The Naked City is available for Netflix Instant Streaming.
The Naked City is a different breed of cat when it comes to the Hollywood Studio System Era of the 1920 through the 50s. The Naked ...
Wednesday 31 July 2013
Changing Styles: Why Change Your Wife? (1920)
The inter-war years were undoubtably tremendous times of change, but the crux of this happened in the years immediately following The Great War, and no one highlighted this better than Cecil B. DeMille. By DeMille’s stylish use of the gorgeous Gloria...
DVD Review: The Power of Myth: 25th Anniversary Editon
Any serious cinephile cannot afford to ignore the seminal six-hour campfire conversation between journalist Bill Moyers and scholar Joseph Campbell that aired on PBS in 1988 under the title The Power of Myth. Hell, any serio...
TIFF Announces Midnight Madness Lineup for 2013 Fest
Midnight Madness, the thrilling, chilling, and often gory celebration of cinematic shock, returns to the 38th Toronto International Film Festival for its 25th year. Yes, 25 years.
This year's anniversary programme, from returning programmer Colin ...
This year's anniversary programme, from returning programmer Colin ...
Grizzly Man (2005)
Director Werner Herzog paints a thoughtful, and at times disturbing, portrait of a man out of touch with reality in this doc. The principal subject is Timothy Treadwell, the titular Grizzly Man who has made it his mission to...
Tuesday 30 July 2013
Only God Forgives: Some Assembly Required
I'm being low-key about it but amongst some circles (just my buddy and myself on the phone) I have started to affectionately dub 2013: The year of trip/cinema. Look beyond the river-bend and you can discover a select slew of subversive films (out the...
DVD Review: Tales of the City: 20th Anniversary Edition
The impact of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City and its 1993 television mini-series probably cannot be underestimated. I'm no sociologist, but I distinctly remember the revelation of seeing gay couples on television, a ci...
Monday 29 July 2013
3 Classic Film Crossovers That Would Have Been Epic
The age of the crossover is upon us - even the fiercest of television enemies (such as Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin) are joining together for even just a little bit of screen time. There are some older films that really could have profited from a ...
Overlooked Gems: Sightseers (2012)
It should be offered as a warning that Sightseers (2012), is not going to be a movie to appeal to everyone. It’s dark (very, very dark), with an often cruel comic sensibility, and has the kind of deadpan humor w...
The Netflix Queue: Jackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown is now available for streaming on Netflix.
It’s no secret that I’m a huge Quentin Tarantino fan. One of my goals in life is to meet him, proceed to get smashed, and fall into an ongoing conversation ...
It’s no secret that I’m a huge Quentin Tarantino fan. One of my goals in life is to meet him, proceed to get smashed, and fall into an ongoing conversation ...
Sunday 28 July 2013
Indie Watch: The Winking Boy
A rest and rehabilitation facility isn’t an obvious setting for a comedy. Most narratives about the infirm, their caregivers, and their surroundings focus on tragic circumstances, but those sad stories often omit scenes that would present even the sl...
The Netflix Queue: Mammoth (2009)
Mammoth is available for streaming on Netflix.
Michelle Williams is a bit of a Hollywood anomaly: she’s an A-list actress who has never really been in a major Hollywood blockbuster. This year’s disappointing Oz: The...
Michelle Williams is a bit of a Hollywood anomaly: she’s an A-list actress who has never really been in a major Hollywood blockbuster. This year’s disappointing Oz: The...
Saturday 27 July 2013
Midnight Maddness: The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)
Welcome to the first article for Midnight Movies! A new weekly column bringing you reviews, scatter-brained ramblings and other oddities all focusing on cinema's more wild, bizarre and darkly weird entries. For today we're going to touch upon a film ...
Friday 26 July 2013
Review: Only God Forgives (2013)
In a recent Reddit AMA, acclaimed art house director Nicholas Winding Refn expressed interest in the possibility of making a trilogy of dreamy ul...
10 Things About Some Like It Hot
Recently, I had the pleasure of revisiting Billy Wilder's 1959 masterpiece Some Like It Hot at Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox. The film was introduced by director Ivan Reitman and he cited numerous reasons as to why Wilder's c...
