Ben-Hur (1959) D: William Wyler. S: Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Martha Scott, Cathy O’Donnell. Most of the three and a half hours is an excellent historical adventure epic about Judean Heston trying to avenge himself upon former best friend Boyd, now a Roman thug. Along the way, there’s shoehorned references to the contemporary Jesus’s adventures. Then the third act is a hilarious deus ex machina, literally washing away all the stakes. Epic bummer.

The Cat Creeps (1946) D: Erle C. Kenton. S: Noah Beery Jr., Lois Collier, Paul Kelly, Frederick Brady, Douglass Dumbrille, Rose Hobart, Iris Lancaster. Fun enough thriller about an assortment of suspects getting knocked off while reporter Brady tries to make nice with his girl, Collier, who’s also a suspect. They’re on an isolated island with an old dark house and everyone’s got the motive. Brady’s performance is at eleven and delightful, and the rest of the cast is solid. Especially mysterious Lancaster.

Fast Workers (1933) D: Tod Browning. S: John Gilbert, Robert Armstrong, Mae Clarke, Muriel Kirkland, Vince Barnett, Virginia Cherrill, Sterling Holloway. High steel worker besties Gilbert and Armstrong have an arrangement when it comes to ladies–lothario Gilbert’s always happy to show sap Armstrong his squeeze is a loose gal. It goes haywire when Armstrong falls for Clarke, a semi-pro who Gilbert’s actually smitten with. Cool skyscraper sequences and dripping misogyny. Clarke and Gilbert do better than Armstrong.

Isle of Fury (1936) D: Frank McDonald. S: Humphrey Bogart, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Woods, E. E. Clive, Paul Graetz, Gordon Hart, George Regas. Soggy South Seas melodrama about mysterious Woods shipwrecking on Bogart’s island. Woods immediately falls for Lindsay (who starts the movie marrying Bogart), and they have a Code-friendly pseudo-daliance. But the actual story is something else, which we find out at the last minute. The lengthy “scheming natives” subplot is gross. No good performances (Clive’s the closest). Based on W. Somerset Maugham’s THE NARROW CORNER.

Possession (1981) D: Andrzej Żuławski. S: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent, Johanna Hofer, Carl Duering, Shaun Lawton. Affected (and icky) in the extremis horror movie about maybe spy Neill’s marriage falling apart. Wife Adjani is done with him all of a sudden; it turns out there’s a lot more going on. Adjani’s got her moments, while Neill’s doing a schtick the whole time. Intentionally but so what. The end’s laughably obvious and the random misogyny’s gross.

Rogue of the Rio Grande (1930) D: Spencer Gordon Bennet. S: Myrna Loy, Walter Miller, Carmelita Geraghty, Gene Morgan, Raymond Hatton, William P. Burt, José Bohr. Cheap, bad border Western about Robin Hood-esque bandit Bohr (a German guy in brown face doing an accent) romancing singer Loy (not in brown face physically, just spiritually–she’s got the Speedy Gonzales accent), while contending with the silly gringos not being able to catch him. It’s atrocious stuff.

She-Wolf of London (1946) D: Jean Yarbrough. S: Don Porter, June Lockhart, Sara Haden, Jan Wiley, Lloyd Corrigan, Dennis Hoey, Martin Kosleck. Very cheap Gothic horror pretending to be a monster movie about heiress Lockhart thinking she’s a killer werewolf. Corrigan’s the tenacious inspector who also believes in werewolves. Wiley’s good as the supportive cousin, Porter’s fine as the love interest. But Lockhart doesn’t get anything to do. And Haden’s ineffective as the overprotective aunt. It just gets across the finish.

TRON: Ares (2025) D: Joachim Rønning. S: Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Gillian Anderson, Jodie Turner-Smith, Jeff Bridges. Audiovisual feast–except during the surprisingly lackluster fisticuffs–has charisma-free Leto playing a likable Disney-fied Terminator who starts questioning tech billionaire boss Peters’s orders. Turner-Smith is good as Leto’s true believer lieutenant. Peters and Anderson’s villains disappoint. Lee’s only okay as the human lead. The script’s often quite bad; the looks and sounds are the point.

