Category: film reviews
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I like a movie that’s not afraid to take a big swing. An original swing. Heck, even a weird swing. Truthfully? I’m willing to forgive a less-than-perfect movie that dares to try something new. In this day and age, it’s not often that a work tries to break the mold. Then I watched Pillion… Pillion follows Colin…
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Every so often a film comes along that leaves you speechless. It leaves you flummoxed and searching for words. These movies can be a journey of the most befuddling variety. Are they brilliant? Are they terrible? Are we audience members just too dumb to figure out what they’re trying to say? Kids, this is where…
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Horror is a hard genre. It’s easy to make people cry, it’s harder to make them laugh, but it’s a real challenge to scare an audience. Jordan Peele has been at the forefront of a horror resurgence happening over the last few years. While still very much a young filmmaker, he came out of the…
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Those familiar with my work know I love a fun, nostalgic period piece. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris certainly fits that bill. It’s very pink. It’s very girly. Looking at the poster, you can envision it sitting on the summer “beach read” or “chic lit” bookshelf (which it did). With the film version of the…
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Sunset Boulevard is an essential in the history of classic cinema. At this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival they spotlighted the dramatic noir the way it was meant to be seen with the film playing at Grauman’s Chinese Theater with actress Nancy Olson introducing the 1950 classic. Sunset Boulevard follows struggling writer Joe Gillis (William…
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Alfred Hitchcock is a well-known name from the classic Hollywood era. The legendary filmmaker is known for his host of classic films throughout the run of his career. Strangers on a Train is lesser known than films like Notorious or North by Northwest. However, in combining a career performance from Robert Walker as well some…
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In the more than seventy years since the birth of the film noir movement, cinema scholars the world over have written chapter upon chapter of academic texts attempting to define film noir. All forms of analysis from visual to narrative have come into play in an attempt to define this very complex group of films.…
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When thinking about textbook “film noir”, a number of movies spring to mind. Popular examples of the WWII and post-war movement are such well-remembered classics as The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, and The Postman Always Rings Twice. In reality, the series of films spanned almost 15 years from 1940 until its (commonly accepted) termination in…
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Our latest look into Jean Harlow‘s filmography jumps very early into the actress’ career with the 1932 gem, Red Dust. The romantic dramedy is an exotic Pre-Code spotlighting Clark Gable and Harlow (both soon to be cinematic legends) on the cusp of their exploding popularity. The movie proves to be a fascinating study in not…
