The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (10) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (2) | DVD (2)
A capable cast, headed by Jean Simmons and Robert Mitchum, and a nice, taut story idea have been set adrift in a pretentious Freudian mist that wafts through the handsomely mounted proceedings with disastrous results.
Superb Freudian crime thriller, noir-inflected in theme but shot by and large in crisp, bright drawing-rooms.
The sets, characters, and actions are extremely stylized, yet Preminger's moving camera gives them a frightening unity and fluidity, tracing a straight, clean line to a cliff top for one of the most audacious endings in film history.
Preminger transforms a second rate James M. Cain murder plot, re-orchestrating this textbook tale of passion and murder into a haunting and haunted refrain
For all of its unbelievability, Angel Face is consistently suspenseful under Preminger's sure direction. In short, you're never sure what that crazy woman will do next.
One of the best yet still underestimated film noir, boasting gloriously detailed mise-en-scene from Otto Preminger and a revelatory performance by the cast-against- type Jean Simmons as a murderess femme fatale.
...never quite achieves lift-off...
This skilfully constructed noir, while not quite as convincing as some, still serves as a reminder that sometimes beautiful people can be the most dangerous.
For the average viewer, this early fifties RKO noir might seem a tad slow, even a bit dreary. But if you look closer, what you'll find is an unnerving study of inertia and the empty blandness of your average murderer.
An outstanding melodrama.
An ordinary man gets mixed up with a dangerous girl. Not anything new, but it's a good movie with good actors.
Super Reviewer
Robert Mitchum plays Frank, an ambulance driver with dreams of opening a sports car repair shop. He has a very pretty girlfriend (Mona Freeman) that he treats very casually, especially when he meets other hot dames. One night, on a call at a ritzy mansion, he discovers what is obviously a plot by a wealthy socialite to kill her stepmother. However, he's a little bit intrigued by the socialite (Jean Simmons), and she seems more than a little interested in her, so he takes her out. Soon, Frank's life is filled with promises of money and it seems as though his dreams will all come true, if only he can turn the other way for a little while. Director Otto Preminger uses the Hays code to his advantage as the twists and turns of this crime drama unfold. While Mitchum isn't exactly oozing charisma (and Simmons' socialite perhaps oozes too much), the end result is something entirely fascinating to watch. Is Mona Freeman's no-nonsense character a proto-feminist? She sees Simmons' little plots and ploys very early on, and has the nerve to call her out on them. I also think the courtroom scenes deserve a lot credit. I enjoyed the interplay between the two lawyers, and Leon Ames breaks ground he'd later revisit in The Postman Always Rings Twice (as an exceedingly clever lawyer). A great example of the genre from the 1950s.
Oh, I dug this. Preminger delivers solid Beverly Hills noir with a dollop of Freudian melodrama. Mitchum is great as a super cynical "I'm wise to you" pragmatist who still winds up taking the fall for the nutty dame. Nutty dames...
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