The Miracle Worker: An Interview with Arthur Penn
“If the system is inimical to you, then you do whatever you can to alter your relationship to the system.”
Jesus Fucking Christ: Lars von Trier’s Antichrist
The scandal-plagued release of Lars von Trier’s latest film inspired Jack Stevenson, American expat in Copenhagen, to take a deeper look at the film in a Danish context.
Atom Egoyan’s Adoration: A Return to Form(s)?
“In classic Egoyan style, the humor is always also terrifying. . .”
Quickies: Random Short Reviews from The Country Teacher to Osessione to Underbelly
“As soon as my health is in jeopardy, everybody shows up to lick my ass!”
We Got Announcements
Herewith is a new occasional announcement entry for various and sundry doings by Bright Lights writers and friends that may interest readers. First, our pal Bob Moricz, future reviewer of[…]
A Couple of Bagheads
Saw a couple baghead movies over the weekend and am still sleeping with the lights on. What’s so scary about a bag over a head? Who knows, but it works.[…]
Two More for the Movie Bookshelf
Having already submitted a list of ten to Movieman’s Movie Bookshelf meme, a “gathering of all the movie books that influenced, enlightened, and excited me, you, and everyone else,” I[…]
Fellini, Michael Jackson, and La Voce della Luna (1990)
In America, the 1960s were the golden age of the foreign film. Film directors like Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard, Ingmar Bergman, and Alain Resnais were considered “superstars,” and[…]
Directors · Exploitation & Erotica · Reviews
Ed Wood Blogathon: Screwy Details in THE NIGHT OF THE GHOULS
It’s a shame that Ed Wood’s last non-skin film, NIGHT OF THE GHOULS (1959), had to go unseen all through the prime time of Wade Williams’ TV horror package. It[…]
Directors · Exploitation & Erotica · Reviews
José Mojica Marins Meets the Spirit of Ed Wood in the World of Coffin Joe
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLgx38t7AQ4] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAdAixzYq-k] Thank you, Spirit of Ed Wood Blogathon, for giving me an excuse to write about José Mojica Marins, the Brazilian screenwriter, director, and star of films every bit[…]
La Décade Prodigieuse – Ten Days’ Wonder (Claude Chabrol 1971)
Why Ten Days’ Wonder? I certainly wouldn’t call it one of Chabrol’s masterpieces. That’s a description I’d reserve for Les Bonnes Femmes, Le Boucher, Ã Double Tour, La Rupture, The[…]
Loving Michael
One of our writers, Prof. Stephane Dunn, sent in this personal tribute to dazzling, wounded, now dead Michael Jackson. We loved his artistry and his mysterious and powerful presence in[…]
Chabrol is in the Air (6/21-30) 10 Days’ Wonder
In case you’re asleep at your desk (like me) I should tell you there’s a whole Chabrolian hooplah going on over at the amazing Flickhead! I’ve always liked Chabrol’s weird[…]
Klueless Kael
The upcoming release of Alain Resnais’s classic Last Year at Marienbad on Blu-ray DVD reminds us that Marienbad was one of the many formally ambitious films released in the 1960s[…]
My Dinner with Andre again…Again!
The post before last made me unearth these notes I once wrote after first seeing the film. Maybe they’ll add a little something here. Although from a stylistic perspective[…]
My Dinner with André and the Meaning of Life (well, sort of)
[My Dinner with André comes out on DVD from the Criterion Collection on Tuesday] Watching My Dinner with André for the first time at age 15 was my introduction not[…]
10 (or More) Film Books That Made Me What I Am Today
Speaking of books – having been invited by Movieman to contribute to his Reading the Movies meme, I submit a list of the 10-plus film-related books that had the greatest[…]
DRAG ME TO HELL / STUCK – Women in Trouble
The first is a supernatural horror film. The second is a horror story without any trace of the supernatural. Otherwise, they are remarkably similar. Both apply the horror film’s fundamental[…]
Actors & Personalities · Reviews
The Great Roles of Christopher Lee’s Maturity
How can anyone not marvel that two of Gothic Cinema’s greatest performers, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price, were born on the same day? Christopher Lee was born on May 27,[…]
Actors & Personalities · Directors · Reviews
Josef Von Sternberg’s Super-Masochist Sublimation Power!
Reading Joseph Aisenberg’s excellent piece (below) I’m compelled to offer my understanding of the great Von Sternberg’s stylistic obsessiveness, especially since it’s something I understand and share. (This began as[…]
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