Krzysztof Kieslowski placed it on his Top Ten list for a Sight & Sound magazine poll. Dave Kehr, formerly of the Chicago Reader, called it “one of the finest works of the short-lived Czech New Wave.” The New York Times noted that INTIMATE LIGHTING (1965) was one of those movies that “loses none of its [...]

A little known and ingenious B-movie delight, GIRLS ON THE LOOSE (1958) stands out from the pack of teenage bad girl movies that became so prevalent in the late fifties. For one thing, these aren’t gum-chewing high school delinquents but a quartet of hardened professionals and damaged goods. Equally surprising is the tough, no nonsense [...]

I was browsing TCM’s January schedule and came across a title on Thursday, Jan. 21st at 7:45 am ET I had never heard of called CROONER (1932). Directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring David Manners, Ann Dvorak and J. Carrol Naish and clocking in at a brisk 68 minutes, it sounded like a potentially intriguing Pre-Code [...]

Chemistry between actors is a curious thing. It can result in some kind of indecipherable but wondrous alchemy that crackles and pops or a concoction that simply refuses to fire like soggy matches.

Roberto Rossellini cinephiles can rejoice in the good news that his influential war trilogy – ROME OPEN CITY [1945], PAISAN [1946] and 1948’s GERMANY YEAR ZERO (the films that established him as “the Father of Italian Neorealism) – are due for release this month as a DVD box set from The Criterion Collection. Available for [...]

At the annual BookExpo event in New York City last June, Fantagraphics Books had some of the most original and desirable soon-to-be-released titles in their Fall 2009 catalog but few seemed to attract the buzz of this inspired creation with its oversized VHS box design complete with slipcase and fetishised detail, right down to the [...]

Misery loves company, and if you are anticipating a stressful holiday season due to an unavoidable reunion with family, in-laws or friends you’d rather not see, then you may find a kindred spirit among the dysfunctional gathering in Arnaud Desplechin’s A CHRISTMAS TALE.   

Imagine this. You are on a flight from Lisbon, Portugal to New York City and, in the dead of night over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the pilot’s voice on the intercom suddenly jolts you awake with these words, “Can I have your attention please. This is Captain Williams. We’re in an emergency situation. [...]

That’s how Benny Perkins, one of the contestants in the “Hands on a Hard Body” contest describes this unusual endurance contest in Longview, Texas which was once an annual event that officially began in 1992. I first became aware of S.R. Binder’s enthralling, hilarious and sometimes moving documentary of the event during a visit to [...]