This starts with a three minute exposition — we get Freddy’s backstory, and a kinda-sorta wink wink rationale for the movie: People have forgotten Freddy, so we need more?

Wow, they really want you to root for whomever gets to kill these guys, don’t they? It’s a Pro Freddy’n’Jason movie?

Hey, is that whatsisface? Nah, can’t be. Hm… oh yeah, he was in Scary Movie.

Lots of jump scares. People are hating on jump scares now, but I’ve never understood why. Jump scares are what horror movies were made for!

Noo! Not the generic!

OK, now it’s finally Freddy Vs. Jason!

Hey, the concept of this movie isn’t that bad — the kids really want to kill Freddy, so they’re using Jason to try to do that. While trying not to get killed by Jason at the same time. It took a while getting to that point, though…

It made money, but I guess not enough? People wondered why there wasn’t a sequel. Hm… oh, they’re saying there’s problems with the rights?

Anyway, once this finally gets going, it’s surprisingly entertaining. I guess it’s mostly due to the satisfaction of seeing these two loathed evil guys getting really trashed?

Freddy vs Jason. Ronny Yu. 2003. ⚃

This is another movie from the Columbia Noir #1 box set from Indicator. The previous three movies have been somewhat hit or miss…

… and this looks pretty odd. I mean, it looks kinda like a TV episode in the way it’s introduced?

I can understand why the cop is sceptical — how students are 33 years old anyway?

Here are all the students.

Oh right:

The four would-be robbers are clearly all in their 30s yet are in college. This is NOT a case of miscasting but the men are supposed to be veterans going to school on the GI Bill…and during the 1940s and 50s, many older and non-traditional students existed.

I’ll say!

I’m not quite sure what this movie is doing on a Film Noir box set — it’s a comedy that I assume is going to turn into a heist movie at some point?

And now Kim Novak sings a little song.

This movie is all over the place.

OK, now the movie took a sudden turn into noirish territory, and it’s actually starting to get kinda exciting. And we’re only 62 minutes in! So… er… 22 minutes to go.

Man, the first hour of this movie was Snoozeville, Population Me.

Nice beard.

OK, the actual heist plot is so stupid that it’s hard to keep paying attention.

OK, this bit in the automated garage is cool.

Wow, that was really stupid.

For a few minutes I thought this was at least a ⚁ movie, but nope.

5 Against the House. Phil Karlson. 1955. ⚀

This is a pretty interesting movie — as it says in the opening titles, this movie isn’t about spectacular action, but about the quotidian work done by IRS-ish agents trying to track down a criminal.

I mean, there’s a murder and stuff, but so far (at least) it’s mostly been the agents doing their low key work, sort of.

OK, there are some bits where interest lags… but then they do great scenes like this! Masterful.

Right:

Nevertheless, the film authentically portrayed the efforts of Wilson’s team to put together a tax evasion case against Capone, and in many respects, despite the name changes and nondescript settings, the film is a far more accurate depiction of the investigation than later films on the same subject like The Untouchables.

There’s a reason this isn’t a Film Noir classic — it’s a bit on the boring side at times. But! It’s a really original movie, not only for the sorta realistic portrayal of an investigation, but for things like the very moving scene with the Italian grandmother that would have been cut from any reasonable studio movie.

So I’m glad I watched it, even if it isn’t, you know, perfect.

The Undercover Man. Joseph H. Lewis. 1949. ⚃