Trouble Is My Business with Brittney Powell. Co-written by actor/voice actor Tom Konkle, who also directed, and Xena: Warrior Princess actress Brittney Powell, Trouble Is My Business is a humorous homage to film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s, among them John Huston's The Maltese Falcon and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. Konkle stars in the sort of role that back in the '40s and '50s belonged to the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Dick Powell, and Alan Ladd. As the femme fatale, Brittney Powell is supposed to evoke memories of Jane Greer, Lizabeth Scott, Lauren Bacall, and Claire Trevor. 'Trouble Is My Business': Humorous film noir homage evokes memories of 'The Maltese Falcon' & 'Touch of Evil' A crunchy, witty, and often just plain funny mash-up of classic noir tropes, from hard-boiled private dicks to the easy-on-the-eyes femme fatales – in addition to dialogue worthy of Dashiell Hammett and, occasionally...
- 10/21/2017
- by Tim Cogshell
- Alt Film Guide
Arthur Penn’s detective movie is one of the best ever in the genre, one that rewards repeat viewings particularly well. Gumshoe Harry Moseby compartmentalizes his marriage, his job, his past and the greedy Hollywood has-beens he meets, not realizing that everything is interconnected, and fully capable of assembling a world-class conspiracy. Gene Hackman tops a sterling cast in the film that introduced most of us to Melanie Griffith.
Night Moves
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1975 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Melanie Griffith, Susan Clark, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin, Kenneth Mars, Janet Ward, James Woods, Anthony Costello.
Cinematography: Bruce Surtees
Production Designer: George Jenkins
Film Editor: Dede Allen
Original Music: Michael Small
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by Robert M. Sherman
Directed by Arthur Penn
Night Moves is a superb detective thriller that plays with profound ideas without getting its fingers burned.
Night Moves
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1975 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Melanie Griffith, Susan Clark, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin, Kenneth Mars, Janet Ward, James Woods, Anthony Costello.
Cinematography: Bruce Surtees
Production Designer: George Jenkins
Film Editor: Dede Allen
Original Music: Michael Small
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by Robert M. Sherman
Directed by Arthur Penn
Night Moves is a superb detective thriller that plays with profound ideas without getting its fingers burned.
- 8/15/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
No genre illustrates the evolution of cinema better than the crime film. As recently as the ’90s, Hollywood regularly released stories of cops-and-robber showdowns and mystery-thrillers based on best-selling novels — but as the middle class continues to disappear from Hollywood films, smart crime stories moved to television (see: “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Night Of,” et. al.).
Outside the studios, there is a longstanding tradition – from the B-movies to the Coen brothers – of new directors showcasing their filmmaking chops with dark, stylish, and intense crime sagas. A surge of new filmmakers in the ’90s brought fresh interpretations to the genre, from the pastiche of “Reservoir Dogs” to the unnerving realism in “Boyz n the Hood.”
Read MoreThe 50 Best Films of the ’90s, From ‘Pulp Fiction’ to ‘Groundhog Day’
These days, many of the best contemporary directors — including Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Mann, the Coens, Park Chan-wook and Spike Lee – still love the genre,...
Outside the studios, there is a longstanding tradition – from the B-movies to the Coen brothers – of new directors showcasing their filmmaking chops with dark, stylish, and intense crime sagas. A surge of new filmmakers in the ’90s brought fresh interpretations to the genre, from the pastiche of “Reservoir Dogs” to the unnerving realism in “Boyz n the Hood.”
Read MoreThe 50 Best Films of the ’90s, From ‘Pulp Fiction’ to ‘Groundhog Day’
These days, many of the best contemporary directors — including Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Mann, the Coens, Park Chan-wook and Spike Lee – still love the genre,...
- 8/11/2017
- by Chris O'Falt, Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich, Zack Sharf, Jamie Righetti, Michael Nordine, Steve Greene and Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Louisa Mellor Aug 27, 2017
Jk Rowling-created detective Cormoran Strike arrives on the BBC in a solid hour of traditional murder mystery…
This review contains spoilers.
See related Timothy V. Murphy interview: True Detective season 2 True Detective season 2 episode 8 review: Omega Station True Detective season 2 episode 7 review: Black Maps And Motel Rooms True Detective season 2 episode 6 review: Church In Ruins True Detective season 2 episode 5 review: Other Lives
Sherlock Holmes. Hercule Poirot. Veronica Mars. Endeavour Morse. Unlikely names are clearly the birthright of any decent fictional Pi. Even the relatively conventional Sam Spade and John Shaft sound like characters christened by Vic and Bob when you think about it.
Cormoran Strike though, the creation of thriller novelist Robert Galbraith (himself the creation of Jk Rowling) takes the Pi biscuit. It’s a fabulously implausible name that belongs on the 1940s cover of a boys’ own adventure comic. Cormoran. Strike. Half mythical Cornish giant,...
Jk Rowling-created detective Cormoran Strike arrives on the BBC in a solid hour of traditional murder mystery…
This review contains spoilers.
See related Timothy V. Murphy interview: True Detective season 2 True Detective season 2 episode 8 review: Omega Station True Detective season 2 episode 7 review: Black Maps And Motel Rooms True Detective season 2 episode 6 review: Church In Ruins True Detective season 2 episode 5 review: Other Lives
Sherlock Holmes. Hercule Poirot. Veronica Mars. Endeavour Morse. Unlikely names are clearly the birthright of any decent fictional Pi. Even the relatively conventional Sam Spade and John Shaft sound like characters christened by Vic and Bob when you think about it.
Cormoran Strike though, the creation of thriller novelist Robert Galbraith (himself the creation of Jk Rowling) takes the Pi biscuit. It’s a fabulously implausible name that belongs on the 1940s cover of a boys’ own adventure comic. Cormoran. Strike. Half mythical Cornish giant,...
- 8/10/2017
- Den of Geek
'The Magnificent Ambersons': Directed by Orson Welles, and starring Tim Holt (pictured), Dolores Costello (in the background), Joseph Cotten, Anne Baxter, and Agnes Moorehead, this Academy Award-nominated adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel earned Ricardo Cortez's brother Stanley Cortez an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. He lost to Joseph Ruttenberg for William Wyler's blockbuster 'Mrs. Miniver.' Two years later, Cortez – along with Lee Garmes – would win Oscar statuettes for their evocative black-and-white work on John Cromwell's homefront drama 'Since You Went Away,' starring Ricardo Cortez's 'Torch Singer' leading lady, Claudette Colbert. In all, Stanley Cortez would receive cinematography credit in more than 80 films, ranging from B fare such as 'The Lady in the Morgue' and the 1940 'Margie' to Fritz Lang's 'Secret Beyond the Door,' Charles Laughton's 'The Night of the Hunter,' and Nunnally Johnson's 'The Three Faces...
