I did a little better this past week in the movie department, watching five films including a couple of film noir classics last Sunday evening when I finished Kiss of Death and then watched Jules Dassin‘s The Naked City. Kiss of Death is decent enough, but The Naked City is pretty great, even though it is driven by a voice over narration, something that typically turns me right off, but the narration here isn’t necessarily filling in blanks in the story as much as it is accompanying it.
There’s a tongue-in-cheek, matter of fact nature to the voice over dialogue that elevates the story. The film could still exist without it and, in my opinion, would probably be better without it, but it also doesn’t entirely take away from what you’re watching as the story of just another day in New York City unfolds, which is what I most certainly liked most. A murder has taken place and while the film builds to a great climax, it also focuses on the mundane aspect of detective work. It doesn’t turn it into all glitz and glamor where a visit home for one of the detectives doesn’t turn into a quick sex session, but instead an argument over how to punish their child before he has to rush out the door and back onto the case.
Also this week I finally watched Orson Welles‘ F for Fake, which is quite entertaining and if you haven’t seen it I urge you to check it out. It’s online over at Hulu right here, and if you haven’t got a Hulu Plus account, click here for a free two week trial.
Finally, I watched Dumb and Dumber To in the middle of the week and over the last couple days I’ve been going through Criterion’s new Blu-ray release of It Happened One Night, which I will be reviewing in a big way soon enough. Though, I will say, if you are thinking of a title to buy at Criterion’s 50% off sale at Barnes & Noble this is a title I would definitely recommend.
Now, let’s hear from you. What did you watch?
