My first novel “ALICE THROUGH THE MULTIVERSE”  had a lengthy evolution. I am a film maker by trade, 42 crimes against Cinema, and counting. For me writing is an integral part of directing.   Here’s an account of this particular creative journey. I often have wild dreams. One such, in 2003, was the genesis of…

Each year the film industry sacrifices one of its blockbusters to the movie gods, in the hope that its other releases will be spared the vicious lash of mass opprobrium. This year the designated victim was Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Critics spotted Luc Besson’s space opera on the horizon, sensed weakness,…

The Piano Teacher  Blu-ray Criterion 2001 / 1:85 / Street Date September 26, 2017 Starring Isabelle Huppert, Benoît Magimel, Annie Girardot Cinematography: Christian Berger Film Editor: Monika Willi, Nadine Muse Produced by Veit Heiduschka Music: Martin Achenbach Directed by Michael Haneke Her face merely a mask just waiting to crack along with her sanity, the…

David Lynch: The Art Life  Blu-ray Criterion 2016 / 1:75 / Street Date September 26, 2017 Starring the One and Only David Lynch Cinematography: Jason S. Film Editor: Olivia Neergaard-Holm Produced by Josefine Bothe Music: Jonatan Bengta Directed by Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes and Olivia Neergaard-Holm Twin Peaks: The Return recently ended its 18 hour…

La Poison  Blu-ray Criterion 1951 / 1:33 / Street Date August 22, 2017 Starring: Michel Simon, Germaine Reuver Cinematography: Jean Bachelet Film Editor: Raymond Lamy Written by Sacha Guitry Produced by Jean Le Duc, Alain Poiré Music: Louiguy Directed by Sacha Guitry   One of the most insightful commentaries on Sacha Guitry’s La Poison can…

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)  Blu-ray Twilight Time 1972 / 1:85 / Street Date July 18th, 2017 Starring: Woody Allen, Gene Wilder, Tony Randall, Burt Reynolds Cinematography: David M. Walsh Film Editor: Eric Albertson Written by Woody Allen Produced by Jack Brodsky, Elliott Gould Music: Mundell Lowe…

On Monday, August 28, 2017, Turner Classic Movies will devote an entire day of their “Summer Under the Stars” series to the late, great Louis Burton Lindley Jr. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, well, then just picture the fella riding the bomb like a buckin’ bronco at the end of Dr. Strangelove…, or the…

  On August 20, 2017, Jerry Lewis took a pratfall off this mortal coil, presumably knocking an unwitting dowager on her keister and sending a surprised cop into an open manhole on his way out. The durable enfant terrible was all of 91 years when he finally left the building though he had been making spirited…

The history of the Muriel Awards stretches aaaalllll the way back to 2006, which means that this coming season will be a special anniversary, marking 10 years of observing the annual quality and achievement of the year in film. (If you don’t know about the Muriels, you can check up on that history here.) The…

Summer is upon us. That is, summer as defined by movie studios which, in the 40 years since Star Wars was released, on May 25, 1977, have valiantly tried to stretch the boundaries of summer, content-wise, from the traditional June-July-August definition to include the other nine months of the year as well. (Mission pretty much…

The pomp and circumstance of Felix Mendelssohn’s “War March of the Priests,” as played on a grand pipe organ by a hooded figure seated in an opulent ballroom during the opening credits of The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), perfectly sets the tone and timbre of director Robert Fuest’s film, both with playful irreverence and an…

Just back from the 2017 TCM Classic Movie Festival with a few thoughts and thoughts about thoughts. I certainly held my reservations about this year’s edition, and though I ultimately ended up tiring early of flitting about from theater to theater like a mouse in a movie maze (it happens to even the most fanatically…

Does your memory go as far back as 2010, or have too many catastrophes and cataclysms blurred your vision? Peter Berg’s tense account of the BP Gulf Oil Spill debacle covers twenty hours of technological peril, as Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell battle idiotic executives and a badly-cemented oil well that’s fixing to blow sky…

