What's Up, Doc? (1972)
As a longtime member of Disney's D23 Club, I've had the opportunity over the years to attend some fun advance preview screenings of Disney films.Those experiences have included TANGLED (2010) on the Disney Studios lot and CINDERELLA (2015) at the late, lamented AMC theater at Downtown Disney.Earlier this week I attended my first D23 advance screening in quite some time, a preview of Disney's new live-action version of MOANA (2026) at the AMC in Orange, California.I'm as tired as anyone of…
As action in that other competition heats up, our gladiators will square off this Sunday to kick off the Nagoya Basho. (I would not be surprised if a lot of sumo wrestlers are pulling for France in the World Cup. It looks like they had a lot of fun last month in Paris.) The biggest … Continue reading Nagoya 2026: Preview
After Drag Race All Stars' penultimate episode, Marshal Knight has questions: Is this rigged for Crystal? Why was the talent show just lip syncs? And have you ever prolapsed a carrot?
Just one recording today starting with the end of Sam and Mark’s Guide to Dodging Disaster. There’s a trail for Comedy Doubles. Then it’s Shaun the Sheep – In the Doghouse. Bitzer hears a party going on in the henhouse, and goes to break it up. He lets go of the balloon, and it flies off to stick in front of the farmer’s tractor, impairing his vision. He runs over Bitzer’s doghouse. He tries to repair it, but it’s not a success. Bitzer gathers up his bundle and goes to wait for a bus to take…
As the summer stands between us and the awards season to come, Cláudio Alves and Juan Carlos Ojano discuss some of this year’s new Oscar rules, focusing on their beloved Best International Film race. Visar Morina's SHAME AND MONEY became the first film eligible for the Best International Feature Oscar this season, when it won the World Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. CLÁUDIO: Much was said about the Oscar rule changes when they were first announced at the beginning of May,…
Mooney 252 TSE (reg. SE-LNK) was a nice bonus today.
This was scarier than I expected from its 50-year age. And it wasn't from the gore! Sure, Leatherface is scary, but he wasn't the main thing making me recoil. The scary and suspense and disgust and fear was shoved into me by the disturbing characters: the unhinged and understated hitchhiker conversation, the gas-man with half a broomstick and deranged words of encouragement. Most of the film is shot from chest-height or lower, which made me feel like I was constantly cowering and hiding behind…
Last week's post on rubber-legged comic Leon Errol and Mel Brooks, as well as the previous one on The Three Stooges, has profoundly immersed this blog in the pratfall-packed world of slapstick. We've been heavily into Slapstickland, both silents and talkies, for the past three months. After all, this blog devoted a bunch of posts back in 2013 (which now feels like 1913) to The Columbia Shorts Department and Jules White. Mike Glyer's 2023 article The Rivals Of The Three Stooges, covers the stars…
Always the way of it - really scraping to find something to go to some days, then more than you can watch are on the schedule, but also, a thing theaters have been showing previews for is not coming out unless you want to spend twice as much time traveling to see it as watching it. Just a couple years after the original animated film (itself only ten years old) had a pretty successful sequel,
Image source: IMDB One of the running themes of my writing has been re-examining long-held assumptions about movie history. I have a bleeding heart for panned films and a skepticism towards broad claims. If you’ve dipped your toes into silent cinema, you’ll likely be familiar with “common knowledge” about controversial pioneer DW Griffith. “Griffith invented close-ups/tracking shots/[insert favorite cinematic convention here]!” “The Birth of a Nation was the first feature film! The first epic…
The kid in me, who watched the original Little House on the Prairie on the days I was home sick from school, wants to call her “Ma.” Grown me, who sees the sweet, romantic scenes in promotional images and video, knows she is Caroline, more that just “Ma.” So, I will be calling this hat […]
My latest Film Data Scientist video, this time looking at the numbers behind the age of directors.If you would like a slightly more… ahem… sensible reading of the data, you may want to check out my article from a few weeks ago, titled "Are film directors getting older?"I’ll be uploading new video essays every couple of weeks throughout 2026, so make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube to get notified when another drops (also, subscribing will really help me out with the Algorithm Gods, so it…
“Our doubts are traitors / And make us lose the good we oft might win / By fearing to attempt.” Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare (Kelly and I saw it at the Old Globe yesterday) Sign my Guestbook | Contact Me | Book office hours | Share
Things I’ve liked this week: buttondown.com/things/ar…
I'm with my in-laws this week, and they like their classic television. One of the shows they've added to their "rotation"1 is MacGyver, the classic 1985 TV series2 starring Richard Dean Anderson, created by Lee David Zlotoff and Henry Winkler3. You might be familiar with the term "MacGyvering something" but maybe you didn't know it came from this TV show. The premise: Angus MacGyver's main asset is his practical application of scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items—along with…
