Noirvember Watch: The Big Combo (1955)

Watched:  11/09/2026

Format:  BluRay

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Joseph H. Lewis

One of the most used and indelible images of the noir era was the picture above from the finale of The Big Combo (1955).  It was probably because of this image, seen in a book or online, that I decided to watch this movie for the first time 26 or more years ago, beginning my own dive into the genre.

At the time, I didn't know Richard Conte or Cornell Wilde.  Lee Van Cleef was the only actor I recognized.  And I don't know that I was prepared for the banal cruelty of what Conte's Mr. Brown would bring to the screen, or the coded sexuality of the film.

But The Big Combo will ruin you for a lot of other movies if you think all of noir will look this good - and I rank The Big Combo as an all-timer for its noir visual appeal.   Lensed by John Alton, one of the best of the era, it's a beautifully crafted chiaroscuro, cutting shapes in the shadows and a last gasp against what was coming as studios lightened movies up for later replay on the TV's of the era.  But it's not just the look, it's shot selection and angles.  Maybe it cost a bit more as set-ups would have been a bit tougher, but it pays off in spades.

The story is a mix of melodrama and tough crime.  Wilde plays a cop pursuing mob boss "Mister Brown" (Conte).  Wilde has started tracking Brown's girl, Susan (Jean Wallace), and over time begun to develop feelings for this girl who is vaguely aware of his existence.  Even Wilde's boss knows it.  

He wants to get Susan out, but she's in deep - caught in a web of physical, psychological and sexual control (the movie has one of the most discussed shots in Breen Office history as Conte drops out of frame suggesting an, ahem, intimate act).  

Brown is surrounded by a small group - just his two toughs, one of which is Van Cleef, and Brian Donlevy, his former boss in the mob.

Wilde gets a lead - that Brown killed his wife a few years back at sea, and when Diamond pulls on that thread, things really do begin to unravel.  People are shot, bodies pile up fast.  

I don't want to spoil it.  I think you should check it out for Alton's work if nothing else.

Special bonus points for Helene Stanton who plays Rita, the burlesque dancer Wilde treats like shit.  You were the better choice, Rita!  He did you wrong!  You have great teeth!  Wilde not seeing how awesome Rita is has always been my biggest gripe with this movie, even if I totally get it from a plot perspective.  

Doc Watch: Theatre of Horrors - the Sordid Story of Paris' Grand Guignol (2025)

Watched:  11/08/2026

Format:  Shudder

Viewing:  First

Director:  David Gregory

Some time in the last twenty years I became aware of the origin of the term "grand guignol", and learned the movie Mad Love is a movie about a similar theater paired with a maniacal Peter Lorre (recommended).  References to the theater turn up here and there.  For me, most recently, it was in re-watching Interview with the Vampire, which posits that the Grand Guignol was actually vampires killing people on stage.  

But what the theater *actually* was gets covered in detail in this documentary, Theatre of Horrors: the Sordid Story of Paris' Grand Guignol (2025).

TV Watch: Carrie (2026)

Well.  I think this is one of those times you have a bad feeling early on, you choose to ignore it, and realize you ignored your own psychic power telling you from the future that you're going to regret spending almost 8 hours with a show.

Carrie (2026) seems like something everyone loves.  To me, it was one of the dumbest, dullest ends to an eight-hour show I've seen in a long, long time.  It truly sucked.  Bad show.  

Boo, I say.  Boo to your show.

Noirvember Watch: Laura (1944)

Watched:  11/07/2026

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Otto Preminger

This year for Noirvember I'm coming back to some classics of film noir.  I've been so focused on watching movies I'd not previously seen, or seen only once, that it's been *years* since I've seen some of the biggest films in the genre.

And I didn't know where to start, so I just picked Laura (1944).  

G Watch: Godzilla Minus Zero (2026)

Watched:  11/05/2026

Format:  AMC Imax

Viewing:  First

Director:  Takashi Yamazaki

So, readers of this here site will know I'm not just a Godzilla stan, I'm particularly an evangelist for Godzilla Minus One, that first film.  So, how did I feel about Godzilla Minus Zero (2026)?  Right?  That's what we're asking?  Maybe?