- 7/8/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ricardo Cortez: Although never as big a star as fellow 1920s screen heartthrobs Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro, and John Gilbert, Cortez had a long – and, to some extent, prestigious – film career, appearing in nearly 100 movies between 1923 and 1950. Among his directors: Allan Dwan, Cecil B. DeMille, D.W. Griffith, James Cruze, Alexander Korda, Herbert Brenon, Roy Del Ruth, Frank Lloyd, Gregory La Cava, William A. Wellman, Alexander Hall, Lloyd Bacon, Tay Garnett, Archie Mayo, Raoul Walsh, Frank Capra, Walter Lang, Michael Curtiz, and John Ford. See previous post: “Remembering Ricardo Cortez: Hollywood's Silent “Latin Lover” & Star of Original 'The Maltese Falcon'.” First of all, why Ricardo Cortez? Since I began writing about classic movies and vintage filmmakers roughly 30 years ago, people have always been curious why I choose particular subjects. It sounds kind of corny, but I have always wanted to do original work and perhaps make a minor contribution to film history at the...
- 7/7/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ricardo Cortez biography 'The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Films of Ricardo Cortez' – Paramount's 'Latin Lover' threat to a recalcitrant Rudolph Valentino, and a sly, seductive Sam Spade in the original film adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's 'The Maltese Falcon.' 'The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Films of Ricardo Cortez': Author Dan Van Neste remembers the silent era's 'Latin Lover' & the star of the original 'The Maltese Falcon' At odds with Famous Players-Lasky after the release of the 1922 critical and box office misfire The Young Rajah, Rudolph Valentino demands a fatter weekly paycheck and more control over his movie projects. The studio – a few years later to be reorganized under the name of its distribution arm, Paramount – balks. Valentino goes on a “one-man strike.” In 42nd Street-style, unknown 22-year-old Valentino look-alike contest winner Jacob Krantz of Manhattan steps in, shortly afterwards to become known worldwide as Latin Lover Ricardo Cortez of...
- 7/7/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Michel Serrault, like his co-star here, Isabelle Adjani, used to be in everything. As ubiquitous as Depardieu. La cage aux folles might be his best-known film. Despite his omnipresence, he seems surprising casting as a private eye known only as "the Eye," but then he does have inverted Vs for eyebrows, just like Hammett's description of Sam Spade.The Eye has a class photograph of a group of schoolgirls. He's talking to his ex-wife on the phone. She won't tell him which one is his daughter. He guesses wrong. He'll be allowed another guess in a year. There are about thirty kids to choose from.What a brilliant opening scene! We'll forgive the strutting eighties music and neo-noir Venetian blind shadows. This is a film besotted with movie-ness and wallowing in plot contrivance, but it's also perverse, haunted and romantic. The Eye is warned against letting his new case get too complicated.
- 5/31/2017
- MUBI
“The stuff that dreams are made of.”
The Maltese Falcon screens Wednesday April 5th at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar in ‘The Loop’) as the first installment of their new ‘Classics in the Loop’ Crime & Noir film series. The movie starts at 7pm and admission is $7. It will be on The Tivoli’s big screen.
Frequently considered the first – and finest – example of film noir filmmaking in Hollywood, 1941’s classic The Maltese Falcon will cast its mysterious shadows on the silver screen once again at the Tivoli
Here’s the rare chance for movie buffs to see it in on the big screen, while a new generation can discover the secrets of the infamous “black bird” by seeing it for the first time. Originally released on Oct. 3, 1941, as the nation braced itself for the possibility of war, The Maltese Falcon launched John Huston’s directorial career with the story of high-living...
The Maltese Falcon screens Wednesday April 5th at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar in ‘The Loop’) as the first installment of their new ‘Classics in the Loop’ Crime & Noir film series. The movie starts at 7pm and admission is $7. It will be on The Tivoli’s big screen.
Frequently considered the first – and finest – example of film noir filmmaking in Hollywood, 1941’s classic The Maltese Falcon will cast its mysterious shadows on the silver screen once again at the Tivoli
Here’s the rare chance for movie buffs to see it in on the big screen, while a new generation can discover the secrets of the infamous “black bird” by seeing it for the first time. Originally released on Oct. 3, 1941, as the nation braced itself for the possibility of war, The Maltese Falcon launched John Huston’s directorial career with the story of high-living...
- 4/3/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
There’s nothing more fun than getting to watch classic movies the way they were intended–on the big screen!
Now, I understand plenty of people don’t want to go to a theater, spend a fortune on tickets, popcorn, and a drink just to see the glow of cell phones and hear people rudely talking while someone kicks your seat from behind, but that’s not the experience you’ll get at Landmark theaters affordable ‘Crime & Noir’ film series. St. Louis movie buffs are in for a treat as Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater will return with it’s ‘Classics on the Loop’ every Wednesday beginning April 5th at 7pm. This season, the Tivoli will screen, on their big screen (which seats 320 btw), eight crime and noir masterpiece that need to be seen in a theater with an audience. Admission is only $7.
One benefits of the big screen is...
Now, I understand plenty of people don’t want to go to a theater, spend a fortune on tickets, popcorn, and a drink just to see the glow of cell phones and hear people rudely talking while someone kicks your seat from behind, but that’s not the experience you’ll get at Landmark theaters affordable ‘Crime & Noir’ film series. St. Louis movie buffs are in for a treat as Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater will return with it’s ‘Classics on the Loop’ every Wednesday beginning April 5th at 7pm. This season, the Tivoli will screen, on their big screen (which seats 320 btw), eight crime and noir masterpiece that need to be seen in a theater with an audience. Admission is only $7.
One benefits of the big screen is...
- 3/22/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Melding together genres seldom works. It’s a delicate balancing act; tone is key, and when either (or both) are off the whole thing can come crashing down. By 1991, HBO was already offering up original programming and decided to create a whole new sub genre – horror noir. The result was Cast a Deadly Spell, a very entertaining and perfectly concocted mixture of 1940s detective story and supernatural terror. And when the balance is right, like it is here, the results are sublime.
Originally airing on HBO on Saturday, September 7th, CaDS was met with critical acclaim as a riotous mashup of Bogart and the Dark Arts, treating audiences to a unique blend of murder and magic.
Let’s open up our sacred book of incantations, TV Guide, and see what we’re in for:
Cast A Deadly Spell (HBO, Sept. 7th)
L.A., 1948. Private eye Harry Philip Lovecraft is hired...
Originally airing on HBO on Saturday, September 7th, CaDS was met with critical acclaim as a riotous mashup of Bogart and the Dark Arts, treating audiences to a unique blend of murder and magic.
Let’s open up our sacred book of incantations, TV Guide, and see what we’re in for:
Cast A Deadly Spell (HBO, Sept. 7th)
L.A., 1948. Private eye Harry Philip Lovecraft is hired...
- 3/12/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Sometimes it’s hard to put a fresh coat of paint on an old house. The colors can bleed through no matter how many new layers are added, giving the house a look of desperation from a block away. But sometimes the right paint is used, the restoration is done with love and affection, and the new owners actually care about their surroundings. Such is the case with The Night Stalker (1972), the ABC TV movie that took the vampire out of his crumbling castle and transported him to the seedier side of the modern day Las Vegas strip; and in doing so created one of the most endearingly reluctant monster hunters of all time, Carl Kolchak.
