Of the many characters and creatures in Peter Jackson’s film trilogy of Lord of the Rings, my favorite may be the Nazgul, the nine former human kings who have been transformed by Sauron into wraiths.  When we first see them, they are riding what appear to be undead horses.  They are entirely badass, and, in […]

As the old joke goes, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice, boy, practice.”  Failing that, you could also always get engaged to the eldest daughter (Lugene Sanders) of a wealthy businessman (Harry Fleer), like Richard Carlson does in Bert I. Gordon’s 1960 ghost story Tormented. Carlson plays a supposedly gifted jazz pianist, though […]

There are some songs that so astound me that I can vividly recall when I first heard them.  For example, I can remember the first time I heard “Cannonball” by The Breeders on the radio, as I think it was the only time I was so stunned by a song that I pulled off the […]

Jack Palance is not among the very last of the actors I would consider to play Dracula, if only because he never would have been anywhere on the list of candidates, period.  I have found him to be very good in some movies, not so good in others, but he lacks many of the qualities […]

There is one especially memorable sequence, among many, in 1966’s Picture Mommy Dead.  In an unbroken shot, a young woman played by Susan Gordon is running toward the camera with a hawk swooping down behind her.  I imagine it was easy to act terrified for that scene, and I wondered if she was genuinely terrified.  […]

As soon as a horror movie lays out rules, you know those rules are going to be broken.  In the first scene of 2023’s Baghead we see Peter Mullen taking to the camera as he records a video of such rules for the next owner of his pub to observe.  We’re only a couple of […]

Whenever there is a newspaper or magazine article or headline shown in a movie, pause for a moment to check out the other elements around it on the page.  After all, somebody had to come up with some sort of filler and, often, these bits that would normally evade notice can be curious items.  They […]

I have seen many comedies where I found myself unable to laugh because the characters are too stupid to be believable.  I realize people in comedies rarely act like real human beings—that is part of the reason why those are comedies.  But the premise of a picture, and the world it builds, sets the bounds […]

Now here’s a strange animal—in a way, two of them, in fact.  1967’s King Kong Escapes pits the titular ape against a robotic version of himself.  And it takes its sweet time getting to that matchup, filling the runtime up with things that aren’t very interesting, because the audience is desperately waiting for King Kong […]

Truly, the strangest thing that has ever crossed my mind while watching a film occurred at one point in 2012’s The Pirates: Band of Misfits!  One of the best characters is a monkey Charles Darwin (David Tennant) has employed as a butler, and all I could think about is a bonus track on a reissue […]

I recently read an article saying studios don’t intend to make any more G-rated films, and that PG is the regarded as the new G.  In found this interesting, especially given how PG was a different animal in the 70’s.  I never stop being surprised when I see another such film of that rating and […]

It appears my approach to watching movies is “better late than never”.  God only knows how I managed to avoid 1987’s Innerspace for so long.  I was at the right age for such a sci-fi adventure comedy in its original theatrical run.  Although I didn’t know it back then, it was directed by Joe Dante, […]

It is weird to see certain movies that are new to me but which have been so famous for so long.  And yet, here I am in the ass half of middle age watching 1965’s The Sound of Music for the first time.  Is there any way I can judge it fairly, given my disdain […]

The early 90’s were a frustrating time to be in your late teens.  As if the 80’s weren’t oversexed enough with all those horny comedies, you had the 90’s ramping things up to a fever pitch with the epidemic of erotic thrillers that were the rage at the time. The genre was ripe for the […]