Kicking off May June with a movie a day! (That sentence just flows so much better with "May" in it. Timing really is everything.)

134. One for the Money (2012)
Mom rented this with a 50¢-off coupon from Redbox. For 75¢, it wasn't terrible.

135. The Bishop's Wife (1947)
This movie wanted to cash in on It's a Wonderful Life, but manged to bungle any hint of drama by defining the angel as an infallible agent of good at the outset. It's still charming -- how could a film with Cary Grant and David Niven not be? -- it's just not very engaging.

136. Fire Down Below (1957)
This is another example of some great actors given very little to work with. I was bored with this film after halfway through it's 2-hour running time and just walked away. I later read online that watching the second half of this film is like watching paint dry, so it seems I got out just in time. Next time I'll just watch the delightfully terrible 1997 Steven Segal movie with the same name instead.

137. Island of Love (1963)
This movie wanted to cash in on The Music Man, and mostly succeeds thanks to Robert Preston reprising his own "Harold Hill" persona as a con man with a heart of (stolen) gold. I enjoyed it.

138. Ghost (1990)
Believe it or not, I'd never seen this before. I had no idea it was directed by one of the Zucker brothers of Airplane! fame. This movie would have been far better if the many, many cinema cliches contained within had been played for laughs.

139. Foreign Correspondent (1940)
I'd never seen this Hitchcock film before. Like all Hitchcock films, it has some well-staged set pieces, but it seems to me that the pacing was uneven as Hitchcock struggled to work his signature suspense around an unusually aggressive hero. (The deus ex machina plane crash at the movie's climax is especially painfully drawn-out.) Sure, it's poignant and historically relevant, but I'm not sure I'd say that I agree that it's among Hitchcock's best.

140. The Wild One (1953)
If this film were made 10-years later, it would have been a drive-in b-feature. Based on the anecdotes I've heard over time, the childish personality that Marlon Brando portrays in the film is the same as what I have always assumed the man was like in real life. Obviously, I've never really cared for Brando as an actor, and this film didn't change my mind.

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To be continued...

 

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