Ok, The ‘Burbs is fairly maniacal in and of itself, but today especially so… it’s the 25th anniversary of Joe Dante’s surreal small-town comedy, which not only signifies its place in the cult classic pantheon but as a darn funny movie, too. Here’s Indiewire’s The Playlist on the 25th Anniversary. Here’s the Film School Rejects…
Here’s another gem from the TFH Vault. From August 28, 2007, it’s Allan Arkush on The Trip. Writer Jack Nicholson and star Peter Fonda told Roger Corman he couldn’t make a movie about LSD without trying it at least once. So Roger took a caravan of pals to Big Sur, where he dutifully dropped…
Trailers From Hell welcomes all movies great and small but sometimes a particular trailer may not be up to the visual quality of the rest of our catalog or is simply too oddball to present in our usual format. Nevertheless, there’s such a wealth of exciting, strange and unusual films out there, we’d be remiss…
Here’s another gem from the TFH Vault. From July 4, 2008, it’s Eli Roth on The Birds. Another marathon Hitchcock cult-of-personality trailer with not a single shot from the actual movie. Drolly scripted by Hitch’s tv series intro-writer James Allardice.
Have you ever been riding your chopper down a southern U.S. highway, lookin’ for America and unable to find it? If so, “Easy Rider” is the movie is for you. I’ll call a spoiler alert here in order to mention that in between the moment you see that shotgun barrel stickin’ out of the pickup…
Trailers From Hell welcomes all movies great and small but sometimes a particular trailer may not be up to the visual quality of the rest of our catalog or is simply too oddball to present in our usual format. Nevertheless, there’s such a wealth of exciting, strange and unusual films out there, we’d be remiss…
The Fastest Guitar Alive” is one of those rock’n’roll movies that rock’n’roll would probably like to disown. In fact, it may have driven rock’n’roll to drink – and it was doing all right in that department before this film came along in 1967. It’s Roy Orbison’s only acting role – for a clue as to…
In “The Beast With Five Fingers,” the severed hand of a dead piano player comes back from the grave to… play the piano some more! There’s plenty of melody in those ghostly tunes, even though the hand appears to be a left hand. If that were true, wouldn’t it just be playing the bass notes? Aah, I…
In Martin Scorsese’s “King of Comedy,” Robert De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, a demented fan obsessed with the late-night talk show host played by Jerry Lewis. If De Niro’s digs in Taxi Driver creeped you out, what did you think of his basement room in this movie? The fake talk show set – complete with…
When we talk about wine, the talk always turns to Pinot Noir. It’s considered by many wine snobs to be the grape that’s hardest to get into the bottle, but the most expressive of the conditions from which it comes. If you’d like the full-length lecture, just ask the nearest wine snob. Make sure you…
When Ron Howard’s first film, “Grand Theft Auto,” was made, I thought great wine was the Spanada my mom kept in the fridge. I don’t know how mom would feel about her favorite beverage being relegated to the category of “bum wine,” but at $7.70 for a magnum, it would seem to come in on…
In honor of the post-Christmas euphoria that accompanies those new toys (a week or so before you tire of them), here’s a few look-backs at the commercials that made us want them in the first place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-QrIDAWUag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXiZVOPOJZM And our thanks to Johnny Legend for passing along these yuletide leftovers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYdlYl3Icbc
As an alternative to the usual yuletide TV fare, we’ve put together a few festive goodies that should nicely compliment the egg nog, gingerbread cookies and (eek) fruit cake. First up is a cartoon from the studio that gave us Frankenstein, Dracula and other monsters we know and love, Universal. It’s Toyland Premiere, a 1934…
Kim Novak and James Stewart may have been feeling a bit dizzy from “Vertigo” when they teamed up again less than a year later for “Bell, Book and Candle.” This romantic comedy is set in Manhattan, during the Christmas season. The story revolves around a subculture of witches there. Despite the beautiful cinematography, the backdrop…