Blog Archives
No Joke
I haven’t found Alan Moore’s reaction to Batman: The Killing Joke being made into an animated feature, but given his previous reactions to cinematic adaptations of his creations I doubt he’s very excited at the prospect. I’m a fan of Moore’s and I’ve enjoyed some of the adaptations of his work more than others. I’m [...]
Considering Cassavetes
This year we mark three decades since the release of John Cassavetes’ last film, Big Trouble, in 1986. Truth is, I’ve never seen Big Trouble — Cassavetes stepped-in to helm the troubled production when the original writer/director bailed on the project. For most fans of Cassavetes, his last film was the 1984 marital drama Love [...]
Adam Curtis Comes Alive
I was recently reminded of how much I love Adam Curtis’s documentaries. Note to self: Where’s this boxed set? Looking through the bookmark where I dump lots of stuff that might be posted here or chatted-up on the podcast, I came across this cool video introduction to an artist who ranks among my favorite contemporary [...]
Vintage Strange
While comic book mavens and Benedict Cumberbatch fan girls are anxiously awaiting the release of the new Dr. Strange film, here’s an all-but-forgotten take on the doctor from 1978. Here’s the skinny from ComicBook.com… In the time of Nicholas Hammond as Spider-Man and Lou Ferrigno/Bill Bixby as the Incredible Hulk, Peter Hooten’s portrayal as Dr. [...]
Good Witch
If you live in Nashville and you’re planning to see a movie over the weekend pick up a copy of The Contributor and read my review of a fascinating new film called The Witch. Here are a few of my thoughts… Winter is a notoriously slow season for cinema — studios are busy promoting last [...]
Hattie’s Leap
On February 29, 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Academy Award…. Stay Awake! Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I archive all of the videos I curate at Insomnia. Click here to check out more Counter Culture posts.
Pink Fritz
I think of this blog primarily as a “countercultural” clearing house. It’s hard to define what “counterculture” even means in a world where sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll won the war a long time ago. My movie posts are always counter cultural in their way and today’s post is no different. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis [...]
TAXI DRIVER at 40
Three years ago I reviewed Steve Schapiro’s book of Taxi Driver photographs. Here are some of those words… Of all the brilliant gems of 1970′s America’s New Hollywood Cinema, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver may be the grimiest and goriest. Beyond Paul Schrader’s loneliness-crazed script or Scorsese’s street-level shooting, it’s Robert DeNiro’s portrait of the mohawked, [...]
Maid Made Mad
It mostly doesn’t work out when novelists become film directors. At best, authors seem to make bizarre cult classics: Tom McGuane’s 92 In The Shade comes to mind, and Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive has its memorable moments of coke-fueled camp. But both pale to the high weirdness and real-life violence in Norman Mailer’s Maidstone: From [...]
Satan Trek
What did William Shatner do between the end of the original Star Trek series and the first Star Trek feature film? Didn’t he make a movie about family curse connected to a Satanic grimoire that featured Anton LaVey as a technical advisor and featured John Travolta in his very first appearance on film? Beware The [...]
