ABELARD — THE CASTRATION
From Germany, a failed attempt at artsploitation that was completed in 1975 but not released until two years later—and then promptly forgotten!
GENERAL MASSACRE
A Belgian-American co-production from 1973 that makes a fumbled attempt at artsploitation in the guise of a hard-hitting anti-war statement
The Movies of Summer 2009
Summer movies: for many of us those words represent everything wrong with modern-day Hollywood.
Andrei Tarkovsky: Horrormeister?
The following may be the most contentious piece I ever write.
PROMETHEUS TRIUMPHANT
A modern (2008) silent that tries very hard to recreate the style of bygone films like NOSFERATU and THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
From the Grindhouse to the Arthouse
The grindhouse and the arthouse: two distinct modes of cinema that would appear to be leagues removed–and for the most part they are.
On PERSONA
Ingmar Bergman’s PERSONA: not a true “horror” film perhaps, but certainly one of the cinema’s most potent explorations of fear, apprehension and discontent
The New Beverly Cinema: A Personal History
The New Beverly Cinema is a Los Angeles repertory theater that in recent years has attained legendary status, in large part because of its current owner, the one and only Quentin Tarantino, and its staunch commitment to 35mm exhibition
WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES
More art movie madness, a grim and mysterious Hungarian effort that will be best appreciated by film buffs with a lot of patience
MARTYRS
An extremely well made, thoughtful and unique film, the French-Canadian MARTYRS (2008) is a good movie by most standards, but it’s also a profoundly fucked-up one