Thursday 25 July 2013
Top 10 Unhappy Movie Endings
Everyone of us probably has that one particular film where no matter how many times we view it, we still feel that sad, gloomy feeling once it's over. There's often something extremely cathartic about a film where you can have a good, hard cry afterw...
The Mubi Cinematheque: Strike (1925)
Strike is currently available for streaming on Mubi. Get a free trial and watch it today.
Strike (Russian title Stachka) was dire...
Strike (Russian title Stachka) was dire...
Wednesday 24 July 2013
What A Way To Go! (1964)
What a concept! What a cast! What a wardrobe! Twentieth Century-Fox’s film What A Way To Go! is quite the star-studded affair. I mean you can’t really go wrong with a Betty Comden and Adolph Green screenplay, J. Lee Thompson...
2013 Toronto International Film Festival Lineup Announced
When Piers Handling and Cameron Bailey took the stage yesterday to announce the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival preliminary lineup, Handling mentioned we had a mere 44 days to the start of the festival. The gathered media sent up a little co...
Documentary: The Imposter (2012)
The Imposter feels like an elaborate fiction that could only exist as a summer blockbuster - and could not possibly be true. It begins as the story of a missing child from San Antonio, Texas, but then twists into an investig...
Tuesday 23 July 2013
Jared Bratt Forms a Judgment Night Meetup Group
I said it before, I'll say it again, the little-seen (or little talked about) movie Judgment Night (1993) starring Emillio Estevez, is one of my favorite suspense/thrillers ever committed to celluloid. Directed by a pre-Blown Aw...
Monday 22 July 2013
Top 5 Reasons Why William Powell and Myrna Loy are One of the Best Movie Couples Ever
Growing up, I always loved watching classic film couples interact. I hate to sound like "that guy," but the chemistry just felt more genuine than some of the sloppily thrown together couples of today (I mean, just look at every couple in New Year...
Movie Review: Picnic (1955)
So Picnic... geez, where do I even start with Picnic? In the course of the movie, Kim Novak's Madge has the occasion to say, "What good is it only being pretty? I get tired of being looked at." That...
The Netflix Queue: Upstream Color (2013)
Upstream Color is now available for streaming on Netflix.
Scopolamine is a powerful, dangerous drug. In fact, it’s so damaging that it is widely known as “The Devil’s Breath.” Derived from the flowers of the South Americ...
Scopolamine is a powerful, dangerous drug. In fact, it’s so damaging that it is widely known as “The Devil’s Breath.” Derived from the flowers of the South Americ...
Sunday 21 July 2013
Indie Watch: A Day's Messing
For contemporary filmmakers, recreating the aesthetics of pre-sound cinema is a double-edged sword. The idea seems like a screenwriting shortcut (“Hey! I don’t need to write dialogue!”), but its execution involves far more than an absence of talking....
The Netflix Queue: Love (2011)
Love (2011) is available for streaming on Netflix.
Did you know the guy from Blink 182 made a movie? I didn’t either, but after being incorrectly informed that Tom Delonge had wri...
Did you know the guy from Blink 182 made a movie? I didn’t either, but after being incorrectly informed that Tom Delonge had wri...
Saturday 20 July 2013
Overlooked Gems: Quartet (2012)
There was no film I found more delightful or surprising last year than the music-themed feature Quartet. Not A Late Quartet (although a film also worth seeking out) but the British dramedy about a retired quartet of...
The Necromation of Ladislaw Starewicz
The etymology of the word ‘animation’ comes from the Latin animātiō, which means the act of giving life to something. I have always felt that the true Latin meaning has a slight Frankenstein vibe to it because before bringing l...
Friday 19 July 2013
49 Years, 49 Films: Part 1
It is with great sadness that I announce that next week I shall be 49 years old. Ouch! Perhaps the only way to lessen the blow is to look back and give you my personal birthday list for the best film of each year, from 1964 to 2013. With such a ma...
Movie Review: My Man Godfrey (1936)
With the emergence of the "screwball comedy" in the 1930s, Hollywood discovered a sure-fire way to lift the spirits of an American populace struggling to survive the Depression. Audiences sought a reprieve from their daily hardships in the form of be...
