Yearly Archives: 2016

Little known fact. It wasn’t just daring or pluck that made the Wright Brothers “First in Flight.” It was math. The siblings checked the figures on the generally accepted numeric tables calculating lift and drag on wings, found them wrong … Continue reading →

Lord have mercy, what has become of the promising-on-paper Independent Film Channel, IFC? “Con Air.” “Dukes of Hazzard.” “Lethal Weapon” sequels ad nauseum. As I have complained on their Facebook page, there’s already a cable channel for crap “so bad … Continue reading →

Today, as we remember Kirk Douglas, who just died at 103, I thought I’d track back and re-post an interview/profile I did some years ago, on the occasion of his “last” book, Let’s Face It. Here it is. Screen legend … Continue reading →

Maybe this is what we need, at the tail end of America’s “annus horribilis” — a really good cry. But “Jackie,” the new bio-pic built around Jacqueline Kennedy’s days of grief, shock and utter horror following the murder of her … Continue reading →

Say what you will about the not-late/far-from-great filmmaker Uwe Boll, but he never for one second in all his awful movies thought he was Martin Effing Scorsese. Dito Montiel can’t say the same. A delusional hack who must have the … Continue reading →

Not to be a prude or anything, but what the hell has Hollywood done to Christmas comedies? Sure, “Bad Santa” was jarring and against the grain — a little dash of sweet, a whole bottle of dirty dysfunction. “The Night … Continue reading →

When you title your horror movie “Abattoir” you’re building in certain…expectations. Lots of blood, for starters. And while there’s plenty of it in this adaptation of a comic book, there isn’t exactly a slaughterhouse full of it. Director Darren Lynn … Continue reading →

His chewy supporting role as a has-been fight trainer in “Bleed for This” had us hoping that we’d seen the last of Aaron Eckhart slumming in horror’s “Poverty Row” productions. But no. “I Frankenstein” was but one paycheck picture. “Incarnate” … Continue reading →

The late mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith has long been a Hollywood favorite. Her novels became such cinema classics as “Strangers on a Train,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (and French film “Purple Noon”), “The Two Faces of January” and “Carol.” She … Continue reading →

There’s probably not a whole lot the car crowd will learn from a documentary about the history and allure of the VW Beetle. But there are fresh facts and dollops of charm in Damon Ristou’s “The Bug: Life and Times … Continue reading →