Former boxer turned police officer turned private eye, Spenser — no first names please, he’s got an air of mystery to maintain — has just lost a client, a former hooker who was shot by the henchmen of the gangster trying to bring her back into his fold. Hired the …
Honeymoon ★★★½ / ★★★★★ Director: Leigh Janiak Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing (Official Site) 87 Minutes In Theaters September 12, 2014 (Limited) – “Amongst all the savage beasts, none is found so harmful as woman.” John Chrysostom, as quoted in The Bridal Bed (Joseph Braddock, 1961) Newlyweds Bea (Rose Leslie) and …
This is my They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They 1000 Greatest Films update, the last of the dull end-of-summer update posts for SBBN. I haven’t seen nearly as many of the films on my TSPTD1K list (or the supplemental Scorsese and IMDb lists) as I’ve wanted for various reasons, mostly because …
A few notes about SBBN that I’ve been putting off until there’s enough for one big post that’s easier to skip: * Recently, the blog has had a couple of periods of downtime due to some glitches which no one at my webhost can identify. My theory is that the …
When it came to attracting the eye of some of the biggest silent screen legends, Vilma Bánky had no peer. After acting in a few films in her native Hungary, producer Samuel Goldwyn spied her in 1925 and persuaded her to come to Hollywood. She agreed, and became an immediate …
In 1931, producer Samuel Goldwyn was in a real bind. His film The Unholy Garden had been a complete disaster from start to finish, enraging Ronald Colman, Goldwyn Pictures’ star actor, who never quite got over having been contractually forced to appear in the film. A horrifying production, terrible reviews …
Some sad and frustrating news: According to Michael Blake, Universal plans to tear down the historic Stage 28. Inside Universal has more about the closure, and the rumor that the demolition is to make way for more theme part attractions. There’s a petition to save the stage here, already at …
Are You Here ★★☆☆☆ Director: Matthew Weiner Millennium Entertainment 113 Minutes In Theaters August 22, 2014 (Limited) and on DVD September 30, 2014 – Quirky comedy Are You Here (2013) is a tale of the most bourgeois of bromances, two pals in a bizarre, yet strangely dull, codependent relationship. This …
Valerie (Geena Davis) is a gorgeous beautician living in the San Fernando Valley with her doctor fiance Ted (Charles Rocket). For reasons never explained — his girlfriend is Geena Davis, for cryin’ out loud — Ted likes to boff other women, thus neglects Valerie in the bedroom and can’t get …
The Congress ★★★☆☆ Director: Ari Folman Drafthouse Films (Official Site) 122 Minutes Now Available on iTunes and On Demand | In Theaters August 29, 2014 – “Lousy choices,” Al tells his client. “That’s your whole story.” Al (Harvey Keitel) is agent and frustrated father figure to Robin Wright (playing a …