The Last Starfighter (Mad Cave) #1A Taurin Clarke Regular Release: Jul 01, 2026 Mad Cave Creators WriterDeric A. Hughes | Benjamin RaabArtistWilli RobertsCover ArtistTaurin Clarke Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada! There were three main things that dominated the summer of 1984 for me. Two of them were movies. The other was a person, though that person was in one of those two movies and was a big part – but…
Val Kilmer in Kill Me Again (1989) Vitals Val Kilmer as Jack Andrews, cynical private investigator Nevada, Spring 1989 Film: Kill Me Again Release Date: October 27, 1989 Director: John Dahl Costume Designer: Terry Dresbach WARNING! Spoilers ahead! Background This summer’s Car Week wraps with Kill Me Again, John Dahl’s little-known (at least to me, before last year) 1989 neo-noir thriller starring the late Val Kilmer and Michael Madsen opposite Kilmer’s then-wife Joanne Whalley as a dangerous…
Ah, so you think I’m going to talk about the dance called Tango; but no, this time I’m going to talk about an album called “Tango”, by those two towering figures of Argentine rock, namely Charly García and Pedro Aznar. Now, you’re reading this and you’re probably asking yourself, why? As Simon Sinek once said, start with why: why, why, why does this guy always talk to us without talking to us. Why, why, why. Well, I’ll tell you why. Because I am talking to you. More precisely, I’m talking to…
Detective Enola Holmes heads to Malta, where her aspirations merge in her most complex and dangerous case yet. While the movie has some pretty harsh ratings, I can see why. It’s not as witty and bubbly as the first two, but it makes up with good looking scenery and really good chemistry between the actors. After all, it’s a fun move and it just does this, it entertains. Four popcorns for a great fun watch. Oh, and for a movie set and filmed in Malta, of course one of the actors is called…
Jeff Probst had a cameo in BB28's premiere, which introduced two of the three returnees and Big Brother producers' new way of making the game unfair!
During World War II, Tommy Shelby returns to a bombed Birmingham and becomes involved in secret wartime missions facing new threats as he reckons with his past. Despite what people of the interwebs say, it was a good last effort for the Shelby family. Cillian Murphy is solid as Tommy once more, Tim Roth is pretty underwhelming, Rebecca Ferguson is aaight, and the guy that plays Duke gives some Cillian Murphy from Temu vibes. All in all, the story is good, although the pacing is off at times,…
I’m delighted to see the Mahoning Drive-In Theater, nestled in the scenic Pocono Mountains of Lehighton, Pennsylvania, is once again featuring “The Wild World of David Lynch” this August. On Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22, 2026, attendees will take an on-screen trip to Twin Peaks with showings of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me... The post The Wild World of David Lynch Returns to Mahoning Drive-In Theater on Aug. 21-22, 2026 appeared first on TWIN PEAKS BLOG.
There’s only one recording today, and I’m afraid it’s a little bit of a surprise. And not a good one. It starts with a trail for Easter films, then there’s 60 Seconds of news. But then, I was expecting to watch Doctor Who – The Waters of Mars as that’s what Media Centre told me it was. But in fact, it’s two episodes of The Real Hustle, not a programme I ever deliberately recorded. Not even having Danny Dyer flogging fake BluRay players out the back of a van can make me watch it. Sorry. Here’s a…
I never had the honour of knowing actress Joanna Pettet, who appeared in the movies The Group (1966) and Casino Royale (1967) and several guest appearances on television, but I had many friends who were also friends with her. It is for that reason that I know that she was not only a beautiful and talented actress, but a warm, sweet, and approachable human being. She truly cared about her friends and appreciated her fans. When Sir Alan Bates was dying from pancreatic cancer in 2003, it was Miss…
I like Richard Dix in movies, especially his WHISTLER B pictures, and GHOST SHIP, where he fits in perfectly with Val Lewton’s fondness for understated villainy. Unfortunately some the RKO star vehicles I’ve seen from when Dix was something of a leading man tend towards the lachrymose. ACE OF ACES is not RKO’s best biplane […]
Live From The Warehouse, White Bear Theatre. Photo: Deepan Singh Live From the Warehouse is a multimedia play set, as the title suggests, in a warehouse. Tanmay (Aryaman Krishna Aggarwal) and Riyan (Vrishab Wig) are hiding out after a school prank involving a gun goes wrong. With the police in pursuit, they contemplate their options and find ways to pass the time, flirting recklessly with the idea of becoming social media famous and having all eyes on them. Aryaman Krishna Aggarwal and Vrishab…
As the first season of Netflix’s new Little House on the Prairie reach audiences, I want to say thank you to everyone who brought this beloved story to life for the 21st century audience. Bringing a cherished story to the screen requires the talents of countless people: writers, actors, directors, craftspeople, costumers, and so many […]
WatchingWe got Netflix for the month, pretty much exclusively to watch season 2 of the live action One Piece. I especially love the costumes, hair, and makeup for the characters, including Miss Valentine, who wears a crochet hat. I ended up making a yellow crochet hat myself this month, and even though it's a different design, it felt a little like I was pulling inspiration from the show.Miss Valentine's crochet hat in One PieceReadingIn an unexpected turn of events, I've been reading…
