If the movie studios in the 50’s and 60’s were so concerned about competing with television, why did they insist on releasing so many theatrical films that were of the quality and nature of small screen fare?  If somebody wanted to see a comedy where the humor is largely people shouting at each other, and […]

I’m just going to come out a say something: Joel Grey is a creepy motherfucker.  He’s perfectly cast in 1974’s Man on a Swing, where he plays an alleged clairvoyant who insists on helping the police investigate the murder of a young woman.  He may or may not have such powers, he may or not […]

1950’s Panic in the Streets is a noir about trying to stop a possible epidemic of pneumonic plague.  That is an interesting idea for the genre, and the only other film I can think of that did this is the same year’s The Killer That Stalked New York.  But that one was about smallpox, as […]

Oliver Reed once wrestled Alan Bates naked on the screen in Ken Russell’s Women in Love.  I wonder if that was more than, or a less than, embarrassing experience when compared to starring in 1980’s Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype.  I’m still trying to figure out why Reed took this role at all.  It is […]

James Cagney specialized in playing brutal criminals.  He completely dominated such pictures as The Public Enemy and White Heat.  His characters in those were completely despicable, but fascinating to watch.  But those can’t hold a candle compared to how much of a louse he is in 1950’s Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. What’s novel about this picture […]

Say the name Nigel Kneale to sci-fi fans in the know, an you’ll probably get a nod acknowledging you are part of the inner circle of his fans.  This Manxman wrote some stellar scripts, ones that focused more on ideas than action.  His Quatermass character is especially popular, having been in three legendary BBC series […]

It’s hard to pick a favorite moment from the series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, as it had nearly as many great bits as the prime seasons of The Simpsons.  But there’s one I couldn’t stop thinking of recently, and that’s the fake 1938 musical Daddy’s Boy, a clip of which cuts off in mid-song because […]

It’s odd how there can be somebody who has been in the credits for a great many movies you’ve seen, but never noticed it until a different form of media makes you aware of them.  For example, I never really noticed the wealth of movies Edith Head worked on until the They Might Be Giant’s […]

I don’t know if audiences of the 1970’s were clamoring for films set four decades prior, but the studios delivered a ton of them.  Paramount, especially, seemed to have a hard-on for making films set in the 1930’s, among them Paper Moon, Lady Sings the Blues and The Last Tycoon.  Well, it worked with Chinatown, […]

I like to think Gene Wilder was probably a smart and funny guy in real life.  While not a huge fan of his, he usually brought something to the screen that somehow conveyed warmth while simultaneously seeming a tad aloof.  It was like he usually was thinking of a very clever and cutting remark but […]

If there is one moment in 1965’s Crack in the World which sums it up concisely, it is an innocuous sign reading “CENTRAL OPERATIONS” and pointing to the right.  This is a few feet in front of an elevator, except it is facing the viewer and not those disembarking.  Unless the sign is double-sided, that […]

It is my understanding most law enforcement officers never have to fire a shot in the line of duty at any point in their career.  Poor Jamie Lee Curtis ends up shooting dead a gun-waving robber on the first day of the job in 1990’s Blue Steel.  When I stopped to think about it, the […]

One of my favorite Beatle quips was courtesy of one of those weird Christmas flexi discs they used to release through their fan club.  Talking about the black-and-white Hard Day’s Night, George Harrison says they’re working on another film, and this time it will be in color.  John Lennon doesn’t miss a beat when he […]

Is it possible to write anything resembling an objective critique of the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters?  For one thing, it isn’t even sure what its name is, with the single-word title in an isolated credit towards the beginning, while the end credits declare its full title to be Ghostbusters: Answer the Call.  Both titles are […]