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…
Read more
Female Trouble (Criterion) John Waters’ hilariously prophetic dark comedy about the life and death of high school hellcat Dawn Davenport (Divine). From rebellious teen, to dissatisfied wife and mother, to her fateful meeting with beauty shop owners Donald & Donna…
Read more
Gun Crazy (Warner Archive) There are film noir films and then there is Gun Crazy (1950), Joseph H. Lewis’s brilliant criminal couple-on-the-run film. It starred John Dall as a crack marksman who gets involved with a beautiful, but deadly, carnival…
Read more
Suspiria (Synapse) The scariest and loudest horror movie about witchcraft ever made, by Italian maestro of menace Dario Argento (Deep Red). Jessica Harper stars as Suzy Bannion, an American girl, who arrives at a famed Tanz Akademie of dance in…
Read more
In my eternal quest to find the diamonds at the bottom of cinema’s cesspool, I’ve made some interesting discoveries. For instance, I’ve found that many famous actresses who continued to perform into their autumn years valiantly took on any work…
Read more
Remember when action movies were fun- not digital effects, fast editing and deafening sound? This thought came to mind while watching the new “Limited Edition” Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome of the great soul prison flick Penitentiary (1979), one of the…
Read more
I don’t know about you, but when I’m out with someone and we’re deciding on which movie to see and they say: “Nothing serious or depressing- I only go to comedies…” it makes me want to whip out my…
Read more
Growing up, we knew a child who would run screaming out of the room every time we put on Ethel Merman singing. It was an almost Pavlovian response that used to amuse us greatly but something about her singing scared…
Read more
It’s hard to take serious that mantra “the disc is dead” when these amazing restored Blu-rays are still coming out offering fans sparkling newly digitalized versions of movies, most of which you will never find streaming. This month 2 of…
Read more