Movies
Fall Guy (1947) D: Reginald Le Borg. S: Leo Penn, Robert Armstrong, Teala Loring, Elisha Cook Jr., John Harmon. Mildly engaging B picture has vet Penn waking up covered in blood, a dead girl nearby, and no memory of it. If only he hadn’t supplemented his binge drinking with “narcotic” (cocaine), that infamous hallucinogenic depressant. Half the movie is Penn piecing it together with cop uncle Armstrong (who’s great). The other half is moralizing and a disappointing finish.
Grand Exit (1935) D: Erle C. Kenton. S: Edmund Lowe, Ann Sothern, Onslow Stevens, Selmer Jackson, Wyrley Birch. Breezy procedural (with a lot of comedy beats) about fire insurance inspectors Lowe and Stevens trying to solve a string of fires while falling (to differing levels) for suspicious but fetching fire-watcher Sothern. Decent enough mystery (with plot holes) and Lowe’s got charm to spare. Lots of uncredited bit players to spot (Edward Van Sloan’s probably the standout).
The Martian (2015) Extended Edition D: Ridley Scott. S: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Mackenzie Davis. A NASA mission to Mars goes wrong and leaves astronaut Damon stranded. Thank goodness he knows all the science. Meanwhile, Earth doesn’t know he’s alive; when they do, they can’t get him home. Damon’s bland but sympathetic. Drew Goddard’s insipid video game screenplay doesn’t help, nor does director Scott’s disinterest in performances. Chastain and Daniels stink. Ejiofor somehow succeeds.
One Battle After Another (2025) D: Paul Thomas Anderson. S: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti, Jena Malone, Benicio del Toro. Beautifully paced prestige action picture about an alternate, explicitly fascist white Christian nationalist police state United States. Penn’s the top immigration military commander who has history with in-hiding ex-revolutionary, now pothead, DiCaprio, and his daughter, Infiniti. Penn, Infiniti, and some others are great. DiCaprio’s fine. Next level car chase. The loud, weaponized misogynoir drags it down significantly.
The Witness Vanishes (1939) D: Otis Garrett. S: Edmund Lowe, Wendy Barrie, Bruce Lester, J.M. Kerrigan, Leyland Hodgson. On the same day, Barrie meets the man of her dreams (Lester), finds out her long-thought-dead father (Borland) is still alive, and Borland sets out to avenge himself on his former partners, who stole his newspaper from him. Lowe plays the ringleader. Lazy, bad script, unimaginatively directed. Lowe still manages to have fun, and Barrie’s solid enough.
The Wrong Road (1937) D: James Cruze. S: Richard Cromwell, Helen Mack, Lionel Atwill, Marjorie Main, Billy Bevan. Quickie morality picture about young lovers Cromwell and Mack. The Depression wiped out their families’ wealth. Instead of working hard, they’re going to rob Cromwell’s bank, hide the money, serve the time, then be on easy street when they’re out. Atwill’s the kindly insurance investigator. Only interesting when Mack shows agency, which isn’t often. She’s okay. Cromwell’s bland, boring.
You Can’t Buy Luck (1937) D: Lew Landers. S: Onslow Stevens, Helen Mack, Vinton Hayworth, Barbara Pepper, Paul Guilfoyle. Professional gambler Stevens tips or bribes everyone he knows to keep his LUCK good, but his hubris leads him to gloat about ruining schoolchildren’s fun. He learns from it–and meets fetching teacher Mack, whose company convinces him there’s more to life. Except then he’s framed for murder. Solid, quirky little picture; Landers’s got some particularly good direction, too.
Comics
The Bat-Man: First Knight (2024) TPB W: Dan Jurgens. A: Mike Perkins. What if when Batman first appeared in 1939 there was lots of cursing, explicitly corrupt cops, and Bats cared (somewhat) about social justice? Writer Jurgens is more interested in those aspects than the actual story, which goes nowhere. Perkins’s period art is beautiful, but he doesn’t have a particularly good handle on Batman and the action’s a little boring.
Orla (2025) TPB W: John Lees. A: Sally Cantirino. ORLA is a single woman in her thirties who turns into a giant monster with bloodlust. To be responsible, she only consumes awful guys she meets on the apps. Then she finally falls in love, just as there’s best friend drama and secret agents on her trail. Good art and likable characters. Very readable; slighter than it should be.