Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Monday, May 4, 2026
Movie Review: Devil Wears Prada 2
Michael's Movie Grade: B
A fun, if fluffy sequel.
This movie may not break any new ground but frankly that is not what anyone is going to a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada for. People seeing this just simply want a fun time at the movies and that is exactly what this film provides. The fun of this (now) series comes from a great cast (I mean Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci) and the fun characters they play. Writer Aline Brosh McKenna and director David Frankel (both of whom worked on the first film) know this. The movie is less about the story than it is about these characters and their interactions. The way this cast plays off each other is fantastic and simply a delight to watch all the way. I particularly enjoyed the interactions between the two Emilies.
This movie also gives you all the style you could hope for. We see beautiful cities, beautiful clothes and beautiful people every second.
The humor in this movie is often more charming than actually funny. There are a few moments that will really make you laugh. However, for the most part, the film is more likely to make you smile than actually laugh.
The storyline here meanders a bit too often. The basic story is rather slim and because of this there seems to be quite a bit of padding here. This is most clear in the excursions into Andy's (Anne Hathaway) romantic life. Her romantic story has no direct impact on the rest of the plot. If the romance wasn't here no one would feel that anything was missing. At the same time the romance and especially the object of her romantic interest are underdeveloped and not even remotely interesting. This romance should have been left out entirely or been given more depth or had more of a direct impact on the plot. As it is, these romantic scenes simply feel like an unnecessary interruption to the story.
This may not be a masterpiece, but it provides a fun trip to the movies, which is exactly what its audience wants.
Saturday, May 2, 2026
Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #279
Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again, it is time for more cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection starts with the first of Walt Disney's Alice comedies, Alice's Wonderland (1923). Before this film was even close to done with production, Walt was already writing distributors stating, "We have just discovered something new and clever in animated cartoons!" He was speaking of the idea of having a live action character enter into an animated cartoon world. This was actually a reversal of what the Fleischer Brother were doing with their Out of the Inkwell films, were animated characters entered our live action world. For the live action little girl Walt hired four year old Virginia Davis. Walt had seen Virginia on an advertisement for Warneker's Bread. Virginia later spoke of this stating, "It was just a picture of me smiling and looking like 'Oh, yum, yum!' and eating this piece of Warneker's Bread with a lot of jam on it." At the time of making this film, Walt and his studio were struggling financially. While many producers would take this as a reason to make a cheap film, Walt plugged into the project with everything he had. This short was downright lavish compared to much of Walt's previous work and still looks great today. Unfortunately the film was not enough to save his company, but it did catch the attention of Margaret J. Winkler, who was also distributing the Felix the Cat and Out of the Inkwell cartoons. His studio went under and Walt moved to Hollywood without his crew. Yet he had this film and was able to secure a deal for 12 more Alice films with Winkler.
Now for the Terry Toons cartoon, Stringbean Jack (1938). This marked the first Terry Toons short in color. The two-headed giant and the W.C. Feilds caricature are a lot of fun here. A similar two-headed giant would later be used for a Terry Toons cartoon appropriately titled The Two-Headed Giant (1939).
Next comes Betty Boop in Ha-Ha-Ha (1934). This short film also features Koko the Clown, the star of the Fleischer Studio's silent Out of the Inkwell films. This is not the only similarity between this film and the Out of the Inkwell shorts. This cartoon also mixes animation and live action in a very similar way to those shorts.
Next is the Terry Toons short, Foiling the Fox (1950).
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Up next is The Fleischer Screen song cartoon, I Wished on the Moon (1935). The title song was written by Ralph Rainger (music) and Dorothy Parker (lyrics). The same year this cartoon was released Bing Crosby and the Dorsey Brothers orchestra recorded this song and it placed at number two in the charts staying on the charts for seven weeks. The song would enjoy even more popularity when Bing would sing it in the feature film, The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935). Here the song is performed by Abe Lyman and his Californians. Cartoon fans may know that Abe Lyman also worked on the musical scores of some early Merrie Melodies cartoons, such as One More Time (1931) and Smile Darn Ya Smile (1931). Most importantly though this cartoon marks the first appearance of Wiffle Piffle.
Today's cartoon selection continues with another Friz Freleng classic, Daffy the Commando (1943). The following is an exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald, "Daffy the Commando: Looney Tunes Cartoon - This is Daffy's best. By the way where has Vitaphone being keeping Daffy Duck? This is the first I played in a long while. -Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W. Va."
Donald and Pluto (1936) is naturally a cartoon that stars Donald Duck and Pluto. Mickey Mouse is nowhere to be found. However, it was released a Mickey Mouse cartoon as a Mickey Mouse cartoon. This is because at this time, Donald Duck and Pluto didn't have their own series. It wouldn't be long before that was rectified though.
Now to close with a song.
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
Resources Used
Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney by J. B. Kaufman and Russell Merritt.
Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin
Friday, May 1, 2026
Silent Film of the Month: The Sheriff's Baby (1913)
Run Time: 17 minutes. Studio: Biograph. Director: D.W. Grifith. Writer: Edward Bell. Cast: Alfred Paget, Herny B. Walthall, Harry Carey, Lionel Barrymore, John T. Dillion, Kate Bruce, Bobby Harron. Cinematographer: Billy Blitzer.
Though D.W. Griffith is often best known for his epics like Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916), which were massive in both scale and length, I often think that the director's best work is the short films that he made for Biograph.
