The algorithm fae have decided to gift me with the news that Every Frame a Painting is back… if only for a short while. Tricky fae. Starting about 10 years ago, and for tantalizingly too few episodes, Taylor Ramos & Tony Zhou crafted meticulous videos that remind one of why cinema is magical. The care in making the videos is, of course, why there are not a gazillion episodes, but that invigorating feeling is why…
With films and film history very much on the mind from my post earlier this week, I was delighted to stumble (pratfall?) across this list from Vulture about the 100 Fights that Shaped Action Cinema. The work of multiple writers (and presumed cinemaniacs), this list goes back to the earliest moving pictures to the present day (it came out earlier this month). I not only appreciate it for its exhaustive scope, I’m very thankful that…
I think L. Frank Baum (the source of the amended quotation above) would understand. Like books, songs, and many other an enjoyable thing: all things come to an end. Thanks to one of my siblings, I have a glorious poster of assorted iconic film endings hanging in my house. Who doesn’t love a really solid ending to a film? Whether it’s funny, poignant, thought-provoking, or applause-inducing, a satisfying ending is what so often makes a…
I first saw this via ThisIsColossal.com, you may have seen it on Facebook. We’re at this point of the pandemic. Lord help us all, possibly Lydia Cambron first (I mean, I love it, but if there’s anything we can do…)
So, it’s basically a week of referencing similar topics to last week. Case in point, this past Friday, I rediscovered one of my favorite YouTube listmakers, Cinefix, who had a great list of uplifting or otherwise engaging films to check out during our current pandemic existence. So, of course, I clicked around some of their lists to find some videos I missed before or had forgotten and came across this gem: The onscreen title is…
This was released back in April, but I feel like I could use it even more now, as there’s no end to the quarantining in sight here in the U.S. (also, I’m beginning to try and watch some “muse-see” films in prep for my biennial Favorite Films exercise). One of the things I love about the Cinefix videos is that they love rattling off any number of films in the run-up for the official Top…
I just re-watched Never Cry Wolf the other week, so Brian Dennehy’s ability to fully inhabit characters was fresh in my mind. Sadly, Brian Dennehy has passed away at the age of 81. One of the nice things about his work was that his characters were perfectly at ease with who they were, be it an alien, a corrupt sheriff, or entrepreneurial pilot. If he turned out to be a villain, his character would metaphorically…
As many of my fellow filmmakers know, I’m not overfond of most horror films (apologies to Lonnie and my other filmmaking colleagues who love ’em). At the same time, I do love “creature features.” This is probably due to two reasons. First, like many kids of my generation, I enjoyed the steady stream of good, bad, and less-than-spectacular kaiju films played endlessly on TV on Saturday afternoons. In our case, it was good ol’ WDCA, Channel 20…
Growing up a cinemaniac, there are, quite naturally, a number of actors and directors and screenwriters I would like to meet. However, I daresay I would not shake the hand of any of them so vigorously as I would the hand of film historian and critic, Leonard Maltin. Maltin’s indispensable and always entertaining movie guide was a fixture in our household. Not only did we get each annual edition, but we held on to the…
Reading a recent piece reflecting on the demise of video stores, specifically independent video stores, made me reflect on the demise of Video Vault, an indie film mainstay in Alexandria that supplied film fans for a generation. Mike Musgrove’s article in the Washington Post about the Vault’s closing gives one a good idea of the pressures that made it close. That article is probably a good warm-up for the aforementioned piece on indie video stores.…