CineSavant
The Reivers
Steve McQueen spent most of the 1960s avoiding lightweight movie roles -- only to do well with his winning comedy-drama performance in William…
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Fear of the Velvet Curtain
Unfriended
For anyone who cringes at the words “found footage,” especially when applied to the recent glut of variable-quality horror movies like REC,…
CineSavant
The Wonderful Country
Let's hear it for the great westerns -- not the Ford and Hawks classics, but the fascinating marginal gems that see The…
CineSavant
Kings of the Sun
Who needs epics about Ancient Rome, Egypt, or Greek mythology when we have a thousand years of exotic Central and South American civilizations…
CineSavant
The Bear
Animal movies aren't just for kids anymore, but nobody made one better than this French production, which stars a pair of talented…
CineSavant
The Little House (Chiisai ouchi)
Forget English soap operas about upstairs and downstairs upheavals, Yoji Yamada's chronicle of a life in the little Tokyo house with the…
CineSavant
Alraune (1952)
There's one ironclad rule for mad scientist movies: if you show a monstrous caged ape-creature in the first act, that ape-creature must absolutely break loose…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
EXITS: HANNIBAL LECTER AND WES CRAVEN
The three-year run of Hannibal, one of the most visually and narratively innovative series ever to air on television, broadcast or cable,…
CineSavant
The Robin Hood of El Dorado
Viewers expecting to see a lighthearted 'Cisco Kid' swashbuckler got a surprise with William Wellman's movie: it's a tragedy about a genuine…
CineSavant
Daniel
How does one make a movie about a hot-button political topic that's divided the nation for sixty years? And if the facts of…
CineSavant
Murder, My Sweet
As far as Hollywood was concerned, hardboiled pulp author Raymond Chandler was big news in 1944 and 1945, working with Billy Wilder on…
CineSavant
I, Madman
We've all wished we could change our appearance to attract some desired object of our affections. Demented Malcolm Brand takes the notion…
CineSavant
Innerspace
In the 1980s, bored film critics sometimes claimed to see homoerotic themes in any 'buddy picture' about guys being friends with guys.…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
THE RETURN OF RENE CLEMENT’S FORBIDDEN GAMES (1952)
It’s 1940, and the Nazi invasion of France is fully under way. A mother, father, a five-year-old girl and her tiny dog…
CineSavant
War-Gods of the Deep
In the history of soggy underwater adventures, none have been been soggier than this A.I.P. Panavision curiosity from England. Four out of five…
CineSavant
Mad Max Fury Road
We want to take a moment and welcome the DVD Savant himself, Glenn Erickson, to our guest blog. Glenn's critical and technical…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule
Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Ever since I came up with the quizzical, whimsical (quizzimsical?) name for my blog way…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
HONESTY (NO LIE!) ABOUT THE MOVIES OF 2015… SO FAR!
So here we are, smack dab in the middle of the dog days of summer (and if you don’t get that little…
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks
PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID
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…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
MOVIE HISTORY CATALINA ISLAND STYLE
A long time ago, sometime around 1912, a director by the name of D.W. Griffith packed up his filmmaking wares and took…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
GOOD-BYE, ALEX AND MARY
It’s definitely been a week for good-byes. My daughters and I spent the weekend in the beautiful, still somewhat quaint small town…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
Irrational Man and VIVE LE DISCOUNT MOVIE HOUSE!
Early on in Irrational Man, Woody Allen’s latest half-narcotized attempt to dramatically grapple with a philosophically tinged moral crisis, a fellow academic…
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VERTIGO: A PERSONAL VIEW
Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece VERTIGO, restored and presented in 70mm, will be shown at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland on July 17, 18,…
Joe Dante's Fleapit Flashbacks
STRAW DOGS
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…
Fear of the Velvet Curtain
WILD, DANGEROUS, IMPERFECT GRANDEUR: 11 DOUBLE FEATURES ABOUT AMERICA
The United States is “my country, right or wrong,” of course, and I consider myself a patriotic person, but I’ve never felt…