Richard Pryor Stand-Up Comedy Double Feature
November 13, 2005
It’s safe to say that without Richard Pryor there would be no Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle—comedians who mine a lot of the same territory that Pryor had already covered in the 1970s. I was never a big fan of his feature films. They always seemed to...
The Last Shot
November 12, 2005
Actors love doing satires of Hollywood. Case in point: the movie star-packed cast of Robert Altman’s movie The Player (1992) and David Mamet’s State and Main (2000). The Last Shot (2004) follows in this tradition but as you’re watching this clumsy...
Moonlighting: Seasons 1 & 2
November 8, 2005
In a landscape dominated by Dynasty and Hill St. Blues, Moonlighting was a breath of fresh air when it debuted on American television in 1985. It was a detective show that provided a funny, witty alternative and ambitiously took the screwball comedy popular...
Be Cool
November 7, 2005
After the success of Get Shorty (1995) as a novel and a film, Elmore Leonard wrote a sequel entitled Be Cool with the notion of it being turned into a film as well (his books read almost like screenplays anyway). It has and with the hope of lightning...
Spanglish
November 4, 2005
From the man that brought us some of the best dramas and comedies in the recent-present like As Good As It Gets, Jerry Maguire and Riding in Cars With Boys, and let’s not forget his writing duties on The Simpsons. James L Brooks directs a superbly...
The Phantom of Liberty
November 3, 2005
Luis Bunuel claimed in an interview that his film, The Phantom of Liberty (1974), “only imitates the mechanisms of chance. It was written in a conscious state; it is neither dream nor a delirious flow of images.” His film defies a traditional narrative...
Sideways
October 11, 2005
Alexander Payne’s last film, About Schmidt (2002), continued his fascination with American cinema in the ‘70s by featuring one its biggest (and most prolific) stars, Jack Nicholson. His latest movie, Sideways (2004), continues the road movie motif...
The Lone Gunmen: The Complete Series
October 7, 2005
It must’ve seemed like a good idea at the time. Take the three most popular supporting characters from The X-Files and give them their own show. A few episodes aired before it promptly disappeared from our TV screens. So, what happened? Had Chris Carter...
Divorce Italian Style
October 5, 2005
Divorce Italian Style (1962) was originally intended to be a drama but the final result is a biting satire of Sicilian machismo. Baron Ferdinando “Fefe” Cefalu (Mastroianni) and his wife, Rosalia (Rocca), have been married for 12 years. She adores...
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: Two-Disc Special Edition
October 4, 2005
There’s always a certain amount of trepidation when a filmmaker like Wes Anderson, known for making intimate and personal films, starts making movies on a more ambitious scale – bigger budgets and movie stars in an attempt to appeal to larger audience...