Originally airing as the ABC Movie of the Week on Tuesday, January 11th, 1972, The Night Stalker slayed the competition in the ratings, including CBS’s successful Hawaii Five-o/Cannon lineup. And I mean destroyed...
Originally airing as the ABC Movie of the Week on Tuesday, January 11th, 1972, The Night Stalker slayed the competition in the ratings, including CBS’s successful Hawaii Five-o/Cannon lineup. And I mean destroyed...
- 2/26/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Now as I was young and easy and gentlemen still trod the Earth and politics still made sense (a little… sometimes) I held that private eye fiction was about righteous men who had the courage to be alone. I was, at the time, living by myself in a small Manhattan apartment and so I guess I was seeking identification with heroes (and maybe seeking an excuse for my isolation.) But I was, I now think, wrong.
Which fictional gumshoes did I have in mind? My two favorites were Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade and Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe and they were, indeed, solitary beings walking the mean streets seeking truth. And there were others sprinkled through the pop culture regions of pulp magazines, radio, B movies. (Comic books? Patience, please, we’ll get to them.)
If you’re looking for antecedents, cast a glance at the King Arthur stories.
Which fictional gumshoes did I have in mind? My two favorites were Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade and Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe and they were, indeed, solitary beings walking the mean streets seeking truth. And there were others sprinkled through the pop culture regions of pulp magazines, radio, B movies. (Comic books? Patience, please, we’ll get to them.)
If you’re looking for antecedents, cast a glance at the King Arthur stories.
- 12/15/2016
- by Dennis O'Neil
- Comicmix.com
I've spent a great deal of time (perhaps too much) singing the praise of Marvel's Netflix shows. They're fun, well-paced, character-driven series with fantastic writing and great respect for the source material. Going from Daredevil to Jessica Jones, however, I had a concern that they'd feel too similar to one another -- that it would feel like each show is just a slight variation of the same show.
Luckily, that wasn't the case with those two, and if the trailers for Luke Cage are any indication, that won't be the case for that show either. In a recent interview with SciFiNow, Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker called the series a "hip-hop western." He embellished on this idea, but not before addressing direct comparisons to Daredevil and Jessica Jones:
“Luke Cage has a different feel to Jessica Jones and Daredevil. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room...
Luckily, that wasn't the case with those two, and if the trailers for Luke Cage are any indication, that won't be the case for that show either. In a recent interview with SciFiNow, Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker called the series a "hip-hop western." He embellished on this idea, but not before addressing direct comparisons to Daredevil and Jessica Jones:
“Luke Cage has a different feel to Jessica Jones and Daredevil. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room...
- 9/15/2016
- by Joseph Medina
- LRMonline.com
Before he traveled to intergalactic realms (or, more accurately, Ireland) for the next Star Wars installment, director Rian Johnson had modest beginnings, piecing together his quick-talking, incredibly slick directorial debut in Brick, which he shot in 2003 and which wasn’t released for three years. Cobbled together for a relatively small sum, all of which was contributed by friends and family after studios balked at the idea of a first-time director making something like this, Johnson’s first feature took the noir canvas — the coded language, the punished hero, the inter-connected network of characters — and cleverly fit it around a high school setting, or, as Johnson sates, “a weird teenage world, so that people don’t know what they’re watching” when combined with the noir styling. Starring the then-relatively-new Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Brendan, a loner with a wrought-iron will to uncover the truth, it weaves a devilishly deceptive and intriguing...
- 8/1/2016
- by Mike Mazzanti
- The Film Stage
How many times have you come out of a theater after seeing a great movie and said,”oh I want to see that again!?” We all have our favorites that we return to time and time again. Friday night always seems the perfect time too. You’re relaxing after a week of school, activities and work and you unwind with a comfortable favorite film.
Wamg has our own personal favs. You’ll find blockbusters on our list…just because it invokes the fun memories of seeing it for the first time in the theater…with friends/family…then non-stop gabbing about wanting to see it again.
Looking for the perfect movie for a Friday Night? Check out our list below!
Meatballs Four words – “It Just Doesn’t Matter!”
The Burbs Hilarious cast made up suburbanites Tom Hanks, Rick Ducummon, Bruce Dern and Carrie Fisher, Joe Dante’s comedy about the unusual neighbors next door (Yes,...
Wamg has our own personal favs. You’ll find blockbusters on our list…just because it invokes the fun memories of seeing it for the first time in the theater…with friends/family…then non-stop gabbing about wanting to see it again.
Looking for the perfect movie for a Friday Night? Check out our list below!
Meatballs Four words – “It Just Doesn’t Matter!”
The Burbs Hilarious cast made up suburbanites Tom Hanks, Rick Ducummon, Bruce Dern and Carrie Fisher, Joe Dante’s comedy about the unusual neighbors next door (Yes,...
- 7/9/2016
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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Sometimes funny, often poignant, narration can be hugely effective when deployed successfully. Ryan picks a few great examples...
“God help you if you use voice-over in your work my friends! God help you. That’s flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can use narration to explain the thoughts of a character.”
So says screenwriting coach Robert McKee in Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman’s 2002 film, Adaptation. Well, not the real screenwriting coach Robert Mckee, but the one played in superbly aggressive style by actor Brian Cox, who stomps about on stage at a writing seminar like an angry bull. Brilliantly, McKee’s condemnation of voice-overs interrupts the interior thoughts, as narrated by Nicolas Cage’s fictionalised version of Charlie Kaufman - a terminally anxious screenwriter with an Everest-sized case of writer’s block.
It’s an example of the quirky, hall-of-mirrors kind of humour that courses through Adaptation,...
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Sometimes funny, often poignant, narration can be hugely effective when deployed successfully. Ryan picks a few great examples...
“God help you if you use voice-over in your work my friends! God help you. That’s flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can use narration to explain the thoughts of a character.”
So says screenwriting coach Robert McKee in Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman’s 2002 film, Adaptation. Well, not the real screenwriting coach Robert Mckee, but the one played in superbly aggressive style by actor Brian Cox, who stomps about on stage at a writing seminar like an angry bull. Brilliantly, McKee’s condemnation of voice-overs interrupts the interior thoughts, as narrated by Nicolas Cage’s fictionalised version of Charlie Kaufman - a terminally anxious screenwriter with an Everest-sized case of writer’s block.
It’s an example of the quirky, hall-of-mirrors kind of humour that courses through Adaptation,...
- 6/7/2016
- Den of Geek
A tale of Hippocrates and hypocrisies, the new film from Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne is both eminently familiar and distinctly different from anything in their back catalogue. A hybrid of their unmistakable social-realist aesthetic with, of all things, a Sam Spade-style detective story, “The Unknown Girl” is, however, not their first dalliance with […]
The post Cannes Review: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne’s Distant And Disappointing ‘The Unknown Girl’ appeared first on The Playlist.
The post Cannes Review: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne’s Distant And Disappointing ‘The Unknown Girl’ appeared first on The Playlist.
