Movies
Kung Fu: The Movie (1986)
As an old guy, I was a fan of the TV series Kung Fu when it was in first run. From 1972–75, I was enthralled with the adventures of David Carradine’s fugitive Shaolin Monk as […]
Month: November 2013
Animation
Oh, Mickey, he’s so fine: 85 years of Mickey Mouse and Steamboat Willie
Eighty-five years ago today, on November 18, 1928, Walt Disney introduced the world to the character that would make his studio an almost unrivaled force in the animation business. The appealing, fun-loving rodent was christened […]
Books
David Thomson’s The Big Screen: The Story Of Movies And What They Did To Us
The Big Screen: The Story of Movies and What They Did To Us (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 608 pages, $35) By David Thomson Oh, to be David Thomson! Love him or hate him, you gotta […]
Movies
I’ve Been Workin’ Up a Cocktail Called Grounds for Divorce: John Cassavetes’s Faces (1968)
Last week, I began to dip my toe into the depths of the emotionally rocky waters of the Criterion Collection’s release of John Cassavetes: Five Films with a short analysis of Shadows (1959). Continuing into the set, […]
Movies
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Double Feature: LOVE IS A RACKET (1932) and PARACHUTE JUMPER (1933)
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. never intended to go into picture making, but the environment he was born into, his good looks and innate charismatic nature somewhat “impressed” him into the industry. He was not an immediate […]
Movies
Sex Conquers All: VIVACIOUS LADY (1938)
George Stevens’ 1938 screwball comedy Vivacious Lady is a shining example of what the Studio System–with all its codes, and censorship and contracts–got right. A rollicking rom-com that is bursting at the seams with everything […]