If the 2019 Met Gala taught us anything, it’s that a lot of folks don’t have a strong grasp on how “camp” is defined. And I’ll be honest; I might be one of them. But I feel like I have...
Agnès Varda’s 1977 One Sings, the Other Doesn’t is set largely in 1972, making it something of a short-haul period piece. The period Varda is regarding is the early 1970s feminist movement in France, which she frames, at first glance,...
In Gérard Corbiau’s Farinelli, cups and pools of milky white liquid abound. They come in the form of creams and medicines and other things but their significance isn’t clear until nearly the end of the film, when a flashback delivers...
As far as Tarantula‘s Dr. Matt Hastings (John Agar) is concerned, the spider the size of an office building is only the second most confounding thing to stroll into town. What he really can’t seem to get over is the...
I have a confession to make. I was not, until I watched 1927’s The Kid Brother, out now on Blu-ray from Criterion, familiar with the work of Harold Lloyd. I mean, I’d seen the clock bit from Safety Last! but...
One of the most fascinating aspects of cinematic history is how often key elements of second run and B studio products are later appropriated by mainstream studios in billion dollar movies, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. Hammer Studios, a British B...
Slow-burning rural horror is not what you think of in reference to Hammer’s immense body of chillers, thrillers and adventure films. But The Witches, their low-key foray into the supernatural is just that. Movies like Blood on Satan’s Claw, Witchfinder...
No, this is not the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme adaptation of the famous video game series. We don’t even get a Ryu cameo, though I guess expecting characters not yet created would be rather unreasonable. This trio of films, kicked...
The lines between television, film, and performance art as a whole continue to blur with each passing year. With the Academy’s recent decision to uphold its stance and allow Netflix to contend for Oscars, the paradigm in which viewers consume...
Given the excessive level of nostalgia in our contemporary media, is it fussy or selective to make the distinction between whether or not it’s historical, cultural or personal? Perhaps that’s why Brighton Beach Memoirs feels so refreshing. With so many...