- 5/18/2016
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
“The stuff that dreams are made of.”
The Maltese Falcon (1941) is one of Hollywood’s most beloved movies and you’ll have a chance to see it on the big screen at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater this weekend as part of their Classic Film Series. It’s Saturday, April 9th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117. Admission is only $5.
Frequently considered the first – and finest – example of film noir filmmaking in Hollywood, 1941’s classic The Maltese Falcon will cast its mysterious shadows on the silver screen once again at the Hi-Pointe theater.
Here’s the rare chance for movie buffs to see it in on the big screen, while a new generation can discover the secrets of the infamous “black bird” by seeing it for the first time.
Originally released on Oct. 3, 1941, as the nation braced itself for the possibility of war,...
The Maltese Falcon (1941) is one of Hollywood’s most beloved movies and you’ll have a chance to see it on the big screen at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater this weekend as part of their Classic Film Series. It’s Saturday, April 9th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117. Admission is only $5.
Frequently considered the first – and finest – example of film noir filmmaking in Hollywood, 1941’s classic The Maltese Falcon will cast its mysterious shadows on the silver screen once again at the Hi-Pointe theater.
Here’s the rare chance for movie buffs to see it in on the big screen, while a new generation can discover the secrets of the infamous “black bird” by seeing it for the first time.
Originally released on Oct. 3, 1941, as the nation braced itself for the possibility of war,...
- 4/6/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
I am amazed at the discoveries that continue to be made in the worlds of film and popular culture. The latest issue of the Vitaphone Newsletter cites an astonishing number of silent and sound films that have only recently surfaced. But my favorite "find" is more of a tease, because it doesn't really exist. Until recently no one was even aware of it: a 15-part radio serialization of King Kong from 1933. The man who made the discovery is the prolific pop culture chronicler Martin Grams, Jr., whose many books include The 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' Companion, The Shadow: The History and Mystery of the Radio Program 1930-1954, and The Radio Adventures of Sam Spade, to name just a...
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[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...
- 2/26/2016
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
We've waited long enough: Bogart's take on Raymond Chandler's tough guy Philip Marlowe is finally on Blu-ray, with Lauren Bacall hyped as his provocative leading lady. The fascinating 1945 pre-release version is also present, with an uncut copy of Bob Gitt's versions comparison docu. Somebody tell Elisha Cook Jr. not to drink that stuff. The Big Sleep Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 114 min. / Street Date February 23, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone, Peggy Knudsen, Regis Toomey, Charles Waldron, Charles D. Brown, Bob Steele, Elisha Cook Jr., Louis Jean Heydt, Sonja Darrin, Tommy Rafferty, Theodore von Eltz. Cinematography Sidney Hickox Film Editor Christian Nyby Original Music Max Steiner Written by Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman, William Faulkner from the novel by Raymond Chandler Directed by Howard Hawks
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep became...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep became...
- 2/13/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A stone cold classic that essentially invented noir cinema, John Huston's 1941 thriller "The Maltese Falcon," is making a comeback on the big screen next week as part of Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies big screen classics series.
As part of a special presentation for the 75th anniversary of the film, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will offer all-new commentary which will play before and after each of four screenings that will take place - 2pm and 7pm on February 21st and 24th.
Despite the limited number of screenings, the Humphrey Bogart-led film is going big with more than 650 cinemas nationwide involved.
An adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's novel, Bogart starred as San Francisco private detective Sam Spade in the film as he competes with three unscrupulous adventurers who're all after a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Full details and tickets can be...
As part of a special presentation for the 75th anniversary of the film, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will offer all-new commentary which will play before and after each of four screenings that will take place - 2pm and 7pm on February 21st and 24th.
Despite the limited number of screenings, the Humphrey Bogart-led film is going big with more than 650 cinemas nationwide involved.
An adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's novel, Bogart starred as San Francisco private detective Sam Spade in the film as he competes with three unscrupulous adventurers who're all after a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Full details and tickets can be...
- 2/12/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
“The stuff that dreams are made of.”
Frequently considered the first – and finest – example of film noir filmmaking in Hollywood, 1941’s classic The Maltese Falcon will cast its mysterious shadows on the silver screen once again on Feb. 21 and Feb. 24 as part of the Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) TCM Big Screen Classics series.
In a special presentation for the 75th anniversary of the Warner Bros. classic, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will offer all-new commentary for The Maltese Falcon, which will play before and after each screening. But moviegoers should take note that the opportunity to see “the stuff that dreams are made of” in theaters will be fleeting:The Maltese Falcon will play four times only, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (local time) each day.
The Maltese Falcon will play in more than 650 theaters nationwide, offering longtime fans of the hard-boiled thriller, directed by John Huston,...
Frequently considered the first – and finest – example of film noir filmmaking in Hollywood, 1941’s classic The Maltese Falcon will cast its mysterious shadows on the silver screen once again on Feb. 21 and Feb. 24 as part of the Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) TCM Big Screen Classics series.
In a special presentation for the 75th anniversary of the Warner Bros. classic, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will offer all-new commentary for The Maltese Falcon, which will play before and after each screening. But moviegoers should take note that the opportunity to see “the stuff that dreams are made of” in theaters will be fleeting:The Maltese Falcon will play four times only, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (local time) each day.
The Maltese Falcon will play in more than 650 theaters nationwide, offering longtime fans of the hard-boiled thriller, directed by John Huston,...
- 2/11/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Discover the stuff that dreams are made of. Hold your breath, make a wish, count to three. Take a day off with Ferris Bueller. Survive a winter in the Overlook Hotel. Movie lovers will be able to do all of this and more in 2016 as Fathom Events partners with Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for the biggest-ever “TCM Big Screen Classics” series.
The not-to-miss lineup begins in January and continues monthly throughout the year as Fathom Events and TCM bring some of the greatest titles ever back into movie theaters, each for just four showings. These classics will each be accompanied by specially produced commentary from TCM hosts Robert Osborne or Ben Mankiewicz.
The series will include “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Planet of the Apes” and “The King and I” from Twentieth Century Fox; “The Maltese Falcon,” “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” and “The Shining” from Warner Bros.; “The Ten Commandments,...
The not-to-miss lineup begins in January and continues monthly throughout the year as Fathom Events and TCM bring some of the greatest titles ever back into movie theaters, each for just four showings. These classics will each be accompanied by specially produced commentary from TCM hosts Robert Osborne or Ben Mankiewicz.
The series will include “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Planet of the Apes” and “The King and I” from Twentieth Century Fox; “The Maltese Falcon,” “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” and “The Shining” from Warner Bros.; “The Ten Commandments,...
- 12/8/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Top Ten Scream Queens: Barbara Steele, who both emitted screams and made others do same, is in a category of her own. Top Ten Scream Queens Halloween is over until next year, but the equally bewitching Day of the Dead is just around the corner. So, dead or alive, here's my revised and expanded list of cinema's Top Ten Scream Queens. This highly personal compilation is based on how memorable – as opposed to how loud or how frequent – were the screams. That's the key reason you won't find listed below actresses featured in gory slasher films. After all, the screams – and just about everything else in such movies – are as meaningless as their plots. You also won't find any screaming guys (i.e., Scream Kings) on the list below even though I've got absolutely nothing against guys who scream in horror, whether in movies or in life. There are...
