It is easy to argue that A Night in Heaven is a sort of misbegotten botch job, taken away by the studio when the film was neither the serious drama nor the exploitation film that Joan Tewkesbury ‘s (Nashville) script may have suggested. But I have to disagree. Sure, the telltale signs are there; unresolved […]

One of the downsides of the disintegration of the theatrical release of independent films and the dissolving of  the indie arms of major studios, such as Picturehouse and Warner Independent, and the shutting down of daring studios like New Line is that the low-mid-budget films have no shot in the market. The reason for that […]

A common occurrence in the current film market is troubled or interesting/challenging  productions with fairly well known stars going direct to DVD (Colin Hanks has three coming out within the next few months), when they used art house releases. The thinking is that most films are probably terrible, like the direct to video films of […]

The 1980’s was a decade that often had conflicting values, which were morally conservative, yet socially irresponsible. Nowhere was this better exemplified than with the way that the Grindhouse exploitation movies of the 70’s became unsubtly repressed in the 80’s, mixing beloved trash with fearful cautionary tales that punished pleasure.

A promisingly silly premise, alien spaceship crashes into the water during the time of Vikings and the survivor tries to win the hearts of the humans who don’t understand him (A more appropriate title might have been Army of Dorkness), is buried in the ground immediately by a concession to the English speaking market. As soon as he lands, removes his protective […]

Remember that sub-plot in 200 Cigarettes where Kate Hudson gets dog poop all over her coat? Well Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is that scene dragged out to a 90 minute length, but instead of the dog poop, we get the understudy, puke-and-feces-infested chewing gum that is shared between multiple characters. And much like 200 […]