Thursday 18 July 2013
Top Five Disastrous Film Weddings
To bring out an old cliche, weddings are meant to be the happiest day of your life. On screen, however, they can often be far from perfect. Anyone who's ever seen a soap opera will know what a screaming, fighting, sobbing frenzy they can be portrayed...
The Mubi Cinematheque: Don't Drink the Water (1994)
Don't Drink the Water is currently available on Mubi. Sign up for a free trial of Mubi here.
Prolific Writer/Actor/Director Woody Allen (aka Al...
Prolific Writer/Actor/Director Woody Allen (aka Al...
Wednesday 17 July 2013
Talk To Me, Harry Winston: Cinematic Baubles
They sparkle, glisten and pop on-screen and off. Hollywood jewels have been catching our eyes and hearts since movies began. These cinematic baubles have adorned our favorite male and female stars, their clothes, and accessories. The...
Blogdanovich
For most film bloggers, there's probably a little niggling fear of doubt when that blog is launched - who will read this? will anyone care? am I talking to myself. I'm going to hazard a guess, though, that there blog nightmares did not plague Peter B...
Movie Review: Following Sean (2005)
When he was in university, filmmaker Ralph Arlyck made a highly publicized documentary about a kid named Sean. He was a cute kid, who at four years old was smoking grass and had free roam of his Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Sean’s parents were Ralph’...
Tuesday 16 July 2013
Crushing on Danny Boyle
Director Danny Boyle's films are kind of like giving someone a gift wherein its wrapping would suggest that the present underneath is indeed a bike but then upon unraveling the outer-paper, our gift-getter soon realize...
The Criterion Contraption
We all remember Julie who cooked her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and we're all familiar with bloggers who are working their way through 1001 Movies to See Before You Die. But it was only yesterday tha...
Cult Movies: Brothers of the Head (2005)
How do you make an inoffensive exploitation film? How do you make a polite film about rude boys? Directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe must have had those questions in mind when working on the mild and unshocking conjoined-twin punk-rock faux-documen...
Monday 15 July 2013
Top 3 Screen Screams
One of the cheesiest things in movies is a bad screen scream. You just sort of sit and cringe and just pray for it to be over. There are some screams, however, that are truly bloodcurdling and terrifying. Just even thinking about these horrible scree...
Kick Ass Ladies in Film - Lucille Fay LeSueur as Joan Crawford
That's right - I'm talking about the ultimate in female bad assery - Joan Crawford as... herself. From her humble beginnings as a contract hoofer to her final starring role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pepsi Cola Co., Crawfor...
The Man on the Flying Trapeze
The Man on the Flying Trapeze is a nice little movie blog from David Inman, focusing on Hollywood classics from the years 1925-1935. We're sold!
And you get exactly what's advertised at The Man on the Flying T...
And you get exactly what's advertised at The Man on the Flying T...
The Comedy (2012)
I’m huge fan of Tim Heidecker and Eric Warheim. Since adolescence, my sense of humor has been routed in awkard moments, slapstick, farce, and babies farting. I’ve seen every episode of "Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job!" more times tha...
Sunday 14 July 2013
Kick Ass Ladies in Film - Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor
You know those stories detailing mothers developing super-human strength and lifting a car off their child? Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor takes that idea to the nth degree in both The Terminator and Terminator 2:...
Saturday 13 July 2013
Kick Ass Ladies in Film - Sigourney Weaver as Ripley
You don't talk kick ass ladies in film without talking Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in 1986's Aliens. And we're not talking metaphorically either - Ripley actually puts boot to butt frequently. Sure, she has a warm and fuzzy s...
Friday 12 July 2013
Review: Mississippi Mermaid (1970)
Mississippi Mermaid airs on TCM Friday, July 12th & Monday, August 12th. Check local listings for times.
Crime fiction has been a go-to resource for screenwriters since the dawn of film. (Fantomas
Crime fiction has been a go-to resource for screenwriters since the dawn of film. (Fantomas
Overlooked Gem: Child's Play (1972)
And important word of warning…the film Child’s Play I’ll be recommending is not a 1980s horror movie about a walking talking doll with the soul of a demon. While also worthy, I don’t think anyone needs to be reminded of that...