- 11/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'And Then There Were None' movie with Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, June Duprez, Louis Hayward and Roland Young. 'And Then There Were None' movie remake to be directed by Oscar nominee Morten Tyldum One of the best-known Agatha Christie novels, And Then There Were None will be getting another big-screen transfer. 20th Century Fox has acquired the movie rights to the literary suspense thriller first published in the U.K. (as Ten Little Niggers) in 1939. Morten Tyldum, this year's Best Director Academy Award nominee for The Imitation Game, is reportedly set to direct. The source for this story is Deadline.com, which adds that Tyldum himself “helped hone the pitch” for the acquisition while Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010, The Thing 2011) will handle the screenplay adaptation. And Then There Were None is supposed to have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, thus holding the...
- 9/29/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
As far as Hollywood was concerned, hardboiled pulp author Raymond Chandler was big news in 1944 and 1945, working with Billy Wilder on the Production Code breakthrough hit Double Indemnity, and getting two of his popular Philip Marlowe books transposed to the screen -- and not completely shorn of their racy content. Savant Blu-ray Review The Warner Archive Collection Warner Archive Collection 1944 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date September 15, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger, Mike Mazurki. Cinematography Harry J. Wild Art Direction Carroll Clark, Albert S. D'Agostino Film Editor Joseph Noriega Original Music Roy Webb Written by John Paxton from Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler Produced by Sid Rogell, Adrian Scott Directed by Edward Dmytryk
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Many films noirs seem to come from the same stylistic universe, in terms of themes and visuals. But a few of the...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Many films noirs seem to come from the same stylistic universe, in terms of themes and visuals. But a few of the...
- 9/1/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The case, not just the cast, really shines in this week's episode of Castle, Habeas Corpse...
This review contains spoilers.
7.19 Habeas Corpse
This week’s episode, Habeas Corpse, is a bit of a head-scratcher because it is the reverse of what we usually see on Castle. As I’ve spent the last couple of years documenting, Castle is a barely passable procedural largely held together by the chemistry of its cast, its larger story-arcs, and the charm of the occasional standout episode. It is, of course, wholly enjoyable, but the quality is not generally to be found in the cases solved by its protagonists.
This week, however, it is the case that shines brightest, and not just because what surrounds it is so disappointing.
That case revolves around the death of an ambulance-chasing lawyer (in this case, almost literally, in that he at least finds his clients at the final...
This review contains spoilers.
7.19 Habeas Corpse
This week’s episode, Habeas Corpse, is a bit of a head-scratcher because it is the reverse of what we usually see on Castle. As I’ve spent the last couple of years documenting, Castle is a barely passable procedural largely held together by the chemistry of its cast, its larger story-arcs, and the charm of the occasional standout episode. It is, of course, wholly enjoyable, but the quality is not generally to be found in the cases solved by its protagonists.
This week, however, it is the case that shines brightest, and not just because what surrounds it is so disappointing.
That case revolves around the death of an ambulance-chasing lawyer (in this case, almost literally, in that he at least finds his clients at the final...
- 4/7/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
For Lauren Bacall fans, it was the chance of a lifetime. A two-day auction of the late screen legend's artwork and belongings - from treasured pieces of jewelry to her Louis Vuitton luggage - sold at auction Tuesday and Wednesday for $3.64 million. The entire Lauren Bacall Collection brought in a total of $5 million after Bonhams New York auctioned off two of the actress's prized Henry Moore bronze sculptures for more than $1.3 million in November. "We have been humbled by the worldwide outpouring of enthusiasm for this sale," said Bonhams vice president Jon King, who orchestrated the sale and was a friend of Bacall's.
- 4/2/2015
- by K.C. Baker, @kcbaker77777
- PEOPLE.com
The launch of Archie Comics' mature division is spearheaded by The Black Hood #1. Reminiscent of the now classic tales of the Minutemen and resembling Hooded Justice from that team, you have a rather solid idea of what direction we can expect the new monthly title to move in. However, it is darker in tone if you can even imagine that.
The first issue of The Black Hood kicks off the five-part story arc entitled "The Bullet's Kiss." When Philadelphia police officer Greg Hettinger stepped into the middle of a gunfight, hot lead shredded his face—and he pulled the trigger, blind. Now Greg is waking up in a world where he’s a killer, hopelessly scarred and hooked on painkillers. What does a man do when he can no longer face the world, yet still wants to do good? He puts on a hood…
I really enjoyed the rough imagery...
The first issue of The Black Hood kicks off the five-part story arc entitled "The Bullet's Kiss." When Philadelphia police officer Greg Hettinger stepped into the middle of a gunfight, hot lead shredded his face—and he pulled the trigger, blind. Now Greg is waking up in a world where he’s a killer, hopelessly scarred and hooked on painkillers. What does a man do when he can no longer face the world, yet still wants to do good? He puts on a hood…
I really enjoyed the rough imagery...
- 3/17/2015
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Eric Shirey)
- Cinelinx
Castle shaking up the status quo appears to be paying off, judging by its recent fun and entertaining episodes...
This review contains spoilers.
7.11 Castle, P.I. & 7.12 Private Eye Caramba!
When last we left Kate and Rick, before the mid-winter hiatus, Castle had taken one of the more adventurous turns imaginable on the show. It had undermined its entire premise.
From the beginning, one of the more outrageous aspects of the series is the idea that, in the lawsuit-happy world of law enforcement and public safety, a writer would be given not just permission to do a long-term ride-along with the NYPD, but access to Leo databases, crime scene reports, personal information on private citizens—basically all the tools that allow what former NY mayor Bloomberg once called the “seventh biggest army in the world” to do its job.
Okay, it’s not like television audiences haven’t been asked to swallow more preposterous concepts.
This review contains spoilers.
7.11 Castle, P.I. & 7.12 Private Eye Caramba!
When last we left Kate and Rick, before the mid-winter hiatus, Castle had taken one of the more adventurous turns imaginable on the show. It had undermined its entire premise.
From the beginning, one of the more outrageous aspects of the series is the idea that, in the lawsuit-happy world of law enforcement and public safety, a writer would be given not just permission to do a long-term ride-along with the NYPD, but access to Leo databases, crime scene reports, personal information on private citizens—basically all the tools that allow what former NY mayor Bloomberg once called the “seventh biggest army in the world” to do its job.
Okay, it’s not like television audiences haven’t been asked to swallow more preposterous concepts.
- 1/26/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
5. The Empty Man (Boom!)
The Empty Man #1-6
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Vanessa R. Del Rey
Colorist: Michael Garland
Cullen Bunn is unique. If nothing else can be said about him, he is certainly unique. The Empty Man shows the full extent of Bunn’s ability. The series focuses on two detectives as they struggle to sort out the mystery surrounding a series of suspicious deaths and murders. The deaths are connected by the strange hallucinations experienced by the perpetrators, as well as their last words “The Empty Man made me do it”. The Empty Man is unpredictable because it follows so very few tropes. Nothing like this series has been seen before, and readers will be asking themselves the same question over and over: Who is the Empty Man? (Or “What the F*ck?”).
