My dad was a plumber, so one might think I would have a greater affinity for that work than I do.  Unfortunately, I dread the possibility of any issues arising which require such skills, and loathe having to use them.  Jennifer Jones, as the titular character in Ernst Lubitsch’s 1946 screwball comedy Cluny Brown, obviously […]

Although I have yet to write an essay about it, I deeply love 2016’s Rogue One.  It pulled off an impossible feat, turning what superficially seemed to be a superfluous story in the Star Wars universe into something essential, awe-inspiring and heartfelt.  Director Gareth Edwards has a scant filmography beyond that, so I was very […]

I sometimes wonder whether I would like the holiday specials I have watched since I was little, and which I still cherish, had I not been introduced to them at an early age.  I think The Grinch Who Stole Christmas would stand the test, as the humor feels a bit more oriented towards adults.  It […]

Everything about 1989’s Dr. Caligari just screams L.A. in the 80’s.  Much in it triggered various connotations in my mind of things I associate with that region in that era.  Just a few of them are performance art, interpretive dance, spoken-word albums, underground comics, zines and the sets of Beetlejuice and Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.  Oh, and […]

There is apparently debate in noir circles as to whether 1955’s The Looters qualifies for inclusion into the canon.  It may not take place in a big city or a desert town (the two typical location choices guaranteeing acceptance), but it does have a group of characters driven to extremes courtesy of a large amount […]

The more I see of Dario Argento’s work, the more I convinced I am 1977’s Suspiria is a fluke.  That film is still contentious today, though I think it is a masterpiece.  Mind you, the closer you examine it, the less sensical it appears.  It really is a jumble of ideas that seem to have […]

No matter how much cinema means to a person, there are few films which I believe anybody can say actually changed their life.  2011’s Samsara would be unlikely to make even a list of my top 100 favorite films, and yet it is the one that had the greatest direct impact on me.  Thanks to […]

1990’s Flashback is the kind of action-comedy, mismatched buddies film that was so popular in the 80’s and early 90’s.  It even strongly recalls Midnight Run from just two years prior, where a clever and funny fugitive is paired with a straight-laced man tasked with bringing him to justice. This time, we have Dennis Hopper […]

Everybody has a favorite Beatle, but I hope we can agree the most likable is Ringo.  And while each of them went before the cameras at different times (whether separately or collectively), he seems to be the most natural.  Still, I doubt he would have been in film if it wasn’t for being a Beatle […]

1972’s The Blood Splattered Bride opens with a quote from Plato.  Already I was thinking of how many lousy novels are preceded by a quote from Shakespeare, and I feel a Greek philosopher would be held in similar regard.  In this case, the quote is: “The good ones are those who are content to dream […]

The most reprehensible commercial video game released has to be the Atari 2600 release Custer’s Revenge.  Despite the primitive graphics, it is still easy to tell the player controls an aroused man who tries to get across the screen to force himself on a Native American woman tied to a post.  Some reviewers of the […]

I wonder what it is about eastern European countries that their more unusual fare tends to be very different from what most viewers in English-speaking territories are used to, while films from such a country also somehow manage to be similar to each other. Such is the case with 1981 Czech picture The Mysterious Castle […]

A strange dichotomy concerns 80’s all-girl rock bands.  You can like both The Go-Go’s and The Bangles, but you’re going to like one of them more than the other.  What seems to surprise most people is the former started out as a punk band fully committed to that aesthetic.  People seem to think artists can’t, […]