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Reviews & Commentary by Adam Groves
NAKED TANGO
An ambitious 1990 production you probably didn’t see
THIS IS ME…NOW
In which the 54-year-old Jennifer Lopez, a.k.a. J.Lo, celebrates herself and her new album
FAMINE ’33
A chronicle of the Holodomor, or Artificial Famine, that afflicted Ukraine in 1932-33, engineered by Stalin to (it’s been claimed) crush Ukrainian resistance to Soviet rule
ROLLING THUNDER
One of the finest action films of ithe seventies, offering up naturalistic drama and brutal action in equal doses
CECIL B. DEMENTED
Far from John Waters’ best work, but funny and perceptive enough in its corrosive portrayal of guerilla filmmaking to warrant a qualified recommendation
CAGE OF NIGHT
A stellar release from the late White Wolf Publishing, who could always be counted on to turn out invigorating genre fare
THE MAN WITH KALEIDOSCOPE EYES
About Roger Corman, his 1967 film THE TRIP, and the real-life acid trip he allegedly took
MANY DEAD THINGS: THE SPECIMENS OF LORD MERRYLIN
A deranged MD collects mythological creatures, represented by three dimensional sculptures. Neat!
STAR
A dark and idiosyncratic look at the dream factory, drafted in a highly dense and poetic style (“Explosively Hilarious” it isn’t)
ZARDOZ
A novelization as weird as just about any you’ll read, and no wonder: the film it novelizes, the 1974 science fiction oddity ZARDOZ, is one of the absolute nuttiest releases of its decade
BRONSON’S LOOSE!
Right now, with the Eli Roth directed remake of 1974’s DEATH WISH currently in theatrical release, I’d say it’s an opportune time for a look back at this book
BRAVE
In recent years Rose McGowan has gone from being a semi-famous actress, in films like THE DOOM GENERATION, JAWBREAKER and GRINDHOUSE, to a passionate feminist crusader
SHOLAY: THE MAKING OF A CLASSIC
In the rarefied world of Bollywood SHOLAY is possibly the most iconic and influential film in existence
BOOK OF SOULS
This short nonfiction collection was by Jack Ketchum—who is now, tragically, the late Jack Ketchum, a fact that renders BOOK OF SOULS even more poignant than it was initially
MILLER AND MAX
An absolute must for MAD MAX fans, a sort-of biography of Australian filmmaker George Miller and his signature creation
On FILM AS A SUBVERSIVE ART
I believe FILM AS A SUBVERSIVE ART is the most exciting and comprehensive film book I’ve seen, period
L’ENFER and the Fascination for the Unfinished
The fascination exerted by aborted film projects has reached a fever pitch in recent years, and a large part of the reason, I believe, was the partial reconstruction of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s L’ENFER
Zombie Media in the 1990s
By the advent of the nineties the zombie floodgates, contrary to what you might have heard, were wide open in fiction, and certainly film
Alan Parker: 1944-2020
I’m very sorry to bid farewell to Sir Alan Parker, who passed on July 31
1984: The Year in Bedlam
Continuing with my Year in Bedlam year-end overviews, we arrive at 1984