Killer of Sheep (1977)

I've wanted to see this since I first read about it, probably in 1980.

I saw it on DVD two weeks ago. I watched it again on TCM Monday night.

I'd watch it again tomorrow. If it was eight hours long, that would be fine with me.

It's a beautiful film, visually just a series of astonishments.

The episode with the engine block says more about poverty than anything I've ever seen anywhere.

Hey, watch for it on TCM next year on Martin Luther King Day!

Recommended.

Ace In The Hole (1950)

Kirk Douglas plays a former big-city reporter doing time at the Albuquerque daily when he stumbles on his ticket back to New Yawk: a man trapped by a cave-in at a roadside attraction.

Douglas manipulates the situation – even undermines the rescue operation – for his own glory.

Written and directed by Billy Wilder, and possibly darker than Double Indemnity or Sunset Boulevard.

Recommended.

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

John Huston likes actors better than stories, so his criminals end up too colorful by half, and his noir goes on and on and on.

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

This proved to be a pleasant surprise, a well-made space opera with good performances by Thandie Newton (channeling Eartha Kitt), Judy Densch (channeling Patrick Stewart) and - absolutely - Vin Diesel (channeling Elliot Gould).