Comedy

Billy Wilder’s “Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)”

There’ve been a few attempts, over the decades, to rewrite the history of Billy Wilder’s 1964 clunker “Kiss Me, Stupid.” It’s “underrated” thanks to a winning Dean Martin as “Dino” (Dean Martin) performance, worth re-assessing because of a risque late scene Wilder was forced to edit out, somehow worthy of elevation because of its satiric […]

Classic Film Review: Billy Wilder’s “Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)” reconsidered

Disney Hulu

Dopesick. A Bingeworthy Addiction

Riveting. Provocative. Addictive. Dopesick is Hulu’s newest mini-series, documenting the Opioid crisis through captivating storylines which intersect and send the audience on a brilliant and emotional journey. Based on Beth Macy’s book of the same name, Dopesick follows the Opioid crisis from a multitude of perspectives: patients, abusers, doctors, law enforcement, prosecutors, and pharmaceutical…

Dopesick. A Bingeworthy Addiction

Drama

The Dope

Still working our way through season three of Succession, which continues great. Every now and then a sense of burnout looms, what with all the characters being nasty pieces of work/shit, but then it reinvigorates itself miraculously — episode 5 was incredible. And episode 6 implies that the series could eventually get a bit serious. […]

The Dope

Drama

Holiday Classics: “Penny Serenade” (1941)

When I first became interested in classic film, I’d stalk the forums on tcm.com in an attempt to seek out movies to watch. Anytime the subject of tearjerkers came up, it seemed like the first and most discussed movie was a film that would likely have otherwise flown under my radar: the 1941 drama “Penny Serenade,” directed […]

Holiday Classics: “Penny Serenade” (1941)

Comedy

Zola (2020)

Zola (2020) Y’all wanna hear a story? Perhaps this is simply what happens when you turn a Twitter thread into a movie. Zola, the film’s origin lies in a 148-tweet thread posted by Zola the person — A’Ziah ‘Zola’ King — in October 2015, detailing a wild, chaotic road trip from Detroit, Michigan to Tampa, […]

Zola (2020)

Crime

Musical Masterpiece: Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”

I remember the first time I saw “West Side Story.” I watched the 1961 film during class at my Catholic elementary school decades later — on a square TV on a rolling cart — and it was transformative. I immediately loved the music, choreography, dancing, characters, and storytelling. I watch that version from time to […]

Musical Masterpiece: Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”

Horror

The Last Rite

We haven’t had a good old-fashioned exorcism for a while, so Leroy Kincaide’s British take on the familiar genre, released via Samuel Goldwyn in the US, seemed worth a shot; the trailer features most of the staples, and several elements seem to be lifted directly from 1973’s The Exorcist. It’s a crisply shot film to […]

The Last Rite