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It Happened One Night (1934) is one of the greatest romantic comedies in film history, and a film that has endured in popularity. It is considered one of the pioneering “screwball” romantic comedies of its time, setting the pattern for many years afterwards along with another contemporary film, The Thin Man (1934).Read More »
A man returns, after fifty years, to Chinatown to care for his dying mother. He is a librarian, a re-cataloger, a gay man, a watcher, an impersonator. He passes his time collecting images that he puts before us – his witnesses and collaborators. Sitting in the dark, we share his cloak of invisibility, both a benefit and a curse.Read More »
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“Vivien Leigh’s last film! A star studded extravaganza, this time on a cruise ship during the time just before World War II. Story-lines include Ms. Leigh as a lonely, forty-something woman hoping she’s still desirable, but trying to keep her dignity about it; Simone Signoret, who’s on her way to prison, romances the ship’s doctor (Oskar Werner) to get narcotics; Jose Ferrer is an anti-Semitic German publisher, not afraid to express his opinions loudly to all as “facts” (Heinz Rühmann is a quiet Jewish passenger he scorns); Lee Marvin is a washed up, drunken ball player who chases Leigh (as does Werner Klemperer); George Segal is a tortured artist who’s traveling with his girlfriend (Elizabeth Ashley), as the couple tries to work through their problems; Michael Dunn is a dwarf who narrates and provides insightful comments; Jose Greco is the leader of the ship’s gypsy entertainers who aim to bilk the passengers, especially a young man bent on losing his virginity; and there are lots of other bit players, including the ship’s Captain (Charles Korvin), who provide background and/or small plots (e.g. parents traveling with their young debutante).Read More »
An artist slowly goes insane while struggling to pay his bills, work on his paintings, and care for his two female roommates, which leads him taking to the streets of New York after dark and randomly killing derelicts with a power drill.Read More »
allmovie.com wrote:
Three friends from a small North Carolina town face bleak economic futures in the years following World War II. Johnny (Robert Walker Jr) takes to running moonshine after his discharge from military service. He tries to think of a way for a better life for wife Carol (Diane Varsi) and their young son. Johnny and Carol hook up with Roger (Dick Clark), an ex-army demolitions expert. They plan to blow up the safe of a bootlegger, steal $200,000 and head off for a new life in sunny California. Their plans are thwarted when Roger uses too many explosives and the noise draws the attention of a Federal agent. Johnny kills the agent in this backwoods crime drama. Merle Haggard has a bit part and sings a few songs with the help of his band The Strangers. Clark was the producer who, with Michael Fisher, is responsible for the story. Plot Synopsis by Dan PavlidesRead More »
Description: Directed by George Schaefer, this light made-for-television drama is based upon the novel of the same name by Robert Oliphant. Starring Bette Davis as Esther Cimino, a 73-year-old widow, the film traces the events following Esther’s son George’s (George Hearn) decision that she is no longer capable of caring for herself in her elderly state. Despite her protests, Esther is ruled incompetent by the legal system, leading her to wage a court battle to regain not only her estate but her dignity as well. Also starring Penny Fuller and Christopher Guest, A Piano for Mrs. Cimino first aired on February 3, 1982 on CBS and was later nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Film Editing.Read More »
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Non-normative texts concern themselves with subject matter that is marginalized, or not widely accepted as “normal.” Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho – an ode to the abandoned, and the isolated – is an example. It’s an exercise in brilliant directorial innovation, and cinematic ingenuity – required viewing for the capsized, fissure-ridden heart.
The film offers up a discourse on the fragility, and the emotional and intellectual convolution, of children who are left with the burden of trying to understand why their parents have abandoned them. This search becomes obdurate and lost, in the cases of Mike Waters (a physical and emotional narcoleptic, played to perfection by River Phoenix), and Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves); Mike is subverted by an idyllic yearning for the past, while Scott is consumed by familial regret and rebellion.Read More »
Trapped in a seedy LA apartment, Franklin Franklin (Matt Lucas) has a dead landlord on the kitchen floor and is surrounded by eccentric neighbors: the stoner (Johnny Knoxville) and girlfriend (Rebel Wilson), the wanna-be stripper (Juno Temple) and the artist (James Caan). To add to his chaos, a drunk investigator (Billy Crystal) is questioning him about his landlord. But none of this fazes Franklin. He dreams of Switzerland, and waits each day for an envelope from his institutionalized brother (James Marsden). Then, one day the envelope doesn’t come and Franklin becomes unhinged. Little does he know…his crazy brother has the secret that will set him free.Read More »