Bunn’s series is still in its infancy, so can be said without spoiling the twisting,...
The Empty Man #1-6
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Vanessa R. Del Rey
Colorist: Michael Garland
Cullen Bunn is unique. If nothing else can be said about him, he is certainly unique. The Empty Man shows the full extent of Bunn’s ability. The series focuses on two detectives as they struggle to sort out the mystery surrounding a series of suspicious deaths and murders. The deaths are connected by the strange hallucinations experienced by the perpetrators, as well as their last words “The Empty Man made me do it”. The Empty Man is unpredictable because it follows so very few tropes. Nothing like this series has been seen before, and readers will be asking themselves the same question over and over: Who is the Empty Man? (Or “What the F*ck?”).
Bunn’s series is still in its infancy, so can be said without spoiling the twisting,...
- 12/21/2014
- by Logan Dalton
- SoundOnSight
Murder mysteries are so commonplace on TV that each week offers seemingly dozens of them on police procedural series and detective shows. But in the movies, whodunits are surprisingly rare, and really good ones rarer still. There's really only a handful of movies that excel in offering the viewer the pleasure of solving the crime along with a charismatic sleuth, often with an all-star cast of suspects hamming it up as they try not to appear guilty.
One of the best was "Murder on the Orient Express," released 40 years ago this week, on November 24, 1974. Like many films adapted from Agatha Christie novels, this one featured an eccentric but meticulous investigator (in this case, Albert Finney as Belgian epicure Hercule Poirot), a glamorous and claustrophobic setting (here, the famous luxury train from Istanbul to Paris), and a tricky murder plot with an outrageous solution. The film won an Oscar for passenger...
One of the best was "Murder on the Orient Express," released 40 years ago this week, on November 24, 1974. Like many films adapted from Agatha Christie novels, this one featured an eccentric but meticulous investigator (in this case, Albert Finney as Belgian epicure Hercule Poirot), a glamorous and claustrophobic setting (here, the famous luxury train from Istanbul to Paris), and a tricky murder plot with an outrageous solution. The film won an Oscar for passenger...
- 11/28/2014
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
Stars: Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, Michael Stefani, Art Lafleur, Telma Hopkins, Richard Herd, Anne Seymour, Biff Manard, Miguel Fernandes | Written by Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo | Directed by Charles Band
It is fair to say that Charles Band makes some interesting movies, most of them B-movies with a cult charm. As fans we love them for this very fact, whether it’s the brave move to just go for the fun instead of high quality drama, or sometimes and often more rarely actually being a surprisingly good movie. 88 Films are releasing one of these on Blu-ray in the form of Trancers, a movie that borrows a lot from Bladerunner but adds a time travelling concept that for its time was quite smart.
Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) was a Trancer hunter, until the day he decided to walk away from the job. When Whistler (Michael Stefani) travels back in time though...
It is fair to say that Charles Band makes some interesting movies, most of them B-movies with a cult charm. As fans we love them for this very fact, whether it’s the brave move to just go for the fun instead of high quality drama, or sometimes and often more rarely actually being a surprisingly good movie. 88 Films are releasing one of these on Blu-ray in the form of Trancers, a movie that borrows a lot from Bladerunner but adds a time travelling concept that for its time was quite smart.
Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) was a Trancer hunter, until the day he decided to walk away from the job. When Whistler (Michael Stefani) travels back in time though...
- 11/24/2014
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
One would never imagine Santa Claus as…..a private eye.
From the mind of television/video game writer Jeremy Bernstein, he wrote a comic book series about a supernatural Santa Claus moonlighting as a detective in this film noir-inspired series.
Here’s the synopsis:
A modern day noir, in which a down-and-out Saint Nick spends the Other 364 days of the year holding his own in the lonely city, just another average jake trying to make ends meet. He’s traded the red and white suit for a trenchcoat and fedora, traded the North Pole for back alleys and rain-slicked streets. Instead of days filled with jolly elves and hand-made toys, it’s long, dark nights filled with gangster, guns, and femme fatales… and the nicer they look, the naughtier they are.
When the wealthy, widowed Julia Barton hires Nick to find out who murdered her husband, it could be the...
From the mind of television/video game writer Jeremy Bernstein, he wrote a comic book series about a supernatural Santa Claus moonlighting as a detective in this film noir-inspired series.
Here’s the synopsis:
A modern day noir, in which a down-and-out Saint Nick spends the Other 364 days of the year holding his own in the lonely city, just another average jake trying to make ends meet. He’s traded the red and white suit for a trenchcoat and fedora, traded the North Pole for back alleys and rain-slicked streets. Instead of days filled with jolly elves and hand-made toys, it’s long, dark nights filled with gangster, guns, and femme fatales… and the nicer they look, the naughtier they are.
When the wealthy, widowed Julia Barton hires Nick to find out who murdered her husband, it could be the...
- 10/21/2014
- by Gig Patta
- LRMonline.com
The Post-1960S, Pre-Digital Age: Real-time One-offs, 1975-1998
British filmmaker John Byrum is responsible for the first (and in some ways only) real-time period film. Inserts (1975), set in the early 1930s, is about a Boy Wonder movie director (called Boy Wonder, played by Richard Dreyfuss fresh from American Graffiti (1973) and Jaws (1975)) now washed up before the age of 30, resigned to making porn because of Hollywood’s conversion to sound. Not only is Inserts scrupulously real-time (with the exception of the opening credits sequence, which offers glimpses of the stag film we’re about to see made) and period, but it’s rather long for such a film, just shy of two hours. To tell the entire story would be spoiling the fun, but the Boy Wonder deals with recalcitrant actresses, the problem of his own potency, career problems, death, sex, after-death and after-sex…and in the end, as...
British filmmaker John Byrum is responsible for the first (and in some ways only) real-time period film. Inserts (1975), set in the early 1930s, is about a Boy Wonder movie director (called Boy Wonder, played by Richard Dreyfuss fresh from American Graffiti (1973) and Jaws (1975)) now washed up before the age of 30, resigned to making porn because of Hollywood’s conversion to sound. Not only is Inserts scrupulously real-time (with the exception of the opening credits sequence, which offers glimpses of the stag film we’re about to see made) and period, but it’s rather long for such a film, just shy of two hours. To tell the entire story would be spoiling the fun, but the Boy Wonder deals with recalcitrant actresses, the problem of his own potency, career problems, death, sex, after-death and after-sex…and in the end, as...
