Movie thoughts and fiction updates.
If I were the kind of person to give up on a film, I would have given up pretty early in Invitation to Hell, Wes Craven's television movie that was designed to Susan Lucci a change of perception in the public consciousness and, perhaps, a path towards a Best Actress award at the Emmys. If… Continue reading Invitation to Hell
After the boring slog that was Summer of Fear, Wes Craven comes back with a much more put together film that, while it doesn't work completely, offers more atmosphere and a cohesive sense of horror and tension that works in the film's favor. It also ends up spinning its wheels after a certain point before… Continue reading Deadly Blessing
#17 in my ranking of Masaki Kobayashi's films. Masaki Kobayashi drew down the number of main characters and expanded the narrative scope around his smaller cast for Fountainhead, in comparison to Beautiful Days. Instead of about six main characters, we're down to two, while also having enough story to comfortably fill 130 minutes of screen… Continue reading Fountainhead
Jacques Tati, like many other filmmakers, had projects that never got off the ground. He wrote a script title The Illusionist as one of those projects, dying without ever getting beyond the script stage. The director and animator Sylvain Chomet got his hands on it and decided that it spoke to him personally, especially the… Continue reading The Illusionist (2010)
Jacques Tati followed one of the normal paths towards feature film directing: through short films. He wrote, starred in, and eventually directed a handful of shorts, culminating in his directorial debut of "School for Postmen" with Tati playing a smalltown French postman named Francois who rapidly moves through his small town to deliver the mail… Continue reading Jour de Fete
David Vining, Author 