Author:   Ken Hanke

Showing 1492-1512 of 5225 results
Starring: William Powell, Joan Blondell, David Landau, Helen Vinson, Claire Dodd

Lawyer Man

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: William Powell stars as a lawyer who rises from the slums in this 1932 pre-code comedy-drama from director William Dieterle, Lawyer Man. Joan Blondell is onboard as his lovestruck secretary, who goes up — and down — with him. Along the way, he mixes with gangsters, politicians (sometimes the two are interchangeable) and…
Starring: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, John Megna, Frank Overton, Ruth White, Brock Peters

To Kill a Mockingbird

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has become a classic of modern American literature, and Robert Mulligan's film has become something of a classic itself — though perhaps one more of association than on its own merits, notable as they are in capturing the book. Gregory Peck has rarely been as good…
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee, Barbara Steele

8 1/2

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: If you only see one Federico Fellini film, 8 1/2 is the one to see. It's the film where Fellini emerged as the fully-formed fantasist he's most identified as. It's a beguiling fantasy about a filmmaker trying to come to terms with his life, his spirituality, his love life and the big movie…
Starring: Marshall Thompson, Shirley Patterson, Kim Spalding, Ann Doran, Dabbs Greer, Ray Corrigan

It! The Terror from Beyond Space

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Though it's pretty indefensible as objectively good in any normal sense, It! The Terror from Beyond Space is a towering classic of 1950s sci-fi horror cheese. It's more fun, more memorable and certainly more influential than the handful of big-budget sci-fi movies of the era. After all, none of its pricier brethren can…
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, Ken Stott, Keith Allen

Shallow Grave

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Danny Boyle's debut film is nearly 20 years old (hard to imagine), but feels as if it came out last week. It's the wicked -- and wickedly funny — tale of what happens when three terribly trendy Glaswegian flatmates discover their new tenant is dead and has left behind a suitcase full of…
Starring: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning, Neva Patterson, Cathleen Nesbitt

An Affair to Remember

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: In 1957, Leo McCarey was a director out of vogue and out of favor, so he tried to restart his career by remaking his 1939 film Love Affair — rechristened An Affair to Remember. While it was a hit, it really didn't revive his career, but this story of a shipboard romance that…
Starring: Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Nouri, Claudia Christian, Clarence Felder, Clu Gulager

The Hidden

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Jack Sholder's The Hidden (1987) is a strangely overlooked sci-fi horror action gem from a decade not exactly bursting with gems. Kyle MachLachlan (fresh from Blue Velvet and seemingly in training for his role in Twin Peaks) stars as an FBI agent who is obviously more than he pretends to be since he's…
Starring: Damien Wayne Echols, Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley, Lorris Davis

West of Memphis

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Documentary on the West Memphis Three and the efforts to prove them innocent of the murders for which they were convicted in 1994. The Lowdown: If you know little about the case, this should be one suspenseful moviegoing experience. If you're familiar with the case, it ought to still prove a compelling watch…
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, William Hurt, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger

The Host

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Sci-Fi silliness about aliens taking over earthlings' bodies — with timeout for teen passions. The Lowdown: Unbelievably tedious, occasionally unintentionally funny, teencentric sci-fi soaper that moves at a pace that makes 125 minutes seem like it must be no more than three or four days.
Starring: Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Lance Gross, Kim Kardashian, Vanessa Williams, Robbie Jones, Brandy Norwood, Renée Taylor

Tyler Perry’s Tempation

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Moralizing cautionary drama about the wages of sin and leaving your husband for a slick millionaire sociopath. The Lowdown: Quite possibly, it's the most appalling movie Tyler Perry has churned out in ages. What more needs be said?

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler April 3-9: West of Evil Dead Park

Posted on by Ken Hanke

This week may be on the slack side — in fact, it is on the slack side — but it cannot possibly be as bad as last week. Last week’s three mainstream pictures marked a trilogy of tripe the likes of which I don’t need to see again any time soon (as in this century). I don’t even like thinking about last weekend, so let’s get on with this one.

Starring: Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Tom Sturridge, Alice Braga, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen

On the Road

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Film version of Jack Kerouac's autobiographical novel. The Lowdown: It looks good, it's solidly produced and it offers a reasonable approximation of the book, but it's never very exciting, nor does it dig very deeply.
Starring: (Voices) Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Ryan Reynolds, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke

The Croods

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: A Stone Age family must learn how to adapt to a drastically changing world that threatens to become — literally — a thing of the past. The Lowdown: Spectacular-looking, exciting and (I dare say) even moving animated film with extremely good voice casting. It's nothing at all like the film the trailer suggests…
Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Dylan McDermott, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo

Olympus Has Fallen

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: Renegade North Korean terrorists take over the White House and one Secret Service agent must save the president — and possibly the United States itself. The Lowdown: Preposterous, yet utterly predictable, nasty little jingoistic thriller with bad special effects. Loud, mean-spirited, fairly appalling Die Hard rip-off that will probably make a fortune.
Starring: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Andy Devine, George Tobias, Helen Vinson, Jerome Cowan

Torrid Zone

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Fast-paced, funny Warner Bros.-style comedy adventure. (The style, the look and the pace are all typical of the studio in that era.) It's essentially a star comedy built around James Cagney, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien in a tropical setting in South America. At bottom, it's a reshuffling of The Front Page —…
Starring: Una Merkel, Lionel Atwill, Claire Dodd, Nat Pendleton, Richard Davies, Noble Johnson

The Mad Doctor of Market Street

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Often cited (not quite correctly) as Lionel Atwill's last starring vehicle, The Mad Doctor of Market Street is one of Universal's more peculiar horror pictures. For starters, only a few minutes of the movie take place on Market Street. Instead, the next 15 or so minutes take place on a ship bound for…

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler March 27-April 2: Host Retaliatio­n Temptation on the Road

Posted on by Ken Hanke

Last week offered a pretty wide mix of the good and the not so hot — with the actual balance being more of the former (in some cases pretty surprisingly). This week’s list of two mainstreamers, two art titles and one Tyler Perry picture may well be another matter — and the probability of nice surprises seems on the dubious side.

Starring: Fernando Rey, Carole Bouquent, Ángela Molina, Julien Bartheay, André Weber

That Obscure Object of Desire

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: For what turned out to be his final film, Luis Buñuel turned to Pierre Louys' story The Woman and the Puppet — a work that had also served as the final film collaboration between Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich in 1935 as The Devil Is a Woman. The resulting film, That Obscure…
Starring: Lon Chaney, Patricia Morrison, J. Carrol Naish / Bela Lugosi, Polly Ann Young, Clarence Muse

Calling Dr. Death / Invisible Ghost

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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In Brief: Double feature of the first of Lon Chaney's "Inner Sanctum" mysteries, Calling Dr. Death (1943) and Bela Lugosi's 1940s Monogram Nine series, Invisible Ghost (1941). The first finds Chaney as a neurologist (with a specialty in hypnoisis) who may or may not have murdered his faithless wife — if only he could remember.The…
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, Jacki Weaver, Dermot Mulroney, Alden Ehrenreich

Stoker

Reviewed by Ken Hanke on
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The Story: When her father dies in an accident, India Stoker finds her world turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious uncle, who may be romancing her mother, or possibly her, but whose motives are as cloudy as his past. The Lowdown: Ultra stylish mystery thriller from South Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park with…