Skip It THE MOVIE: The slang term “23 skidoo” is a reference to making a fast getaway, of getting out while the getting is good. If only someone had walked onto the set of Otto Preminger's 1968 generation-gap comedy Skidoo and shouted “23 skidoo!” just before cameras rolled. Had cast and crew scattered, never to return, a lot of veteran performers could have saved themselves some embarrassment …
Recommended The Movie: Directed by Lewis Allen in 1951, Appointment With Danger stars genre stalwart Alan Ladd in what would wind up being his farewell to film noir.' Ladd plays Al Goddard, a United States Postal Inspector with an unusually suspicious mind that, quite frankly, tends to serve him well in his position. He's a Chicago based worker who is asked to head to Gary, Indiana to …
Highly Recommended The Movie: When most people think of Raymond Chandler's work, they think of Humphrey Bogart as private eye Philip Marlowe in the 1946 adaptation of The Big Sleep . Since then, a handful of films have revisited and updated Chandler's iconic gumshoe, such as 1969's Marlowe , which cast James Garner as the title character, and 1978's The Big Sleep , with Robert Mitchum in the …
Highly Recommended The Movie: Pride is one of the best examples of the “Conservative working class Brits face socially controversial change and learn to grow as a result” British comedies pioneered by the likes of Full Monty , Billy Elliot and Calendar Girls . Its simple yet effective messages of tolerance, compassion and the importance of solidarity are delivered with an infectiously positive …
Recommended When Joyce Willecombe (Nancy Olson) boards a train to Chicago, she's not expecting anything particularly exciting to happen, but as the train is arriving at one of the stations before her destination, she spots a car on the adjacent road, speeding to keep up with the train. Two men exit the car and board the train, but they enter through different doorways, and act as if they don't …
Rent It THE FILM: Click an image to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution. The last time director Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington worked together they created an exciting crime drama in Training Day . To echo corrupt L.A
Highly Recommended The Movie: The Cannon Films action classic Avenging Force got a DVD release in Europe but never got upgraded from VHS in North American for whatever reason, despite the fact that it was and remains a very popular entry in their filmography. Kino-Lorber makes up for past transgressions with this release, a bit of a special edition, really, and it's about time.
Rent It THE FILM: Click an image to view Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution. The subterranean tunnels and crypts holding the remains of six million Parisians – known as the Catacombs of Paris – are a perfect setting for an imperfect horror film. As Above, So Below sends its young cast deep beneath the busy city streets in search of the Philosopher's Stone thought capable of turning base …
Highly Recommended The Congress Blu-ray Review From visionary filmmaker Ari Folman ( Waltz WithBashir )comes a new tale in The Congress , starring Robin Wright ( ThePrincessBride ). Â In a futuristic world (whichis never given a date during the film) the role of an actor in film israpidlychanging. Studios are no longer looking towards working with actorsanymore.All films are to be made …
Recommended The Movie: I remember enjoying director John Boorman's unusual, Amazon-set action drama The Emerald Forest on VHS shortly after the film's original 1985 release. Lushly filmed in the rainforests of Brazil, this emotionally charged story of a father searching for son abducted by natives ten years prior was a risky, highly personal project for the director (who also produced).