Here are our latest reviews of films for home viewing.
Pre-2023 Film Reviews
Bloody Hell (2021)
Born Yesterday (1950)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: Pleasant, knowing and charming, Born Yesterday still looks like a filmed play but works in the tale of a woman’s (intellectual) awakening.
Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: Boys Don’t Cry is a tragedy, unafraid to tackle hard topics while not deifying its central character.
Conquest (1937)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: Conquest is surprisingly embracing of adultery and out-of-wedlock childbirth, shocking at a time when the Hays Code was being enforced. Lavish if a bit overacted, Conquest is better to look at than to watch.
Dead Man Walking (1995)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: Dead Man Walking does something rare: provide balance between the opposing views (on the death penalty).
Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
- Excerpt: Malle and Nimier produced a screenplay with an intricate plot that is perfectly matched by this film’s deliberately unreal visual style (shot by Henri Decaë, whose career stretched from 1941 to 1987).
Half Nelson (2006)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: With strong performances throughout, Half Nelson is less cautionary tale and more portrait of those struggling between their ideal and true selves.
Hero at Large (1980)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: Hero at Large is harmless fun, light fare that tells a pretty familiar story in a simple way. It may be a bit hokey, but I found that it meant well.
La Vie en Rose (2007)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: In both the performance and the film, La Vie en Rose did not make a case on why the Little Sparrow was worth following for almost two and a half hours.
Passion Fish (1992)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: It is probably far longer than it should be, but on the whole Passion Fish works as a dual character study of women who are distinct yet similar in their struggles.
Piccadilly (1929)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: A blending of East and West is found in Piccadilly, where Anna May Wong showcases her unique, extraordinary charm and talent.
What Price Hollywood? (1932)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: What Price Hollywood? is a fine film (that separates itself) from any connection to the (other) oft-told tale of one star’s rise and another’s fall.
The White Angel (1936)
Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Excerpt: It is not that The White Angel is bad, per se. It is that it mistakes nobleness for insight, preferring to idolize The Lady with the Lamp rather than reveal her inner light.
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