There was a year-and-a-half stretch when Belushi was clean and sober, and it showed in his work.
John Belushi could milk more laughter with a slight shift of the eyebrow than most comedians can with a pratfall. He transformed slobbery into an art form, and sewed danger into the heart of each ...
by Scott MarksIt became a staple of the early, funny Jackie Chan pictures: the cutaway to a Chief of Police looking on in disbelief — generally through a windshield or office glass partition — as our hero ...
by Scott MarksUnlike David Fincher’s satirically-muscular predecessor, director Paul Leyden and screenwriter Joseph Downey discourage use of the term “fight club,” choosing instead to liken their underground all-female boxing arena to a safehouse, a refuge where women ...
by Scott MarksThe 14th annual German Currents Film Festival will this year be held virtually in your living room from November 9-15. Below are reviews of three pretty terrific offerings, all seen through the eyes of women, ...
by Scott MarksDan Aykroyd and John Belushi, as a couple of Chicago white boys tuned to a rhythm-and-blues wavelength, expand the musical act they unveiled on television's Saturday Night Live into a full-blown slapstick chase movie, travelling through a meaningful cultural landscape ...
by Duncan ShepherdA pampered heiress jumps her father's yacht on the eve of her wedding, and sets off on a very educational tour of grassroots America, learning empirically about the art of hitchhiking, haystack-sleeping, donut-dunking and so forth, with a wiseguy newspaperman ...
by Duncan ShepherdI’m all about films that posit adults so envious of a child’s youth, beauty, and perspicacity that their blistering jealousy turns to seething hate. (See: Children of the Damned, The Brood, Princess Aurora’s folks in Sleeping Beauty, etc.) Diane Sherman ...
by Scott MarksHow about a hilarious helping of Cold Turkey for Thanksgiving? Cold Turkey (1971) Looking to combat bad publicity with good, Big Tobacco offers $25 million to the one American town that can collectively kick the ...
by Scott MarksThis week’s picks are meant to get us through this transitional period. Bartleby (1970) With all the movies in my mental Rolodex, surely there’s one tale of a lead character who refuses to budge even ...
by Scott MarksWhat do this week’s film have in common? A diverse trio of gay men with flavorful stories to tell. Capote (2005) There was something about the back page New York Times article detailing four grisly ...
by Scott MarksThis has been the longest dry spell of my moviegoing life. Even the most blizzardy Chicago winter could not keep me away for more than a few weeks let alone the almost six months it’s ...
by Scott MarksThere was a year-and-a-half stretch when Belushi was clean and sober, and it showed in his work.
John Belushi could milk more laughter with a slight shift of the eyebrow than most comedians can with a pratfall. He transformed slobbery into an art form, and sewed danger into the heart of each ...
by Scott MarksIt became a staple of the early, funny Jackie Chan pictures: the cutaway to a Chief of Police looking on in disbelief — generally through a windshield or office glass partition — as our hero ...
by Scott MarksUnlike David Fincher’s satirically-muscular predecessor, director Paul Leyden and screenwriter Joseph Downey discourage use of the term “fight club,” choosing instead to liken their underground all-female boxing arena to a safehouse, a refuge where women ...
by Scott MarksThe 14th annual German Currents Film Festival will this year be held virtually in your living room from November 9-15. Below are reviews of three pretty terrific offerings, all seen through the eyes of women, ...
by Scott MarksThe sighting of a stray Japanese submarine off the California coast ignites a slapstick panic which might more revealingly have been titled The Japs Are Coming, The Japs Are Coming. Steven Spielberg must have figured that if Stanley Kramer could ...
by Duncan ShepherdA vamp and three chumps. Liv Tyler, even with the help of photographic gimmicks, isn't up to the central role. Michael Douglas's coonskin-cap toupee is the best joke, but that's not saying much. With Matt Dillon, John Goodman, and Paul ...
by Duncan ShepherdI’m all about films that posit adults so envious of a child’s youth, beauty, and perspicacity that their blistering jealousy turns to seething hate. (See: Children of the Damned, The Brood, Princess Aurora’s folks in Sleeping Beauty, etc.) Diane Sherman ...
by Scott MarksPrologue: "Reality is too complex, so you make it fiction to make it comprehensible." What this fiction is about, according to its tentative original title, is "Tarzan vs. IBM." Godard takes his hero from the public domain, the pulp domain ...
by Duncan ShepherdHow about a hilarious helping of Cold Turkey for Thanksgiving? Cold Turkey (1971) Looking to combat bad publicity with good, Big Tobacco offers $25 million to the one American town that can collectively kick the ...
by Scott MarksThis week’s picks are meant to get us through this transitional period. Bartleby (1970) With all the movies in my mental Rolodex, surely there’s one tale of a lead character who refuses to budge even ...
by Scott MarksWhat do this week’s film have in common? A diverse trio of gay men with flavorful stories to tell. Capote (2005) There was something about the back page New York Times article detailing four grisly ...
by Scott MarksThis has been the longest dry spell of my moviegoing life. Even the most blizzardy Chicago winter could not keep me away for more than a few weeks let alone the almost six months it’s ...
by Scott Marks