Craig J. Clark, Author at Crooked Marquee

Tidings of <i>Comfort and Joy</i> — Craig J. Clark

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Nov 26th, 2019

It’s a common enough sight in Christmas films: holiday shoppers admiring animatronic window displays and taking advantage of the sales at...

Review: <i>The Twentieth Century</i> — Craig J. Clark

Review: The Twentieth Century

Oct 28th, 2019

Winnipeg, Canada, has produced more than its share of strange and singular filmmakers. Guy Maddin is likely the most well-known, but Manitoba’s...

Y2Kinema from <i>Last Night</i> to <i>Relaxer</i> — Craig J. Clark

Y2Kinema from Last Night to Relaxer

Oct 15th, 2019

We knew on Jan. 1, 2000, that the hysteria surrounding Y2K had been overblown. But before that, the fears that the so-called “Millennium Bug”...

<i>The House of the Devil</i> and the Horrors of the Pre-Digital Age — Craig J. Clark

The House of the Devil and the Horrors of the Pre-Digital Age

Oct 14th, 2019

Ever since the proliferation of the mobile phone, horror filmmakers have to go out of their way to explain why their characters can’t use them to...

Stick to the Script: Christopher Guest's <i>The Big Picture</i> (1989) — Craig J. Clark

Stick to the Script: Christopher Guest's The Big Picture (1989)

Sep 22nd, 2019

Long before he corralled some of the screen’s most skilled improvisers to make such classic mockumentaries as Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show,...

Scary Scarecrows to Watch in the Dark

Aug 6th, 2019

We’re the scarecrow people, have we got lots in common with you. And if you don’t start living, well, you’re all going to wind up scarecrow...

<i>Midsommar</i>'s Folk-Horror Family Tree — Craig J. Clark

Midsommar's Folk-Horror Family Tree

Jul 18th, 2019

There’s scarcely a review of Midsommar that doesn’t include a mention of The Wicker Man — and with good reason. (Ours is no exception.) Robin...

Scene of an Anatomy: Kyle MacLachlan in <i>Blue Velvet</i> — Craig J. Clark

Scene of an Anatomy: Kyle MacLachlan in Blue Velvet

May 22nd, 2019

In the 2016 documentary David Lynch: The Art Life, one of the stories Lynch recounts from his childhood is the time a naked woman appeared out of the...

In Memory of Dick Miller: The Many Lives (and Deaths) of Walter Paisley

Feb 4th, 2019

Ring rubber bells, beat cotton gongs, strike silken cymbals, play leathern flutes. The cats and cans and you and I and all such things with...

The Dark Side of Oscar: The Academy Awards and Film Noir

Jan 22nd, 2019

For the second year, Turner Classic Movies’ weekly trip to Noir Alley – hosted by Eddie Muller, founder and president of the Film Noir Foundation...

Craig J. Clark Says Don't Forget: <i>The Endless</i> — Craig J. Clark

Craig J. Clark Says Don't Forget: The Endless

Dec 26th, 2018

The filmmaking duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have consistently proven they know how to work within budget limitations to produce subtly...

Craig J. Clark Says Don't Forget: <i>Golden Exits</i> — Craig J. Clark

Craig J. Clark Says Don't Forget: Golden Exits

Dec 26th, 2018

In the midst of his Elisabeth Moss trilogy (consisting of Listen Up Philip, Queen of Earth, and Her Smell), indie auteur Alex Ross Perry marshaled...

Dreaming of a Red Christmas (Martian, Not Communist)

Dec 11th, 2018

Christmas stories and tales of space exploration both appeal to an audience’s sense of wonder, so it’s only natural that filmmakers have...

The Porpoise Is Laughing: 50 Years of <i>Head</i> — Craig J. Clark

The Porpoise Is Laughing: 50 Years of Head

Nov 5th, 2018

Fifty years ago, at the height of their popularity as television personalities and platinum-selling recording artists, The Monkees — Micky Dolenz,...

Woody Who? <i>Another Woman</i> Belongs to Gena Rowlands — Craig J. Clark

Woody Who? Another Woman Belongs to Gena Rowlands

Oct 29th, 2018

In the 35 years Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes were married (from 1954 until his death in 1989), she starred in seven of the dozen features he...