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Mario Bava’s Black (and White) Sunday

Aug 11th, 2020 Craig J. Clark

It’s one of the most striking openings in cinema history: A burly, shirtless man in a black hood stokes a brazier, heating up a branding tool which will be used to sear the letter “S” into the flesh of accused vampire Princess Asa Vadja, who is being executed for her crimes alongside her...

Looking Back

The Box Office Has Never Moved Past August 13, 2010

Aug 11th, 2020Marshall Shaffer

You probably are not giving much thought to either The Expendables, an Avengers-style roundup of action stars with AARP cards, or Eat Pray Love, a travelogue of white feminism, as they approach their tenth anniversaries on August 13. (As you...

Movies

Latinxploitation: On the Complicated History of Whitewashing and Brownface in the Movies

Aug 10th, 2020Zach Vasquez

In recent weeks and months, Hollywood’s legacy of cultural appropriation and racism has come under increased scrutiny, with the latest controversy erupting over the lack of Emmy nominations for Latinx television actors (a dialog which then...

Movies

Watch This: An American Pickle

Aug 7th, 2020Abby Olcese

Simon Rich is an extremely gifted satirist. The former SNL writer is also the mastermind behind the FX cult comedy Man Seeking Woman and the TBS show Miracle Workers, as well as many short stories and a few novels – all of which contain some...

Movies

Review: I Used to Go Here

Aug 6th, 2020Kimber Myers

With a skill that would impress even its writer protagonist, I Used to Go Here excels in its efforts to show, not tell. In just its first five minutes, Kris Rey’s comedy slyly reveals key elements that define who Kate Conklin (Gillian Jacobs) is,...

Movies

Review: Paydirt

Aug 6th, 2020Josh Bell

The paydirt in the opening of Paydirt is actual dirt, stuffed into garbage bags and buried under other dirt, and then dug up by a drug kingpin known as El Gordo (Jay Montalvo). El Gordo isn’t looking for dirt, of course: He’s trying to find the...

Classic Corner: <i>Carole Lombard Collection I</i>

Looking Back

Classic Corner: Carole Lombard Collection I

Aug 5th, 2020Jason Bailey

“That twinkle in your eye,” Clark Gable marvels at Carole Lombard in No Man of Her Own. “Wrap it up for me, will you?” It’s a moment of unguarded onscreen thirst, and watching the film now, as part of KL Studio Classics’ new “Carole...

How <i>Babe</i> Snuck Radicalism into a Family Favorite

Happy Birthday

How Babe Snuck Radicalism into a Family Favorite

Aug 4th, 2020Roxana Hadadi

Few films aimed at children have made the case for the value of every life as clearly as Babe did in 1995. Yes, that Babe—the film about the pig who acted like a sheepdog, with the talking animals, and the chapter-style format mimicking the...

The Lush Brilliance of Ennio Morricone’s <i>Dollars</i> Symphony

Looking Back

The Lush Brilliance of Ennio Morricone’s Dollars Symphony

Aug 3rd, 2020Bill Bria

Few artists can plan a career for themselves, especially in the uncertain world of filmmaking. Most work has to be taken as it’s offered, which is why so many artists end up jacks of all trades. This was certainly the case with Ennio Morricone,...

Movies

Review: Summerland

Jul 30th, 2020Kimber Myers

With all its poignant elements — a World War II setting, a quaint seaside town, a long-lost love, a child who changes an adult’s life for the better, and on and on — Summerland should be a sticky sweet English confection, gooey and topped...