92/2403. Nikki & Nora: Sister Sleuths (2022)
Mom gave up on this Hallmark Mystery Movie early (and often). I'm not quite sure what she hated so much about it. Yes, the plot is silly and contrived with two sisters who... are also silly and contrived. But "Silly and Contrived" is pretty much the Hallmark brand, isn't it? I thought it was fine. Not great. Just fine.

93/2404. Split Second (1953)
The title of this surprisingly taut drama about a hostage situation in a very unfortunate location isn't doing it any favors, but honestly neither would the more accurate "The Petrified Forest But Set at Ground Zero." Of course, The Petrified Forest also had the on-screen star power Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, and Leslie Howard, while the biggest star of Split Second is Dick Powell behind the camera in his directorial debut. All of which is to say that Split Second is passable entertainment that knows better than to overstay its welcome, even if it doesn't manage to be particularly memorable.

94/2405. The Seventh Victim (1943)
The first half of this would lead you to believe that it's a murder mystery, but then it shifts gears into either psychological or supernatural horror (depending on the scene and the characters in it) and then it ends with an off-screen suicide maybe? I've read that much of the script for this was left behind on the cutting room floor, which I can believe, because there are just too many holes in the schizophrenic plot for it to be remotely satisfying. [NOTE: I didn't realize until later that I had previously watched this back in 2014. That's how memorable it is.]

95/2406. Curious Caterer: Foiled Plans (2024)
Silly and contrived? Check and double check. This one is a bit of a locked room mystery, and I love locked room mysteries. I didn't love this one, though, maybe because I've read too many great locked room mysteries to be impressed by mediocre ones. More often than not, it feels like the "locked room" aspect is merely a response to the need to keep the budget down.

96/2407. Hamburger Hill (1987)
This movie spends so much time trying to be an honest presentation of what it felt like to be a sausage in the meat grinder of the Vietnam War that it somehow fails to be entertaining. Was the goal to give the audience PTSD for watching your movie? Mission accomplished.

More to come.

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