All Creatures Great & Small (2020) s06e05 “Fixes” [2025] D: Andy Hay. S: Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Callum Woodhouse. Excellent episode for Woodhouse, West, and Ralph. Madeley gets a couple good scenes but the spotlight is on the boys. Particularly since the show didn’t follow Rachel Shenton and Imogen Clawson to London. Instead, Ralph’s working a shady racetrack, Woodhouse is psychoanalyzing a parrot, and West’s just found out he’s a shellfish. Full–overfull, really–but also achingly earnest.

All Creatures Great & Small (2020) s06e06 “Our Hearts Are Full” [2025] D: Andy Hay. S: Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Callum Woodhouse. Lovely season finale finishes up one of the outstanding plot lines–or at least, finishes a major part of it–and gives Woodhouse a phenomenal acting episode. West gets a little, too, along with Ralph, but not with the considerable weight Woodhouse takes on. The vet cases are fantastic, especially how they integrate. Just an excellent, emotionally rending episode.

Down Cemetery Road (2025) s01e01 “Almost True” D: Natalie Bailey. S: Emma Thompson, Tom Goodman-Hill, Ruth Wilson, Darren Boyd, Adeel Akhtar, Adam Godley, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. Beautifully acted but incredibly tedious premiere about normal person Wilson getting involved in a conspiracy. Thompson’s the P.I. who will figure in at some point. Lots of setup, strained thrills. At least until the finish (it’s clear for a while it’s going to be all about the cliffhanger). Riley’s already a liability as Wilson’s husband. The finish saves it.

Down Cemetery Road (2025) s01e02 “A Kind of Grief” D: Natalie Bailey. S: Emma Thompson, Tom Goodman-Hill, Ruth Wilson, Darren Boyd, Adeel Akhtar, Adam Godley, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. Why is Wilson stuck in a barely middling, super predictable (once they give away the first twist) conspiracy thriller, while Thompson’s in this awesome, grieving P.I. bit? When a man’s partner is murdered, that’s got to mean something, and all that. The music’s awful. At least the acting’s good, even when the writing disappoints. Maybe next time it’ll stabilize.

Down Cemetery Road (2025) s01e03 “Filthy Work” D: Sam Donovan. S: Emma Thompson, Tom Goodman-Hill, Ruth Wilson, Darren Boyd, Adeel Akhtar, Adam Godley, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. Once again, Thompson gets a great episode while Wilson gets a not great episode. Still well acted, but somewhat inert as a thriller. The laughably bad music doesn’t help. However, the real problem seems to be the pedestrian tying of a private eye story to a conspiracy thriller. Punting on the backstory reveal is also a bad choice.

The Game (2025) s01e01 “Episode 1” D: . S: Jason Watkins, Sunetra Sarker, Indy Lewis. Newly retired copper Watkins is getting bored hanging around the house when a mystery presents itself on the block, soon followed by the arrival of new neighbor Green. Is Green the infamous serial killer who escaped Watkins’s grasp years before and drove him to a breakdown? Will we find out before episode four? Green’s good, Watkins’s okay. It’s fine.

The Game (2025) s01e02 “Episode 2” D: . S: Robson Green, Jason Watkins, Sunetra Sarker, Indy Lewis. The show’s either getting much better or it’s going to be very unaware. Watkins is much better as a selfish dude in the middle of a crisis. Not sympathetic but better. And Green sails through. But the most kudos belong to the supporting cast, who get very little reward for holding up the show. The cliffhanger’s potentially something.

The Game (2025) s01e03 “Episode 3” D: . S: Robson Green, Jason Watkins, Sunetra Sarker, Indy Lewis, Lewis Ian Bray. Major narrative cop outs cut into the potential–not to mention the disposable nature of the supporting players–though there are some rather solid scenes. Green’s reviling in the potential villainy, which is fun to watch, but not necessarily good television. Watkins ranges in quality without ever getting good but never being too bad. Amber James remains unsung.

