Looper, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, Harold Lloyd Festival and John Garfield petition on Monday Morning Diary (October 1)

Screen cap from Rian Johnson’s futuristic thriller “Looper” one of the creative films of 2012.

by Sam Juliano

October 1st.  Time does march on.  Seems like summer just ended yesterday.  Now it’s time to visit our local pumpkin patch, dust off our horror movie shelves and start thinking ‘sweater’ when we leave the house for work.  If you live in the right areas, it’s a time when Mother Nature sports her prettiest clothes, and Jack Frost starts to spread his own kind of seasonal greetings.  The Major League baseball season has only days to go and both New York Yankee and Baltimore Orioles fans are beside themselves with the tension that comes with a deadlocked pennant race.  Football has it’s own kind of problem these days with the men in the stripes, but it appears a settlement is imminent.  The presidental election is a little over  a month away, and for the first time Wonders in the Dark will take a stand publicly and urge its American readers to cast their votes for President Obama and Democrat candidates in statewide races and for congressional seats on November 6th.  It’s no secret that the membership at this place is liberal, and even our European kin have no use for GOP policies and challenger Mitt Romney.  I’ll leave the rest for the comment section if such a dialogue should come about, but otherwise there will be more commentary as we get closer to Election Day.

At Exodus 8:2 Jaimie Grijalba ’s 100 day ‘horror countdown’ continues in force and is the product of remarkable resilience.     Dee Dee continues to report new signatures in the ongoing ‘John Garfield Challenge’ venture that is aimed at convincing DVD and blu-ray production companies to honor the great American actor with a box set of his most seminal works.  The trio of Dee Dee, Lori Moore and Barbara LaMotta have secured written approval from fans all over the world, many of whom have penned glowing testimonials to the cinematic icon.  The regularly updated report page can be acessed on the sidebar under Garfield’s photo.   Dee Dee has reported as of Sunday that  a total of 403 signatures have been collected to date!  On last week’s MMD several of our regulars reported watching some Garfield features, no doubt inspired by all the attention being showered on the actor as of late.

There’s no writer out there who is on a greater roll as of late than our friend Jon Warner at Films Worth Watching.  Jon’s two-review-a-week output has covered some of the most venerated screen classics and each is written with superlative skill and passion.  Film buffs are urged to take advantage of what Jon has been treated the community with as of late, and it appears the winning streak will be continuing well into the future.  Jon’s last four reviews were fantastic assessments of The Steel Helmet, The Wind, The Scarlet Letter and L’Argent.  Here at Wonders in the Dark the comedy countdown continues to matrch forward with some marvelous writing from some of the net’s finest writers.  We are now within hailing distance of the half way point, meaning all the truly great subjects are upcoming.

Another moderate week at the movies for Lucille, Sammy and I (Broadway Bob was as usual with us for the Saturday night feature:

Looper     **** 1/2         (Saturday night)        Union Square Cinemas

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)   ****  (Friday night)  Film Forum

For Heaven’s Sake (1926)   ****  (Monday night)  Harold Lloyd at Film Forum

A surprisingly inventive futuristic thriller about outlawed time-travel, the aptly titled LOOPER does a more than respectable job in connected the dots in a myriad plot structure whose intricacy does nothing to dim the film’s exceptional emotional and intellectual heft.  Directed by Rian Johnson, the film is set in Kansas in 2044 and features spirited performances by Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon Levitt and more than able support by Paul Dano, Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels and the youngster Pierce Gagnon who gives an electrifying turn as the young boy.  The computer generated images are often striking and the film has you thinking more and more the following day.  I’d go as far as to say it’s one of the best American films of 2012, and I went in expecting very little.  Go figure. Rather than go the spoilers route I will say no more and await the comments from others.

Elio Petri’s Italian language 1970 film INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION brings together police activism and state violence in an explosive mix, and as it’s based on actual events it carries additional weight.  FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE is not one of Lloyd’s absolute best but it’s wonderfully engaging and a repetitive set piece midway is a real gem.

