Friday, July 6 2007
Junior Samples, Rube Bard of Days Gone By
It takes an exceptional talent to make hick seem slick. Alvin “Junior” Samples had it.
Monday, June 25 2007
A Matter of Morbid Elegance
While it may be hard to believe, horror imagery has its direct links in the visual variances of classic painting. It's all a matter of melancholic grace.
Thursday, June 14 2007
The Lisbon Bunch
Purposefully ending one's life is often seen as a last act of personal desperation. But in Jefferey Eugenides' poignant, bewitching novel, it may actually be a form of salvation.
Wednesday, June 6 2007
Who Will Watch the Watchmen?
To reduce Watchmen to just another superhero movie is to miss the point entirely, and one can't help but anticipate that the result will have all the cultural relevance of a supermarket paperback novelization of Citizen Kane.
Tuesday, June 5 2007
Billy Jack, the Original Blockbuster
Through the era-defining "Billy Jack" character, director Tom Laughlin pushed the outlandish, over-the-top event movie into the motion picture mainstream.
Wednesday, May 16 2007
The Unseen Masters of Horror
Fright fans love to praise the visionary efforts of their favorite horror directors. But behind every great terror auteur is usually an unsung macabre master.
Tuesday, April 24 2007
NBC News Overnight: And So It Went
NBC News Overnight strove to include the audience as much as possible, making its hour of news feel like a visit from a very wise, very witty, very worldly friend.
Monday, April 16 2007
We Like to Watch
Far more prescient today than it was 36 years ago, Jerzy Kosiński’s darkly comic novel of media and politics, Being There, lives on, thanks in part to Hal Ashby's marvelous 1979 motion picture adaptation.
Friday, March 30 2007
Almost Auteurs: Elaine May
Elaine May's untapped filmmaking promise remains as recognizable as her realized films, ranging from the acclaimed The Heartbreak Kid to the disastrous Ishtar. She is missed as a filmmaking force.
Wednesday, March 28 2007
The Director with Roots in Hell
Step right up folks, don't be shy. There's room for even the most sophisticated film fan when it comes to the exploitation excess of grindhouse pioneer Dwain Esper.
Wednesday, February 28 2007
The Gallant Gourmet
He championed both culinary extravagance and gastronomic restraint. But Graham Kerr's greatest legacy may be his innate ability to reach across the airwaves and touch each viewer's inner epicure.
Friday, February 23 2007
Rewarding the Oscar Also-Rans
With the Academy's 'big dance' on the horizon, it's time to recognize those motion pictures and performances overlooked by Oscar's self-serving system of artistic determination.
Wednesday, February 21 2007
Soulless
James Redfield's 'prophetic' novel, The Celestine Prophecy, as manifested in film... maybe it means something. I see soft-focus imagery and swirling colors. I'm getting a feeling. It's...it's... nausea.
Tuesday, February 13 2007
A Fistful of Yen
Is there really a link between feudal Japan and the Wild West of a post-Civil War America? Thanks to the films of two famed international auteurs, the connections are closer than you think.
Wednesday, February 7 2007
The Invincible Stubbornness of Judi Dench
Some consider her one of the grand dames of modern motion picture acting. But when it comes to her actual performances, this celebrated Oscar winner is decidedly one note.
Wednesday, January 24 2007
Calling William Castle!
What we need today is a man who is willing to subject himself to ridicule, disrespect, and misrepresentation, all in the name of motion picture propaganda – someone like William Castle.
Thursday, January 18 2007
The Most Powerful Woman in Hollywood
At one time, she was the most powerful woman in Hollywood's paternalistic boy's club. So why is Mary Pickford merely a forgotten cinematic icon today? The answer seems, sadly, to be a matter of personal, not professional drive.
Monday, December 18 2006
The 12 Days of Prozac
As a kind of red-nosed warning, or a pre-eggnog PSA, here's a look at three memorable television treats that, inadvertently, have caused more pain and suffering than a trip to Toys R Us when the Tickle Me Elmo shipment arrived.
Monday, December 11 2006
Finally, Room at the Inn
Billy Wilder's The Apartment captures the holiday season feeling of those who stand beyond the glow cast by Christmas lights.
Thursday, November 30 2006
Stumbling with Nail Clippers
It was one of the most talked about tomes upon its release. Unfortunately, our literary liaison for all things film thinks that Augusten Burrough's mesmerizing memoir was definitely defanged in the cinematic translation.
