If ever there was a director who deserves critical reevaluation it’s the Czech-born Hugo Haas who wrote, produced, directed and starred in over a dozen movies in the 1950s. Very few are available on home video. In Leonard Maltin’s Movie…
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Dietrich & Von Sternberg In Hollywood (Criterion) A staggering box set of director Josef von Sternberg’s six films with his muse- Marlene Dietrich. There’s Morocco (1930), where the gorgeous Dietrich is singing in a Moroccan club in male drag and…
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When times get hard some people reach for the bottle for comfort. Others shop extravagantly to dull their depression. But for me, I always reach for a movie to find solace. There are certain key films that can always cheer…
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The first stages of dating are always perilous. That awkward “getting to know you” period is constantly fraught with all sorts of dangers. So, what do you do to be more comfortable with your new companion? Go for a meal…
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My favorite movies are the kind that leave you shaking in disbelief afterwards saying: “What the fuck was that?” I think they’re worthy of their own film festival. If you looked up “deranged” in the dictionary you might find any…
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There were certainly movies about criminal couples on the run before Bonnie And Clyde captivated audiences in 1968, but that controversial surprise hit became such a cultural phenomenon that it spawned countless imitators. Down the line many similarly themed movies…
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With the reboot of Will & Grace and Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, not to mention Boys In The Band on Broadway, is it any wonder there’s a rush on city hall for same-sex marriage licenses. Quite frankly, I…
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When I was young I used to lie in bed dreaming up titles of stories and movies I wanted to write. The titles always came first, before the plots. I would mull over such scintillating titles as Torture Me, Gently…
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I’m pretty ambivalent about “outing” actors in print. I guess I feel that a person’s sexual preference is their own damn business. But I have a friend who violently disagreed: “These aren’t people we’re talking about- they’re actors! These are…
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Broadway has been lousy with movie adaptations for many years. The Producers, Hairspray, Legally Blonde, Sunset Boulevard, Young Frankenstein. It’s surprising how many haunt today’s theaters- Mean Girls, School Of Rock, Kinky Boots, Waitress, A Bronx Tale and then there’s…
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