Here are the links:

In his spirited new post at The Dancing Image  titled “October and beyond” Joel Bocko lays out some grand plans in ressurecting his wonderful film site: http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2012/09/october-and-beyond.html

Samuel Wilson’s superlative essay on Sergio Corbucci’s seminal spaghetti western “The Mercenary” leads the way at Mondo 70: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-mercenary-1968.html

It’s birthday celebration time at Speaking From the Heart and there’s a crowd of people who are toasting the ever-popular Laurie Buchanan, who is seen here in some priceless photos:      http://holessence.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/daylights-burnin/

Tony d’Ambra’s newest post at FilmsNoir.net is a brilliant concise essay on 1941′s “Johnny Eager” with Robert Taylor, Lana Turner and Van Heflin: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/johnny-eager-1941-just-another-hood-i-guess.html

In one of the most moving of all posts Terrill Welch pays tribute to her grandfather at the sublime Creativepotager’s blog: http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/morning-walk-along-the-stuart-river-a-tribute-to-my-grandfather/

Jon Warner has penned a stupendous review of the celebrated Korean War film by Samuel Fuller – “The Steel Helmet” at Films Worth Watching: http://filmsworthwatching.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-steel-helmet-1951-directed-by.html

In Tokyo our good friend “Murderous Ink” has posted Part 8 in his superlative “Films of 1949″ series examining Japanese cinema at Vermillion and One Nights: http://vermillionandonenights.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-dark-side-of-nation.html

Posting at Only the Cinema on September 24th, Ed Howard’s sensational essay on Abel Gance’s 1928 silent masterpiece “Napoleon” is essential reading for all serious cineastes:           http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2012/09/napol.html

Dee Dee offers up petition co-founder Lori Moore’s own take on a John Garfield classic over at Darkness Into Light: http://noirishcity.blogspot.com/2012/09/john-garfield-in-nobody-lives-forever.html

Sachin Gandhi has posted a spectacular post on the Calgary International Film Festival at Scribbles and Ramblings:                       http://likhna.blogspot.com/2012/09/ciff-2012.html

Judy Geater has penned a terrific review of William Wyler’s Desparate Hours for the “Universal Backlot Blogothon” at Movie Classics: http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/the-desperate-hours-william-wyler-1955/

John Greco has penned a wonderfully engaging review of Roy del Ruth’s “Employee’s Entrance” with Warren William at Twenty Four Frames: http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/employees-entrance-1933-roy-del-ruth/

Shubhajit Lahiri has penned a typically brilliant capsule review at Cinemascope on Stanley Kramer’s “Judgement at Nuremburg”:                                                                  http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/2012/09/judgment-at-nuremberg-1961.html

Roderick Heath has again raised the bar with a spectacular essay on a “Star Wars” film at Ferdy-on-Films:                                                 http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/2012/star-wars-episode-vi-return-of-the-jedi-1983/15948/

David Scheicher seems to profess divided feelings in his brilliantly-written review of “The Master” at The Schleicher Spin: http://theschleicherspin.com/2012/09/21/the-cause-of-love-and-war-in-the-master/

At Exodus 8:2 Jaimie Grijalba continues with his “100 Days of Terror” with a great review of 2012′s “Gyo” which placed at No. 69: http://livingincinema.com/2012/09/29/looper-2012/

R.D. Finch has written a splendid essay on 1965′s “The Ipcress File” at The Movie Projector:                                                                                                                 http://themovieprojector.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-ipcress-file-1965.html

Kaleem Hasan offers an engaging post at Satyamshot titled “Shahrukh in Conversation with Yash Chopra”:                                http://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/shahrukh-in-conversation-with-yash-chopra/

At The Listening Ear Weeping Sam offers up some splendid insights on both “The Master” and “For Ellen”:                                                  http://listeningear.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-master-and-such.html

One of the net’s finest writers, the exceedingly talented Jason Bellamy has written a fantastic essay on Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” at The Cooler: http://coolercinema.blogspot.com/2012/09/touching-void-master.html

At Patricia’s Wisdom our friendly host offers some seasonal culinary and sensory delights: http://patriciaswisdom.com/2012/09/the-fragrance-of-fall/

The comment section under Kevin Olson’s superlative essay on “The Master” at Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies makes this presentation a must read for film fans: http://kolson-kevinsblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-master.html

