I was lucky enough to be able to visit Japan a few years ago with a friend of mine, and like everyone in Tokyo (often considered the world’s largest city), we availed ourselves of the subway system. Although much effort is made to make directions and maps clear to all, the stations are massive and…
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 lift a big rock and look beneath it to find the squiggly life forms who make the movies we love. The Bad and the Beautiful sounds like the title of…
We remember plenty of movies that got chalked up as failures, yet now seem more interesting than most new Oscar nominees. Mike Nichols’ ambitious anti-war epic, from Joseph Heller’s satrical novel, impresses greatly in multiple ways, with a dream cast in quirky, imaginative roles. Alan Arkin’s Yossarian is an airman, a sad sack everyman. He…
Some movies just knock us for a loop. This first official starring vehicle for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers is delightful entertainment, the kind of psychological medicine that makes the world seem right again. The cast is so good, the guy playing the waiter deserves star billing. All that and a giant musical number —…
We’re certainly happy to revisit this favorite in 4K … Joe Dante’s Sci-fi comedy taps several genres and styles for laughs, and comes up a winner in every regard. Astronaut Dennis Quaid is the pilot for a ‘Fantastic Voyage’- like journey into micro-minidom, but his micro-sub ends up in the bloodstream of Martin Short, a…
We can’t say we were even aware of this one. Universal’s between-the-wars pacifist melodrama edges a bit into horror territory, with an insane Claude Rains walking through Paris with his baby under one arm and a satchel in the other … that might contain the body part mentioned in the title. Rains, Lionel Atwill and…
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 three films featuring monsters, and the spouses who love them. The Bride! puts an exclamation point on the title, possibly to indicate how much fun the critics…
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…
