The Stop Button

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025) D: Simon Curtis. S: Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Laura Carmichael, Paul Giamatti, Hugh Bonneville, Alessandro Nivola, Phyllis Logan. Dockery’s divorce sends shock waves through London society and even follows her back to DOWNTON. Meanwhile, Giamatti’s over from the States with some bad news for McGovern. And Bonneville doesn’t want to retire from overseeing the estate. Fine acting, strong moments, but it feels like mini-series hastily edited down. Especially if Dockery’s supposed to have any character development.

The Dragon Murder Case (1934) D: H. Bruce Humberstone. S: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot, Eugene Pallette, Helen Lowell, Robert McWade, Robert Barrat. Philo Vance (William, who does fine) investigates a blue blood going missing at a party. Despite some elaborate sets, the script’s nothing but red herrings, false starts, and bad one-liners for Pallette. Lindsay, second-billed as the missing man’s fiancée, barely figures in. Talbot’s her would-be beau but strangely not a suspect. Humberstone’s direction’s blah, too.

The Garden Murder Case (1936) D: Edwin L. Marin. S: Edmund Lowe, Virginia Bruce, Benita Hume, Nat Pendleton, Gene Lockhart, H.B. Warner, Kent Smith. Engaging programmer has Philo Vance (Lowe) maybe falling for murder suspect Bruce; they’re exceedingly charming together. There’s a lot going on with the other suspects–layers and layers of impropriety and ick–and a genuine surprise for the finish. Marin’s direction is fine enough, with occasional superlatives. The supporting cast’s mostly good, though sadly not an under-directed Pendleton.

The Iceman (2012) D: Ariel Vromen. S: Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder, Ray Liotta, Chris Evans, David Schwimmer, Robert Davi, John Ventimiglia. Mostly middling period piece organized crime drama about unfeeling hitman Shannon, the family he loves, and all the cameos the producers could afford. Plus Schwimmer as a doofus mob fanboy. There’s a lot, with a masterful performance from Shannon but to no end. Ryder gets worse as her character ages, fine to bad. The third act’s a truncated mess.

Night of Terror (1933) D: Benjamin Stoloff. S: Bela Lugosi, Wallace Ford, Sally Blane, Bryant Washburn, Tully Marshall, Gertrude Michael, George Meeker. Old dark house thriller but one with a serial killer on the looser, a suspended animation science subplot, a family inheritance bickering and backstabbing subplot, a romance subplot, an anti-romance subplot, and low and high key racism. All in an unrewarding single hour. Ford’s a bland lead, Blane’s a likable damsel, Lugosi looks embarrassed as the “heathen” butler.

The Renegade Ranger (1938) D: David Howard. S: George O’Brien, Rita Hayworth, Tim Holt, Ray Whitley, Lucio Villegas, William Royle, Cecilia Callejo. Not boring (but not any good) Western about Texas Ranger O’Brien sent to bring in righteous rebel Hayworth. She’s battling evil businessman Royle. O’Brien’s ex-pal Holt is now working for Hayworth. Also, O’Brien thinks Hayworth’s hot. And maybe innocent. Fisticuffs, romance, villainy, and shootouts occur, but O’Brien’s terrible; it fumbles. Hayworth and Holt are at least likable.

Stir of Echoes (1999) D: David Koepp. S: Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas, Zachary David Cope, Kevin Dunn, Conor O’Farrell, Jennifer Morrison. Disappointing adaptation of a Richard Matheson novel about blue-collar Bacon (with an ill-advised Chicago accent) all of a sudden seeing dead people and needing to solve a mystery. Screenwriter and director Koepp doesn’t have much interest in the mystery, mise-en-scène, characters, or performances. Some interesting visuals, nowhere near enough. A bad production more than misfire.

Surviving Desire (1992) D: Hal Hartley. S: Martin Donovan, Matt Malloy, Rebecca Nelson, Julie Kessler, Mary B. Ward, Thomas J. Edwards, George Feaster. Theatrical (not stagy) hour-long skips the first act in depressed, bad at his job literature professor Donovan obsessing over student Ward. Lots of talking. Donovan can’t shut up, while Ward puts it into her writing. About him. Donovan’s performance’s uneven, Ward’s great when the film doesn’t hate women; Malloy and Nelson are standout supports. Not unimpressive, just unsuccessful.

Union Depot (1932) D: Alfred E. Green. S: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, Alan Hale, David Landau, George Rosener, Earle Foxe. Young hobo Fairbanks–in an astonishingly charismatic performance–schemes his way into a good outfit and a good dinner, leading him to meet Depression damsel Blondell. Unfortunately, some of his good luck turns out to be counterfeit dough, putting Secret Service agent Landau on his tail. Despite returning to the romantic drama–the better material–the end falls flat.

Young Adult (2011) D: Jason Reitman. S: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser, Collette Wolfe, Jill Eikenberry, Richard Bekins. A good–albeit pointlessly so–performance from Theron anchors this pseudo-character study. Theron’s a drunken YA ghost writer who goes home to blow up high school boyfriend Wilson’s marriage. Along the way, she reacquaints with high school nobody Oswalt. Reitman’s indistinct direction doesn’t do the film (or the actors) any favors. The smug elitist misanthropy’s a yawn, too.