CineSavant
The Amicus Collection
Released in 1956, Rock, Rock, Rock was a bantamweight jukebox musical bolstered by the presence of three indelible signifiers of 50’s pop…
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Fear of the Velvet Curtain
NOTES ON THE 2017 OSCAR NOMINATIONS (and PHANTOM THREAD!)
Okay, okay, I’ll go see DARKEST HOUR! Jeez! The first thing that struck me as I mused in the glow of the…
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The Diabolical Dr. Z
Engaged to direct by a reputable producer, Jesús Franco takes yet another stab at conventional B&W horror. The pulp thrills get a…
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Claude Autant-Lara: Four Romantic Escapes from Occupied France
Criterion’s Eclipse Series, an ever-expanding line of esoteric dvd releases, ensures that lesser known titles of important filmmakers remain available to the…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
FACEBOOK POSTS I NEVER MADE
Last week I made my way out of the Facebook forest and decided to take a brief hiatus from the constant barrage…
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Charley Varrick (Region B)
It's the loose-censored early 1970s, and screen bandits shootin' up the American movie landscape are no longer suffering the once-mandated automatic moral…
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Blade Runner 2049
After 35 years Philip K. Dick's brainstorm returns in a film sequel worthy of the original; Denis Villeneuve does right by the…
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From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses
Take a trip into the depths of German silent film in a documentary that links expressionist cinema with dark political undercurrents. Director…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
THE COLLECTION
When I was a kid I was lucky enough to have a few friends who shared many of my interests– in movies,…
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The Hanging Tree
"To really live, you must almost die," sings Marty Robbins, a lesson learned by Austrian import star Maria Schell. Delmer Daves' best…
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Bend of the River (Meuterei am Schlangenfluss)
The second Anthony Mann / James Stewart western displays excellent direction and impressive Technicolor location photography high in the high mountains of…
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Raw Deal (1948)
Style can be the star in Classic Noir, making a less prestigious film more entertaining than one with bigger names. Dennis O'Keefe,…
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Jabberwocky
The prospect of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky directed by Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam promised a brave new world of sophisticated nonsense; The Mad…
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Not as a Stranger
What? Doctors aren't perfect? And some practicing doctors are incompetent? Stanley Kramer's All-Star medical soap opera takes two unlikely students (Robert Mitchum…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
SINGING THE PRAISES OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2017
I don’t get out as much as I used to, and notice of that fact is certainly meant to include the frequency…
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The Executioner’s Song
Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, target for Saturday Night Live, punchline for Seinfeld and tagline for Nike, was already a pop-culture sensation when…
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Young Mr. Lincoln
Viewers looking (desperately) for American leaders to admire can't do better than to reflect on John Ford's folksy, at least partly authentic…
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Legend of the Lost
America’s top box office star John Wayne sneaks away to a remote corner of the Sahara Desert with the top Italian sex…
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The Hospital
A story of murders in the ER becomes, courtesy of writer Paddy Chayefsky, either a preview of social breakdown or an impassioned…
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Matinee
A scary monster movie comes to Key West just as a nuclear crisis breaks out! Joe Dante's incomparable paean to monster kid…
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Cadillac Man
The irrepressible Robin Williams is Joey, a trash-talking Cadillac salesman with three women on the line, who becomes an involuntary hero when…
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The Apartment
Savant's vote for the best romantic comedy ever goes to a sordid fable about problems in the big city Rat Race: keeping…
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Forever Amber
Meet the lusty Amber St. Clare, a 17th century social climber determined to sleep her way to respectability. Gorgeous Linda Darnell gets…
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The Whales of August
This look at the 'adjustments' of old age and the pain of nostalgia is a prime opportunity to admire a pair of…
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The Garden of Allah
One of the first full Technicolor features is a romantic fantasy about an innocent beauty's encounter with an equally innocent fugitive monk…