Stars and stuff on the silver screen.
Last week, Matt Singer wrote a wonderful article at ScreenCrush with the title “Stop Telling Me To Turn My Brain Off During Movies”. It was a refreshingly welcome, and long-overdue, answer to the too-frequent claim that, by paying any attention whatsover to a movie’s idiotic qualities, we are somehow betraying …
Movies of ideas are so rare these days that you have to go out of your way to find them, and that can mean overcoming your own prejudices. Mainstream films with ideas are rarer still, so I had to put my bias against CGI-loaded sci-fi blockbusters when I read about …
The beat goes on at my local comics shop, by which I mean the beating of my skull as I shell out scarce cash for this globulous piffle. I keep telling myself if I can just get through the month of May, which future generations will refer to as ‘The …
On occasion, this site will present, for old media-impaired readers, an instant messaging transcript of a film newly arrived to Netflix. Today, we feature Fist of Legend, the 1994 Jet Li re-imagining of Bruce Lee’s classic Fist of Fury. *** Chen Zhen: boy it sure is nice to take a break from …
When you have dedicated your life to becoming a professional, it isn’t that hard to pick up an old skill, no matter how long it’s been since you exercised it. Much has been made of George Miller’s advancing age (he’s almost twice as old as a typical action film director, …
Have you ever noticed that comic stores are awful? No? Well, then you’ve never been in one, you lying shit. Recently my experiences in these places that happiness goes to die, stink, and be wrapped in a mylar bag have been particularly dreadful, but I soldier on for you, the …
It took Nixon to go to China, and it took a German to make the ultimate American road picture. Wim Wenders’ career has had plenty of highs and lows, but his obsession with, and near mastery of, the road movie is impossible to dispute. Many of his greatest movies, including …
When you ask people what they think was the greatest baseball movie ever made, you usually get one of three answers: the charming, effusive Kevin Costner vehicle Bull Durham; the treacly, sentimental Kevin Costner vehicle Field of Dreams; or the moronic but enjoyable Major League, which at least has the advantage of not …
A problem I’ve always had with Iranian cinema, from Abbas Kiarostami to Asghar Farhadi, is that its films tend to be…how can I put this? They’re a bit deliberate. A bit studied. A bit slowly paced. A bit…boring. This may seem like blasphemy, especially coming from someone who values …
In terms of my own cinematic preferences (which, after all, are the only ones that really matter, right?), no genres, styles, or movements have made more of an impact on me than American film noir and Italian neo-realism. I am hardly unique in this regard. These two particular filmic interpretations …
The most popular Japanese import since ruthless corporate efficiency, the phenomenon known as karaoke helped every bar-hopping American realize their lifelong ambition of being a rock star, even if it was only for three minutes in front of a crowd of rum-soaked programmers hoping you finish up quick so they …
Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, the creators of Shaun of the Dead, had the rare distinction for a writer/director team of having made the greatest film of its genre. Of course, at the time of it’s debut, they’d also made the only film of its genre. Though it’s since been …
The Schmotezgreüber-Hackertini Family of Production Companies are pleased to announce the following casting calls. If you meet the belowmentioned requirements, please have your representative contact Julii in our casting department, along with three head shots, the last nine digits of your Social Security number, and a gift basket containing no …
David Carradine came from one of Hollywood’s most legendary families. His father John, his brothers Keith, Robert and Michael Bowen, and his niece Martha Plimpton were all actors, but he was no doubt the best-known – for critically acclaimed performances like his role as Woody Guthrie in Bound for Glory, popular and …
Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman’s 2004 film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, was the second collaboration between an innovative director widely celebrated for his groundbreaking music videos and a man occupying the unusual position of being a famous screenwriter. It’s an amazing film, as inventive and complex as the duo’s previous …
