Nine out of ten bloggers agree – the dreams in Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION are not particularly dream-like, at least, not much more so than the action sequences in your average James Bond film. Whether that makes INCEPTION a bad movie is another issue.  Nolan essentially uses the dream invasion scenario as a MacGuffin – an excuse to ... read more »

Classic films come about through a lucky combination of accident and inspiration. In the case of THE GODFATHER, one of writer/director Francis Coppola’s most inspired choices was to model his film not on other American gangster movies, but instead upon the visual style and structure of  Luchino Visconti’s 1963 masterpiece, THE LEOPARD (IL GATTOPARDO).  By choosing Visconti as his model, Coppola infused new life ... read more »

To wrap up her gothic novels, Ann Radcliffe explained away her supernatural trappings at the conclusion. Imagine a story that explains away its action in every scene. Hitchcock was heavy-handed when diagnosing Norman Bates and unmasking his own mystery; Nolan extends what the master of suspense couldn’t pull off in one scene. Sisyphean from the drawing ... read more »

Dogtooth is an audaciously visceral statement that somehow avoids both flamboyance and gratuity, proving that on-screen shocks need not always be accompanied by a masturbatory aftertaste.

Great news for animation buffs!  Minimalist animation genius, Gene Deitch, creator of Tom Terrific, The Juggler of Our Lady, Munroe, Sick Sick Sidney, and many others will appear for a special tribute screening and Q&A at L.A.’s Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theater on Tuesday, July 6th, at 8:00 p.m.  (Tom Terrific, above, was created for the 1950s childrens’ television ... read more »

Talk about wish fulfillment for kids – the Airbender mythos has it nailed. As a child dreams of gaining superpowers, he may wish for them all: i.e, the numerous abilities of Superman. If his wishes grow darker, he may desire fangs and a cape, and the ability to fly by night in darkness – or perhaps ... read more »

Beyond the Forest
Dir. King Vidor, 1949
In America, the tagline read “Nobody’s As Good As Bette When She’s Bad.”  In French they simply called it La Garce, ‘the bitch.’
They were on to something.  Bette Davis’ character, Rosa Moline, is just about the most hissable woman ever put on screen in film, right up there with Ann ... read more »

But I soon thought it through and realized any initial discomfort on my part was more a realization of the shoe being on the other foot… why shouldn’t beefcake images be as important in a magazine as the cheesecake? Both were represented pretty well on Valley’s beat: Scarlet Street was/is, is beyond any agenda in itself.

I wonder about those who can watch Jarmusch any time. They must really love life’s randomness, how we must create order in what can be a pretty disordered universe. They must be the kind of people who wander about on a free day, avoiding routines or places they’ve been to already. Such a dislike for ... read more »

Double Take
Dir. Johan Grimonprez
The documentary Double Take is bookended by two of the scariest moments in American history: the launch of Sputnik and the release of The Birds.  It suggests that these events had a great deal to do with one another.  In their collage-essay on the work of Alfred Hitchock and the Cold War, ... read more »