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“Bond… James Bond.” The First Three Films
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 50 years since Dr. No, the first James Bond film, was released. How is that possible? Am I that old? Then again, it feels like Bond has always been on the scene,...
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Just Saw Something Great – Again!
Silver Linings Playbook - Saturday, December 1 at the Crosby Street Hotel screening room. Director/Writer: David O. Russell. Loved it! I was with this film from start to finish. At the risk of...
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Famous Monsters and Me – Pt. 2: Books and Comics
As I wrote in my first “Famous Monsters” post last May, “…from an early age, as early as I can remember, I was totally in love with science fiction and horror (monsters!) via all their delivery...
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Kubrick and “The Killing”
The IFC Center in New York recently ended a week’s run of Stanley Kubrick films. I saw a double feature of two of my favorites, The Killing (1956) and Paths of Glory (1957), then topped that off the...
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Pennebaker, Dylan, and All the Rest
Last weekend we saw Dont Look Back (1967) at the Museum of the Moving Image, with director D.A. Pennebaker there for a Q&A after. I thought the opportunity to see the film on a big screen with the...
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The Wonder of “What Maisie Knew”
What Maisie Knew - Monday, May 13 at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. Directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, written by Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright. When I first heard of this film I thought there...
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Burt Lancaster –“If it’s killin’ you want…”
Burt Lancaster would have been 100 years old on November 2 of this year. The Film Society of Lincoln Center is taking the occasion to show 13 of his 74 feature films. Last Friday I saw one of my...
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Gatsby Stew
Which one of these Gatsbys would you rather see? Based on the poster for the Alan Ladd version (1949), which appears to recast the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel in noirish gangster terms, it’s no contest,...
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“Man of Steel”– Overkill
This is a bit of a ramble. Please bear with me. So much has been written online and in print about Man of Steel in the week since it opened, that I’m hesitant to add anything at this point (though I...
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James Gandolfini and Richard Matheson — Jersey Boys
It was quite a shock to hear last Thursday that James Gandolfini had died the day before, June 19th, in Italy of a heart attack — much too young at age 51. And then to learn a few days later that...
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Famous Monsters & Me — Pt. 3: Pulp Fiction
As I’ve already established in the first two installments of “Famous Monsters & Me” (posted last year on May 17 and December 11), at an early age I developed an intense love of science fiction and...
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Civil Rights Roundtable — a Time Capsule from 1963
August 28th marked the 50th anniversary of what was originally called the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In the years since then, the name has lost “Jobs and Freedom,” and most people,...
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Gunfights at the O.K. Corral
John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946) just ended a one-week run at Film Forum here in New York, presented in a stunning digital restoration, clean and crisp, like the first time anyone had seen it....
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On the Radio — Movies, Zombies &“Homecoming”
Two weeks ago I traveled to New Jersey with Mark Svenvold, a published author of non-fiction and poetry who teaches creative writing and literature courses at Seton Hall University. Mark, who I’ve...
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Al Feldstein — Seriously Mad
Al Feldstein died the week before last on Tuesday, April 29. The obituaries I’ve seen since then focus mainly on his association with Mad magazine, which he edited for 29 years, from 1956 to 1985....
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Washroom Attendant to the Stars: My Technicolor Years
When I graduated from the University of Iowa in the summer of 1973 (with an awesome “General Studies” degree), I moved to Minneapolis. Not long after arriving I managed to land a job with a motion...
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Movie Poster Art – Foreign Versions
When searching online for posters and stills for English-language films, I often stumble upon foreign posters for those films. Many of these simply re-purpose the original poster art, but the ones that...
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Film Noir & Everything Else – Too Many Movies
Today is my birthday. Ta da! Birthdays can be a time of reflection, so maybe I should reflect on the fact that I’ve only put up one new post so far this month, yet more evidence of my constant struggle...
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“A Most Wanted Man”&“Double Indemnity”– Top of the Line
A Most Wanted Man - Sunday, August 3 at AMC Loews Lincoln Square. I love spy stories in films, TV shows, novels & non-fiction, but I’m sure my most immediate reason to see A Most Wanted Man was to...
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Barry Gifford on Film Noir – A Way with Words
As a writer, Barry Gifford definitely gets around. Born in Chicago in 1946, Gifford’s hefty output (over 40 titles to date) includes fiction, non-fiction, biographies, poetry, and screenplays. I first...
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