A highlight of this year’s awards season becomes a handsome, rewarding Criterion release. Joachim Trier’s drama finds power in the intersection of ‘normal life,’ ambition in the arts, and the way family secrets meld with national history. Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinseve command our attention as a father and daughter split by ‘art and resentment,’…
Spaghetti westerns were the rage in 1969, as long as the action was constant and the body count high. An Italo producer made a lucrative deal with MGM for a ‘Dirty Dozen western’ with the name star Peter Graves. International success was guaranteed with the casting of Japanese star Tetsuro Tanba. The Dario Argento story…
TFH Guru Allan Arkush’s The Last Reel video essay series gets literate this week! How I Became A Teenage Beatnik covers the lure of a good story in books ranging from The Hardy Boys, Animal Farm, sci-fi and Sputnik, the banning of JD Salinger, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 by the Fort Lee High School Library…
In the last decade, the term “liminal horror” popped into existence as if it had always been there, sitting quietly in an empty hallway under fluorescent lights as generic jazzy sounds (like the music loop you hear when waiting on hold) play through an old PA system to nobody, waiting impassively for its moment. A…
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’re in the driver’s seat for three films that owe their existence to the auto industry. We have wine pairings for each film, although we encourage you to wait until you’re…
1963’s critics favored this ‘cerebral’ Sci-fi offering but the main draw was its mysterious heroine, a new bride who may be an invader from beyond the stars. Fave actor John Neville is the Think Tank boffin who doesn’t understand why his wife isn’t like other women … just for starters, she doesn’t have a pulse….
Director Richard Fleischer’s crime thriller passed the test with RKO’s new owner Howard Hughes, possibly because of its clever story hook: a mannequin is made of a fugitive serial killer, to better understand the killer’s motives. Otherwise its Fleischer’s creative, snappy direction that raises the picture above the category of ‘B’ filler product. Lady reporter…
George Pal’s production had a hard nut to crack, adapting a highly misanthropic adult novel to serve as a family attraction for all ages. On its own terms it works, with an engaging cast and creative visual effects. Tony Randall’s charm is a huge asset, while Arthur O’Connell and especially Barbara Eden ace their parts….
Nope, it’s not a stealth Karloff horror feature, but another of his underworld roles … actually, a semi-underworld role in a nifty ensemble thriller about a Night Club with connections to The Mob. Karloff is Happy MacDonald, and Everybody comes to ‘Happy’s Club’ — including the drunken Lew Ayres and Broadway sharpie George Raft. Showgirl…
