Devil in a blue dress (1995)

Early Denzel smokes the role of Easy Rawlins.
The film begins in noir fashion when Easy Rawlins (Denzel Washington) says "A man once told me that when you step out of your door in the morning, you're already in trouble. The only question is, are you on top of that trouble or not?"

Ernest Hemingway's The killers (1946)

Tense! Taut! Terrific! Wikipedia page has a theatrical release poster of this film. Excellent film noir. First big role for both Lancaster and Gardner. Well done.

Things we lost in the fire

Having started to read Judah P. Benjamin, the Jewish Confederate, wherein I read that Benjamin's family goes back to Portuguese Jews by the name of Mendes, I remembered the director Sam Mendes. Searching his name led me to this film, which he produced. I know both Berry and del Toro as actors, so I took the film home. Plus, Roger Ebert gave it a positive review.

Berry's character is married to Brian, a flawless man, successful, kind, great father, great husband, and loyal friend to del Toro, a heroin addict and his long-time friend. Splicing action in time, we see how it was that Brian came to be murdered, and how his family and friends reacted.

Whilst it gets a bit melodramatic, the film is powerful drama. Del Toro is magnificently understated, restraining himself from becoming too

Off the map

I'd give it a 75% mark, out of a hundred. Quirky story of a famiuly living off the grid in New Mexico. They get by on less than $5,000 a year, from the man's veterans benefits and their selling of stuff. They get some things and services they need through barter. They home-school their daughter.

As the movie opens young Bo is exploring her world as her mother, Arlene, struggles to hold the family together amidst her husband Charley's deep depression. Their friend George visits, hangs out silentlym eats, and takes Bo out fishing. Into this life enters an IRS agent. Finding Arlene naked gardening, he is enraptured, and then stung by a bee, falling into a deep fevered illness.

There is a lot of melodrama, Charley's depression and Arlene's quirkiness not so much explored as exposed; William's psyche is troubled by a memory he begins to believe is not real, but it is not altogether clear why; only Bo's role works well. The movie promises to be more than it becomes, and falls flat.

Shoot the Moon

What a depressing movie. Good acting, about human beings at some of their worst. Enough to turn me, were I younger and more naive, against marriage, and men.

Having beenreleased in 1982, an interesting aspect of it is to look at where the actors are now. Diane Keaton and Albert Finney are, of course, very successful and renown actors. The girls who played the daughters: Dana Hill, who played the oldest, Sherry, died of diabetes complications at age 32; Viveka Davis, who played Jill, the very cute next oldest, best I can determine was about 10, 11, when she made the film, and has had a lot of work across the years (apparently, though, having made nothing since 2001); Tracey Gold, who played Marianne, already had a number of credits and went on to have many more, including playing on the series "Growing Pains"; and Tina Yothers, who played the youngest daughter, Molly, had a few more roles, and wound up playing Jennifer Keaton in the series "Family Ties" for 7 years.