20 Films That Went From Bombs to Beloved

Not every cinematic bomb remains forgettable. Sometimes, a failure is just a gemstone in disguise that will only reveal itself well past the release date.

                                      
Film
    
        Absurdism and Power: Robert Altman's 'Brewster McCloud' in Today's America
    
Matt McKinzie

    12 Jul 2019

Film
    
        In Two Minds: Robert Altman's 'Images' Essays the Terrors of Schizophrenia
    
Imran Khan

    04 Mar 2019

Music
    
        Tom Waits: Preacher on a Pale Horse
    
Christopher John Stephens

    26 Apr 2018

Recent

Film

The 100 Essential Directors Part 1: Chantal Akerman - Bernardo Bertolucci

Neurotic New Yorkers, Queer Mavericks, Swedish close-ups and the art of putting a microphone on every person on set are but a few of the themes explored in PopMatters' first group of ten essential directors, Chantal Akerman through Bernardo Bertolucci. Please note that any perceived omissions were likely on purpose...

Film

America's Dirty Secrets Revealed in Robert Altman's Short Cuts

Altman spent his entire career amplifying the hidden comedy in America’s soul. Short Cuts is his most sweeping and relatable sketch of the country caught off-guard.

Film

How About Some Noah Baumbach, Paul Thomas Anderson, Robert Altman & Akira Kurosawa for the Holidays?

If you ever wonder why certain elements get tossed into a movie, remember: beauty never needs to be justified. These and other thoughts on recent Blu-ray releases.

Film

Robert Altman, the Blackguard of American Elections

At times it feels as if Altman is forcing us to drink drain cleaner in order for us to feel the gut wrenching pain of the farce that American democracy has become.

William Gombash

Reviews

On Robert Altman's Subversive Anti-western, 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller'

McCabe & Mrs. Miller toys with and subverts western tropes and traditions while flat out refusing to fall into others.

Film

The Power of Bullshit in 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller'

In McCabe & Mrs. Miller, the 1971 western directed by Robert Altman, bullshit seems like the stuff empires are built on, but as we quickly come to find out, it can also turn to quicksand.

Shayna Murphy

Books

What Is the Robert Altman Vision?

If you want to get a complete understanding of Altman, his filmmaking style, and why his movies are so important to the history of cinema, Frank Caso’s book is a must read.

Film

Reveling in '70s Nostalgia: New Blu-rays for Your Home Film Festival

Some '70s movies are more '70s than others.

Film

'The Long Goodbye' in the City of Angels and Demons

Robert Altman's '70s noir is a terrific, sad, and mischievous movie.

Film

The Pragmatic Anarchy of the Long Take

The Long Take can at once be subtle enough to be missed by the audience and astounding enough to entrance that same audience... depending on who is paying attention.

Film

100 Essential Directors - Robert Altman

100 Essential Directors celebrates directors of distinct vision, who have honed their respective crafts, who have brought something new and exciting to the medium, and who continue to push the boundaries of the form.

Stuart Henderson

Film

ReFramed No. 4: Robert Altman's 'California Split'

Leaving Godard aside, ReFramed explores the pure entertainment value of Robert Altman's oft-dismissed California Split.

Jordan Cronk and Calum Marsh

Film

Politicking with 'Made in Dagenham''s Miranda Richardson

Miranda Richardson discusses this season's premiere feminism-themed film about the real-life strike at the UK Ford plant that challenged and changed British laws on equal pay. Just how far have we come since 1968 in the fight for gender equality in the workplace?

Film

The Ignoble Quest for Infamy: Filming McCabe & Mrs. Miller in Vancouver

Forty years on, McCabe & Mrs. Miller remains Vancouver’s cinematic benchmark. By the time McCabe rolled into production, MA*SH had made Robert Altman a star, and he returned to Vancouver with his core team to create a Western like no other in film history.

Regan Payne

Television

Robert Culp: From 'I Spy' to 'Hickey & Boggs'

Robert Culp and Bill Cosby's wit and warmth in I Spy also established a foundation of fragility and fatalism for Culp's despairing Hickey & Boggs.

Reviews

Streamers

This film is a smoldering evisceration of male hypocrisy, pretense, racial anxiety, and sexual panic that would give Neil LaBute pause.

Film

The American Ruling Class (2005)

Books

101 Forgotten Films by Brian Mills

Mills is a movie lover who, like a penniless kid with his nose pressed against the windows of a wonderful restaurant, aches for the unobtainable.

Reviews

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

That a down home jamboree could be interesting to heavy-metal loving middle school students speaks to its wide.

