Way before the denigrating cinematic term “chick flick” there was the “woman’s picture.” It was a catch-all for gloriously soapy melodramas where females were the main focus of the movie. It was similarly a put-down, but since then film historians…
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About a million years ago, while I was living in Denver, I rescued a Siamese cat from the streets who I named “Belle de Jour.” One day I remember the cat was glaring at me from across the room and…
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Lately I’ve been uncovering all these loony theme songs to horror and sci-fi movies from the 50s and 60s on Youtube. Some were actually attached to the films; others were novelty records to promote the movie. But they all are…
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Don’t you weary of films and TV procedurals where women are walking down a darkened street only to be abducted by a psycho killer? You know that it’s going to go either two ways, and even a rescue is not…
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Someone recently asked what gives me pleasure these days. I guess it’s a valid question during a time when there seems to be light ahead but everything still feels stuck in place. I have to say what fills me with…
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In honor of the new Blu-ray release of Werewolves on Wheels (Code Red) it got me thinking about lycanthropy movies in general. I’ve been a fan of hairy shapeshifters ever since the gypsy hag (Maria Ouspenskaya) warned infected Larry Talbot…
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Criterion really is the gold standard of home media. Aside from some questionably oblique covers, their Blu-rays are all sensational restorations of movies by legendary directors such as Fellini: Bergman; Antonioni; Bunuel; Bresson; Fassbinder; Varda; Renoir; Denis; Powell; Akerman– it’s…
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I just finished a wonderful biography of the legendary Vampira, a living Charles Addams cartoon come to life as a television horror host in L.A. in the 1950s; good friend of James Dean; lover of Marlon Brando and Orson Welles;…
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While most have us have been glued to their screens for the last year, one has to admit it’s a golden period for TV shows. When I think over the million hours I have spent watching TV, there are plenty…
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It all started with a Perry Mason TV episode. Doesn’t it always? I find I can only go to bed after midnight when I watch a MeTV Perry Mason show. I need that psychic joypop of watching someone breaking down…
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