TFH Guru Joe Dante’s off the wall sequel to his 1984 smash (which he often refers to as “a medley of my hit”) moves its Looney Tunes action from the small backlot town of the original to The Big Apple, where the titular monsters overrun a futuristic (for 1990) office building and end their occupation…
Bill Murray finds the quintessential Bill Murray role in Harold Ramis’ 1992 comic morality play about a shallow, egocentric reporter forced to repeat the same 24 hour day till he gets it right. The gently acerbic script, by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis, is equal parts Woody Allen and Preston Sturges with a little Frank…
Sexy B-movie icons Beverly Garland and Allison Hayes enthusiastically enact a Johnny Guitar-like enmity in Roger Corman’s offbeat feminist western-cum-Greek tragedy. The climax is a sort of a mini-budget Duel in the Sun.
A compelling mix of low-down genre thrills and indie-style quirkiness, actor/director Larry Fessenden’s 1995 Habit uses traditional vampires as a metaphor for more contemporary concerns with intriguing results. Though decidedly low-budget the film won raves at the Los Angeles International film festival and has garnered a small but vocal legion of fans.
Directed by Taylor Hackford, this revealing 1987 documentary celebrating Chuck Berry’s 60th birthday turns into an exploration of the great rocker’s curdled world view as much as a tribute to his music; by film’s end we realize the two are inexorably intertwined. Along with signature performances from Keith Richards (who conceived the event) and Eric…
It took the Age of Aquarius at least a decade to make it to the screen. The creators of the popular 1968 Broadway musical were not pleased with Milos Forman’s 1979 adaptation, which jettisons numerous songs and a lot of the peace movement politics, reshaping the characters and story to avoid datedness. But the reviews…
Ishirō Honda’s atmospheric 1955 thriller about a race of snow creatures holed up in Nagano’s Japanese Alps is on the short list of “holy grails” for Kaiju film fans. An English version which cut some of the original material and inserted a new plot with John Carradine was released in 1958 and even that iteration…
The sleeper of the century and the first of the modern horror franchises. John Carpenter’s low budget suburban slasher movie lurched out of nowhere to become one of the most influential pictures of all time, changing the face of the genre for decades. Followed by ten sequels and a Rob Zombie remake series.
CineSavant reviews a (gasp!) DVD release. UK correspondent Lee Broughton returns with coverage of a low budget comedy-horror flick from Florida about a seemingly harmless old lady who displays psychopathic tendencies every Halloween. The humour is crude at times but the show’s knowing horror elements, spirited performances and decent production values result in a curiously…
John Agar plays a careless scientist whose experiments with nerve gas backfire, turning him into a lumbering beast whose touch can kill. Floyd Crosby’s widescreen cinematography lifts Gene Nelson’s 60 minute programmer about as high as it can go, though the sight of the creature stalking suburbia in a trench coat and fedora is memorable….
From director Michael Winner’s early unpredictable period comes this curate’s egg of a WW II movie aimed, apparently, at families and counterculture fans of Bonnie and Clyde second banana Michael J. Pollard. Escaped POW Oliver Reed rescues an elephant from a bombed-out Nazi zoo and tries to get her to Switzerland in a scenario based…
In 1964 the widespread teenage lament was, “What?! The Beatles movie is in black & white?!” But this was no fly-by-night Sam Katzman musical quickie, — this was a bona fide cultural event. Richard Lester brings his new-wave Goon Show stylistics to the greatest rock & roll vehicle of all time and helps drag the…
Bare-knuckle boxing in 1933 New Orleans with a buff Charles Bronson in the ring and James Coburn as his sleazy (what else?) promoter. Writer Walter Hill’s directing debut is gritty, brutal and riveting. Great support from the always reliable Strother Martin. At some point this film was recut from an R rating to a PG.
Director Hal Ashby’s quirky comedy about the May-December romance of a death-obsessed young man and his 79-year-old inamorata was shunned by critics and crowds alike upon its 1971 release but has since gained traction as a memorable cult item. Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon (still coasting on her newfound popularity in Rosemary’s Baby) are fine…
Ulu Grosbard’s whimsical psycho-drama is a Manhattan-set 8 1/2 with Dustin Hoffman as a rock star taking stock of his success while the line between reality and fantasy becomes increasingly blurry—for himself as well as the audience. The movie received mixed reviews with a lot of praise for the great supporting cast, Barbara Harris, Jack…
One of James Stewart’s most memorable performances anchors a comedy classic that’s enriched by the seriousness of its basic premise. Funny, sad and captivating, it’s that rare example of a well-loved movie that plumbs deeper depths than it’s given credit for. It’s been restaged often for television and there’s always talk of a theatrical remake,…
Screenwriter Leigh Brackett checks all the boxes in the Howard Hawks formula: a gruff adventurer tangles with an equally determined woman, sparks fly and so do kisses. John Wayne stars as a game-catcher in Tanganyika, Elsa Martinelli is a fearless photojournalist and Red Buttons provides the tongue-in-cheek play by play. Henry Mancini’s insanely catchy Baby…
A surrealist take on Mommie Dearest, Finnish director Hanna Berghol’s 2022 horror film stars Siiri Solalinna as Tinja, a gymnast who turns the tables on her abusive stage mother with the help of a monstrous bird creature. Despite its off the wall concept the movie was well received, thanks in part to Solalinna’s transformative performance…
The subtle terror techniques that Robert Wise learned from his mentor Val Lewton are on uncanny display in the creepiest haunted house movie of them all. (The trailer’s not too subtle, though.) Compare the original to the lamentable remake to see the difference between art and CGI junk.
Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 film flew under the radar for years until the recent interest in Japanese horror films shined a light on its peculiar charms. Best viewed as The Haunting meets Hellzapoppin’, Hausu, at its gonzo best, works as a reminder of the staid and conservative state of current American horror films. The film, while…
This cheap but popular sci-fi spoof was the first Columbia feature for the Stooges, who had contemplated retirement until the galvanic response to the release of the Stooges shorts on nationwide TV in 1958 brought them back into the limelight. The boys accidentally travel to Venus and encounter a giant fire-belching spider and a talkative…
Thanks to the good folks at Warner Archive, pre-code movies unavailable for decades are being dusted off and put back into circulation on dvd and on Turner Classic Movies. This forgotten item has an audacious trailer that engages the audience in finding the killer. Allan Arkush puts it in perspective as an early stab at…
The original Mean Girls, this acerbic black comedy from director and TFH guru Michael Lehmann gave the complacent moviegoers of 1988 a much-needed hot foot. Winona Ryder stars as the only member of a four-girl clique who is not named “Heather” and whose ruthless clannishness just might be taking a murderous turn. Co-star Christian Slater…
No, it’s not the Warren Beatty remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan, but the sublime Ernst Lubitsch comedy fantasy, his biggest commercial hit and generally considered the last of his films to exemplify the inimitable “Lubitsch touch”. Feckless womanizer Don Ameche recounts his love life to urbane devil Laird Cregar at the gates of Hell…
Life and hard times on the streets of ’70s Brooklyn from proudly non-P.C. multimedia animator Ralph Bakshi. Semi-autographical and reputedly Bakshi’s favorite among his films. The Chuck Berry “Maybelline” sequence, animated by Mark Kausler, is a highlight. Originally rated X.
The face that launched all those ships is played by the comparatively unknown Rosanna Podesta, surrounded by a distinguished cast and thousands of real extras, not pixels. This Hollywood epic shot at Cinecitta is not the movie to use for an easy book report on The Iliad, as Homer’s version of events differs from the…