- 10/18/2014
- by Daniel Smith-Rowsey
- SoundOnSight
“Stop the presses” was a line of dialogue used in all manner of thrillers and mysteries throughout Hollywood’s Golden age as a reflection of the movies’ love affair with newspapers and crusading reporters. Now this romance has had its bumps, since for every The Front Page or His Girl Friday, there’s a Citizen Kane who created news events to sell copy. But overall, the seekers of truth, the reporters have been the heroes in cinema (is it any wonder that Superman’s human disguise is that of “mild, mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper”?). One of the best examples may be 1976′s All The President’S Men with Woodward and Bernstein as an investigative dynamic duo who would follow every lead, turn over every rock in order to publish the facts. The fourth estate isn’t what it used to be in today’s world what with...
- 10/9/2014
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
It’s not for nothing that the names of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe are reverentially referenced in writer-director Scott Frank’s adaptation of the 10th novel in Lawrence Block’s long-running, best-selling series featuring unlicensed private eye Matthew Scudder. Distinctly and proudly old-fashioned in its retro, film noir vibe, A Walk Among the Tombstones is notable for its dark atmospherics and strong performance by Liam Neeson in the latest example of his unlikely late career transformation into an action hero. Less impressive in terms of plotting and characterizations, the film should have a strong box-office opening, but
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- 9/10/2014
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Fade Out #1
Story by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
Colors by Elizabeth Breitweiser
Cover by Sean Phillips
Publisher: Image Comics
Modern noir masterminds Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips begin their five-year deal with Image with the release of the first issue of The Fade Out, a sprawling saga of corruption and redemption set against a gritty West Coast backdrop. As the premiere storytellers of crime/noir comics, Fade Out actually marks their first trip into Hollywoodland, the never-innocent city of illusions. The Fade Out sees them return to the familiar conventions of ‘classic’ crime noir, and weaves a tangled web through the underbelly of a 1940′s film industry. In addition to unsettling narrative themes of ambiguity and violent death, certain stylistic characteristics immediately spring out: stark, angular shadows; the isolated feel of modern cities; conflicted anti-heroes and boiled down dialogue. The multi-layered plot grabs you immediately — and Brubaker...
Story by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
Colors by Elizabeth Breitweiser
Cover by Sean Phillips
Publisher: Image Comics
Modern noir masterminds Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips begin their five-year deal with Image with the release of the first issue of The Fade Out, a sprawling saga of corruption and redemption set against a gritty West Coast backdrop. As the premiere storytellers of crime/noir comics, Fade Out actually marks their first trip into Hollywoodland, the never-innocent city of illusions. The Fade Out sees them return to the familiar conventions of ‘classic’ crime noir, and weaves a tangled web through the underbelly of a 1940′s film industry. In addition to unsettling narrative themes of ambiguity and violent death, certain stylistic characteristics immediately spring out: stark, angular shadows; the isolated feel of modern cities; conflicted anti-heroes and boiled down dialogue. The multi-layered plot grabs you immediately — and Brubaker...
- 8/22/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
The release of Sin City: A Dame To Kill For inspires James to look back at its film noir roots, and some classic examples of the genre...
"Things go dark. I don't mind much. It's okay." John Hartigan, Sin City.
We're at the shadowy back-end of the summer blockbuster season and darkness is entering the frame. Here comes ultraviolence, sleaze, crime and death, all beautifully shot in macabre high-contrast monochrome. Just when you thought you'd got yourself clean and were all peppy after some upbeat family-friendly popcorn thrills, here's Sin City: A Dame To Kill For to darken up the doorways. (And it will light up a cigarette in those doorways and spit out some tough dialogue from between its bloodstained teeth while it's lingering there.)
We're back in the Basin City of Frank Miller's graphic novels again, once more brought to vivid screen life by the comics creator...
"Things go dark. I don't mind much. It's okay." John Hartigan, Sin City.
We're at the shadowy back-end of the summer blockbuster season and darkness is entering the frame. Here comes ultraviolence, sleaze, crime and death, all beautifully shot in macabre high-contrast monochrome. Just when you thought you'd got yourself clean and were all peppy after some upbeat family-friendly popcorn thrills, here's Sin City: A Dame To Kill For to darken up the doorways. (And it will light up a cigarette in those doorways and spit out some tough dialogue from between its bloodstained teeth while it's lingering there.)
We're back in the Basin City of Frank Miller's graphic novels again, once more brought to vivid screen life by the comics creator...
- 8/21/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to attend the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo on behalf of Sound on Sight. I had a great time, and I was able to do a number of things there that you don’t actually care about. You care about the comics, and I don’t blame you. (Yes, dear reader, I am in your head. You should clean in here more often. It’s like you weren’t expecting company or something.) Now, instead of turning in the same articles that you’ll see on any other comic site, we’re taking a different route. While at C2E2, I met a lot of writers and artists, people you’ve probably never heard of, and I bought a lot of creator owned/independent comics. So without further ado, I bring you The Best Indies Of C2E2.
Twisted Dark Vol. 1 by Neil...
Twisted Dark Vol. 1 by Neil...
- 5/2/2014
- by Doctor Cory
- SoundOnSight
(Ed. note - Cc writer Ian Alterman writes about two of his favorite film classics.)
The Naked City
Two years after making The Naked City, director Jules Dassin would find himself on the Hollywood Blacklist, and move to Europe, never to return to the U.S. His first film made in Europe, Rififi (1955), would become his most influential, beloved and, arguably, greatest film. And there are already signs of the naturalist style used in Rififi in The Naked City, though the former is a classic (maybe the classic) heist film, while the latter is a film noir police procedural, complete with narration (which ends the movie with the famous line: “There are eight million stories in the naked city. This is one of them.”)
Centered around the murder of a young model, and the police investigation that ensues, the film’s visual style was famously influenced by the work of the photographer,...
The Naked City
Two years after making The Naked City, director Jules Dassin would find himself on the Hollywood Blacklist, and move to Europe, never to return to the U.S. His first film made in Europe, Rififi (1955), would become his most influential, beloved and, arguably, greatest film. And there are already signs of the naturalist style used in Rififi in The Naked City, though the former is a classic (maybe the classic) heist film, while the latter is a film noir police procedural, complete with narration (which ends the movie with the famous line: “There are eight million stories in the naked city. This is one of them.”)
Centered around the murder of a young model, and the police investigation that ensues, the film’s visual style was famously influenced by the work of the photographer,...
- 4/8/2014
- by Ian Alterman
- www.culturecatch.com
Now that the big-screen version of Veronica Mars has finally come out, it has turned out to be breezy, pulpy, enjoyable, disposable entertainment (Veronica attempts to solve the murder of a famous rock star in Amy Winehouse makeup…whom she happened to go to high school with!). And now that the film has proved, for the first time, that a movie funded by crowdsourcing (in this case, via Kickstarter) can readily make its money back — and perhaps even do better than that — one could, I suppose, choose to be cynical by viewing the entire phemonenon of the Veronica Mars movie...
- 3/16/2014
- by Owen Gleiberman
- EW - Inside Movies
"A teenage private eye…trust me, I know how dumb that sounds."
Those are the opening lines of the upcoming Veronica Mars movie, and to say the film has been "highly anticipated" among the cult TV show's rabid fanbase would be an understatement. Some 91,000 "Marshmallows" — the nickname for the Veronica die-hards — contributed roughly $5.7 million to a landmark Kickstarter campaign to revive the beloved Nancy Drew-meets-Raymond Chandler series, seven years after the show was canceled by the CW.
