Welcome to the Year of Godzilla, in this, the Second Year of Luigi. It is the 60th anniversary of Godzilla’s first screen appearance, a 1954 eponymous debut which was later recut for US audiences and given the eye-catching title Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, exclamation point and all. And now, there’s a new entry in a long-running collection of films about and featuring the giant atomic lizard, another Hollywood-produced bit of early summer blockbustery. Sixty years is a long run, nearly as long as Christopher Lee’s career at this point, with as many ups and downs. Continue reading Godzillas and Monsters
Category Archives: movies
Hidden Horror – Award Winning!
As you may or may not know, I recently contributed an article to HIDDEN HORROR, a compendium of essays on 101 different horror films that don’t often get the same recognition as the films one would see on a typical “50 greatest” list. What began as a labor of love, compiled and edited by Chicago-based actor and horror guru Aaron “Dr. AC” Christensen, soon became the little book that could. Continue reading Hidden Horror – Award Winning!
The John Ford Blogathon and a Small Handful of Other Words
Hello! I’ve been away again, shame shame. But I bring good tidings, and a couple of short reviews for you all. Huttah! Continue reading The John Ford Blogathon and a Small Handful of Other Words
Harold Ramis (1944 – 2014)
Typically, I hate this kind of thing. When someone dies, it’s hard to write about them, even if they were someone you never got to meet in person. But people make an impact, and sometimes it’s so big that when that person is gone, all the words and memories and feelings bubble to the surface and demand to be acknowledged. So it goes. Continue reading Harold Ramis (1944 – 2014)
Happy 2014 (belated)
Hello! It’s been…*checks watch*…several weeks since I’ve updated here. My goodness, how the time flies. I don’t know what happened exactly, to make me not update this damned thing more often since the first of the year, so…here we are. Continue reading Happy 2014 (belated)
The Worst of 2013 – Highly NOT Recommended!
See, this is how it works: I lure you all in with the best-of posts, and then toss a grenade of bad films into your lap and run away. Thankfully, there were only ten truly bad (which has a variety of meanings here) first viewing films that I wasted time on in 2013. Whew! Continue reading The Worst of 2013 – Highly NOT Recommended!
2013 in Movies – The Year of 365
So this year, the big movie challenge was to watch 365 films, one for each day. They could be either first time views or repeats, just not the same film in the same year for it to count. Here was my final total, and the best films that were new to me, broken down by genre: Continue reading 2013 in Movies – The Year of 365
The Best (and Worst) of 2013!
This year is over, and like everyone says at the end of pretty much every year, good riddance. No, that’s not right. It wasn’t a bad year at all! Every year has good and bad things that happen. That’s just par for the course. So what all happened this year and what were the great new things and what were the not-so-great things? Let’s review! Continue reading The Best (and Worst) of 2013!
Noirvember – on Scarlet Street (1945)
I failed the Noirvember Challenge, friends. All that really means is that I’ll finish up the remaining films on my list in December and probably be writing about them through the new year. I have three more films that I watched in the eleventh month that will count toward this completely arbitrary challenge: The Naked City, Call Northside 777, and Scarlet Street, which I’ll discuss presently. And coming soon, an appreciation of the short-lived comic book cartoon series, “Batman: The Brave and The Bold,” which has been one of my favorite discoveries (if you can call it that) of the year. Back to the topic at hand… Continue reading Noirvember – on Scarlet Street (1945)
Noirvember Two-Step – Cage of Evil (1960) and Raw Deal (1948)
It’s looking as though most of my posts for the Noirvember Challenge will go up well after the end of the month, but I’m just about wrapped up with viewing for the month. Look for posts on The Long Goodbye (1973), They Made Me A Fugitive (1947), Call Northside 777 (1948), and 99 River Street (1953) over the next few days. For now, here are two reviews for Cage of Evil (1960) and Raw Deal (1948)… Continue reading Noirvember Two-Step – Cage of Evil (1960) and Raw Deal (1948)
bemused + nonplussed 