#carl franklin

[sacredwhores]

Carl Franklin - One False Move (1991)

[of-fear-and-love]

Denzel Washington in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

[giftheplanet]

[tv-moments]

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

Season 2, “Blame It on the Rain”

Director: Carl Franklin

DoP: Jason McCormick

[roderickjaynes01]

Devil in a Blue Dress 1995 - Carl Franklin

[filmnoirfoundation]

TCMFF Day 4 afternoon and evening. Eddie Muller will be introducing CHINATOWN with Carl Franklin, 3:30 at TCL Chinese Theatres IMAX and THE ASPHALT JUNGLE with John Huston's son Jack Huston, TCL Multiplex, House 6, 7:45.

CHINATOWN (1974): In this critically lauded neo-noir, a private eye (Jack Nicholson) unwittingly sets up an innocent man for murder and then joins his widow (Faye Dunaway) in unearthing the corruption behind the crime in this physically beautiful but emotionally bleak neo-noir set in a morally bankrupt 1930s Los Angeles. Dir. Roman Polanski

THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950): A hoodlum and ex-con (Sterling Hayden) hopes for one last big score that will enable him to go home to his farm in Kentucky. He falls in with a gang of small-time crooks plotting an elaborate jewel heist. Of course, you can never go home again. A young Marilyn Monroe plays a small but juicy part. The film was nominated for four Oscars including a Best Supporting Actor nod for Sam Jaffe as the mastermind undone by his passion for beautiful girls. Based on the novel by W. R. Burnett. Dir. John Huston

[misterivy]

The Fantastic Journey is an American science fiction television series that was originally aired on NBC from February 3 through June 16, 1977.

[apicturespeaks]

One False Move, Carl Franklin

[film-cult]

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) dir. by Carl Franklin

[cantsayidont]

Hateration holleration in the cinema:

THE BAT WHISPERS (1930): Creaky early talkie thriller, based on a Mary Roberts Rinehart/Avery Hopwood stage play, about a group of people terrorized by a mysterious masked criminal called The Bat. (Bob Kane later claimed that this was one of the inspirations for Batman.) There's a great opening shot and some cool model work in the first 10 minutes (like a sequence where The Bat descends by rope into his special car, which can generate a smokescreen to deter pursuers), but once it gets into the actual play, it becomes too static, and it's burdened with hammy acting and a truly painful level of mugging comic relief from the supporting players (with Maude Eburne the worst offender as the cowardly, superstitious maid). Star Chester Morris appears briefly out of character at the end to urge the audience not to reveal The Bat's true identity. CONTAINS LESBIANS? No. VERDICT: Promises FANTÔMAS or LES VAMPIRES, mostly delivers Scooby-Doo. Batman fans interested in the character's antecedents should check out the first 10 minutes, but you won't miss much if you stop there.

ONE WAY PASSAGE (1932): Charming pre-Code melodrama about the doomed shipboard romance between a dying rich girl (Kay Francis) and a suave escaped convict (William Powell), who's being escorted back to San Francisco to be hanged for murder. Despite its obvious contrivances, the compact script and brisk direction keep things from becoming maudlin or grim, and Powell and Francis have wonderful chemistry (the best of their many pairings at Warner Bros.), with good support from Warren Hymer as the thick-headed but not entirely unsympathetic cop, Frank McHugh as a drunken scam artist, and Aline MacMahon as a bogus countess. A surprisingly warm little story about people doing the best they can in the face of unsympathetic fate. CONTAINS LESBIANS? No. VERDICT: Touching, funnier than you'd think (though McHugh lays it on a little too thick), and even life-affirming.

THE BAD SLEEP WELL (1960): Overlong, overwrought, somewhat undercooked Akira Kurosawa corporate crime drama, a loose modern-dress variation on HAMLET, about a junior executive (Toshiro Mifune) who borrows someone else's name and identity to infiltrate a big corporation whose ruthless skulduggery is responsible for his father's suicide, even going so far as to marry the boss's disabled daughter (Kyoko Kagawa) to ingratiate himself with his foe (Masayuki Mori). It starts off well, with a punchy style Leonard Maltin aptly compares to a '40s Warner Bros movie, but Kurosawa lets the supporting cast go overboard while failing to provide Mifune with enough fireworks to sustain the film through its rather ponderous 150-minute running time, and the gloomy ending offers no real dramatic payoff. CONTAINS LESBIANS? No. VERDICT: Highly regarded by Kurosawa fans and film nerds, but casual viewers may wonder what all the fuss is about.

