Entries
Reviews!
So I went and saw Shame: "Shame succeeds less as a work of dramatic fiction than of cinematic pathology. Sort of an illustrated medical casebook — a clinically minded viewer might be tempted to check off the symptoms as they …
Spend Christmas Night With Three Men (Two Tramps, One King) in a Tub
Another day, another delightful holiday oddity from the imaginative animation stands at Van Beuren Studios Trust me on this -- you have never seen anything quite like James Tyler's Christmas Night aka Pals (1933). (The same can be said of …
The Holiday Inn Christmas Tree Dissolve
A shameless plug. Holiday Inn, the delightful Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby musical for all seasons, is one of the films up for discussion in the hotly anticipated December 22 Lickona/Marks Christmas cover story. Needless to say, I revisited the …
Movie Theatres to Encourage Texting?
It looks as though I'm going to have to start packing a ball peen hammer in my movie theatre survival kit. A multiplex in Bellevue (Washington, not the New York mental hospital) is considering encouraging texting during movies. Why not …
A Christmas Opening Night at the Opera House
By the time Amedee J. Van Beuren got around to heading up his own studio, the animated film producer already had 8 years under his belt as Paul Terry's partner on the successful Aesop's Film Fables cartoons. Between 1928 and …
Christmas Is Coming...
...and that means (as previously noted) another Christmas cover! Marks set the bar perilously high with his first post, so I won't even try to top it. Instead, I'll get all ruminatey about The Theology of Rankin-Bass as Illuminated by …
Bud, the Bickle We Knew!
Comedy and Tragedy: The Two Faces of Bud. The generally accepted consensus among Scorsese proselytes cites this sequence, from John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) as Robert DeNiro's prime source of inspiration behind Travis Bickle's legendary mirror scene …
Part 5: Famous Movie Poster Rejects You've Never Seen (Exclusive)
Famous Movie Poster Rejects You've Never Seen Part 5 Hey again, we're back with more never-seen rejected movie posters, from a private collection I photographed some 20-odd years ago. Links to previous entries below. As detailed in part one, the …
Vote the Citizen Cain/Mindy McCready Ticket!
Sorry for the PhotoShop rush-job, but Herman and Mindy move so fast these days. You get the point.
Reviews!
Good tidings, people. David Elliott is fond of Hugo -- not as fond as Mr. Marks perhaps, but then, it's entirely possible that director Martin Scorsese himself is not as fond of Hugo as Mr. Marks. I kid, I kid. …
Oh Le Olady Olady I Oh, It's Hardrock, and Coco, and Joe!
A few months ago, my editor -- the hopelessly misnamed Ernie Grimm -- asked if Mr. Lickona and I would like to do a back-and-forth cover story on Christmas movies. My parents prohibited me from watching Christmas movies as a …
Speaking of Awesome Film Posters...
Big Screen contributor Jay Allen Sanford has been doing yeoman work with his series on unreleased movie posters. Movie poster designers: they're just like us! Don't believe me? Check out these wonderful Fake Criterion Collection efforts. Enough to bring on …
A Closer Look at the Trailer for John Carter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tystuRBlmac Mercy, but that looks bad/boring/derivative. And the writing! "You are ugly...but you are beautiful." "That don't look like a fair fight." "Get on." "We did not cause this...but this very night...we will finish it!" Still, my favorite part has …
More Fun with The Great Gatsby
Progress continues apace on Baz Luhrmann's adaptation, and new set photos continue to trickle onto the web, including these of Leo as Gatsby and Carey Mulligan as Daisy, and Tobey Maguire as Nick. First, the meme: Then, a quick visit …
TV or Not TV: Number of Households with Sets Drops
For the first time since the Nielsen Company began compiling data in 1970, the number of American households with television sets will drop between 2011 and 2012. It makes sense to cancel your cable -- most of the derivative crap …
Comedian Jo Koy at Spreckels Theatre for One Night Only
Prior to this interview, I wouldn’t have recognized Jo Koy had I fished him out of a koi pond. A colleague contacted me with word that Jo would be appearing at Spreckels Theatre this Saturday night, and an interview could …
Part 4: Famous Movie Poster Rejects You've Never Seen (Exclusive)
Famous Movie Poster Rejects You've Never Seen Part 4 Hey again, poster fans. Today, we're looking at the original art and unused proofs for the movie poster campaigns behind collegiate comedy Campus Man, horror hits Wes Craven's Deadly Friend and …
Let the Awards Season Begin!
We're off to a good start! The New York Film Critics Circle must have heard my pleas: they named Albert Brooks their Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Drive. After pushing back their deadline in order to be the …
Calling All Tots: Crybaby Matinees Want You!
You ever give a dirty look to the parents of a crying baby at a movie theater? Yes? Then you understand why I never brought along my tiny tykes when I wanted to see a film and didn’t have someone …
Review: The Muppets
L to R: Jerry Mahoney, Paul Winchell, and the incomparable Mr. Knucklehead Smiff. DISCLAIMER: This was my first exposure to Muppets. Before coming off like a raging puppetophobe, it’s been my pleasure to engage in many a warm and meaningful …