I love all forms of animation, especially the various forms of stop-motion.  So I am familiar with the work of Will Vinton and his trademark Claymation process.  I hold him in high regard for the quality of his work, even if there is consistently something I find a bit off-putting about it.  Something I can’t […]

I love gothic films, which I find odd, as it one of the most restrictive genres.  I mean, what is gothic exactly?  You must have at least a sprawling old building of some sort, whether it is the baron’s castle or a school for girls which is lorded over of a prim schoolmistress. The 1964 […]

I confess to being a soft touch, despite being such a cynic.  Some movies have moved me to tears, even when I realize I am being blatantly manipulated.  But my eyes stayed bone dry throughout the only time I intend to watch 1941’s Penny Serenade.  I found it to be an accurate title for something […]

You know you have reached an advance age when you see somebody in a film getting stretched on a medieval rack and you think about how great your aching back might feel after some time on that.  But that’s what I was thinking when Boris Karloff was subjecting some poor soul to this punishment in […]

In a perfect world, Ann Magnuson would have had a long career of leading roles in movies while attracting a growing cult following for her musical endeavors.  Alas, neither of these things happened, though not for lack of trying.  I challenge anybody to see 1987’s Making Mr. Right and not wonder why they haven’t seen […]

It isn’t often I find myself in direct opposition to an opinion Roger Ebert expressed in a review, yet I am stunned by how much he hated 1975’s Death Race 2000. I will sum up the plot for the unfamiliar.  In the future (well, 2000 was the future in 1975), America is under the thumb […]

In 2014, Bill Nye debated creationism with Ken Ham, the founder of the Creation Museum in Kentucky.  I was disappointed when Nye agreed to that debate, as I thought it tarnished his reputation a bit.  It isn’t as if anything he could say would change Ham’s beliefs.  Despite being held in an auditorium, the whole […]

Let’s face it: dolls are creepy.  I think this feeling is aptly summarized in one of the most beloved episodes of The X-Files, “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”, where a psychic played by Peter Boyle gets weirded out by a murdered woman’s collection of dolls.  “Why did this woman collect dolls? What was it about her […]

Jerry Lee Lewis played a mean piano.  He was also apparently a pretty mean guy, as he was once arrested for going to Graceland with the intention of shooting Elvis.  He is rumored to have done a lot of drugs, which I think just comes with the territory of being a rock star.  Perhaps the […]

A while back, I watched the David Essex vehicle Stardust from 1974.  Now here I am watching him in 1973’s That’ll Be the Day and I find myself writing things like “it feels like Stardust is a spiritual sequel to this earlier film”.  So, I was shocked to discover, though only after the fact, that […]

Little Richard is looking uncomfortable on the stage—odd since it is 1956 and he’s in his prime.  Admittedly, his audience is all white people in formal wear.  He looks like a spring wound too tightly, like he’s barely restraining an urge to completely let loose.  What I like best is there is a bit of […]

It can be difficult to be a Residents fan. For 50 years now, this anonymous group has been making music that is an acquired taste.  And the style of their music has changed so radically over the years that each era has its fans and detractors.  Then there’s the volume of material—one would pay a […]

The first movie I had seen Esther Williams in was 1956’s The Unguarded Moment.  What was notable about that film is it was her first serious dramatic role.  Prior to that, every picture she starred in emphasized her legendary swimming ability.  This meant a whole lot of synchronized swimming routines—basically, musical numbers staged in and […]

I love Hamilton Books and the “drops” they have each month where new merchandise is made available on the site.  This outfit seems to specialize in remaindered media, and my library has grown by leaps and bounds through their discounted blu-rays and DVDs.  Their prices are generally quite low, so I have also rolled the […]