There’s a certain time period and a class of movies that have mostly passed me by — basically 70s(ish) American drama movies. I mean, I’d rent absolutely any VHS tape that showed up in my local video store in the early 80s (when I was… like 14 when this dropped), but dramas like this often didn’t, and I’ve never made it a point to revisit this period. So I’ve watched tons and tons of 40s and 50s movies, but it just has never occurred to me to poke around this period. Which is just odd, because so many of the movies from this time are things that have been in the cultural zeit-geist for me.

For instance, I had the Joe Jackson album Body and Soul, which starts with a song called “The Verdict”, and I love it, but it’s just never entered my mind to actually watch the movie. Which is why I appreciate that Hazel Flagg lists movies like this, because that makes me go “yes, of course I should watch that movie”.

So here we are. Four and a half decades later.

This movie sure has some names. Not just Newman, but it’s the second movie written by David Mamet (first one was the Cuckoo thing), and the director is Sidney Lumet:

Well, that’s some career… I don’t know how many of those I’ve seen, but it’s a lot.

But he did The Wiz!? I’m amazed they ever let him do another movie…

Yeah, on a distinctly downward trajectory:

But that took a couple decades — he’s still on a roll in 1982, sort of.

Wow, that’s a brown law office… it’s easy to forget that the 70s lasted until around 1984, but movies like this clarify that.

I love what he’s done with the place!

I love what he’s done with his office.

I always love a shot out doorways.

Could she possibly be Irish!?

I wonder whether Clint Eastwood was in the running for this role — it seems like Newman is doing a sort of Eastwoodesque performance to me. I mean, it’s great, but it’s not a very typical Newman performance.

Charlotte Rampling is great here, too, but it’s not a huge role.

I really enjoyed this movie. It’s, like, a proper movie — no nonsense, just the kind of serious film they used to make.

The Verdict. Sidney Lumet. 1982. ⚄

Noo! I hate the multiverse!

Well, I like that they get the origin story over with quickly, just as a montage. I think origin stories are snoresville. When watching a super-hero movie (and it’s been a while), I wanna see super-heroes be super-heroes — I don’t understand why they normally insist on showing us somebody non-super for nine tenths of the time, like in some TV-series…

Well, OK, I like the general design they’re going for, but as usual with movies these days, it just looks depressing: Most colours desaturated, and everything grey-i-fied.

They seem to be going for some colours that dominate in a kinda stylish way, but it’s still muted?

Man, the editing on this is really hectic. No shot lasts more than 1.2s? And… I’m kinda bored already? The dialogues are like those tick tocks where they cut the pauses between words? It’s so offputting.

Man, this movie is brutally boring. It’s like watching a recap of a TV season. Or a clip show. There’s virtually nothing to keep you interested.

But I mean, people love to read plot recaps, so…

Oh no!

OK, picking up now, but some of the effects are really janky — like when the space ship lands, it has no mass…

Some weird choices — like the cars standing still… but the desaturated look really hurts in scenes like this, where it looks like they’re in a very grey and sad universe.

I dunno how to score this one. Of course, the relevant question with super-hero movies is, as, always, “is this better than Madame Web?” And it’s not. I was bored silly for most of the movie. But on the other hand, the actors did their best, probably, and many of the designs looked pretty cool? Let’s go with:

Fantastic 4. Matt Shakman. 2025. ⚂