The Game (2025) s01e04 “Episode 4” D: . S: Robson Green, Jason Watkins, Sunetra Sarker, Indy Lewis. Middling finish reveals hints of the show it could’ve been–the concerned neighbors looking out for one another, echoes of tragedies on the block, and so on. Instead, it’s a bunch of folks experiencing surprisingly little trauma while living in a slasher movie. Albeit one with a cast against type slasher. Watkins really hasn’t got the lead vibe down.

Only Murders in the Building (2021) s05e10 “The House Always…” [2025] D: Jamie Babbit. S: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Cyril Creighton, Jackie Hoffman, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Richard Kind. Season–not series (good thing)–finale pulls out a twist killer, then just catalogs the red herrings from throughout. They get away with it (the show, not the killer) thanks to the right balance of guest-star antics and the leads’ chemistry. Martin gets a nice showcase, and Creighton again gets to be the glue. Finer side of good.

Slow Horses (2022) s05e06 “Scars” [2025] D: Saul Metzstein. S: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, James Callis. Solid finale has lots of tension at the beginning, then gets lost in all its resolutions. Oldman gets a couple good scenes, but none of the season character arcs for the HORSES perturb. The finale just wraps up the season danger, some outstanding season business, and some guest star resolution. The show also needs Lowden to start delivering. Soon.

Appointment with Murder (1948) D: Jack Bernhard. S: John Calvert, Catherine Craig, Jack Reitzen, Lyle Talbot, Peter Brocco, Ben Welden, Robert Conte. Better than last time “FALCON” entry has Calvert (sans cute dog and magic tricks) trying to unravel an art fraud deal gone wrong. Luckily for the film, director (and producer) Bernhard’s inventive on the shoestring budget, and Reitzen’s so bad as the villain, he makes Calvert seem competent. Supporting cast’s okay, and Craig’s good as the potentially fatale femme.

Dangerous Passage (1944) D: William Berke. S: Robert Lowery, Phyllis Brooks, Charles Arnt, Jack La Rue, John Eldredge, Victor Kilian, Alec Craig. Solid budget noir about newly wealthy Lowery finding himself in inheritance-related danger. He escapes on a seedy boat, finding romance with potential fatale Brooks and mystery with the weird crew. Except then there are further–and further–DANGEROUS developments. Lowery and Brooks have more chemistry than acting chops, but it’s good chemistry. Daniel Mainwaring’s script is crackerjack-paced.

Devil’s Cargo (1948) D: John F. Link Sr.. S: John Calvert, Rochelle Hudson, Roscoe Karns, Lyle Talbot, Theodore von Eltz, Michael Mark, Tom Kennedy. New take on the FALCON property (minus existing canon); non-actor, non-charmer, magician Calvert is the lead in this Poverty Row production. The new Falcon does magic tricks all the time and has replaced dames with his lovable dog. Dirt cheap, but L.A. location shooting’s interesting, and some of the supporting cast’s competent. Link’s direction’s no help, either.

The Falcon in Hollywood (1944) D: Gordon Douglas. S: Tom Conway, Barbara Hale, Veda Ann Borg, John Abbott, Sheldon Leonard, Konstantin Shayne, Emory Parnell. Middling entry has Conway stumbling across a corpse at a movie studio, wrecking his vacation. Complicating matters is an old foe, who just happens to have a fetching female associate (a rather good Hale). The big problems are the cops, who aren’t any good, and annoying cabbie Borg, who won’t leave Conway alone. Borg gets the racist bits, too.

The Falcon in San Francisco (1945) D: Joseph H. Lewis. S: Tom Conway, Rita Corday, Edward Brophy, Sharyn Moffett, Fay Helm, Robert Armstrong, Carl Kent. Conway, again with a sidekick (Brophy, who does better than he should with so little), helps out little kid Moffett, who’s got a fetching old sister (Corday, a series regular always playing a new character). Good mystery, great villain in Helm, who keeps easy pace with Sanders. Not particularly cheap in scale but the production cuts too many corners.

