Ace in the Hole (1951)
3.25 out of 4stars
"A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but things get complicated as the story broadens."
A great noir about the media industry's alarmingly grimey and cynical side, headed by a strong Kirk Douglas performance. It's truly scary how manipulative and powerful the media can be to the public masses, especially in pre-television/pre-internet days. Their word too often can be taken as gospel, even if the story told and characters involved aren't as they are told to or appear to be. This 'tainted tale' causes feelings, opinions, and physical reactions from their audience rather than being met with sincere skepticism or beyond as it should. This movie piles on that with a journalist controlling everything and everyone important around a serious situation occurring in the middle of nowhere, through manipulation by 'ironic' 'selfish' affection, bribe, threat, forcibly taking, physical abuse, or hospitality. In this situation, not only is the media 'controlling' the public's view on the situation, but they are also intimately involved in the police, rescue, doctor, family, and the right of being sole interviewer departments here. It's almost like playing God. All that said, Douglas isn't the only one taking advantage of the situation at hand, albeit he is the brains and putting things into motion man, nearly everyone but the man locked in the cave is profiting financially, politically, and/or with fame/attention here. The notion of even the public doing and saying anything for self-promotion when a camera or mic is present even shows this theme trickle down to the lowest common denominator. Ironically, there are a number of meta-vibes and commentary here that also fit the film industry, especially on but not limited to biographical pictures. Not to mention, the movie's title is a brilliant literal and metaphorical play on the situation at hand.
He Walked By Night (1948)
2.75 out of 4stars
"Based on real life 1940's Machine Gun Walker in Los Angeles, the police hunt for an evasive intelligent criminal whom killed a cop."
A great police crime noir that feels and is based on facts about the investigation of a notorious criminal in 1940's LA. The highlights of this film are some excellent noir cinematography, the 'behind the scenes' look at police procedure during this time and event, and Basehart's turn as the villain. The noir lighting, especially in the scenes with Basehart, are jump off the screen mood setting at sequences. It was also fun to see the way the police operated and see how developed their forensics teams were at this time. This was a deserved groundbreaking role for Basehart, who oozed the cold calm calculated sociopathic genius that this role asked for. Knowledge, experience, and situational awareness are incredibly powerful tools on both sides of this story. And it's all finished off with a memorable climactic chase scene.
Witchfinder General/The Conqueror Worm (1968)
2.60 out of 4stars
"During the English Civil War in 1645, Matthew Hopkins is appointed Witchfinder General by the Puritans under Cromwell, he is empowered to travel the countryside with his henchmen and collect a fee for each witch he finds guilty or extracts a confession from."
A good historical horror about the darkness of humanity in mid-17th century Britain. Religious extremism backed by government support here is true horror incarnate shown here. Matthew Hopkins was shown as an endlessly powerful and fearless man from having both God and the government on his side with the power of life and death bestowed at his hands. Giving this power of judge, jury, and indirectly executioner to one man led to the horrific deaths of over 100 people in a couple years' time. Manipulation, lies, physical and emotional torture, superstitious testing, and infamous hangings and burnings were all tools Hopkins used to condemn innocent people to pain and murder, which is dually notes from the plethora of cries and screams throughout this movie. An odd form of legal terrorism that was all too present during that time and even trickled over to New England territory.
The Northman (2022)
3.00 out of 4stars
"From visionary director Robert Eggers comes The Northman, an action-filled epic that follows a young Viking prince, in 895 AD, on his quest to avenge his father's murder by his uncle and rescue his mother."
A historical Viking action drama revenge epic full of surprises and storytelling based on the pre-Hamlet Norse tale. First, the trailers make this appear to be a revenge war epic in the vein of say Platoon, that is not this film. Yes, there are sequences of violence and gore, but not at all constant or repetitively. This film is a story unfolding and building as we see our protagonist on his journey for revenge in a calculated undermining fashion. And with Eggers at the helm, it's uses lots of historical accuracy of the time period and traditions involved while being filmed in a spellbinding moody fashion. The audience gets soaked into a bizarre world of Norse religious folklore/tradition as a man tries to fulfill his sole meaning of life as revenge. Notable themes here seem to be toxic masculinity, blind honor, vindication, consuming rage, and arguably love.