Kristen Bell Reveals 'Veronica Mars' Movie Clues
After a whirlwind 24-day film shoot,...
Those are the opening lines of the upcoming Veronica Mars movie, and to say the film has been "highly anticipated" among the cult TV show's rabid fanbase would be an understatement. Some 91,000 "Marshmallows" — the nickname for the Veronica die-hards — contributed roughly $5.7 million to a landmark Kickstarter campaign to revive the beloved Nancy Drew-meets-Raymond Chandler series, seven years after the show was canceled by the CW.
Kristen Bell Reveals 'Veronica Mars' Movie Clues
After a whirlwind 24-day film shoot,...
- 3/13/2014
- Rollingstone.com
In The Big Sleep, published 75 years ago this week, the reading public met a very different kind of detective for the first time
Seventy-five years ago this week a revolution in crime-writing began when Knopf published The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler's first novel. Reviews in 1939 were wary and unenthusiastic, however, and only gradually was it recognised that Chandler had pulled off a bold fusion of highbrow and lowbrow – much-applauded by authors such as Wh Auden, Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh, but also much-imitated by fellow chroniclers of murder.
What was so new? Almost everything in the first chapter, which introduces Philip Marlowe as he visits the Sternwood family mansion. Marlowe speaks to us. Whereas Holmes, Poirot, Maigret, Sam Spade are observed externally, Marlowe is the detective as autobiographer, starting three consecutive sentences in the first paragraph with "I" (ending with "I was calling on four million dollars").
He is a private detective,...
Seventy-five years ago this week a revolution in crime-writing began when Knopf published The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler's first novel. Reviews in 1939 were wary and unenthusiastic, however, and only gradually was it recognised that Chandler had pulled off a bold fusion of highbrow and lowbrow – much-applauded by authors such as Wh Auden, Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh, but also much-imitated by fellow chroniclers of murder.
What was so new? Almost everything in the first chapter, which introduces Philip Marlowe as he visits the Sternwood family mansion. Marlowe speaks to us. Whereas Holmes, Poirot, Maigret, Sam Spade are observed externally, Marlowe is the detective as autobiographer, starting three consecutive sentences in the first paragraph with "I" (ending with "I was calling on four million dollars").
He is a private detective,...
- 2/6/2014
- by John Dugdale
- The Guardian - Film News
Newly released on collectable Blu-ray, The Long Goodbye (1973, directed by Robert Altman) is the kind of film you feel ashamed for not watching more often. Starring Elliot Gould as Raymond Chandler’s pulp private dick Phillip Marlowe, this is a quirky, very seventies re-imagining of the Humphrey Bogart man-in-a-trenchcoat myth. The film is contemporary set, yet Gould’s Marlowe is a man out of place and time. Everything from his car to apartment to clothes is indicative of the P.I’s golden age; a world of cocktails, dames and pinstripe suits, not cat food, hippies and polyester.
Hollywood’s effortless private detective was created in the post-Prohibition era of the 1930s-40s, and into the 50’s. The noir stories of The Thin Man (1934), The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Big Sleep (1946), Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and beyond were characterised by a hero – generally not an anti-hero despite the dark tone – who dressed and acted a certain way.
Hollywood’s effortless private detective was created in the post-Prohibition era of the 1930s-40s, and into the 50’s. The noir stories of The Thin Man (1934), The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Big Sleep (1946), Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and beyond were characterised by a hero – generally not an anti-hero despite the dark tone – who dressed and acted a certain way.
- 12/12/2013
- by Christopher Laverty
- Clothes on Film
Not since Woodward and Bernstein exposed the Watergate scandal in All the President's Men has there been a film as effective as Dirty Wars in depicting criminality at the heart of the American system. This may be a documentary but it is structured like a noirish detective thriller with journalist Jeremy Scahill as the Sam Spade-type hero, on the track of the bad guys.
- 11/29/2013
- The Independent - Film
New York auction house Bonhams partnered with Turner Classic Movies on the recent sale of the infamous pitch-black Maltese Falcon statue from the classic 1941 movie of the same name starring Humphrey Bogart as detective Sam Spade. According to The Hollywood Reporter, an unidentified California collector sold the falcon statue; one of only two statues made for director John Huston’s adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novel and believed to be the only piece to appear in the movie.
- 11/26/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Prop of statuette used in 1941 Humphrey Bogart movie goes for huge sum in auction of memorabilia at Bonhams
A statuette of a bird featured in the classic 1941 detective thriller The Maltese Falcon sold for more than $4m at auction on Monday. The final price on the prop was $4,085,000, according to Bonhams auction house. The winning bid came over the phone.
The black figurine is one of two known statuettes made for the film, but the only one confirmed by Warner Brothers' archives as having appeared in it, Bonhams said. It has a Warner Brothers inventory number etched into the base and bears the name of the movie, which starred Humphrey Bogart as private detective Sam Spade.
In the film, the statuette is a "priceless" work of art, which is the cause of several murders, and at one point changes hands for $10,000.
It was one of a number of pieces of classic movie memorabilia on sale.
A statuette of a bird featured in the classic 1941 detective thriller The Maltese Falcon sold for more than $4m at auction on Monday. The final price on the prop was $4,085,000, according to Bonhams auction house. The winning bid came over the phone.
The black figurine is one of two known statuettes made for the film, but the only one confirmed by Warner Brothers' archives as having appeared in it, Bonhams said. It has a Warner Brothers inventory number etched into the base and bears the name of the movie, which starred Humphrey Bogart as private detective Sam Spade.
In the film, the statuette is a "priceless" work of art, which is the cause of several murders, and at one point changes hands for $10,000.
It was one of a number of pieces of classic movie memorabilia on sale.
- 11/26/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Movies and television have a long history of casting effeminate gay men as the bad guys – the added layer of “otherness” is a popular way of making a villain all the more loathsome to a mainstream audience. While recent years have brought us several notable subversions of this idea with aggressively masculine gay villains (Strike Back‘s James Leatherby, Dexter‘s Ivan Sirko), the hissing, scheming gay baddie has always been the more popular stock-in-trade.
Whether explicitly gay or just “coded” that way to slip past the sensors, these guys represent some of cinema’s most notable acts of heteronormative villainy.
Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) — 300
Much has been made about the fact that a movie that could otherwise have doubled as an International Male swimwear catalog went out of its way to present evil King Xerxes as a prissy, jewelry-crazed predatory homosexual (despite the fact that the actual Xerxes is portrayed...
Whether explicitly gay or just “coded” that way to slip past the sensors, these guys represent some of cinema’s most notable acts of heteronormative villainy.
Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) — 300
Much has been made about the fact that a movie that could otherwise have doubled as an International Male swimwear catalog went out of its way to present evil King Xerxes as a prissy, jewelry-crazed predatory homosexual (despite the fact that the actual Xerxes is portrayed...
- 9/19/2013
- by Brian Juergens
- The Backlot
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