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Actress Jessica Harper — And She Can Cook, Too!
I don’t know how many of you fell in love with the winsome and talented Jessica Harper back — well, back nearly 40 years ago, longer than many of you have probably been alive — but if you were among...
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Orson Welles’ Irish Ghost Story
I love a good ghost story and some of the best ones ever written have come from the hearts and minds of Irish authors. But very few of them have been adapted for the screen. Horror movies set in...
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Remembering the unforgettable Michael Gough
Likely to exist as but a blip on the radar of the international news outlets in the wake of the rising death toll related to the Japanese tsunamis is the passing of British character actor Michael...
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Making of is hard to do
When I am asked what got me into movies in the first place, the simple answer (and the wrong one) is STAR WARS. In 1977 I was seven, an impressionable age. STAR WARS showed me that movies could be an...
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An Ancient Tale With a New Skin: FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES
Next to William Shakespeare, Sophocles is probably the most enduring and internationally renowned dramatist in terms of his work still being adapted for the stage, television and cinema. But I doubt...
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Cine-Fun at Night School
This session of Night School, the midnight movie series at Facets Multi-Media, has just passed the halfway point. Night School does not run consecutively but is offered in sessions of five to ten...
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The Nearest Thing to Heaven: Love Affair (1939)
When two deeply affecting films are viewed in quick succession, they start to speak to each other. This weekend I watched Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) and Love Affair (1939), both...
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Elizabeth Taylor in Velvet
“I want it all quickly ’cause I don’t want God to stop and think and wonder if I’m getting more than my share.” – Elizabeth Taylor as Velvet Brown in National Velvet (1944) A blur of thousands of words...
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Goodbye Goddess: Elizabeth Taylor 1932-2011
Elizabeth Taylor has always been one of my favorite actresses. She was an incredible natural beauty. Arguably the most beautiful actress Hollywood ever produced but she was also a brilliant performer...
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Looking At Elizabeth Taylor
Note: Please read fellow Morlock Kimberly’s wonderful appreciation of Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor who died today, Wednesday, March 23, 2010, at the age of 79. Her post is beautiful! But since...
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The Horror Dads in SALEM’S LOT
The Horror Dads reconvene for a roundtable discussion of Tobe Hooper’s 1979 miniseries SALEM’S LOT, an adaptation of the bestselling novel by Stephen King about a vampire plague in a quiet (and growing...
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Where are the Nazis in CLUNY BROWN?
Where are the Nazis in CLUNY BROWN? I know this isn’t a question that’s probably been burning inside much of anyone else besides me, but I recently suffered me way through the awkward and disappointing...
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Parting Thoughts with Director Alex Cox
In my last blog post I transcribed the first half of an informal interview I had with Repo Man director Alex Cox a couple weeks ago. In this second half of that interview we talk about movies he’d...
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Rango: An Animated Feature for Adults
I’m not a fan of contemporary animated feature films for a couple of reasons. First, the various types of computer-generated animation—from motion capture to Pixar’s three-dimensional photorealism—lack...
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DVD Double Bill: The Vanquished and Stars in My Crown
In the third and final short film in Michelangelo Antonioni’s The Vanquished (I Vinti, 1953), a youthful British strangler walks out of a double bill at The Saffron theater. The headliner is the Esther...
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Before They Were Stars: Part II
Millie Perkins wants to rent you a car (1958) Last year I shared some early photos and advertisements featuring young fresh faced models before they became movie stars. It’s always a surprise to come...
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“Burn it!”
When I was a kid, the best plastic soldier to have — after the Guy with the .45 and Binoculars and the Guy with the M3 — was the Guy with the Flamethrower (pictured above). None of us kids knew...
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Truthier than strange
With Blockbuster’s implosion, I’ve recently been plundering the wreckage of some of these dead stores, seeking bargains amongst the “everything must go” detritus. As I shopped the other day, I...
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Not on Netflix: My Dream List Queue, Part 1
I’m a habitual listmaker and one list I am always revising is the short list of films I long to see. Occasionally titles fall off the list as they become available on DVD, Blu-Ray or via streaming but...
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Hoppin’ Down the Bunny Trail: Night of the Lepus
While battling insomnia last week, I got involved in a late-night Facebook chat about Night of the Lepus, an eco-horror flick featuring giant killer rabbits. Some FB friends recalled being spooked by...
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