Shameless Self Expression

Wealthy but mysterious foreigner John Preston (Christopher Lee) arrives in a small English town and quickly rises to prominence in the community. He also falls for the very lovely daughter (Betta St. John) of a local bank manager (John Longden), which makes him an enemy in the lady’s dull suitor (Peter Grant). However, Preston is plagued by nightmares and harbouring dark secrets, secrets that shrink Dr. Walton (Alexander Knox) attempts to get to the bottom of.   Cheap 1955 psychodrama from director David MacDonald (the infamously so-bad-it’s-funny “Devil Girl From Mars” ) is notable for featuring one of Christopher Lee’s first major film roles, a year or two before “The Curse of Frankenstein” . That is pretty much the only notable thing here, though there’s a few decent turns by Lee, the underrated Betta St. John, and stalwarts Alexander Knox and John Longden.   Scripted by Paul Tabori ( “Four Sided Triangle” , an early Hammer film from Terence Fisher) it’s really flim...

Nice guy art major Patrick Schwarzenegger arrives in Chicago to hook up with his cousin Gilles Geary, who offers him a job that plays into his particular skill set. In an unorthodox way. You see, Geary runs with a crew of college-educated millennials (including Hayley Law and Alex Pettyfer) who have struggled to do anything with their education, and now finance themselves by stealing from rich folk. Geary figures Schwarzenegger’s art knowledge will help them focus their attention on valuable art pieces. At first it’s all fun and games, but eventually things get riskier and more dangerous. Michael Shannon plays their no-bullshit ‘fence’, Lesley Ann Warren is a reporter.   “American Animals” done sorta right. This 2020 flick from writer/director Seth Savoy (his debut feature-length film) and his co-writers Jason Miller (another shorts guy) and Kevin Bernhardt ( “Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying” , “Elephant White” ) give us another truth-based account of lazy youngsters who try to g...

Set in the 1990s, Denzel Washington plays a paunchy small-town deputy and former big city homicide detective who runs an evidence-delivery errand to his old stomping grounds. Washington has always been a keen observer, particularly picking up on the ‘little things’, but years ago his maverick tendencies lead to some kind of dark tragedy. A tragedy that has him now greeted with mixed reaction among his former colleagues when he shows up. He meets a young hotshot homicide detective (played by Rami Malek) working on a serial killer case, one that Washington feels is rather familiar to him from his own time in homicide. He starts to find excuses to hang around after delivering the evidence, and before long he’s assisting Malek on the case. Malek for his part starts to find himself obsessed with finding the killer, eventually settling on a creepy prime suspect who has a ‘passion’ for police work and serial killer cases. Played by Jared Leto, the outwardly trolling/goading man seems to be th...

Disgruntled ex-cop Dave Burke (Ed Begley Sr.) was booted out for refusing to rat on a dirty colleague. Hard up for cash, Dave has come up with a can’t-fail plan to rob a small NY bank. He ropes in loser gambler/jazz musician Johnny (Harry Belafonte) and disturbed, racist war veteran and ex-con Earl (Robert Ryan) to help him carry the job out, but can the two hot-headed polar opposites co-exist long enough to do so? Shelley Winters plays Earl’s nagging, needy spouse (who has been funding and feeding him), with Gloria Grahame their horny neighbour. Will Kuluva plays a local gangster with Richard Bright his effeminate henchman.   Sorely underrated 1959 Robert Wise ( “The Body Snatcher” , “Born to Kill” , “The Day the Earth Stood Still” , “The Haunting” ) heist pic with a “Defiant Ones” -esque racial edge is one of the best 50s crime films you’ve likely never heard of. Robert Ryan is perfectly cast as the mentally disturbed, bitter, and openly racist piece of crap roped into pullin...