A MATRIX OF CONNECTIONS For a long time, I avoided watching The Thirteenth Floor (above) due to the name Roland Emmerich in the credits. Emmerich was responsible in one way or another for such turkeys as the American Godzilla remake and 10,000 B.C.  However, prompted by Bright Lights After Dark commenter, Hal O’Brien, I finally screened the film ... read more »

the more I am fascinated by her.  Loved her in Mann’s Public Enemies and as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose.  I was even impressed by her Vanity Fair Psycho photoshoot (Marion Cotillard as Marion Crane, above).  She’s not just posing in these shots.  She’s giving a real performance — and a far more ... read more »

Director Robert Siodmak was born on August 8, 1900, in Dresden, Germany. If alive today, he would be 110. In 1994, in an article entitled Beyond the Golden Age: Film Noir Since the ’50s, I wrote: It is almost (but not quite) a rule of thumb that the more personal a director’s vision, the less ... read more »

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 »