CROSSPLOT (1969): Labored action comedy starring Roger Moore as womanizing ad executive Gary Fenn, whose new discovery is a gorgeous Hungarian model named Marla Kogash (Claudie Lange), who's tied up in a convoluted assassination plot. Moore is game, but the script and direction are too clunky to ever whip up the requisite degree of froth, and the plot's awkward equivocation about student protests doesn't sit well. Martha Hyer is fun as Marla's flirtatious English aunt Jo, and fans of THE PRISONER will immediately recognize costar Alexis Kanner from "Living in Harmony" and "Fall-Out." (Moore's future Bond movie costar Bernard Lee also pops up in a small role.) CONTAINS LESBIANS? No. VERDICT: Never as funny or as fun as it wants to be, and your attention will start to wander by the midpoint.

THE HOT ROCK (1972): Droll, lightweight caper film, adapted by William Goldman from a Donald Westlake novel, about a gang of thieves (Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman, and Paul Sand) attempting to steal a rare diamond on behalf of a UN delegate from a fictional African country (Moses Gunn), only to have one brilliant plan after another go badly awry. Director Peter Yates wisely keeps things light even as the plot gets sillier, although he sometimes lets the energy level wane too much, and the ending feels a bit anticlimactic. Gunn steals the show as the gang's increasingly exasperated financier. CONTAINS LESBIANS? It really only has two female characters, and their roles are very small. VERDICT: Never laugh-out-loud funny, but a pleasantly relaxed amusement.

DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS (1995): Near-miss film adaptation of the first of Walter Mosley's popular Easy Rawlins detective novels, about a newly unemployed Black veteran in 1948 Los Angeles (Denzel Washington) who's hired to track down a mystery woman (Jennifer Beals) some people will kill to find. Adapted and directed by Carl Franklin, it has great atmosphere, a charismatic lead, and superb support by Don Cheadle as Easy's casually murderous friend Mouse. Unfortunately, the story lacks an emotional hook, and Beals' flat performance leaves a blank space at its heart; the mise-en-scène is ultimately more compelling than the plot. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Not in any substantive way. VERDICT: A movie good enough that you'll come away frustrated that it falls so short of greatness.

[davidhudson]

Happy 75th, Carl Franklin.

[giftheplanet]

[tv-moments]

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

Season 2, “Spree”

Director: Carl Franklin

DoP: Jason McCormick

[thishadoscarbuzz]

324 - Devil in a Blue Dress (w/ Mitchell Beaupre!)

This week's episode is a callback to our beloved 100 Years, 100 Snubs May miniseries: Mitchell Beaupre joins us to talk about 1995's Devil in a Blue Dress! Carl Franklin emerged with the indie success of crime thriller One False Move and moved onto studio filmmaking with Devil in a Blue Dress, starring Denzel Washington as a veteran hired to find a missing woman. The film was a smart noir exercise that nevertheless didn't quite catch on with audiences, though critics were taken with an unpredictable supporting player, Don Cheadle.

This episode, we discuss the controversy over 1995's all white acting nominees and the origin story quality of the film's story. We also talk about Franklin's unique awards haul for One False Move, Washington's atypical lack of love interest costars, and how Cheadle's performance feels like it has more screen time than it does.

Topics also include 1995 Best Supporting Actor, 2003 Entertainment Weekly as Oscar gateway, and Jennifer Beals as anti-femme female.

The 2012 Academy Awards

Mitchell interviews Carl Franklin

Vulture's Movies Fantasy League

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[sunshinestatecineplex]

TV: "Consequences with Extreme Prejudice" - American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez - Episode 2 Recap

As he settles into college football life, Aaron Hernandez faces immediate issues. While being talked up as a big new recruit, he did not know how to break through as a key figure on the team. This led to off-the-field issues, including run-ins with the police. Carl Franklin directs “Consequences with Extreme Prejudice” – the second episode of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez. The episode…

[film-cult]

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) dir. by Carl Franklin