Clik here to view.
Don’t Nobody Move
The arrival of Shout! Factory’s deluxe Ernie Kovacs box set provides an ideal excuse to doff my cap at one of my heroes. Like Buster Keaton, Ernie Kovacs was a natural-born comedian with an engineer’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
THE TRAILERS THAT MADE MY BRAIN
I spent this morning watching a compilation DVD that was sent to me by filmmaker/artist/musician Cory McAbee. It was titled “TnT” (which stands for Titles and Trailers), and it was the focus of a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Another Visit to a Small Planet
I wonder how many people remember the first film they ever saw in a theater. I remember mine vividly: It was Visit to a Small Planet (1960) starring Jerry Lewis. I was about five or six years old, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An Evening with Elaine May (and ISHTAR)
It is hard to separate a film from its context. This becomes especially clear with Ishtar (1987), Elaine May’s notorious flop that is known more as a punchline than a movie. Last week, 92nd Street Y in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
French / Not-French
I’ve been watching the coverage of Cannes with a lot of interest—and my mouth is positively watering for The Artist, the popular new silent film by Michel Hazanavicius. I haven’t seen it yet, and this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Spanish Cinema Road Trip
Any dedicated cinephile who has traveled to London and Paris knows that those two magnificent cities are a film lovers’ paradise catering to the discerning movie buff with countless repertory cinemas...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shock Theater: “We Guarantee to Bury You Without Charge if You Die of Fright”
Chicago has turned into a real movie-lover’s dream town. From mainstream theaters to art houses to midnight movie series to revival programs, cinephilia is spreading across the city. This Friday, June...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The 2011 Migrating Forms Festival
For the Migrating Forms festival, now in its third year at Anthology Film Archives, a moving image is a moving image. Whether it’s a supercut on YouTube or a gallery installation, programmers Nellie...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Remember My Name …or else.
Anthony Perkins is one of my favorite actors so I was thrilled when I recently got the opportunity to see Alan Rudolph’s 1978 film REMEMBER MY NAME. In the movie Perkins plays a man being stalked by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
William Conrad: The Lost Master of Horror?
Short answer: no. But dig… in 1965, the hard-working Hollywood character actor (THE KILLERS, SORRY WRONG NUMBER, -30-), TV director-for hire (HAVE GUN – WILL TRAVEL, BAT MASTERSON, 77 SUNSET STRIP),...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Baseball, naturally
My family and I are working on a project to visit every one of the thirty MLB parks by the time my daughter graduates high school. Although this does give us a perverse incentive to encourage her to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
INDY CIRCUIT CONTENDERS
I’m in the process of assembling a spreadsheet of films that I’d like to bring to my fall calendar program. As an exhibitor, I wish I could give all (or, at least, most or many) of these films a home....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Ghost of Joe E. Lewis
Each month, I join my movie club for brunch where we engage in a lively discussion of all things cinematic. Being a down-to-earth group with no pretentions, we favor two watering holes on Chicago’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
DVD Tuesday: Fassbinder’s Despair (1978)
Today Olive Films releases two lesser known Rainer Werner Fassbinder films to DVD in strong transfers: I Only Want You to Love Me (1976) and Despair (1978). The first is a bare-bones TV movie, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
John Carpenter’s The Ward (2011)
After a ten-year absence from the screen, John Carpenter’s welcome return is with a haunted insane asylum quickie entitled The Ward (released on cable VOD June 8th, it will receive a limited theatrical...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ANGEL BABY – Elmer Gantry’s Little Sister
After the critical and boxoffice success of ELMER GANTRY in 1960, another film, much smaller in scale and budget, came along that mirrored the latter film both thematically and in some of the plot...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Life With Father
“You think I am brave because I carry a gun; well, your fathers are much braver because they carry responsibility, for you, your brothers, your sisters, and your mothers. And this responsibility is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Happy Father’s Day from the HorrorDads!
The HorrorDads are getting the jump on the holiday weekend with something a little different today. Instead of our customary roundtable discussion, Jeff Allard, Dennis Cozzalio, Paul Gaita, Greg...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Eveything’s negotiable, Pee-Wee
This is how I fell in love with Tim Burton. I knew of Pee-Wee Herman already, from his HBO special. I had watched that thing in endless rotation on HBO, puzzled and perplexed by it. I was just an 11...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Modern Movie-Going Rewards
Last Mother’s Day I wrote a piece titled Modern Movie-Going Punishments. It got a big response. Clearly, a lot of people have had to deal with negative experiences when going out to see movies on the...
View Article