SPOILERS

Last Horror Watch: The Cycle (2026)

Watched:  11/04/2026

Format:  Shudder

Viewing:  First

Director:  Jordan Downey

More than one person reached out to let me know I should watch this movie, so thanks if you were are one of those two people!

I wasn't really given any heads up as to what the movie was about going in, so I'll do you a favor and drop this here:

SPOILERS

G Watch: Godzilla Minus One (2023)

seriously considering this as a tattoo on my right leg

Watched:  11/03/2026

Format:  4K disc

Viewing:  Fifth?  Sixth?

Director:  Takashi Yamazaki

Well, that was a delight.  Again.  

Jamie and I have each seen the movie four times in the theater, and I think we saw it at home at least once, but I can't find the write-up.  Anyway, there is plenty about this movie elsewhere on the site.

Godzilla Minus One (2023) wound up winning the Oscar for FX in 2024.  And, in many ways, the movie likely earned the award for making what looks like a $200 million Hollywood movie on something like $15 million.  But I think we all know - that movie really received an award for being a successful popular-style movie in the mode of a Steven Spielberg spectacular, and people who saw it mostly really liked it.

Happy Godzilla Day

 

On November 3rd, 1954, Gojira premiered in Japan.  

Let's all celebrate Big G and 72 years of stomping and being a real problem for trains.

G-Watch: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Watched:  11/02/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Ishiro Honda

This movie I may have seen too many times.  

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) is 90 minutes that feels three times longer than that.  I always forget that when I put it on.  

Ostensibly the movie is about how King Ghidorah comes to Earth after devastating Venus, but the movie is 80% about a princess of a country where people dress like they raided a Shakespeare festival getting possessed by the ghost of a Venusian and the problems it causes.  There's a cop who is supposed to help her and his goofy sister who works for a publication that is basically In Search of....

Godzilla doesn't make an appearance until about the 39th minute.  And then disappears again for way too long.  He is goofy and does a "my butt!" jump when Ghidorah stings his butt with Ghidorah-lightning.  I am fine with this, but that's the sort of Godzilla we've got here.

Eventually we get Rodan, Godzilla, Mothra the Faeries, etc...  but holy god is it a long walk to get there.  I did enjoy this movie at one point, but I've seen it too many times, I guess.

We don't even really get how much fun King Ghidorah is as a boo-able villain until Invasion of Astro Monster, a plainly better and more entertaining movie.  

RomCom Watch: The Love Hypothesis (2026)

a movie that fully endorses faculty sleeping with students

Watched:  11/02/2026

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Director:  Claire Scanlon

Jamie reads.  A lot.  Like, tears through books at a clip I admire but also - I only know what she's reading maybe every 1/3rd book.  This was an adaptation of a book she'd read, and she wanted to check it out - and already had.  

As your foremost guy who will put on a Hallmark movie as background noise or to nap to, Jamie was curious about my reaction to what is a modern romcom that hits a lot of Hallmark tropes but allows its characters to exist in a world far closer to our own.  People swear and take off their shirt to do sports.  Gang, there is sex!  With a butt in view!

I mostly know star and Executive Producer Lili Reinhart as the girl who played Betty Cooper on Riverdale on the CW.  She plays Olive, a RomCom trope with legs.  Olive is (a) brilliant but lacks confidence, and is (b) adorably clumsy for exactly one scene.  She's (c) hot but not in a way that will threaten our primary audience (and Olive obviously doesn't know it and somehow no one seems to think so).  Therefore, somehow (d) against all odds, no one seems to ask her out. But (e) of course she doesn't make enough time for herself, she's so dedicated to her work and has no time for love.

This isn't a criticism.  This is like being surprised a cop in a 1980's movie is divorced, drinks too much, is a loose canon, and is partnered with their seeming opposite.  It's how these movies work.  

And it is here I am going to stop my discussion.  This movie was essentially what you think it will be.  It's safe to say, this is fine for streaming as part of the package I already have, but it was not theatrical ready.  And it's good there's a home and market for romcoms that is not Hallmark.

I do think Reinhart was better than the material and she shows signs she could be a thing.  I'd like to see her in some more interesting material.