The Lighthouse

Posted on March 19, 2023 by jaycluitt

Two men must spend 4 weeks together maintaining a lighthouse on an isolated island in the late 19th century. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? There’ll be some butting of heads as their personalities clash and cabin fever sets in, but eventually they’ll either become friends, lovers, or they’ll kill each other, but however it turns out, the story will be clear and everything will be resolved, yes? After all, the film is called The Lighthouse, and the primary job of a lighthouse is to reveal what would be otherwise hidden and dangerous, so calling a film The Lighthouse when it’s actually a near-impenetrable sack of confusion would be ludicrous!

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Groundhog Day

Posted on September 22, 2021 by jaycluitt

Irascible, anti-social weather reporter Phil Connors (Bill Murray) heads to the small town of Punxutawney, Philadelphia with his cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott) and new producer Rita (Andi MacDowell) to cover the Groundhog Day festival ceremony, wherein a prominently dentured rodent allegedly predicts the weather. It’s an annual occurrence Phil despises, and one from which he cannot wait to get away, but unfortunately for him he’s stuck there, reliving the same day over and over again, potentially forever more.

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American Graffiti

Posted on February 4, 2021 by jaycluitt

It’s the last day of the summer vacation in 1962. Tomorrow, Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) and Steve (Ron Howard) are heading off to university, leaving behind their two friends Terry (Charles Martin Smith) and John (Paul Le Mat), as well as Steve’s girlfriend and Curt’s younger sister Laurie (Cindy Williams). Over the course of this night spent on their local driving strip, these four friends will undergo various adventures that may change their lives forever.

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The Best Years Of Our Lives

Posted on January 10, 2021 by jaycluitt

After the end of World War II, three American veterans from different military branches and different social backgrounds return home to try and reacclimatise themselves back into society, but the world back home isn’t quite how they remembered it.

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Little Women (2019)

Posted on January 4, 2021 by jaycluitt

In 1860s Massachusetts, the March family has four daughters, all with different artistic aspirations. Meg (Emma Watson) is an actress who is happy complying to society’s ideals of feminity, Jo (Saoirse Ronan) is an aspiring writer with intentions to make it on her own, cherubic Beth (Eliza Scanlen) is a musician, favouring the piano, and Amy (Florence Pugh) a painter who sometimes feels put out as the youngest child (although it was only in researching for this post that I discovered she was supposed to be the youngest, as it felt like Beth far more filled out that role). Their mother Marmee (Laura Dern) tries to mould them into good, charitable adults whilst their father is fighting in the American Civil War, and over the seven year period of the film, they all have varying dalliances with their wealthy neighbour’s grandson Laurie (Timothee Chalamet).

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The Thin Man

Posted on January 2, 2021 by jaycluitt

Dorothy Wynant (Maureen O’Sullivan) is in distress. Her inventor father Clyde (Edward Ellis) has disappeared, after taking $1,000 from his lawyer (Porter Hall) and heading to a secret location, not returning in time for Dorothy’s wedding. Fortunately Nick Charles (William Powell) is in town for the holidays with his wife Nora (Myrna Loy) and their dog Asta (Skippy). Nick is a retired detective who was once hired by Clyde, and after some initial trepidations, Nick is soon on the hunt for the missing man.

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Rio Grande

Posted on May 1, 2020 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review.

Tasked with defending settlers in 1879 Texas from attacking Apaches, Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke (Wayne) has an already difficult job complicated when his undermanned regiment is joined by a new recruit in the form of Yorke’s underage son Jeff (Jarman Jr.), whom the Lt. Col. hasn’t seen in a year. Hot on Jeff’s heels is his mother, and Yorke’s wife, Kathleen (O’Hara), eager to retrieve her son, but neither he nor his father is willing to allow that to happen. Elsewhere, an Apache attack on their fort and another enlisted man being wanted for manslaughter further add to Yorke’s plight.

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Now, Voyager

Posted on December 31, 2019 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review.

Charlotte Vale (Davis), is the self-proclaimed spinster aunt of her wealthy Boston family, living under the tyrannical oppression of her domineering, incessantly critical mother (Cooper). The pressure put upon Charlotte eventually induces a nervous breakdown, causing her to spend time in the sanitarium of Dr. Jaquith (Rains), allowing her to gain a proper sense of self and embark upon a cruise. There she meets Jerry Durrance (Henreid), and the pair almost immediately hit it off and fall in love, but there’s a problem, Jerry is married with a family back home, so the possibility of a lasting romance with Charlotte seems impossible.
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The African Queen

Posted on December 7, 2019 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review.

Rose Sayer and her brother Samuel (Hepburn and Morley) are prim and proper British missionaries attempting to bring Methodist sensibilities to the village of Kungdu in German East Africa in 1914. They receive occasional supplies, mail and news from coarse, slovenly Canadian engineer-turned-boat captain Charlie Allnut (Bogart), who informs the pair about the outbreak of World War I. Shortly afterwards the village is ransacked, the church is burned down and the villagers are conscripted into the German ranks. When Samuel passes away from fever-induced delirium, Rose has no choice but to attempt to flee Africa aboard Charlie’s boat, The African Queen. The unlikely duo initially do not take too kindly to their polar opposites in such confined quarters, but soon learn to not just rely on one another, but that maybe opposites really do attract. the african queen 1 Continue reading →

Kind Hearts and Coronets

Posted on October 24, 2019 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review.

Despite living in modest conditions, Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) is in line to receive the title of Duke of Chalfont, with the only problems being the many and varied members of his mother’s family, the D’Ascoynes (Alex Guinness), currently living and either holding the position or being further up the chain of succession than Louis. After the family denies his disinherited mother’s dying wish of being buried in the family cemetery, Louis sets out a mission to prune the D’Ascoyne family tree until he sits at the top with the title of Duke, hoping that will not only make amends for how his mother (Audrey Fildes) was treated, but will also win Louis the heart of his childhood crush Sibella (Joan Greenwood).
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