Nicholas Meyer's well-regarded 1982 sci-fi film "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" is all about failure. It begins with Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) looking down the barrel of middle age, having to acknowledge that he's likely past his prime. His eyesight is failing, and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) prescribes old-fashioned glasses. As the film progresses, we learn that Kirk has an adult son named David (Merritt Butrick) that he wasn't present to raise, and an old enemy, Khan (Ricardo Montalbán), whom he had left on Ceti Alpha V decades ago and had completely forgotten about.
Kirk tells a story of taking a test in Starfleet Academy called the Kobayashi Maru, a test that is designed to make the subject fail; it's meant to gauge a student's command acumen in a no-win scenario. Kirk so wanted to win that he changed the test, effectively cheating. He had, audiences learn, never...
Kirk tells a story of taking a test in Starfleet Academy called the Kobayashi Maru, a test that is designed to make the subject fail; it's meant to gauge a student's command acumen in a no-win scenario. Kirk so wanted to win that he changed the test, effectively cheating. He had, audiences learn, never...
- 1/9/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Now that’s dedication in marriage: Paul Newman’s first directed feature film is a drama showcase for his spouse Joanne Woodward, one likely to garner critical attention. A small-town teacher deals with boredom, isolation, repression, and dwindling hope; the carefully measured conflicts allow good input from actors Kate Harrington, Estelle Parsons, and James Olson as the lover with the right approach at just the right time. It’s a picture of sensitive emotions: is Rachel Cameron really becoming a spinster? Does she have any choice in the matter? Middle age does tend to sneak up on a person . . .
Rachel, Rachel
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101 min. / Available at Wac-Amazon / Street Date September 6, 2022 / 21.99
Starring: Joanne Woodward, James Olson, Kate Harrington, Estelle Parsons, Donald Moffat, Frank Corsaro, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Bernard Barrow, Nell Potts.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Art Director: Robert Gundlach
Film Editor: Dede Allen
Original Music: Jerome Moross...
Rachel, Rachel
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101 min. / Available at Wac-Amazon / Street Date September 6, 2022 / 21.99
Starring: Joanne Woodward, James Olson, Kate Harrington, Estelle Parsons, Donald Moffat, Frank Corsaro, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Bernard Barrow, Nell Potts.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Art Director: Robert Gundlach
Film Editor: Dede Allen
Original Music: Jerome Moross...
- 8/30/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Easily the best family-oriented black experience movie of the early 1970s, the Third World Cinema Corporation’s first film features Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones in a funny, endearing saga of life in the welfare system, with human feeling and compassion to spare. But the triumphant socially progressive movie fails the 2020 diversity test — its primary producer, cameraman, writers and director are white. Are we still allowed to enjoy it?
Claudine
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1052
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 13, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Tamu Blackwell, David Kruger, Yvette Curtis, Eric Jones, Socorro Stephens.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Film Editor: Louis San Andres
Original Music: Curtis Mayfield
Written by Lester Pine and Tina Pine
Produced by J. Lloyd Grant, Hannah Weinstein
Directed by John Berry
In 1974 Claudine impressed this viewer quite a bit. I hadn’t seen many really good...
Claudine
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1052
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 13, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Tamu Blackwell, David Kruger, Yvette Curtis, Eric Jones, Socorro Stephens.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Film Editor: Louis San Andres
Original Music: Curtis Mayfield
Written by Lester Pine and Tina Pine
Produced by J. Lloyd Grant, Hannah Weinstein
Directed by John Berry
In 1974 Claudine impressed this viewer quite a bit. I hadn’t seen many really good...
- 10/17/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Mill Creek and Kit Parker have raided the Columbia vault once again in search of Noir Gold from the ‘fifties. Their selection this time around has a couple of prime gems, several straight crime thrillers and domestic jeopardy tales, and also a couple of interesting Brit imports. They aren’t really ‘Noir’ either, but they’re still unexpected and different. The top title is Don Siegel’s incomparable The Lineup, but also on board is a snappy anti-commie epic by André De Toth. Get set for a lineup of impressive leading ladies: Diana Dors, Arlene Dahl, Anita Ekberg — and the great Colleen Dewhurst as a card-carrying Red!
Noir Archive 9-Film Collection Volume 3
The Shadow on the Window, The Long Haul, Pickup Alley, The Tijuana Story, She Played with Fire, The Case Against Brooklyn, The Lineup, The Crimson Kimono, Man on a String
Blu-ray
Mill Creek / Kit Parker
1957 -1960 / B&w...
Noir Archive 9-Film Collection Volume 3
The Shadow on the Window, The Long Haul, Pickup Alley, The Tijuana Story, She Played with Fire, The Case Against Brooklyn, The Lineup, The Crimson Kimono, Man on a String
Blu-ray
Mill Creek / Kit Parker
1957 -1960 / B&w...
- 9/10/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Elia Kazan never stopped making great pictures, but much of his output after 1952 was politically defensive in nature. This powerful indictment of American media madness is a genuine classic, but it also points up the need for ‘good folk’ to sometimes betray their associates. The target this time around is the most kill-worthy monster in the history of sardonic satire: Lonesome Rhodes, a faux-populist master manipulator of the pushover public. Kazan and Budd Schulberg’s premise has come to pass in real life, but their silver bullet of truth has lost its power: even when unmasked publicly, some media monsters thrive.