The Falcon’s Adventure (1946) D: William Berke. S: Tom Conway, Madge Meredith, Edward Brophy, Robert Warwick, Myrna Dell, Steve Brodie, Ian Wolfe. Conway and Brophy head to Miami to help out Meredith, who’s in possession of an industrial formula. A couple real, cheap laughs for Brophy, and the setting’s good, but the ADVENTURE’s off. Conway’s charm can do a lot, and he’s game for new ideas–a giant fisticuffs scene–but it’s got limits. Quite indistinct for the series finale.

The Falcon’s Alibi (1946) D: Ray McCarey. S: Tom Conway, Rita Corday, Vince Barnett, Jane Greer, Elisha Cook Jr., Emory Parnell, Al Bridge. Conway has a particularly good time this outing, which now has comely Corday as a secretary trying to find her boss’s missing pearls. The setup has the suspects all in lockdown at a hotel, but McCarey barely does anything with it. Lots of fun seeing Cook and Cook as young lovers. Parnell’s super blah. It’s lesser FALCON, but okay.

Frankenstein (2025) D: Guillermo del Toro. S: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, Charles Dance, David Bradley. Very fathers and sons adaptation blows the first half on Isaac’s one-note FRANKENSTEIN. One-note as far as writing, not acting; Isaac’s always chewing on the (elaborate but bland) CGI scenery. Elordi’s fantastic as the Creature, with lovely Wrightson-esque make-up. Del Toro tries in the wrong places, including a BRIDE nod. Shelley deserves a lot more.

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) D: Héctor Babenco. S: William Hurt, Raúl Juliá, Sônia Braga, José Lewgoy, Milton Gonçalves, Miriam Pires, Nuno Leal Maia. Beautifully acted almost-rumination on masculinity, love, gender, and avocados loses its way in the second half when it ceases pretending to be a character study. Hurt and Juliá–as cell mates with secrets who bond over Hurt’s recollections of an old movie–are phenomenal. Hurt gets a great hour, Juliá far less; neither get enough at the finish.

The Madness of King George (1994) D: Nicholas Hytner. S: Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, Anthony Calf, Amanda Donohoe, Rupert Graves, Geoffrey Palmer. Thoughtful, deliberate account of King George III’s inexplicable dissent into debilitating mental illness. Hawthorne’s mesmerizing in the lead; director Hytner gets great performances–no small parts-style–from everyone. Everyone’s great; loyal queen Mirren, scheming prince Everett, and unorthodox doctor Holm are obvious standouts. Strong script from Alan Bennett (based on his play). Third act bumps, but not excessively.

The Phantom of the Opera (1925) D: Rupert Julian. S: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Mary Philbin, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, Snitz Edwards, John St. Polis. Handsome adaptation of Gaston Leroux novel successfully casts Chaney’s PHANTOM in a monstrous, fascinating but never sympathetic light. Unfortunately, damsel-in-distress Philbin’s performance is so affected and histronic, she’s not really able to convey terror (reliably). Kerry’s a little better as her beau. Chaney’s great, though. Okay overall, but the first act really shouldn’t be the most compelling.

Queens of the Dead (2025) D: Tina Romero. S: Katy O’Brian, Jaquel Spivey, Nina West, Tómas Matos, Margaret Cho, Jack Haven, Quincy Dunn-Baker. Ground zero for the zombie invasion is at a drag show where the headliner has bailed and there’s endless (amusing) drama about the show. Good performances but not enough character work for anyone; Spivey’s excellent, O’Brian seems poised for a good lead eventually, and Cho’s hilarious. Unfortunately, QUEENS doesn’t do anything with them or anyone else. But not bad.

Search for Danger (1949) D: Jack Bernhard. S: John Calvert, Albert Dekker, Myrna Dell, Ben Welden, Douglas Fowley, Michael Mark, James Griffith. Thanks again to director Bernhard (who loves that L.A. location shooting even more this time) and the supporting cast (particularly Dell, Dekker, Welden, and Fowley), the final “FALCON” picture survives Calvert’s wanting lead performance. This time he’s trying to unravel a complicated double homicide with too many suspects. The conclusion, complete with an “ah ha” moment, ties everything nicely.