Directed by: John Huston
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn
Picture credit: DVD Beaver
First Viewing
Synopsis: A grizzled, normally-solitary steamship captain in WWII-era Africa takes on a passenger who convinces him to help the war effort.
I’ve been a fan of John Huston’s for a while now, so the African Queen has definitely been on my to-see list (I’m also [...]

Directed by: Nick Broomfield
Starring: Nick Broomfield, Arlene Pralle, Steve Glazer
First Viewing
Synopsis: A documentary about a filmmaker’s interactions with Aileen Wuornos’ adoptive mother and her less-than-competent lawyer as he attempts to gain access to Wuornos herself.
Well, this is a bit of a puzzlement. The list isn’t exactly doc-heavy (this is the first documentary I’ve watched [...]

Directed by: Lloyd Bacon
Starring: Julian Marsh, Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers
First Viewing
Synopsis: Behind the scenes as a veteran Broadway director puts on one last show.
This is the second musical I’ve watched for this blog, with the first one being All That Jazz. Boy, they could not be more different. Where Jazz was torpid, dull [...]

Directed by: George Lucas
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat
First Viewing
Synopsis: A group of friends, recently graduated from high school, have one last night of fun before moving on to bigger and better things.
Meh. Wasn’t crazy about this one. I guess the streak of really good movies had to end eventually. [...]

Directed by: Alan J. Pakula
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jason Robards
First Viewing
Synopsis: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — reporters for the Washington Post — slowly uncover the details behind the Watergate scandal.
Boy, the list is on fire, isn’t it? This was yet another really great film, and one I can’t believe I waited so [...]

Directed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders
First Viewing
Synopsis: An ambitious young woman manipulates her way into the life of a legendary theatre actress.
It was interesting to watch this film so soon after All About My Mother, which pays pretty extensive homage to All About Eve. The two films aren’t particularly [...]

Directed by: James Cameron
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton
Second Viewing
Synopsis: A rescue team is called in after a group of colonists find themselves under attack from a recently-hatched group of aliens.

I’d seen both of the first two Alien films before watching them for this blog, but it had been a while and my memory [...]

Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm
Third Viewing
Synopsis: The crew of a mining ship end up with an unwelcome visitor after stopping at a strange planet to investigate a distress call.
I have mixed feelings on Ridley Scott — on one hand, he made films like this and Blade Runner, which is easily [...]

Directed by: Douglas Sirk
Starring: Rock Hudson, Jane Wyman, Agnes Moorehead
First Viewing
Synopsis: A widow falls in love with her gardener, and then must deal with her judgmental friends and family.
It’s going to get a bit old if I keep mentioning something along the lines of “I’ve been meaning to watch this film for a while,” but, [...]

Directed by: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Starring: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielson
Third or Fourth Viewing
Synopsis: Disaster strikes on an airplane when food poisoning takes out all the pilots in this madcap spoof film.
I’ve been a fan of this movie for a while, though it’s been a few years since I’ve seen it — [...]