Kick Ass Ladies in Film - Frances McDormand as Marge
Really has there ever been a more kick ass lady in film than Frances McDormand as Marge in Fargo? Not only did she wear the pants in the family - Norm might have made awesome eggs, but he didn't make many decisions - she tra...
The Stop Button
The Stop Button isn't exactly your average bear of a film blog. Rather than reviews, so to speak, The Stop Button is made of responses. As the operator says, "Reviews have a structure (or should) and people eit...
Book Review: Joan Crawford: A Biography
Much like the character of Joan Crawford that she created as her glamorous Hollywood alter ego, Lucille LaSueur was an enigma.
Early on in her film career, when MGM producers shuddered at the thought of audiences struggling to pronounce their new ...
Early on in her film career, when MGM producers shuddered at the thought of audiences struggling to pronounce their new ...
Thursday 11 July 2013
Top 10 Best Dressed Movie Characters
Whether it's The Joker's bright purple suit, The Bride's vivid yellow tracksuit or Dorothy's ruby red slippers, sometimes a costume can become as famous as the film it's included in. The history of cinema is abundant with well dressed men and women (...
Kick Ass Ladies in Film - Marlene Dietrich as Lola Lola
Marlene Dietrich as Lola Lola in The Blue Angel might very well be the blueprint from every kick ass lady in film to follow. Lola Lola is in control - she owns her sexuality, a shocking idea in 1930...
Classic Film Freak
Classic Film Freak, run by the charmingly nom-de-plumed Orson DeWelles, is a nice little site devoted to Hollywood in 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Being something of freaks ourselves, I gotta say that Pretty Clever Films is a bit jealous th...
Hollywood Will Implode (Insert Bass-Drop Sound Here)
In entertainment news recently (and I feel fashionably late to the party on this one in terms of discussion) the legendary Steven Spielberg, alongside “the man”, “the myth” George Lucas, predicted the inevitable end, or I should say the implosion ...
Wednesday 10 July 2013
Hedda Hopper's Hats
Hedda ‘The Hat’ Hopper was one of America’s best known gossip columnists during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Her long standing feud with rival Louella Parsons and the legacy of her trademark hats is the stuff movies are made of. ...
Kick Ass Ladies in Film - Sissy Spacek as Carrie
Look man, Carrie was a sweet girl - until she was pushed to far. As Sissy Spacek proved in 1976's Carrie, it's the quiet ones you've got to watch for. Carrie kept her cool until she didn't, but when she lost it... she really...
Journeys in Classic Film
Journeys in Classic Film is a solid little classic movie blog from one young classic Hollywood obsessive. Kristen provides a steady stream of classic movie reviews (plus, she takes suggestions) and ...
Movie Review: A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (2008)
This film made me laugh, made me (almost) cry and made me glad I’m single. A Complete History of My Sexual Failures chronicles one man’s journey through past relationships in an effort to figure out where he went (and is still going) wrong.
Tuesday 9 July 2013
Top 7 Overrated Classic Films
We all have our own personal lists for a topic like this. Each and every one of us has, at one point or another, sat down to watch a critically acclaimed classic only to sit there in puzzlement afterward, wondering what all the hype was about in the ...
Kick Ass Ladies in Film - Pam Grier as Coffy
With a tagline like "Her name is Coffy and she'll cream you," you knew from the outset that the 1973 blaxploitation film Coffy was gonna include one serious, kick ass lady. Indeed, Pam Grier as the leading lady, out...
RogerEbert.Com
Okay, I know this movie site of the day seems like a no-brainer, and if you're in the (vast?) majority who do and have been reading RogerEbert.Com for the past few years, it certainly is that. But, just in case there's a few...
Movie Review: I Bury the Living (1958)
"The next time I see you, George, we'll both be right here." As threats go, that's as explicit as they get in Alfred Band's 1958 film I Bury the Living, a movie whose character's spend most of their time dealing with the imp...
Monday 8 July 2013
Enter to Win Trance on Blu-ray by Naming Your Fav Kick Ass Lady in Film
From director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) comes the mind-blowing, psychological crime drama Trance. After a blow to the head during his attempted robbery of a $27 million Goya painting, Simon (James McAvoy), a fine-art...
