What can you see in the cinema this week? The best works of Spike Lee and Mel Brooks (did they ever work together?). A laughably bad movie that has caught up on us over the decades. One of the greatest Best Picture winners of the century, and several LGBTQ films sponsored by the month of … Continue reading What’s Screening: June 16 – 22
Tag: Zero Mostel
What’s leaving Criterion at the end of the Year
What makes these films different from any other films? Most of them are horror movies. Also, most of them will disappear from The Criterion Channel come midnight, December 31. Stream them before they go away. Full recommendations A+ Brazil (1985) One of the best black comedies ever filmed, and the best dystopian fantasy ever. In … Continue reading What’s leaving Criterion at the end of the Year
Movies I’ve Recently Seen: The Searchers ֍ Panic in the Streets ֍ Passing and ֍ Soup to Nuts
For various reasons, I haven't seen a movie in a theater recently. So here are three old movies and one new one that's already streaming. A- The Searchers (1956) The last time I wrote about The Searchers, I gave it a B. That's a pretty low grade for what many consider John Ford's masterpiece. Seeing … Continue reading Movies I’ve Recently Seen: The Searchers ֍ Panic in the Streets ֍ Passing and ֍ Soup to Nuts
The Producers on Blu-ray
A desperate has-been Broadway producer (Zero Mostel) and a timid, neurotic accountant (Gene Wilder in his first major role) plan a bit of larceny that will make them a fortune - if the play they produce flops. But if it's a hit, they'll go to jail. No wonder they select a play called Springtime for Hitler. … Continue reading The Producers on Blu-ray
What’s Screening: August 17 – 23
John Ford and John Wayne, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, Carl Sagan, Elia Kazan, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Mel Brooks light up Bay Area movie screens this week. But no film festivals. Also, I'm changing the Lebowskies section to Frequently-revived classics. The Big Lebowski doesn't screen as often as it used to. Promising events She Wore a … Continue reading What’s Screening: August 17 – 23