With last week’s news about a federal judge in California declaring the state’s death penalty “cruel and unusual punishment” and therefore unconstitutional along with this week’s horror story about a bungled execution in Arizona, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s recent trio of capital punishment-themed films proved particularly prescient. With that, we’d like to re-introduce Brian’s commentaries, ripped, as they say, from today’s headlines….
Andrew Sarris called it the Citizen Kane of jukebox musicals but A Hard Day’s Night long ago broke free from the constraints of being “just” a great musical. Director Richard Lester’s most remarkable accomplishment was making the movie equivalent of a great Beatles song, a soaring, occasionally heartbreaking, ode to joy played out in 87 minutes. Appropriately, the…
By David S. Schow Hall: “Where’s the library?” Dutton: “No need for books — everything’s in the computer.” One of the few regrets of my adult life is that I never got to meet Michael Crichton, who died too young, November 2008. Eminently emulatable, he had conquered publishing, film and television and remains a personal…
Thoughts occasioned by the release of Adieu au langage Godard and the Permanently New One “It has to face the men of the time and to meet/The women of the time. It has to think about war And it has to find what will suffice. It has/To construct a new stage. It has to be on…
To mark the 30th Anniversary of Gremlins, Warner Bros. has released Joe Dante’s (first) subversive masterpiece on DVD and VOD today. Here’s a round-up from around the web celebrating the little green guys’ special day. Pop Sugar‘s 30 Fun Facts about Gremlins Zach Galligan talks about the scaly critters’ lasting impression on pop culture here. Gremlins Online (your…
Here’s another installment featuring Joe Dante’s reviews from his stint as a critic for Film Bulletin circa 1969-1974. Our thanks to Video Watchdog and Tim Lucas for his editorial embellishments! Exploitable potpourri of sex, comedy, action with high school setting has enough funny stuff to draw and amuse youth trade in ballyhoo markets and…
We here at TFH have always thought of the great Vilmos Zsigmond as one of “our” movie icons, having begun his distinguished cinematographic career in the humble swamps of low budget exploitation before rising on his own merit to a justly celebrated mainstream career. So it is with fond memories of the likes of The Sadist, The…
Our thanks to Adam Smasher and Soua Her of the Hero Complex Gallery for hosting the memorable opening night of Kings of Cult: An Art Tribute to Roger Corman and Joe Dante. A special shout-out to TFH’s own Chris Condon for his herculean effort in coordinating the efforts of all concerned. TFH gurus Ernest Dickerson, Mark Goldblatt. Larry Karaszewski, Ed…
Trailers From Hell is proud to announce our collaboration with Hero Complex Gallery: KINGS OF CULT: A Tribute to Roger Corman and Joe Dante. We are proud and honored to present this pop-art tribute to these two legendary directors and TFH Gurus. The artwork will pay tribute to their careers in unique and interesting…
“Gahan Wilson’s work was my introduction to dark humor.” — Stephen Colbert “For those of you who don’t get Gahan Wilson…That’s impossible! If you look at his cartoons and they don’t make you laugh, you’ve got to go back to the very beginning as a person and start with “knock-Knock” jokes and then work your way…