The Devil Wears a Fatsuit: John Travolta in Hairspray
“Even if the new Hairspray seems a welcome return to camp for Travolta, his mock-seriousness is as frozen as ever.” When Hairspray was released in 1988, cult cinema fans lamented the softening[…]
Actors & Personalities · Directors · Reviews
Looking at Charlie — The Gold Rush: An Occasional Series on the Art and Life of Charlie Chaplin
Hats off, dudes! A masterpiece! The Gold Rush is Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece — the one film in which his desire to make the audience laugh and the desire to make[…]
Imagine a Man in a Box: Berlin Alexanderplatz on DVD
“As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.” Rainer Werner Fassbinder was born in Bavaria in 1945, and made his first feature, Love Is Colder Than Death, in 1969[…]
Oh What a Lovely Jail: Crime Is Old, Crime Is New
Just Like Those Mind-Forged Manacles Blues A desire for revenge is a normal response to crime. Ask anyone who has just had his house burgled or car stolen. But there[…]
Bright Sights: Recent DVDs
An ongoing column that looks at some of the most intriguing of recent, under-the-radar releases The Valentino Collection (The Young Rajah, Moran of the Lady Letty, Stolen Moments, Society Sensation)[…]
“Ode to a Nectarite Harvest”: On Brand Upon the Brain!
Maddin at his most masochistic — and magical For a film as deliriously fecund and fittingly bizarre as Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon the Brain! (2006), declaring the well-deservedness of its[…]
Too Gay, or Not Gay Enough? Greg Mottola’s Superbad
The urge to merge with a splurge — story of my life Personally, I think it’s just wonderful if two young men want to hold hands and shout out their[…]
Covering the Cinema: On Wallpaper in Some Films
What first drew me to the back of the frame, to the thin membrane standing between setting and set? I think it must have been Jacques Demy’s Les Parapluies de[…]
Tonight, Invite Jessica
With DVDs coming out faster than we can watch them, there’s a whole range of great stuff to rent or buy tonight if you’ve no other plans, rent or buy[…]
Halloween Special – 31 Essential Horror Films
This is my ranked list of 31 Essential Horror Films culled from Ed Hardy, Jr.’s 183 Official Nominees for the 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies List. In keeping[…]
Monk After Five Years: Still funny, still no queers
“Well, you know, we only go round once in this life.” “If only I could be sure of that.” And so it goes with Adrian Monk, some-time detective and full-time[…]
The Birds Remake – Too Obvious Casting
Hey, I love Naomi Watts as much as anyone, but you couldn’t find an actress who looks more like Tippi Hedren (The Birds‘ original star) if you tried. Will she[…]
“Eastern” Lives Up to its “Promises” – Mortensen and Mueller-Stahl Knock it out of the Park
I had just about given up on gangster films as a genre. To me, a gangster film is only as interesting as the subculture(s) it reflects, and what can one[…]
Goliath in Repose
There’s a luxury civilian cinema goers have over most critics in formulating opinions on film, namely- the sweet cozy mechanics of memory, which can patch up loose ends in a[…]
Catherine Corman, Joseph Cornell, and Rose Hobart
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUpUKcCrBP8] When I first saw Rose Hobart (excerpted above) back in the 1970s, it was a revelation to me. Its maker, Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), was an American surrealist who specialized[…]
Mickey Kaus, He’s a louse
An imperfect rhyme for an imperfect schmuck. Mickey Kaus joins with Bill “Whore told me I had a big penis” O’Reilly in castigating The Bourne Ultimatum as un-American because, among[…]
Superbad: Too gay, or not gay enough?
Personally, I think it’s just wonderful if two young men want to hold hands and shout out their love for each other from the rooftops. I mean, it’s just wonderful[…]
The Invasion – Metaphor for Everything or Nothing
STOP THE PRESSES! The Invasion sends out (gasp) mixed messages! Well, most Hollywood films send out mixed messages, don’t they? Mixed messages are far more the Hollywood rule than the[…]
America Loves its Big Dumb War
I just saw BOURNE ULTIMATUM but I don’t want to write about that. I want to write about the previews. There were about 10 of them. Here’s the ones I[…]
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