I don’t know how I first came across Defending Your Life. I hadn’t seen any of Albert Brooks’ previous movies at that point and don’t remember seeing trailers or anything else for it and seeking it out in any way. Which means more than likely I came across it on cable at some point and, … Continue reading
I’ve talked about Karina Longworth’s fantastic You Must Remember This podcast before, and there’s a reason for that: It’s, well, fantastic. Karina does these long series of in-depth explorations of the stories behind the movies of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Not how these movies got made, but what the lives, loves and secrets were of the … Continue reading
This isn’t contextual to anything. There’s no anniversary or anything that has sparked my thoughts on this topic, no new Blu-ray edition that’s coming out. But the other day I started thinking about Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and decided to revisit the marketing for that movie. What got my head churning was … Continue reading
When I think of popular culture that has become kind of a “must experience” touchstone for young men – not boys, but young men – there are two that come to mind: Catcher In The Rye and The Graduate. The latter, written by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry and directed by Mike Nichols, the movie … Continue reading
Earlier this week Silence of the Lambs celebrated its 25th anniversary and so it seemed like the perfect excuse to revisit the campaign for what has gone on to become a classic thriller that has not only launched a number of sequels and other adaptations but also been cemented as one of the best movies … Continue reading
To celebrate the movie’s 75th anniversary, The Maltese Falcon is coming to over 650 theaters across the country over the next few days. So it’s a perfect time to look back on how the movie was sold upon its initial release. Based on the Dashiell Hammett novel, the movie stars Humphrey Bogart as Hammett’s frequent … Continue reading
With the Super Bowl (over here I refuse to call it the “Big Game.” Come at me, NFL) just days away I thought it was a good time to revisit one of my favorite football movies. Considering I couldn’t find a good trailer for The Marx Bros.’ Horse Feathers I opted instead for Necessary Roughness. … Continue reading
I was searching around for a topic for this week’s Flashback Friday column and had a few ideas but never really settled on anything. Then I saw Noel Murray’s great article at The A.V. Club on the Hope/Crosby Road movies and decided to write about my favorite of the series: The Road to Utopia. If … Continue reading
Last week I happened upon a Twitter conversation between a couple of guys talking about From Dusk Till Dawn and whether or not it was a spoiler to call it a “vampire movie.” In that conversation Eric D. Snider said the following: @ghuwevans Interesting. I feel like I always knew it was about vampires, but … Continue reading
When it came time for the official marketing campaign for Clerks to begin the movie already had a head of steam in terms of press and publicity. Kevin Smith’s debut film – famously shot for less than $28,000, black-and-white and starring friends and friends of friends – had made a name for itself with exciting … Continue reading