Films: July 22 - 28

Blithe Spirit (1945)

The Ghost Train (1941)

Salt (2010) 

The Clairvoyant (1932)

Don't Look Now (1973)

Don't Take It To Heart (1944)

The Dark Mirror (1946)

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (2008)

Stir Of Echoes (1999) 

The Butterfly Effect (2004) /// 

Blithe Spirit (1945) Frothy collaboration of Noel Coward's perennial wit and David Lean's elegant visuals, a delightfully batty medium Margaret Rutherford upends cynical Rex Harrison and Constance Cummings' life by calling up dead wife, Kay Hammond. A sprightly score adds energy.

The Ghost Train (1941) Enjoyment very much depends on accepting creaky plotting of the original play and exhausting in-your-face theatrics of Arthur Askey. Diverse passengers stranded at a country station face the haunted locomotive with a mix of wartime thrills and comedy.

Salt (2010) Buoyed by a relentless score and continuous action set pieces, an impassively athletic Angelie Jolie is constantly on the run to prove her innocence and prevent global catastrophe. Plot logic is quickly jettisoned, visuals and tight rhythms dominate, an exciting and dynamic ride. 

The Clairvoyant (1932) Claude Rains is a stage mentalist who begins to foresee future events, overnight a celebrity, but increasingly tortured by premonitions of disaster and death. Interesting mix of eerie horror, marital drama and social comedy with moments of impressive intensity.

Don't Look Now (1973) Compelling, unsettling tale of unrepentant grief and dread, bracingly shot and jaggedly edited to conjure an ominous, finally horrific atmosphere. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland are the couple recovering from their daughter's death. Gripping and emotional.

Don't Take It To Heart (1944) Often frantic comedy with a German bomb dislodging a ghost who decides to rectify past misdeeds and corrupt developers. Richard Greene and Patricia Medina supply the romantic core as various eccentrics populate the local village. Fitfully amusing.

The Dark Mirror (1946) Intriguing setup results in fun cat and mouse suspense as Lew Ayres delves into the Freudian textbook to work out which of Olivia De Havilland's twin sisters is the murderer. Moody lighting and Dimitri Tiomkin's unrepentant score amps up the melodrama.

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (2008) The visuals and design are slick, yet a lack of atmosphere and energy only muddies the convoluted plot and can't develop empathetic characters. A reporter sets out to prove shady DA Michael Douglas is corrupt, but even final twist feels flat.

Stir Of Echoes (1999) There's texture and a grounded atmosphere to the blue collar Chicago neighborhood where ghosts are physical as well as literal. Past secrets are gradually dug up by a mournful, psychic Kevin Bacon, a story always involving if not quite delivering on potential.

The Butterfly Effect (2004) Time travel and time altering storylines have such an inherent fascination that jettisoned logic and narrative cohesion is forgiven. As unbalanced Ashton Kutcher finds he can alter past events, but find no happy endings, a swift, enjoyable table without lingering in the mind.

Films: July 15 - 21

Point Of No Return (1993) 

Anna (2019)

Like Dandelion Dust (2009) 

Shut In (2017)

The Rainmaker (1997)

A Time To Kill (1996)

What Still Remains (2018)

Awake (2021) 

The Midnight Sky (2020) /// 

Point Of No Return (1993) Polished and strangely anemic, despite propulsive action and violence. Bridget Fonda provides a gutsy presence as the amoral drug addict transformed Pygmalion-like into expert government assassin and refined lady. Predictable, cynical and suitably bleak.

Anna (2019) Typically skilled and glossy action cinema from Luc Besson without the benefit of originality, focusing on Sasha Luss' convoluted adventures as a Russian spy and eventual double agent. Visual tricks and blurred timelines add nothing to the feeling it's all been done better.

Like Dandelion Dust (2009) Earnest study of family dispute with an affluent couple finding life upturned when the blue-collar natural parents seek to get their son back. Nothing particularly original or stylistically engaging, performers shine within a solid narrative structure.

Shut In (2017) Naomi Watts is always persuasive and the tense atmosphere is nicely established, yet the structure is fatally schematic and twists telegraphed, as a child psychologist finds herself trapped in a winter storm. Low-key thrills never build and provide only modest intrigue.

The Rainmaker (1997)  Well-balanced courtroom tale as raw Matt Demon and devious Danny De Vito join forces on a high stakes legal battle with a medical insurance company. The grungy underbelly of the legal system and a gallery of well-drawn characters adds welcome, humorous color.

A Time To Kill (1996) Skillfully made, button-pushing morality tale centers on vengeful Samuel L Jackson's court case for murdering men who raped his daughter. Bluntly impactful rather than thoughtfully nuanced, Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock lead a strong, committed cast.

What Still Remains (2018) Persuasively made and performed, a strangely uninvolving story and sketchy characters add nothing original to survivalist genre. Leisurely paced, distrustful Lulu Antariksa faces subjugation in religious commune or cruel violence of a post-virus world.

Awake (2021) After a solar flare short-circuits global electronics, people are unable to sleep and fast descend into deadly hysteria. As jaundiced mother Gina Rodriguez struggles to save her children amid increasingly violent set-pieces, tension dissipates despite technical craft.

The Midnight Sky (2020) There's no denying the skill and visual precision nor the thematic resonance of a lost world, yet little transforms emotionally and the story strands its audience as much as the returning astronauts. Immaculate production values, meandering narrative rhythms.