In a career spanning nearly five decades, Gene Wilder helped redefine comedy. During the late 1960s and ’70s, he had a string of notable films, be it the title role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, his partnership with…
Written by James L. Brooks and directed by Alan J. Pakula—two filmmakers who found great success in the 1970’s through the 1990’s, Brooks with Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, and As Good As It Gets, etc. Pakula’s credits include All…
Originally released in 2014 as a short film, Night Swim is a ridiculous story about a haunted swimming pool capable of killing people. Based on a short story by Rod Blackhurst, the scares are supposed to be central to the…
Well known for his critical documentaries on cinema—78/52 Hitchcock’s Shower Scene, Leap Of Faith: William Friedkin—Lynch/Oz writer/director Alexandre O. Phillippe examines filmmaker David Lynch, making the case that he pays tribute to The Wizard of Oz in nearly all his…
Largely known for documenting the LGBTQ movement in Los Angeles and Hawaii, the conventional success of films like Midnight Cowboy saw Pat Rocco aim for his own mainstream acceptance with 1974’s Drifter (also known as “Two Way Drift”). While not entirely…
Centered on the Von Erich family from Texas, The Iron Claw tells the story of Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) a professional wrestler who desperately wants to be a champion. To that end, he molds his sons to follow in…
Anyone But You is a decidedly formulaic romantic comedy that takes its inspiration from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Directed by Will Gluck (Easy A), there’s a level of raunchiness not often seen in mainstream rom-coms. Further, there is a…
Blurring the line between the earthly and the sublime, French director Albert Lamorisse’s works often show his characters, both children and animals, transcending the physical limitations of the world. Such is 1956’s The Red Balloon, a charming, whimsical, if slight…
One of the first submarine movies, 1958’s Run Silent, Run Deep still shines more than sixty years after its release. Burt Lancaster stars as Lt. Bledsoe, a man ready to take command of his own sub. At the last minute,…
A late noir, 1959’s Odds Against Tomorrow puts aside the femme fatales and husbands in distress in favor of an apparently simple crime—robbery for the sake of acquiring some much needed cash—and taps into the racial unease of the era…