It (1927; Clarence G. Badger) GRADE: B By Mike Dub If A Fool There Was marked the beginning of the sex symbol in popular American films in 1915, by 1927 Hollywood’s star system would be every bit as tightly manufactured as the assembly lines that built the films themselves. […]
The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (2014; Daniel Geller, Dayna Goldfine) GRADE: B By Mike Dub Most people, at least a few times in their lives, have had the urge to abandon society and move to some uninhabited island and live off the land in peaceful isolation. […]
Burn! (1969; Gillo Pontecorvo) Grade: B+ By Mike Dub Throughout the 1960s, Marlon Brando became increasingly active in social issues. Though his popularity was plummeting, he sought to make art that was relevant to the changing cultural landscape. The Ugly American (1963) is a well-intentioned (though drab) warning against […]
Variety (1983; Bette Gordon) GRADE: B By Mike Dub Bette Gordon’s 1983 independent thriller Variety is a sharp, ambitious thriller. It deserves to mentioned alongside other vivid films about the alienated abyss of the old New York City – the ugly, dangerous, vile New York City that is nostalgically eulogized […]
One-Eyed Jacks (1961; Marlon Brando) Grade: B By Mike Dub As the 1950s drew to a close, Marlon Brando was about to enter the next decade about as hot as anyone has ever been. In the seven years leading up to his directorial debut (and finale), One-Eyed Jacks, […]
CHINESE ROULETTE (1976; Rainer Werner Fassbinder) GRADE: A- By Mike Dub A precocious adolescent concocts an elaborate plan to expose the secrets of her family in Chinese Roulette. It sounds like it could be the plotline of a heartwarming Christopher Columbus movie, but this is a film by […]
