The Writer's Poke

Surely Kate Winslet has been in a few duds, but if so, what are they? I usually feel like it's a mistake to watch a film just because an actor is in it. I mean, I do, but I'm often disappointed. I often wonder: Why on earth did they pick THAT role? Why did they agree to be in THAT movie? It reminds me of actors like Bruce Willis who, at least at the end of his career, signed up to be in any movie that came his way. Granted, I get why Willis made that decision, but Winslet has never had to make that choice. She's always been able to pick provocative roles in good movies. And this is a really good movie. I did find myself saying "No... no... no..." when I realized that the film was about to end and the characters were all starting to make weird decisions. I don't believe, for example, that Sarah (Winslet) would go over to the child molester in the park late at night to see if he is okay. I don't believe that Brad (Patrick Wilson) would stop to do skating tri...

What stands out to me is how the ending is changed. In the screenplay, Magda watches from her apartment as the Landlady pulls down the screen to Tomek's room. There's no closure. In this version, Tomek has finally returned to work at the post office. Magda has been waiting for his return, and when she sees him, she pauses, goes inside, stands, smiles slightly. It's an awkward, somewhat "tense" moment. You think Tomek might run away again, but he stays in his seat, and they look at each other. Finally, he breaks the silence, letting her know that he's done peeping at her. Is she disappointed? Maybe. She has "fallen in love with him," or that's perhaps what we're supposed to gather when she answers the phone and tells the silence at the other end that "You were right." Was it Tomek on the end or someone else? It doesn't matter, really. What matters is that Magda's view of love has changed. She didn't believe in love, and n...

I came to this one by way of Detour (1945) because I was interested in seeing what Edgar Ulmer and Billy Wilder were up to.  What we get here is a lot of nice footage of Berlin in 1930. That's pretty cool in and of itself. I'm not sure it makes for much of a movie. But I do enjoy watching people just doing what people do on the weekend. We also get to see people cleaning the streets, washing their cars, and so on.  On Sundays, people dress up, go out on dates, eat chocolates, make phone calls. Captivating stuff.  The Criterion edition includes two different musical scores. I chose the one with the Orchestra, which was fine.  At the beach, one of the guys is looking at postcards, many of which feature fat women. Then the scene transitions and we see that many of the women at the beach are old and fat, maybe mothers. But the "stars" of film are younger couples in good shape. They've brought their record player and they're just enjoying the day.  It would be hard...

This one does it. While I liked The Tall T (1957) and Decision at Sundown (1957), I felt like both were just missing "something." Comanche Station feels like they found the missing ingredient. Right from the start, I noticed the landscape. Just a beautiful place to shoot a film. In addition, it was the way that Budd Boetticher does the shooting. Plenty of really nice tracking shots, including for when we're just following the characters moving on horseback. We get to see them having real conversations. It's very nicely done. Randolph Scott seems to have a better overall ensemble cast, too. He doesn't have to do all of the heavy lifting. Although he's still the star, I also felt like he blended more into the story. Frank (Skip Homeier) and Dobbie (Richard Rust) have some nice banter between them, and Claude Akins (Ben) is a nice foil to Cody (Scott). And there's also a woman, Nancy (Nancy Gates). In a sense, the Indians play the "bad guy" role. Th...

If Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) is noticeably lacking in women, at least Ride Lonesome has Karen Steele. She's pretty prominent in this movie, although I guess her main role is to be a burden for the guys that are trying to ride faster than the people chasing them. She's also someone to stare at and talk about. She's the kind of woman, we're told, that needs a man and can't be happy unless there's a man around to give her what she needs... okay. Funny thing is, I watched this movie last night, went to sleep, and now I'm a little fuzzy already on what happened to her at the end. I can see her quite vividly talking to Brigade (Randolph Scott), but did they go their separate ways? I've honestly already forgotten and need to go back and watch the ending again. In a lot of movies, you'd just expect her and Brigade, as old as he is, to get together at the end. But I don't remember that happening. I just read the Wikipedia summary of the film and even Go...

The most important thing: Does Buchanan (Randolph Scott) leave town with his money? It's funny, because he does get the money from the Sherriff's safe, but it's $250 short. But as far as I can tell, he leaves town with $1750 plus Juan's (Manuel Rojas) amazing horse. Thus, his plan to buy a stake in west Texas is intact.  While Buchanan may ride alone, he does need the help of some friends to avoid hanging. At first, he's just a stranger in town, and since they know he has money, when he's in the wrong place at the wrong time, it seems like the Sheriff decides it's easy to hang him and steal his money. The Sheriff's brother, however, makes sure that Buchanan receives a trial, and Buchanan is found not guilty. Nevertheless, the Sheriff has no intention of giving back the money and sends two men to ride Buchanan out of town. The plan is for them to shoot Buchanan.  However, Buchanan and Pecos (L.Q. Jones) discover that they're both Texas men with the sa...