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My Dinner with André and the Meaning of Life (well, sort of)
Bright Lights After Dark Jun 19 09[My Dinner with André comes out on DVD from the Criterion Collection on Tuesday]Watching My Dinner with André for the first time at age 15 was my introduction not only to Wallace Shawn (as an intellectual, anyhow.
Great American Humorists No. 2 – Robert Benchley
Bright Lights After Dark Jun 18 09 Robert Charles Benchley (1889-1945) was a drama critic and writer of humorous essays, most memorably for The New Yorker, before he fell into performing after reading one of his pieces, The Treasurer’s Report, as part of a theatrical revue put together by his friends at The Algonquin Round Table.
10 (or More) Film Books That Made Me What I Am Today
Bright Lights After Dark Jun 10 09Speaking of books – having been invited by Movieman to contribute to his Reading the Movies meme, I submit a list of the 10-plus film-related books that have had the greatest impact on me.
Bright Lights Hits Hardcover!
Bright Lights After Dark Jun 09 09Despite what you've heard, publishing is not dead. (You can't be on life support and still be considered dead, can you?)
But seriously, our good news, as a glance at the pic at left will tell you, is that the first "Bright Lights book" will soon be available: Action! Interviews with Directors from Classical Hollywood to Contemporary Iran (London: Anthem Press, 2009).
TERROR TRAIN!
Bright Lights After Dark Jun 09 09A little bit Sub-genius founder Bob Dobbs (sans pipe) crossed with Joan Crawford and a little bit freaky as hell, this demon was sighted last night during an otherwise routine screening of Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951).
Jon Voight - Evolution of an Actor
Bright Lights After Dark Jun 09 09From Left-Wing Radical -- In The Revolutionary (Paul Williams, 1970).
With Jane Fonda in Coming Home (Hal Ashby, 1978).
Very Clever, Those Armenians
Bright Lights After Dark Jun 08 09Back in the day—way, way back in the day, in 1960—I first saw It Happened One Night, at age 15 on a 17-inch TV.
B. Kite on O. Welles
Bright Lights After Dark Jun 04 09Anyone with more than a passing interest in the films of Orson Welles (and not just Citizen Kane) should immediately check out American: Exhibits from the C.
Poster Comparison No. 7
Bright Lights After Dark Jun 02 09
Patrick Goldstein of the L.A. Times has some interesting observations to make concerning the Drag Me to Hell poster (top).
DRAG ME TO HELL / STUCK – Women in Trouble
Bright Lights After Dark Jun 01 09The first is a supernatural horror film. The second is a horror story without any trace of the supernatural.
I. P. Freely Goes to the Movies
Bright Lights After Dark May 30 09NPR recently interviewed the creator of runpee.com, a website that tells you when you can dash out of a movie to go to the bathroom and return without missing anything important.
Clichés or Archetypes? Trash or Transcendence?
Bright Lights After Dark May 29 09Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) - Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka gives Missi Pyle, James Fox, David Kelly, Freddie Highmore, et al.
The Great Roles of Christopher Lee’s Maturity
Bright Lights After Dark May 27 09How can anyone not marvel that two of Gothic Cinema’s greatest performers, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price, were born on the same day? Christopher Lee was born on May 27, 1922.
Josef Von Sternberg's Super-Masochist Sublimation Power!
Bright Lights After Dark May 26 09Reading Joseph Aisenberg's excellent piece (below) I'm compelled to offer my understanding of the great Von Sternberg's stylistic obsessiveness, especially since it's something I understand and share.
Falling in love again
Bright Lights After Dark May 24 09Recently I re-watched Josef Von Sternberg’s The Scarlet Empress (1934) and found myself again surprised by the sickly gushy tasteless humor of the piece; had forgotten most of the film’s plot as well, despite having seen it twice before.
The Gumbinator - Robot Rumpus (Art Clokey 1956)
Bright Lights After Dark May 20 09 Long before Terminators 1, 2, 3, and 4, a revolt of the machines was successfully quelled by the Great Green Hope otherwise known as Gumby, aided by his four-legged comrade-in-arms, Pokey.
My One Horse Town Libido is an Abandoned Minature Golf Course
Bright Lights After Dark May 20 09It's a point that many viewers miss, though it's difficult to blame them: Robert Altman's 3 Women is really "about" California, and quite distinctly so -- it doesn't belong to its contentual municipality in the sense that, say, Nashville does.
Pre-Code VCR ALERT: RIPTIDE!
Bright Lights After Dark May 16 09If you got TCM and a TIVO you'll want to snap out of your carbohydrate stupor and get ready to record dozens and several of rarely seen or screened pre-code stuff coming up starting tomorrow (Sunday).
When Women Had Waists - Part 3
Bright Lights After Dark May 14 09Wallace Wood ’s cover illustration for the pre-Comics Code Strange Worlds (above) appears to be modeled on the face and form of Anita Ekberg (below).
Moments of Xtreme Method
Bright Lights After Dark May 14 09Maybe this has happened to you: you're watching a film, dum de dum, suddenly... METHOD! Where did it come from and where does it go when it's gone? Let's take three examples that jump immediately to mind:1.
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