One of Tim Burton’s most creative pictures abandons his morbid-lite focus to find big fun in comic Sci-fi spectacle, a ‘Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad’ adaptation of a set of bubble gum cards. It may not have been the movie-going flavor of the year in 1996, yet we’ll choose its affectionate satire over funereal gloom any…
The film adaptations of Jack Finney’s book The Body Snatchers score rather well — almost all of them are very good. For his foray into studio politics, filmmaker Abel Ferrara chose this highly commercial Sci-fi horror tale, and came up with an interesting variation on the main theme, with a low-key cast and effective, organic-looking…
James Hilton’s mystery romance takes audiences by surprise: IT’S GOOD. It might begin as a stack of cliché elements, but the development is engaging and the trick plot delivers an emotional kick, even on a third viewing. Greer Garson and Ronald Colman make a wholly entrancing screen couple, fighting a problem that will get anybody’s…
So you think life is tough where you are? … these three Italian crime tales teach a lesson beyond noir, that hope and hunger drive men to crime. Or does criminality just becomes part of life on its own? Alberto Lattuada, Flavio Calzavara and Pietro Germi offer thrillers al’italiana … expect unsavory surroundings and immoral…
Raoul Walsh’s four-masted seagoing epic is an ambitious Technicolor production, a Hollywood film made in Europe. Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo bring C.S. Forester’s heroic characters to life, with able support from favorites like James Robertson Justice, Stanley Baker and Christopher Lee. The un-credited Ken Adam constructed full-sized sailing craft in the South of France….
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week, our three films all star the great James Cagney. Wine pairings accompany each film, of course. You know, Cagney never really said “You dirty rat” in a movie. He did call…
Different is Good in this pleasant, sometimes silly rural fantasy in which talking animals solve a crime. No, no, no … it makes sense on its own level. Hugh Jackman is good to sheep, and there is no lack of suspects among his neighbors. But the fun is in the woolly personalities and how they…
We don’t miss every good opportunity at CineSavant — when reviewer Terry Morgan expressed interest in this picture it was a blessing. Carrie White’s story has seen several do-overs — this is the Brian De Palma original with Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Nancy Allen, Amy Irving, John Travolta, P.J. Soles and William Katt. It’s not…
André de Toth’s sordid crime tale is tops in all departments. Tough cop Sterling Hayden suspects parolee Gene Nelson of being in cahoots with the murderous bank robbers Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson and Ned Young; Gene’s wife Nelson finds herself menaced both by Bronson and the ultimate psycho Timothy Carey. The direction emphasizes tense…
