Your humble correspondent, Mrs. yhc, and the dogs have had a week fraught with incident, so we decided we needed an in-chateau vacation. We watched Last Year at Marienbad to get away from it all.

The Alain Resnais-Alain Robbe-Grillet collaboration was one of the first foreign-language films I ever saw, so, of course, I didn’t get it. But like Mr. Zimmerman’s Mr. Jones, I knew something was happening. What is it about? The emptiness of bourgeois life? The unreliability of…

Seeing Suddenly recently reminded me that I had enjoyed In the Line of Fire the two times I had seen it, so it was worth another viewing. This time I found it even more accomplished and entertaining. Isn’t it amazing how films can become better or worse as we grow older?

“You’re the same as me, Frank. Name one thing in your life that has any meaning.”

We know going in that Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) will…

Our dog Maisie had a medical procedure today and wasn’t in the mood for Tarr, Tarkovsky, or even Tarzan, preferring her gentlemen fully togged. Eschewing her penchant for introspection, she requested a popcorn movie with plenty of action. Seeing two Warren Oates films recently, I was reminded of Blue Thunder but ed little from two previous screenings other than one scene (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). So the appropriate treats were assembled and an eight-pack of Dr. Pepper Sans Sugar placed…

“There’s cruelty, hatred, and tyranny in the world, and you can’t pretend they’re not there.”

Although Suddenly is a film noir with Sterling Hayden and directed by Lewis Allen, I am just getting around to it because it is essentially a hostage drama, something I am almost always uncomfortable with. It turns out to be reasonably entertaining with a terrific central performance, though not by the Sterl.

At his best, Allen is a solid genre director: The Uninvited, Desert Fury,…