By the time A Nightmare on Elm Street was released in 1984, the slasher flick phenomenon was already in full swing. Halloween and the Friday the 13th films had already made Michael Meyers and Jason Voorhees leading icons of the…
Set in 1920’s China, Farewell My Concubine opens with a boy named Douzi abandoned by his prostitute mother at a Peking Opera school. There, he receives training that borders on abuse. Douzi is taught to play the female parts. While…
Originally aired on NBC over two consecutive nights in November 1984, Fatal Vision puts the spotlight on the usually serene Fort Bragg, North Carolina. There, on February 17, 1970, Captain Jeffrey MacDonald, M.D., (Gary Cole) breathlessly phoning police to report…
Hollywood has been trying to make movie stars out of musicians for decades. In 1987, Madonna was everywhere, with a string of pop hits, and fans hanging on to her every word. She could do no wrong, except when it…
Hot off the success of The Last Picture Show, What’s Up, Doc? and Paper Moon, Peter Bogdanovich elegantly directs the surprisingly bland Daisy Miller. Based on Henry Miller’s novel of the same name, the author was always interested in the…
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…