Sightseers (UK, 2012)

The initially unexpected violence is theatrical, but a little on the gratuitous/casual side.

Entertaining, unusual and original enough, it is also well photographed.

Better regarded as a pisstake than taken seriously.

Scarlet Street (US, 1945)

Never been a fan of the overrated Fritz Lang, even his American noir-era output. This however is a pleasant surprise; a decent noir, once again legally viewable online at www.archive.org.

L'Enfer (FR, 1994)

A hostelry keeper in rural France groundlessly begins to suspect his curvaceous, doting younger wife of infidelity, and ends up losing the proverbial completely.

Scripted initially by Clouzot in 1964, it retains a structural feel, bringing to mind Polanski's Repulsion. It ends ambiguously.

Regarded as one of late Chabrol's better pieces, it's kinda hard to know what to make of it.

Kiss of Death (US, 1947)

Upper-crust noir-ish piece in which a convict agrees to play ball with the cops and testify against his erstwhile partners in crime.

It's nicely, clearly filmed and care-aboutable enough to watch in one sitting.

A straightforward crime yarn, it's got me wondering: did the earlier noirs have can't-make-head-nor-tail-of it "plots", the mid/later period relatively conventional, easy-to-follow ones?

Argo (US, 2012)

Post-revolution Iran. American diplomats with a price on their head (literally) must go underground. A fake film crew arrives undercover to spring them out, but the odds are heavily stacked against them.

It's a good thriller; several of the incidents seem highly, highly unlikely, and thus all the more remarkable when one is reminded that the film is largely based on fact.

The File on Thelma Jordan (US, 1950)

Noir-ish crime/romance/courtroom drama, not as taut as more 'noir noirs' but worth a look. Again, it's available in the film noir section of archive.org.

The Master (US, 2012)

The film that's not about Scientology that is about Scientology.

An unstable, drunken, violent naval veteran takes up with a charismatic leader of what appears to be a cult. The cult's soundbytes encompass time-travel, hypnotism, mysticism and a fair amount of "make it up as you along".

The film illustrates the extraordinary lengths to which the 'Master' goes to win the mind of one person, and how some people will buy into esoteric mumbo-jumbo which mightn't make much sense but lures one in with its "something".

Not as great as it's been talked up to be, but it is a good, well-produced and thought-provoking film. The scene leading up to Dodd's interruption by a skeptic is spellbinding.

This as good a place as any to drop the classic track by The Fall, "Riddler". This is the live version, sorry, there's no other on YT at the moment.