At the Coffee Messiah’s blog the indominable Michael Harford features a collage on cultivation:                                              http://coffeemessiah.blogspot.com/2012/09/cultivate.html

Craig Kennedy has penned at terrific review on “Looper” at Living in Cinema:    http://livingincinema.com/2012/09/29/looper-2012/

Stephen Russell-Gebbett has posted another thought-provoking piece, this time on 2010′s “Burning Bright” at Checking on my Sausages: http://checkingonmysausages.blogspot.com/2012/09/burning-bright-2010.html

At The Seventh Art our friend Just Another Film Buff (Srikanth) has penned aterrific capsule review of “All That Jazz”: http://theseventhart.info/2012/09/09/ellipsis-64/

David Lawrence, thjat erudite and personable educator from the U.K. features a poster of a Hammer classic at his new site Musings and Meanderings: http://1mouth2ears.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/movie-posters-1-dracula-has-risen-from-the-grave-1968/

Brandie Ashe happily announces a “Singin in the Rain” giveaway at True Classics: http://trueclassics.net/2012/08/10/singin-again-plus-a-giveaway/

Roderick Heath has posted a terrific new review on “Chronicle” at This Island Rod: http://thisislandrod.blogspot.com/2012/07/chronicle-2012.html

At Patricia’s Wisdom, a laudatory post titled “It’s my ball and I am leaving the game” leads the way:                                                                   http://patriciaswisdom.com/2012/09/its-my-ball-and-i-am-leaving-the-game/

J. D. LaFrance has penned a terrific piece on Tony Scott’s “The Last Boy Scout” at Radiator Heaven:                                                          http://rheaven.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-last-boy-scout.html

The esteemed Film Doctor, a professor on Film Studies at a southern university, has written a fascinating piece on P.J. Anderson’s “The Master” at The Film Doctor: http://filmdr.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-master-s-whip-lash-8-notes.html

Adam Zanzie has posted a terrific “alternative Sight and Sound list at Icebox Movies: http://www.iceboxmovies.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-alternative-sight-sound-list.html

Jason Marshall has continued his superb coverage of 1942 at Movies Over Matter with a wonderful post on his Best Actor choice for that year: Chishu Ryu: http://moviesovermatter.com/2012/08/09/chishu-ryu-in-there-was-a-father-best-actor-of-1942/

Peter Lenihan has written a superlative essay talking about two films: “Dredd” and “Savages”  at The Long Voyage Home: http://thelongvoyagehome.blogspot.com/2012/09/double-feature-dredd-savages.html

At Doodad Kind of Town Pat Perry has returned from hiatus, and discusses upcoming plans:                                                           http://doodadkindoftown.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-do-i-have-to-say-for-myself.html

At The Blue Vial Drew offers up an arresting “Freeform Phantom”:          http://thebluevial.blogspot.com/2012/09/freeform-phantom.html

At  The Last Lullaby, the ever delightful filmmaker Jeffrey Goodman takes a look at part sixteen of his long running quartet series:  http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2012/04/favorite-four-part-sixteen.html

Stephen Russell-Gebbett at Checking on my Sausages again offers up a brillinatly-creative feature on ‘Sport as the Perfect Fiction”: http://checkingonmysausages.blogspot.com/2012/08/sport-is-perfect-fiction.html

Tony Dayoub takes a look at the summer’s Barnes and Noble 50% off sale for Criterion collectots at Cinema Viewfinder:                                          http://www.cinemaviewfinder.com/2012/07/criterion-summer.html

Greg Ferrara at Cinema Styles talks about the Colorado shootings in a moving feature: http://cinemastyles.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-dark-knight-shooting-in-colorado.html

Jeopardy Girl talks about her “least favorite film” at her wonderful new series at “The Continuing Saga of Jeopardy Girl”: http://jeopardygirl.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/2-my-least-favourite-film/

Hokahey takes a fascinating look at “Looper” at Little Worlds:                                                                                                                                                                                                      http://hokahey-littleworlds.blogspot.com/2012/09/looper-glossary-of-terms.html

Dave Van Poppel has a tremendous batch of short reviews up at Visions of Non Fiction on the Toronto Film Festival:  http://visionsofnonfiction.blogspot.com