Clik here to view.
Jean Renoir’s Less Grand Illusion
There’s a risk in peaking too early. Just ask Jean Renoir—one of the greatest names in cinema history, whose prolific career was eclipsed by its first act. Having made too many masterpieces as a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Last Picture Show
“I thought you might want to go to the picture show. Miss Mosey is having to close it. Tonight’s the last night.” – Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) How is it that nobody has done a modern version of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Julie vs. Julie: The 1965 Oscar Race
Tonight’s line-up on TCM features the five films nominated in 1965 for Best Art Direction-Set Direction (Black and White). It is an impressive and diverse selection: Ship of Fools, King Rat, The Spy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Documentary Fortnight: Highlights From MoMA’s Non-Fiction Showcase
Since 2001 the Museum of Modern Art has hosted “Documentary Fortnight”, a series devoted to formal innovations in non-fiction filmmaking. It’s where talking heads go to die. This year’s edition...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When is Casting Unacceptable?
Today, on TCM, The Year of Living Dangerously plays as a part of TCM’s annual 31 Days of Oscar. For that movie, Linda Hunt won Best Supporting Actress. It was a significant win. Why? Because Linda...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Brutal Truth Found In 12 Years a Slave
On Sunday many of us will be glued to our television sets watching the annual Oscar ceremony unfold. At this time of year I tend to contemplate all the new releases I’ve seen in the past 12 months or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Precipageddon is upon us!
It’s raining in Los Angeles and we’re afraid. Rain does that to us, occurring as it does here so infrequently. Our terra firma is too sun-baked to properly absorb precipitation and there is too much...
View ArticleClik here to view.
While the City Sleeps: Hell, Yeah!
Last week’s post on Jean Renoir’s The Elusive Corporal brought to light a pocket of fans of Fritz Lang’s While the City Sleeps—and so in honor of that long-suffering cohort, this week I figured I’d...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Movies That Never Stood a Chance
TCM wraps up 31 Days of Oscar tomorrow night, one day after the Oscars themselves run tonight. Soon the newest Best Picture Oscar will be handed out and already there are plenty of critics and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Alain Resnais: Gone Home to Marienbad
I had originally planned to write a light-hearted post about Las Vegas to go with this week’s airing of Ocean’s 11 until I heard about the death of Alain Resnais, one of the original French New Wave...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Raft Noir: Nocturne (1946) and Red Light (1949)
George Raft started out on his toes, dubbed the “The Fastest Charleston Dancer” in a 1925 issue of Variety. That agility never quite carried over to the big screen, but the maniacal focus did. Note...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Triangulating an Actor’s Career
Dodsworth plays tonight on TCM and it remains a personal favorite, a movie I emotionally connect with and a lead performance, by Walter Huston, I find to be quite amazing. Walter Huston has always...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Play it Again, Morricone: FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965)
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965) airs on TCM tonight, March 6th, and again on March 31st. After the troubled release of A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) director Sergio Leone wasn’t particularly interested in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who is Larry Cravat?
Some of us movie know-it-alls had a bit of fun this past week taking the piss out of a little internet item titled “5 Classic Film Noirs You’ve Never Seen,” whose premise has the gall to suggest that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Suture Effect (or, “wait, what?”)
One of my favorite bits from His Girl Friday is when Cary Grant’s character explains to a minion how to recognize Ralph Bellamy’s character: “He looks like that fella, you know, Ralph Bellamy.” It was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
WHEELS IN THE SKY KEEP ON TURNING
This Thursday TCM is featuring four films that fall under the theme of European Auto Racing: Le Mans (Lee H. Katzin, 1971), Grand Prix (John Frankenheimer, 1966), The Racers (Henry Hathaway, 1955),...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Salute to the Small Screen: ‘Screen Directors Playhouse’
My generation grew up watching Hollywood classics on television, expanded our tastes through the provocative movies of the Film School Generation, and then witnessed the return to genre–based...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Counterfeiter: Trapped (1949)
After Howard Hughes purchased RKO Pictures in 1948, the release slate was severely curtailed. Of the forty-nine features planned for 1949, only twelve were made, three of which were directed by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oops! Wrong Favorite Movie
In the comments of my last post, the 1964 comedy Father Goose came up in the conversation. Directed by Ralph Nelson and starring Cary Grant and Leslie Caron, I responded that it was a favorite of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Unfinished Films: Where Can I Buy My Ticket?
This month JODOROWSKY’S DUNE (2013) will finally be leaving the festival circuit and getting a wider release on March 21st. Frank Pavich’s new documentary chronicles the long strange and turbulent...
View Article