A Face in the Crowd
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 970
1957 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 125 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 23, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau, Lee Remick.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher, Harry Stradling
Art Direction: Paul Sylbert, Richard Sylbert
Film Editor: Gene Milford
Original...
A Face in the Crowd
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 970
1957 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 125 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 23, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau, Lee Remick.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher, Harry Stradling
Art Direction: Paul Sylbert, Richard Sylbert
Film Editor: Gene Milford
Original...
- 4/16/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A hundred million viewers tuned in to ABC back in ’83 to find out if the world would end with a bang or a whimper. Edward Hume and Nicholas Meyer’s daring docudrama reacquainted Americans with their status as hostages in a global game of nuclear roulette. Gruesome nuclear annihilation visuals complement fine performances led by Jason Robards. The tense, thoughtful show is presented in separate TV and theatrical versions.
The Day After
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1983 / Color / 1:78 widescreen & 1:33 flat TV / 122 & 127 min. / Street Date August 7, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, Steve Guttenberg, Jim Dahlberg, John Lithgow, Bibi Besch, Lori Lethin, Amy Madigan, Jeff East, Georgann Johnson, William Allen Young, Calvin Jung, Lin McCarthy, Dennis Lipscomb.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Film Editor: William Paul Dornisch, Robert Florio
Original Music: David Raksin
Special Effects: Robert Blalack
Written by Edward Hume
Produced by Robert A. Papazian
Directed by Nicholas...
The Day After
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1983 / Color / 1:78 widescreen & 1:33 flat TV / 122 & 127 min. / Street Date August 7, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, Steve Guttenberg, Jim Dahlberg, John Lithgow, Bibi Besch, Lori Lethin, Amy Madigan, Jeff East, Georgann Johnson, William Allen Young, Calvin Jung, Lin McCarthy, Dennis Lipscomb.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Film Editor: William Paul Dornisch, Robert Florio
Original Music: David Raksin
Special Effects: Robert Blalack
Written by Edward Hume
Produced by Robert A. Papazian
Directed by Nicholas...
- 7/21/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Filtered through her experience as an unequalled comic performer, writer-director Elaine May scores a bulls-eye with this grossly underappreciated gem, fashioned in a style that could be called ‘black comedy lite.’ And that’s the release version mangled by the producer. What might it have been if May had been allowed to finish her director’s cut?
A New Leaf Olive Signature
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date December 5, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.99
Starring: Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jack Weston, George Rose, James Coco, Doris Roberts, Renée Taylor, William Redfield, David Doyle.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Original Music: Neal Hefti
Written by Elaine May from a story by Jack Ritchie
Produced by Hilliard Elkins, Howard W. Koch, Joseph Manduke
Directed by Elaine May
Olive’s next title up for Signature Collection status is A New Leaf, the directing debut of comedienne-writer Elaine May. It’s certainly a worthy title.
A New Leaf Olive Signature
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date December 5, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.99
Starring: Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jack Weston, George Rose, James Coco, Doris Roberts, Renée Taylor, William Redfield, David Doyle.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Original Music: Neal Hefti
Written by Elaine May from a story by Jack Ritchie
Produced by Hilliard Elkins, Howard W. Koch, Joseph Manduke
Directed by Elaine May
Olive’s next title up for Signature Collection status is A New Leaf, the directing debut of comedienne-writer Elaine May. It’s certainly a worthy title.
- 12/9/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Joan Collins in 'The Bitch': Sex tale based on younger sister Jackie Collins' novel. Author Jackie Collins dead at 77: Surprisingly few film and TV adaptations of her bestselling novels Jackie Collins, best known for a series of bestsellers about the dysfunctional sex lives of the rich and famous and for being the younger sister of film and TV star Joan Collins, died of breast cancer on Sept. 19, '15, in Los Angeles. The London-born (Oct. 4, 1937) Collins was 77. Collins' tawdry, female-centered novels – much like those of Danielle Steel and Judith Krantz – were/are immensely popular. According to her website, they have sold more than 500 million copies in 40 countries. And if the increasingly tabloidy BBC is to be believed (nowadays, Wikipedia has become a key source, apparently), every single one of them – 32 in all – appeared on the New York Times' bestseller list. (Collins' own site claims that a mere 30 were included.) Sex...
- 9/22/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
A Face In The Crowd (1957) Director: Elia Kazan Cast: Patricia Neal, Andy Griffith, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau, Lee Remick, Percy Waram, Paul McGrath, Marshall Neilan, Alexander Kirkland, Kay Medford Screenplay: Budd Schulberg; from his short story "Your Arkansas Traveler" Patricia Neal, Andy Griffith, A Face in the Crowd Elia Kazan’s 1957 drama A Face in the Crowd, written by Kazan's On the Waterfront collaborator Budd Schulberg, is neither the forgotten masterpiece its champions claim it to be nor a minor work to be disregarded as it was for several decades. In fact, A Face in the Crowd is a good though clearly flawed effort, whose chief weaknesses are a screenplay that gets bogged down in soap-operatic didacticism and Andy Griffith's over-the-top film debut as Larry ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes, a Will Rogers-like homespun philosopher who rises from drunken jailbird to national kingmaker. On the positive side, A Face in the Crowd...
- 1/25/2012
- by Dan Schneider
- Alt Film Guide
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