Top 3 Reasons Why North by Northwest is the Best Hitchcock Film
Hitchcock is arguably one of the best directors of all time. Actually, scratch that - Hitchcock is one of the best directors of all time. He maintained excellence and quality throughout his entire career, and fomented some of the strongest c...
They Shoot Pictures Don't They?
It's all auteurs all the time at the marvelous film resource They Shoot Pictures Don't They? Based in Australia and run by cinephile extraordinaire Bill Georgaris, the TSPDT is currently in a transition phas...
Indie Watch: Streamer (2013)
The problem with most short films lies with ambitious, aspiring auteurs trying to cram a 90 minute feature into 9 minutes. The best short films, on the other hand, winnow down the narrative to something more manageable - a vignette, a moment, a morse...
Saturday 6 July 2013
The Critic
If you're like me and enjoy your television shows littered with movie references, particularly funny ones, then you're probably seen The Critic. Lasting only two seasons and a handful of webisodes, the show had a tightly wov...
Friday 5 July 2013
Interview with Silvio Soldini, Director of For Other Eyes and Come Undone
Only a minute into a conversation with Silvio Soldini and you'll find yourself in awe at the depths of his thoughtfulness of the world around us. Soldini is proof that we can all find inspiration anywhere, even from the seemingly mundane routines of ...
Thursday 4 July 2013
10 Great Movie + Music Moments
There are those moments in a good movie, very fleeting, when direction, plot and music all meld to deliver a message that is such a pure hybrid that no other medium could deliver it as perfectly. Music, or absence thereof in films, is one of the most...
Italian Contemporary Film Festival 2013: Educazione Siberiana (2013)
Educazione Siberiana, directed by Italian Gabriele Salvatores, is a drama based on a memoir about growing up as a member of the Urka community in the small republic of Transnistria. If by drama they mean that the plot will b...
Watch American Landmarks Be Destroyed!
Happy 4th of July, a wee little b-day celebration for the United States. And what better way to celebrate than to engage in one of Hollywood's (and Hollywood is America, no?) passtimes - blowing iconic American landmarks to smithereen! Enjoy and keep...
Wednesday 3 July 2013
Top 10 Frank Capra Movies
If you asked me who my favorite auteur is, I would probably say Alfred Hitchcock. If I you asked me on a day when I was feeling particularly film snobby I might say Truffaut, of course! Or if you asked on a day when I was feeling particularly obtuse,...
Movie Review: World War Z
Okay, World War Z, the new zombie apocalypse flick from one Mr. Brad Pitt, has gotten some pretty mixed reviews. I cannot imagine why they're so mixed. World War Z is smart, fast paced, fun and full...
Tuesday 2 July 2013
Style Evolution: Doris Day - Part 2 (1961-1973)
Doris Day is our conception of the perfect girl next door, but in the later half of her career she really came into her own as a marvelous comedienne. She was able to convey the complexities of marriage with remarkable reality and candor, not to ment...
Italian Contemporary Film Festival 2013: Viva lItalia (2012)
Imagine a world in which politicians are compelled to say exactly what's on their minds all the time. That's the basic premise of Viva l'Italia, the sophomore directorial effort from Massimiliano Bruno. If you think that sou...
Blu-ray Review: Spring Breakers (2012)
Harmony Korine wants you take Spring Breakers very seriously. Unfortunately, this fact becomes clear not from viewing the movie itself, but from watching the behind-the-scenes featurette included on the upcoming Blu-ray rele...
Monday 1 July 2013
Top 5 Jimmy Stewart Films
James - or Jimmy, however you like to refer to him - Stewart. A legendary actor and the man who started it all for me. Jimmy Stewart has been my favorite actor ever since I was little; he definitely was one of the reasons why I initially was so inter...
Italian Contemporary Film Festival 2013: Berberian Sound Studio (2012)
Quiet and mild-mannered British sound technician, Gilderoy (Toby Jones), arrives in Italy to work on a movie. He soon discovers he's employed on a violent horror film, asked to create sound effects rather far from his usual world of documentary and c...
Italian Contemporary Film Festival 2013: Cavalli (2011)
Michele Rho shows plenty of potential as a director in his first feature film, the dramatic, but misguided, Cavalli (Horses). The film tells the story of the unwavering love and loyalty between Alessandro and h...
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