Celebrating 40 Years of Anne Heche
All stars are subject to fits of madness, and if you date a daytime TV talkshow host for long enough, who knows what kind of depths of self-confessional martyrdom you[…]
Category: Artists
Actors & Personalities · Exploitation & Erotica · Pre-Code
Desperation and Divinity: “Help us, Mae!”
Hazy thoughts on the transition from real sex to digital hallucinations
Actors & Personalities · Interviews
“Strong, Righteous, and Rustic”: An Interview with Joel McCrea
“I told Hitchcock, ‘I do miss my horse.'”
Impressions of an Auteur, Tehran Today: Talking with Iranian Director Khosrow Sinai
“This situation requires the filmmakers to be more creative in handling their mostly simple stories, which sometimes are so simple as to seem very modern and minimalistic.”
Tex Avery: Arch-Radicalizer of the Hollywood Cartoon
“Tex Avery — Arch Radicalizer of the Hollywood Cartoon” consists of slightly glorified program notes that I wrote for the Zagreb Animation Festival in 1978. It was a big hit in the Old World and was published in Russian, Croatian, Dutch, French, and Italian (twice), but the only time it ever got printed in English was by Gary Morris in his cinephile-revered rag called Bright Lights. Now, thirty-one years later, Mr. Morris has decided to reissue the piece online. I have forgone attempting any actual rewrites, though, because the observations have not dated especially egregiously, except for my discussion of the then-current state of cartoon criticism. The biggest faux pas contained herein is my overconfident assertion that cel animation would inevitably dominate the future of the medium (oops – maybe not), as CGI was then but a distant pixel on the historical horizon.
Actors & Personalities · Asian · Silents
The Goddess in Her Element: Ruan Lingyu in Shanghai
“This is an actress who shows excitement down to the curl of her fingers, and whose face reveals every kind of mercurial change.”
Actors & Personalities · Interviews · Sports
Return of the Obsessed: James Toback Steps into the Ring Again with Tyson
“And then he said, ‘It’s like a Greek tragedy. The only problem is, I’m the subject.'”
The Complete A of Altruism: In Which the Selfish Gene Explains Everything
Except whether to laugh or cry
Actors & Personalities · Documentaries
“Just Another Man”: On James Toback’s Tyson
“Toback, to his credit, and despite the empathy he feels toward his subject, doesn’t pull his punches.”
The Tale of 3 Pauls: Coincidence, Confusion & Sex
1. PAUL THOMAS (dir. Bad Housewives, The Masseuse, The New Devil in Mrs. Jones) – A real actor (he played Peter in the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar), Paul[…]
Actors & Personalities · Reviews
Bride of the Joker: Thoughts on Jolie
As we prepare for Oscar once again, we see Angelina Jolie nominated for being in Clint’s “craftsmanship” film, CHANGELING. I heartily admire Jolie but, for my money, she’s never found[…]
OMF Godard There’s a Hitch in my stitch
Over time it becomes more and more obvious that as a species humans really aren’t much more than a bunch of monkeys. And our monkey brains, motivated with banana dreams[…]
Is Cheeta an Imposter?
As reported in the Los Angeles Times – In Hollywood, “even the animals lie about their age.” Cheeta may not be 75 years old. He may not even be[…]
Hotter Younger Sister Thing #7: Gail Patrick as Cornelia Bullock in MY MAN GODFREY
I know Cornelia isn’t necessarily the “younger” sister in Gregory La Cava’s classic screwball comedy, MY MAN GODFREY (1936), but she was born three years earlier (than Lombard) and damn[…]
Actors & Personalities · Reviews
Cooler Younger Sister Effect: Barbara Rush in MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
The recent Criterion release of MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1954) makes a good–not great, but still worthy–addition to our cooler younger sister collection. This 1954 Douglas Sirk soap was a big,[…]
Robert Ryan: A Moon for the Misbegotten
“I have been in films pretty well everything I am dedicated to fighting against.”
Activist & Political · Directors · Interviews
Maps and Movies: Talking with Deepa Mehta
“I think it’s really important for you, or anybody who wants to be a filmmaker, to really be honest with yourself.”
Jean-Pierre Melville, Director: Notes on the French Auteur’s Career
“The film was shot in what would become a blueprint for the director’s production style — without authorization, studio resources, or sufficient funds.”
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