Blog Archives
Early Ashby
In his early career Hal Ashby was an editor who won an Academy Award for In the Heat of the Night. Of course, Ashby is now known as the director of some of the best films of the New Hollywood Cinema of the late 1960′s through the early 1980′s including Coming Home, Harold and Maude [...]
Evel According to Milius
Recently, I was excited to stumble across an article about Johnny Knoxville’s new Evel Knievel documentary, Being Evel, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Over the weekend I was re-watching the Milius documentary about writer/director John Milius who wrote Apocalypse Now and wrote and directed Red Dawn. I’d seen the flick before, but I [...]
Sold On Sellers
Comic genius and all-around super strange dude, Peter Sellers was born 90 years ago on September 8, 1925, and he died 35 years ago on July 24, 1980. Now that we’re somewhere right between these auspicious dates, it seemed like a good time to remember the great jester with this bizarre film about his bizarre [...]
American Psycho at 15
Fifteen years ago American cinema screens were hacked and sliced by the black comedy American Psycho. I didn’t see the flick until it came out on DVD. I watched it at a friend’s house in St. Louis and it’s still the only time that I immediately re-watched a film as soon as it ended. The [...]
After Hopper
Seems there’s always a significant anniversary to recount this year. Here’s another remembrance: this one marks five years since the death of Dennis Hopper. Hopper was an actor, director, writer, photographer and art collector. He was good at each of them and occasionally great at every one. Here’s a compilation of Hopper interviews presented by [...]
30 Years of Legend
Most readers of this blog probably love Ridley Scott for his classic science fiction films: Alien and Blade Runner are so good their appeal transcends the genre and the films continue to influence the way that directors envision the future. Even in lesser-known movies like The Duellists, Black Rain and Kingdom of Heaven, Scott demonstrates [...]
Dune 50
This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the novel Dune. I’ve been following the remembrances the book is getting in the form of online articles and new releases, and I wanted to share a couple of recent favorite discoveries connected to Dune‘s half-century birthday. The Folio Society has released a gorgeous version of Dune [...]
Basquiat’s Downtown
The following review originally appeared in The Contributor newspaper in Nashville, TN… Music Box Films’ new DVD release of Downtown 81 offers a fitting occasion for revisiting the iconic film as well as the music and art scenes it captured on celluloid. It also dresses-up the cult flick with a menu of extras and the [...]
The Real Jacob’s Ladder
This year we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the psycho/thriller, war flick Jacob’s Ladder. With great acting by Tim Robbins and Danny Aiello and its Francis Bacon-inspired visual effects, Jacob’s Ladder is one of those movies that takes a seemingly impossible premise and makes it feel very real. Jacob’s Ladder is a film with lots [...]
Dog Day Today
40 years ago, in 1975, Dog Day Afternoon exploded off of movie screens, electrifying audiences with its concrete realism, combustible characters, political undertones and a love story at the heart of the film that makes the movie seem as current and gripping as ever. Here’s the New York Post with the story behind the story [...]