In this short western film, three outlaws are escaping from a posse by heading into the desert. Here they run across a baby who is about to be eaten by a mountain lion. They rescue the baby and protect it as they continue to travel through the desert.
This film shows Griffith and his team at the height of their filmmaking powers. For a short film, there is a lot of story fit into the runtime. However, The Sheriff's Baby never feels rushed and is never difficult to follow. Rather it is gripping for start to finish. The ending is actually quite moving as the buildup to it is perfect. The technical aspects are top notch here. The use of cutting between scenes is quite impressive for its time and holds up perfectly today. Griffith's films are course greatly remembered today for their pioneering use of cross-cutting and this is a great example of why. The cutting between the posse and the outlaws early on, creates some action scenes that still exciting today. Yet this excellent technical filmmaking is never there simply to show off. Rather every aspect of the technical filmmaking is in compete service to the story. Causal viewers may not notice or think about the great use of crosscutting here, but they will definitely feel it. A cast of Griffith regulars are also at the top of their game here. There is very little of the type of overacting that one might associate with films of the early 1910's. This is a too often overlooked gem in Griffith's filmography.
Movie lovers will easily recognize similarities between this film and the story Three Godfathers. Three Godfathers had five official movie adaptions (the most famous being the John Ford/John Wayne 1948 adaption). This story was written by prolific author Peter B. Kyne had first appeared as a short story in The Saturday Evening Post in November of 1912. In 1913 the story would be turned into a novel. Though records from Biograph report that The Sheriff's Baby has an original story by Edward Bell (he received payment for his story on December 16, 1912), the similarities are too clear to ignore. It is definitely plausible that The Saturday Evening Post version was at least an inspiration for this film.
For anyone who wishes to watch this delightful film, it is available as a bonus feature on the Film Preservation Society's Blu-ray set for the William S. Hart feature film, Wolf Lowry (1917).
Resources Used
Wolf Lowry Blu-ray liner notes by Tracey Goessel
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Silent Films on TCM for May 2026
Hello my friends. I know many of you like me are fans of both TCM and silent films. So here is a list of silent films that will be on TCM this May.
Sunday May 3
Are Brunettes Safe (1927) Director: James Parrott. Starring Charley Chase and Lorianne Easton. 9:15pm Pacific. 12:15am Eastern.
Forgotten Sweeties (1927) Director: James Parrott. Starring Charley Chase and Anita Garvin. 9:40pm Pacific. 12:40am Eastern.
Bigger and Better Blondes (1927) Director: James Parrott. Starring Charley Chase and Jean Arthur. 10:05pm Pacific. 1:05am Eastern.
Tuesday May 5th
Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922) Director: Benjamin Christensen. Starring Clara Pontoppidan and Oscar Stribolt. 3am Pacific. 6am Eastern.
I Was Born But... (1932) Director: Yasujirō Ozu. Starring Tatsuo Saitō and Tomio Aoki. 7:30pm Pacific. 10:30pm Eastern.
Wednesday May 6th
A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) Director: Yasujirō Ozu. Starring Takeshi Sakamoto and Chōko Iida. 1:15am Pacific. 4:15am Eastern.
Sunday May 10th
Habus Corpus (1928) Director: James Parrott. Starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. 9:30pm Pacific. 12:30am Eastern.
Putting Pants on Phillip (1927) Director: Clyde Bruckman. Starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. 10pm Pacific. 1am Eastern.
Two Tars (1928) Director: James Parrott. Starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. 10:30pm Pacific. 1:30am Eastern.
You're Darn Tootin' (1928) Director: Edgar Kennedy. Starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. 11pm Pacific. 2am Eastern.
Sunday May 17th
The Rag Man (1925) Director: Edward F. Cline. Starring Jackie Coogan and Max Davidson. 9:30pm Pacific. 12:30am Eastern.
Friday May 22nd
Body and Soul (1925) Director: Oscar Micheaux. Starring: Paul Robeson and Mercedes Gilbert. 3am Pacific. 6am Eastern.
Flesh and the Devil (1926) Director: Clearnce Brown. Starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert. 5am Pacific. 8am Eastern.
Sunday May 24th
The Big Parade (1925) Director: King Vidor. Starring John Gilbert and Renée Adorée. 10:45pm Pacific. 1:45am Eastern.
Sunday May 31st
Strike (1925) Director: Sergei Eisenstein. Starring Grigori Aleksandrov and Maksim Shtraukh
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Movie Review: Fuze
Michael's Movie Grade: D+
Thriller has lots of twists and turns but little reason to care.
In this film, an unexploded WWII era bomb is discovered underneath a construction site. However, there may be more than meets the eye going on here.
This is a movie, I wished I liked more than I did. It is rare to find a modern movie that keeps surprising me with every twist and turn. I can honestly say that I never really knew where this plot was going. So why didn't I actually care for the film then. The answer is simply that I was never given a reason to care about anything that happened on screen. This movie is full of characters and often cuts back and forth between them. With its complex plot and 97-minute runtime, we end up barely knowing anything about who these characters are. Thinking back on the film as I write this review, I not only can't remember most of the characters' names, but I can't recall much of any personality any of them have. All these characters seem to be defined by the roles they play in the story and at the end of the day, they are not characters as much as they are plot devices. Even a strong cast, cannot make me care about any of these characters. The result is that with each twist and turn that happened, I felt no connection to what was happening on screen. I even found that my mind began wandering during scenes that I knew were supposed to be exciting. When the ending came, I simply found I had no investment in what was obviously supposed to be a shocking twist.
A very underwhelming film.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
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