A Farewell to Two Kings

The Grim Reaper was a bigger son of a bitch than usual today. We lost Robert Duvall and the great Documentary film maker and giant human being Frederick Wiseman.

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Sam Raimi has been a brand name since he burst (splattered?) onto the scene with the magnificent, micro-budgeted The Evil Dead in 1981. He executed the tried and true Hollywood career strategy, still very much valid today, of strutting your stuff in low-budget horror as an entree to bigger things.

TCM Look-Ahead (Feb. 13)

The dreaded 31 days of Oscar has begun on TCM, so lots of official classics that are either not great or don't need my recommendation. There are a few exceptions, below.... Tuesday, 02/17 06:30 a.m. PST The Desert Song. Dunes and Tunes! Utterly ridiculous musical

Pantheon Directors

If you are wondering what this is, please Read Introduction These are the directors who have transcended their technical problems with a personal vision of the world. To speak any of their names is to evoke a self-contained world with its own laws and landscapes. They were also fortunate enough

TCM Look-Ahead (Feb. 6)

It's a huge week on TCM, including Pre-Code Lubitsch, Michael Schultz and Chuck Heston in a Safari jacket and Ford Galaxie! Friday, 02/06/26 08:30 p.m. PST Man in the Wilderness, directed by Richard C. Sarafian If, like me, you enjoy movies about survival against

Toby Dammit

Terence Stamp passed away this year, and the Criterion Channel has a tribute to him right now. His death called to mind what an incredible run he had in the 60s. He was pretty much to go to go of the Art cinema across the globe for several years. Toby

The American Cinema Now

About a year and a half ago, I started what would prove to be an unachievable and utterly batshit project. It was a "revision" of the Andrew Sarris seminal text The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968, or as it is more commonly known, that one book about

First Time Watches - January

The first month of the new year began with a bunch of bangers. Several of these wound up on my Best of 2025 list. Song Sung Blue (2025), directed by Craig Brewer The antidote to all those reverent musical biopics about great men. This is about mediocre people who only

Criterion Channel - Nordic Noir

The Criterion Channel is wonderful, isn't it? They have a series this month on Nordic Noir, consisting of four films and directors I had never heard of. This is very rare for me. And gives me hope. I have only dipped my toe but the fist, Girl with

TCM Look-Ahead (Jan. 30)

I am starting a regular feature (going to try for weekly, to be published on Fridays) that looks ahead to the TCM schedule and recommend films for immediate watch or recording. If you are lucky enough to have TCM on cable or on You Tube t.v. or the TCM

Oscars: Who Will/Should Win

I haven't missed an Oscar ceremony since 1970. And I pretty much hate the Oscars. They get everything wrong, sometimes egregiously so. They screw up TCM's schedule every year (the 31 days of Oscar is pretty much the only time of year I don't

PSA - The Kanopy Channel

Do you know about Kanopy? It is a streaming service that partners with the Public Library system to allow digital access, for free, to their vast A.V. resources. Their inventory is second to none, and is a fine (and did I mention free?) alternative to something like Criterion or