Michael Buening

Film

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

A Prairie Home Companion combines typical Altman strategies, like overlapping dialogue and converging multiple storylines, as well as his fanatical appreciation for the process of creating art.

Matt Mazur

Reviews

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

You might call A Prairie Home Companion an unlikely Lindsay Lohan movie. You could also call it the best work she's done, the best work she's likely to do, or the best chance she's had to do good work.

Reviews

Robert Altman Collection: Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Robert Duvall, Carol Burnett - PopMatters

This uneven collection is a definite example of the adage 'when he's good, he's very good, but when he's bad, he's very bad'.

Matt Mazur

Reviews

The Company (2003)

Evocations of life's uncertainty -- an Altman specialty -- simultaneously expose the obstacles the ballet company must overcome in order to mount a production.

Michael Healey

Film

The Long Goodbye (1973/2002)

Not just empty genre deconstruction, The Long Goodbye dares to ask some very basic questions about the hard-boiled detective hero.

Christopher Sieving

Reviews

Gosford Park (2001)

It is clear about what it is, a study of affect that is also affected.

Cynthia Fuchs

Reviews

Collapse Expand Reviews

Features

The Road to Murder in Love and War: Three Films from Claude Chabrol

Collapse Expand Features

PM Picks

Collapse Expand Pm Picks

Not every cinematic bomb remains forgettable. Sometimes, a failure is just a gemstone in disguise that will only reveal itself well past the release date.

Altman spent his entire career amplifying the hidden comedy in America’s soul. Short Cuts is his most sweeping and relatable sketch of the country caught off-guard.

If you ever wonder why certain elements get tossed into a movie, remember: beauty never needs to be justified. These and other thoughts on recent Blu-ray releases.

At times it feels as if Altman is forcing us to drink drain cleaner in order for us to feel the gut wrenching pain of the farce that American democracy has become.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller toys with and subverts western tropes and traditions while flat out refusing to fall into others.

In McCabe & Mrs. Miller, the 1971 western directed by Robert Altman, bullshit seems like the stuff empires are built on, but as we quickly come to find out, it can also turn to quicksand.

If you want to get a complete understanding of Altman, his filmmaking style, and why his movies are so important to the history of cinema, Frank Caso’s book is a must read.

Some '70s movies are more '70s than others.

Robert Altman's '70s noir is a terrific, sad, and mischievous movie.

The Long Take can at once be subtle enough to be missed by the audience and astounding enough to entrance that same audience... depending on who is paying attention.

100 Essential Directors celebrates directors of distinct vision, who have honed their respective crafts, who have brought something new and exciting to the medium, and who continue to push the boundaries of the form.

Leaving Godard aside, ReFramed explores the pure entertainment value of Robert Altman's oft-dismissed California Split.

Miranda Richardson discusses this season's premiere feminism-themed film about the real-life strike at the UK Ford plant that challenged and changed British laws on equal pay. Just how far have we come since 1968 in the fight for gender equality in the workplace?

Forty years on, McCabe & Mrs. Miller remains Vancouver’s cinematic benchmark. By the time McCabe rolled into production, M*A*S*H had made Robert Altman a star, and he returned to Vancouver with his core team to create a Western like no other in film history.

Robert Culp and Bill Cosby's wit and warmth in I Spy also established a foundation of fragility and fatalism for Culp's despairing Hickey & Boggs.

This film is a smoldering evisceration of male hypocrisy, pretense, racial anxiety, and sexual panic that would give Neil LaBute pause.

Mills is a movie lover who, like a penniless kid with his nose pressed against the windows of a wonderful restaurant, aches for the unobtainable.

That a down home jamboree could be interesting to heavy-metal loving middle school students speaks to its wide.

A Prairie Home Companion combines typical Altman strategies, like overlapping dialogue and converging multiple storylines, as well as his fanatical appreciation for the process of creating art.

You might call A Prairie Home Companion an unlikely Lindsay Lohan movie. You could also call it the best work she's done, the best work she's likely to do, or the best chance she's had to do good work.

This uneven collection is a definite example of the adage 'when he's good, he's very good, but when he's bad, he's very bad'.

Death, or that state 'beyond natural color', is Short Cuts' common denominator.

Evocations of life's uncertainty -- an Altman specialty -- simultaneously expose the obstacles the ballet company must overcome in order to mount a production.

Not just empty genre deconstruction, The Long Goodbye dares to ask some very basic questions about the hard-boiled detective hero.

It is clear about what it is, a study of affect that is also affected.

Forty years on, McCabe & Mrs. Miller remains Vancouver’s cinematic benchmark. By the time McCabe rolled into production, MA*SH had made Robert Altman a star, and he returned to Vancouver with his core team to create a Western like no other in film history.