Is it a classic? We think so. Organized crimeland is invaded by the New-Wavish visual grammar we associate with Alain Resnais. Thriller fans loved the bizarre stylized performance of Lee Marvin as Walker, a vengeful mob victim out to claim the 93 thousand dollars he’s owed. A crystal clear Los Angeles is the setting. Marvin…
Kino Lorber has a gem in this dazzling 4K remaster that gives Andrei Konchalovsky’s classic a new lease on life. Accessing prime film elements strips away a veneer of greyness and detail-dulling grain. The live-action no-CGI thrills feel even more like gritty reality. Jon Voight, Eric Roberts and Rebecca De Mornay are sensational. Investing in…
Quick, adapt this hit Broadway play for the screen! But remember the guidelines — you can’t directly say what the play is about or use certain words to describe its subject. In fact, you’ll need to eliminate direct references to the play’s strongest statement. The ‘tamed’ film adaption of Robert Anderson’s play gets the glossy…
A bizarre favorite returns in a crystal-clear 4K encoding. Michael Laughlin’s eccentric ‘Middle America’ horror item was actually filmed in New Zealand, yet eerily correct in every detail. Michael Murphy and Louise Fletcher top the cast list, but Dan Shor, Fiona Lewis and Dey Young all make strong impressions. In 1981 it was odd and…
Trailers From Hell Guru Allan Arkush’s The Last Reel video essay series rolls on with a look at the 1950s Western TV shows that Allan and everyone else watched constantly, with special shine given to The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, and Davy Crockett. Allan also examines where the shows were shot (Chatsworth), the toy gun…
Could there possibly be a reason that movies about evil rich people sacrificing and hunting the poor for their own enrichment and amusement are showing up in our cinemas right now? Amoral elites demonstrating a sort of ignoblesse oblige? A shout of “Yes, kings!” before they release the hounds? It is unfortunately above my paygrade…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. Please join us in lifting a glass to remember the wonderful actress, Valerie Perrine. She passed away in March after battling Parkinson’s disease for eleven years. Perrine’s date with death was delayed when…
That crazy Pedro Almodóvar had no fear and no limits — following through on his theory that sexual desire is the engine driving everything human, this beautifully-filmed, disturbingly raw horror thriller gives us an amour fou between two crazy killers, plus others equally loco de amor. A young Antonio Banderas attempts a rape to escape…
The original Puppetoon movie is back! In 1987 Arnold Leibovit helped secure the legacy of producer George Pal with a feature-length tribute; 40 years later, his film has been remastered in 4K and enlarged into a new Director’s Cut. The extra gallery of additonal Puppetoons is icing on the cake: it’s an impressive introduction to…
Luis Buñuel’s top roost as a world-class filmmaker remains undisturbed: as an exile in Mexico, his commercial work continued at a high creative pitch, staying true to his surrealist principles. Invited back to fascist Spain to make a movie, he generated a masterpiece guaranteed to become an international scandal. The cinematic slap to Generalissimo Franco…
Gee, now what year was this film released? Paramount’s comic radio variety extravaganza is enlivened by big-scale W.C. Fields comedy scenes, crazy antics from Martha Raye, and the film debut of Bob Hope. Not to mention the science fiction premise that holds it all together: a trans-Atlantic race between giant high-speed ocean liners. Mitchell Leisen…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, we pair wines with some films dealing with religion, of one sort or another. Christopher Walken stars in The Prophecy, from 1995. This horror movie promises “an evil born in heaven…
Yet again, Deaf Crocodile opens doors to cinematic fantasy once blocked by politics and the vagaries of international film markets. This Estonian film is all but unknown here, despite coming from the reknowned authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Detective Glebsky is trapped in a snowbound ski resort with a group of eccentrics that might have…
Director Claude Lelouch applied the Art Film format to a story of an intimate romantic encounter, and captured a world-wide audience. Star Anouk Aimée is a radiant presence, and Jean-Louis Trintignant found his footing here as a top-rank leading man. The film’s loose photogenic look caught on, and not just for shampoo commercials. Its auto…
Two of Warners favorite thriller actors worked together nine times in just a few years. This mystery tale is their last pairing, and also the first feature film directed by Don Siegel. Victorian sleuth Sydney Greenstreet gets an assist from his artist friend Peter Lorre when a murder victim is found in a room locked…
Prime-era Stephen King never loses its appeal! Director Tobe Hooper delivers some strong visuals in this TV movie version of King’s All-American vampire tale. Reggie Nalder channels his inner Max Schreck, and James Mason provides a top class-act horror performance. Of the supporting cast we favor Bonnie Bedelia, Elisha Cook Jr. and Marie Windsor over…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, a trio from David Lynch. His fingerprints are all over these three films, and we have a wine pairing for each of them. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is the…
To repurpose a quote from Frank Herbert’s Dune, “I must not believe hype. Hype is the enjoyment killer. Hype is the little joy that brings total disappointment.” It’s hard not to buy into positive buzz for an upcoming film. Trailers are everywhere, and discussion of those trailers fills social media with hope. I try to…
Martin Scorsese’s epic (and epic length!) adaptation of David Grann’s eye-opening novel is great filmmaking with impressive performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro and a marvelous showcase for Lily Gladstone, who provides the heart within a heartless tangle of utterly loathsome villains. It’s a true story, unsensationalized yet carrying an unspoken message —…
A fresh 4K encoding reveals a finer visual texture on Ivan Passer’s highly-respected film, which features career-best performances by its stars. Disaffected 20-somethings in Santa Barbara investigate a murder and then try to blackmail a corporate CEO; it’s a superb coda to the ’60s counterculture generation. John Heard is the maimed, one-eyed veteran already judged…
In what some consider the best classic crime film to come from France, writer-director Claude Sautet and writer José Giovanni give star Lino Ventura the role of Abel Davos, a convicted crook in a squeeze play. When he tries to return to Paris, he’s forced to abandon his wife and boys as both the law…
Powerhouse Indicator dips into the Columbia library for a Warwick Films production from Albert R. Broccoli and Irving Allen. It’s an international genre blend that would seem a stab at the perfect mainstream box office formula — crime violence, a tough American star, a sexy European star, upbeat music and comic relief around the fringes….
Trailers From Hell Guru Allan Arkush’s The Last Reel video essay series returns with a vengeance, this time to take stock of that pop culture-altering phenom known as television! Today, it should really be called The First Reel. Allan has been thinking about when his obsession with film and TV first shaped his life. If…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, oy vey. The TFH movie mavens have us schlepping some wine pairings for three films that bring different views of Jewishness. Hey, tryin’ to be a mensch over here. From 2020,…
John Ford went to Africa and brought home a fine remake of a 1930s pre-Code hit, with its original star Clark Gable. Clark has his hands full juggling leading ladies of the next generation, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. Gable is still the he-man center of attention; his advancing age is not a restrictive factor,…