Category Archives: Movies

Capitulation

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: A Russian who immigrated to Paris in the early 1920s, Dimitri Kirsanoff was above all an avant-gardist. However, he wasn’t above employing Griffith-style melodrama when it suited his purposes. In his “Menilmontant,” a brief, richly volatile work about a … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged Dimitri Kirsanoff, Film, France, Menilmontant, movies, Nadia Sibirskaia, Silent Film | 5 Comments

Quote Du Jour

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Eddie Pensier

Eddie Pensier writes: In my more than ten years of critical examination of motion pictures, I have never seen anything quite so unacceptable as the shots of the breasts of the character of Rio. This is the young girl whom … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Movies, Performers | Tagged breasts, censorship, howard hughes, Jane Russell, joseph breen, obscene indecent immoral and offensive, production code, the outlaw | 2 Comments

“Reel Injuns”

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Paleo Retiree

Paleo Retiree writes: Half-interesting, half-annoying CBC-produced doc, directed and hosted by Neil Diamond, a Canadian Cree, about Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans; the Question Lady and I caught it recently on Netflix Instant. It’s in the “this topic means a … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Uncategorized | Tagged indians, movies, native americans, PC, race | 11 Comments

Movie Poster Du Jour: “Illumination”

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: Art by Franciszek Starowieyski. Related I wrote (perhaps somewhat incoherently) about Zanussi’s “Contract” back here.

Posted in Commercial art, Movies | Tagged Film, Franciszek Starowieyski, Illumination, Krzysztof Zanussi, Movie Posters, movies, Poland | 5 Comments

Notes on “Every-Night Dreams”

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: There’s an almost cubist visual sensibility at work in this 1933 silent from director Mikio Naruse. Scenes are fractured into barrages of angles, the camera sometimes moving in on its subjects in kamikaze fashion. Many of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged film Ever-Night Dreams, Japan, Mikio Naruse, movies, Silent Film, Sumiko Kurishima | 2 Comments

Showtune Saturday: “Dentist”

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Eddie Pensier

Eddie Pensier writes: Certainly the best song sung by Steve Martin playing a sadistic biker-dentist in a musical horror movie about a cannibalistic plant based on a stage musical derived from a Roger Corman film, ever. From Frank Oz’s Little Shop … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Music, Performers | Tagged dentist, frank oz, little shop of horrors, showtune saturday, steve martin | 1 Comment

Movie Poster Du Jour: “1941”

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: With art by David McMacken.

Posted in Commercial art, Movies | Tagged Bob Gale, Dan Aykroyd, David McMacken, Film, John Belushi, Movie Posters, movies, Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg | 3 Comments

“Crazy Wisdom”

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Paleo Retiree

Paleo Retiree writes: Doc about Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Tibetan monk who was mostly responsible for bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the west. He was a big figure in the counterculture from the ’60s through the ’80s (he died in 1987 … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged Buddhism, chogyam trungpa rinpoche, documentaries, documentary, gurus, movies, religion, wisdom | 3 Comments

Crusades

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: “Zero for Conduct, “Jean Vigo’s rough-hewn, poetic evocation of youth under the strain of institutionalized education, is nearly impossible to summarize in words. Among other things, it’s perhaps the greatest expression of the anarchic impulse ever put on film. In … Continue reading →