The immensely popular singing trio provides an extremely pleasant eighty minutes of musical nostalgia – with plenty of full-length performances but also the full variety of their music through the years. Interviews with the principals give us the back story, light but not superficial, while film clips show their political activism through the years. 50…

Don’t mess with the one-armed man — did you know that at 56 years, Spencer Tracy could whup Ernest Borgnine to a frazzle? John Sturges knocked this one out of the ballpark and booted his career into high gear. It’s well remembered… but does anyone remember that the subject is the murder of a Japanese-American?…

The story didn’t end with the Miracle in the Hudson — hero pilot Sully Sullenberger is tried by an investigative committee. Clint Eastwood’s film examines and re-examines the 2.5 minutes, as the bureaucrats make the case that 155 passengers were unnecessarily put at risk. Sully Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD Warner Brothers Home Video…

Ray Harryhausen eases up for his second color Dynamation feature, restricting the stop-motion and instead utilizing traveling mattes to make a more juvenile adventure movie for smaller kiddies. The big draw is the beautiful music score by fantasy favorite Bernard Herrmann. The 3 Worlds of Gulliver Blu-ray Twilight Time 1960 / Color / 1:66 &…

  One of the better-remembered ’80s sci-fi horror thrillers is back in an improved Blu-ray with a pile of extras. Dennis Quaid gets to act with Max von Sydow Christopher Plummer, Eddie Albert and Kate Capshaw, as they deal with a Cronenberg-like device that can invade human dreams. Dreamscape Blu-ray Scream Factory (Shout! Factory) 1984…

or, Savant picks The Most Impressive Discs of 2016 Above, from 1989: In Bronson Caverns, Savant and the intrepid Todd Stribich encounter an omen from the menacing future. I guess 2016 is going down on the record books as an, ‘interesting’ year, for reasons that are all too evident. Whenever some sage survivor has to…

Federico Fellini’s best non-narrative feature is an intoxicating meta-travelogue, not just of the Eternal City but the director’s idea of Rome past and present. The masterful images alternate between nostalgic vulgarity and dreamy timelessness. Criterion’s disc is a new restoration. Fellini’s Roma Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 848 1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 120…

It’s a powerful plea against the death penalty, but also an Oscar bid for a fiery actress. And don’t forget the cool jazz music score. On top of this Robert Wise adds a formerly- taboo sequence, a realistic depiction of an execution in the gas chamber. Of such things were gritty, hard-hitting reputations made. I…

A big, loud, lusty western battle movie with sexy stars and zero brains, this was a big hit back in ’69, just before The Wild Bunch rebooted the entire genre. Jim Brown, Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds burn up the screen with action, even though the actual acting is on the weak side. 100 Rifles…

Good neighbor policy? Wartime exigencies inspired an intra-hemisphere cultural exchange, with the movies seizing on the new popularity of Latin music. Republic’s contribution gives us the great songs of Ady Barroso and a full soundtrack of his compositions — in a featherweight musical romance, of course. Brazil Blu-ray Olive Films 1944 / B&W / 1:37…

Just what is the dreaded ‘Process 97’?  Henry Hathaway’s docu-drama combined newsreel ‘reality’ with a true espionage story from the files of the F.B.I., creating a thriller about spies and atom secrets that dazzled the film-going public. But how much of it was true, and how much invented? The House on 92nd Street Blu-ray KL…

Success in the ’90s gave Robert Altman the opportunity to experiment once again. Several short stories by Raymond Carver interlock in a mosaic of Los Angeles populated by scores of actors in ensemble mode. Clocking in at three hours, Altman’s epic has all the time and space it needs. Short Cuts Blu-ray The Criterion Collection…

Will somebody explain the sheep and the bear? Luis Buñuel really knows how to disturb people. This, his most characteristic surreal drama proposes an impossible, irrational situation – which isn’t all that different from the reality we know. Petty social rules, jealousies and bitterness make life hell for group of dinner guests stuck with each…