Films That Matter
Stolen Fruit is the Sweetest
Not talked about nearly as much as influential horror films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Black Christmas (1974), and Halloween (1978), in 1976 Alfred Sole co-wrote and directed Alice, Sweet Alice... very early on known as Communion and later on as Holy Terror, another pre-cursor to the slasher craze that would soon thrive during the early 1980s. With seeming touches of a gialli influence, funnily enough, Sole claims to have never seen a giallo before making the film... instead, pulling from the ever influential Alfred Hitchcock, and more precisely, Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (1973) – which can clearly be seen here.
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Star Pick with Nathan Andrew Jacobs
WANTED Someone to Go Back in Time With MeSafety Not GuaranteedJanuary 1, 2016Sometimes it is not easy to qualify exactly what genre a movie is. Safety Not Guaranteed is one of those films. The 2012 picture was recommended to me by Nathan Andrew Jacobs, the writer/director of the independent film Killing Poe, who stated that it was an excellent Indie film that should be seen by more people.
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Mountain of Madness
Black Mountain SideDecember 10, 2015There has long been a history of films that deal with isolation and seclusion – some being big budget blockbusters while others are low-budget flicks. Movies such as The Shining, Cabin Fever and The Thing each created a sense of impending dread by using these two themes effectively. The low budget Canadian film Black Mountain Side continues the tradition.
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Star Pick with Billy Gibbons
Casablanca on TopCasablancaDecember 17, 2014We are now in the middle of the awards season and are closing in on the holy grail of film festivities: the Academy Awards, or as we all like to call him – Oscar. This month, I will be reviewing four motion pictures that have won at least one of the major prizes of either best director, actor, actress or picture.
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Film Noir, De Palma Style
Femme FataleMay 11, 2014In 2002, writer/director Brian De Palma once again put pen to paper and created another one of his unique homages to classic cinema (the first in ten years). Titled Femme Fatale, the director lets us follow his own take on the legendary film noir bad girls of old.
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What to Get the Man Who has Everything
The GameMarch 28, 2014Before I refer to the main title, I must first announce that long-time character actor James Rebhorn passed away last week at the age of 65. Though perhaps not a household name, the tall balding man (who looked the same age for as long as I can remember) will surely be missed, as he played small yet memorable roles for more than 30 years.
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The Tramp Finds his Voice
The Great DictatorMarch 13, 2014In 1939, it was known that Charlie Chaplin was making a new film.
