Young Tris is a Divergent but a sympathetic tester (Maggie Q) attempts to hide the results. Shailene Woodley plays Tris in a sincere and committed performance. Theo James is the hard-as-nails Faction instructor who becomes her romantic interest. Miles Teller, who played Woodley’s lover in the indie hit “The Spectacular Now” here plays her main rival among the trainees. I loved Kate Winslet as an icy evil villain and Ashley Judd is wonderful as Tris’ mother who has a deep, dark secret of her own. First time around, 10-years ago, I was looking forward to the next episode in the story of this miserable future far more than the derivative and not very original “The Hunger Games.”
A Haunting In Venice / Kenneth Branagh (2023). When we last saw Branagh’s Hercule Poirot, he had begun a relationship with a singer and shaved his mustache, revealing his scarred upper lip, but when this film opens, the detective is retired to Venice and has hired a bodyguard to make sure he is not approached by offers of a new case. But he admits into his presence an old friend, Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), a mystery novel author which Dame Agatha based on herself. She tries to get Poirot out of his shell by bringing him to a Halloween party and seance at a supposedly haunted Palazzo. This is a good part for Fey and the writers of the film have done more with the character than just the side-kick role she had formally played.
The inevitable murders occur along with supernatural phenomenon that even Poirot experiences: children singing that others can’t hear, an encounter with a little ghost girl, and a locked room killing. Yet, all is satisfactorily explained including, in part, the jagged disorienting editing, loud orchestral thumps in the soundtrack, and a record number of jump scares. Michelle Yeoh is the medium who conducts the séance. Kelly Reilly plays the owner of the haunted house who is trying to contact her dead daughter. Another actor that needs to be mentioned is Jude Hill, who played the Branagh-as-a-child character in “Belfast.” Hill, as a precocious 11-year-old going on 35, gives an outstanding performance. Recommended.
Star Trek: Deep Space 9“The Muse” Season 4, Episode 20 (April 29, 1966)
“For The Cause” Season 4, Episode 21 (May 6, 1996)
“To The Death” Season 4, Episode 22 (May 13, 1996)
“The Quickening” Season 4, Episode 23 (May 20, 1996)
If you cry easily – and enjoy it – “The Quickening” is the episode for you.
Star Trek: Voyager“Year Of Hell, Part 2” Season 4, Episode 9 (November 12, 1997)
“Random Thoughts” Season 4, Episode 10 (November 19, 1997)
“Concerning Flight” Season 4, Episode 11 (November 26, 1997)
“Mortal Coil” Season 4, Episode 12 (December 17, 1997)
“Waking Moments” Season 4, Episode 13 (January 14, 1998)
“Message In A Bottle Season 4, Episode 14 (January 21, 1998)
“Hunters” Season 4, Episode 15 (February 11, 1998)
“Prey” Season 4, Episode 16 (February 18, 1998)
Professor T“The Mask Murders” Season 2, Episode 2 (September 23, 2022)
The British “Professor T” is based on a Belgian series which, in turn, seems based on the American series “Monk.” A Cambridge prof with OCD and possible autism works as a consultant to the police. Regardless of its dubious origins, this, my first episode to see, was very good. I liked it a lot.
Sister Boniface Mysteries“Queen Of The Kitchen” Season 1, Episode 8 (March 1, 2022)
Poirot“The Mystery of the Spanish Chest” Season 3, Episode 8 (February 17, 1991)
Man With A Camera“The Positive Negative” Season 2, Episode 5 (November 16, 1959)
Charles Bronson is Mike Kovac, freelance photographer who gets the dangerous assignments. 2 Seasons of half-hour crime stories. In black & white. Basic 1950s television. What’s not to like?
Mr. and Mrs. North“House Behind The Wall” Season 1, Episode 16 (January 16, 1953)
2-season, half-hour mystery series with the creations of the bestselling team of Richard and Frances Lockridge. They issued 26 North novels between 1940 and 1963. Richard Denning is Jerry North, a publisher, and Barbara Britton is his wife, Pam. Every week they stumble on a murder.
Mediocre sex comedy with attractive cast