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As any critic will tell you, when you’re watching a comedy with an audience, it doesn’t matter how bad the movie is — even the jokes that are making you groan are going to provoke laughter. (That’s why comedies are always screened with a crowd; the studios want the audience giggles to rub off on you.) But at the Venice Film Festival, when I saw “The Palace,” Roman Polanski’s garish debacle of an ensemble comedy, I was sitting in the Sala Darsena, which seats 1400 (and was full), and on the rare occasion when a line in the movie got laughs, it was literally coming from about six people. I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard a giant theater this deadly silent for a movie that’s working this strenuously to amuse you.

Polanski, if you look back over his credits, has an astoundingly consistent track...

To mark the release of Just a Gigolo on 8th November, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

Paul von Przygodski (David Bowie), a young Prussian gentleman, arrives in the trenches in time to be caught in the final explosion of the Great War. After recuperating in a military hospital, where he is mistaken for a French hero, he returns to Berlin. His family home has been turned into a boarding house, his father (Rudolf Schündler) is paralyzed, and his mother (Maria Schell) is working in the Turkish baths. Attempting to find a new purpose, his childhood friend, Cilly (Sydne Rome), abandons him for fame and fortune; his former commanding officer, Captain Kraft (David Hemmings), tries to persuade him to join his right-wing movement and a widow, Helga von Kaiserling (Kim Novak), briefly seduces him with the finer things in life. In a society where the...

To mark the release of Just a Gigolo, out now, we’ve been given a signed copy of the boxset to give away.

Paul von Przygodski (David Bowie), a young Prussian gentleman, arrives in the trenches in time to be caught in the final explosion of the Great War. After recuperating in a military hospital, where he is mistaken for a French hero, he returns to Berlin. His family home has been turned into a boarding house, his father (Rudolf Schündler) is paralyzed, and his mother (Maria Schell) is working in the Turkish baths.

Attempting to find a new purpose, his childhood friend, Cilly (Sydne Rome), abandons him for fame and fortune; his former commanding officer, Captain Kraft (David Hemmings), tries to persuade him to join his right-wing movement and a widow, Helga von Kaiserling (Kim Novak), briefly seduces him with the finer things in life.

In a society...

The writer/director of Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Nest takes hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante on an exploration of his favorite cinematic endings.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

The Nest (2020)

Citizen Kane (1941)

The Cowboys (1972)

The Parallax View (1974)

Three Days of the Condor (1975)

Limbo (1999)

Nashville (1975)

The Long Goodbye (1973)

3 Women (1977)

Chinatown (1974)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

The Third Man (1949)

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

Our Idiot Brother (2011)

Shoot The Moon (1982)

Parasite (2019)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

The Ice Storm (1997)

Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)

The Brood (1979)

The Graduate (1967)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

The Candidate (1972)

The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Birds (1963)

The Firm (1989)

Scum (1979)

The Firm (2009)

The Vanishing (1988)

The Vanishing (1993)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Repulsion (1965)

Pirates (1986)

What? (1972)

Blowup (1966)

Blow Out (1981)

The Long Good Friday (1980)

Other Notable Items

Jude Law

Carrie Coon

Quentin Tarantino

John Wayne

The Pure Cinema Podcast

The Film Forum

Warren Beatty

Tfh Guru Howard...

Considering everything that's been happening on the planet in the last several months, you'd have thought we're already in November or December – of 2117. But no. It's only June. 2017. And in some parts of the world, that's the month of brides, fathers, graduates, gays, and climate change denial. Beginning this evening, Thursday, June 1, Turner Classic Movies will be focusing on one of these June groups: Lgbt people, specifically those in the American film industry. Following the presentation of about 10 movies featuring Frank Morgan, who would have turned 127 years old today, TCM will set its cinematic sights on the likes of William Haines, James Whale, George Cukor, Mitchell Leisen, Dorothy Arzner, Patsy Kelly, and Ramon Novarro. In addition to, whether or not intentionally, Claudette Colbert, Colin Clive, Katharine Hepburn, Douglass Montgomery (a.k.a. Kent Douglass), Marjorie Main, and Billie Burke, among others. But this is ridiculous! Why should TCM present a...

In Case Of has launched an Indiegogo campaign for their emergency cabinets. For, you know, when the great zombie-pocalypse strikes. Also in today's Highlights: filming finishing details for Psycho Therapy, The Devil's Woods UK and Ireland DVD / VOD release details, the launch of Screamli.com, and a teaser trailer for Birthday.

In Case of... Cabinets: Press Release: "In Case Of, makers of handmade emergency cabinets modified with the "necessary" equipment and defence objects against supernatural, “fantastic”, humorous disasters, launched its “Protection Against the Ordinary” Indiegogo campaign!

In Case Of campaign is really important because every time that our Cabinets have been displayed, either physically or online, our return has been profound. But being a small company, we cannot handle increased demand. That's where you come in! Join our journey and support our project here!

13 thrilling perk categories are there for you to grab: Limited Edition Zombie Cabinets exclusively designed and offered for The Indiegogo campaign,...

What?

Written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski

Directed by Roman Polanski

Italy/France/Germany, 1972

You can forgive Roman Polanski if he wanted to take things easy in 1972 and make a light-hearted, frivolous little movie. Less than two years removed from the grisly Manson family murders that took from the acclaimed filmmaker his wife and unborn child, Polanski first confronted his troubled demons with a suitably grim adaptation of Macbeth (1971). After that, apparently ready for solace of a livelier variety, he and a motley crew of friends and associates set sail for Carlo Ponti’s extravagant Italian villa. There they made the peculiarly disappointing What?, a raucous sex comedy without much sex and with very little comedy.

What? begins as globe-trotting Nancy (Sydne Rome) has hitched a ride with some Italian natives. As she speaks of her touristic adventures, the men in the car are more focused on her palpable sexuality.

What is this -- a naughty sex odyssey as absurdist art? Or a non-pc slice of sleazy art film exploitation? Either way it's a (minor) Polanski masterpiece of direction, influenced by the Italian setting. Is what turns Polanski on? The entire excercise is a Kafka comedy of erotic discomfort. What? Blu-ray Severin 1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Che? / Street Date April 26, 2016 / 29.95 Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Sydne Rome, Hugh Griffith, Guido Alberti, Gianfranco Piacentini, Romollo Valli. Cinematography Marcello Gatti, Giuseppe Ruzzolini Production Design Aurelio Crugnola Film Editor Alastair McIntyre Original Music Claudio Gizzi Written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski Produced by Carlo Ponti Directed by Roman Polanski

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

It's a slippery slope, I tell you: art films are the gateway to surrealism, and surrealism connects straight to bondage and kinky costume play, which is a direct conduit either to Comic-Con or being forced to resign from the P.T.A.

David Bowie in 'The Hunger' with Catherine Deneuve. David Bowie movies: Iconic singer memorable as fast-aging vampire in 'The Hunger,' Nikola Tesla in 'The Prestige' Singer and sometime actor David Bowie, one of the iconic figures of the English-language music scene of the second half of the 20th century, died of cancer yesterday, Jan. 10, '16. Bowie (born David Robert Jones in the London suburb of Brixton) had turned 69 on Jan. 8. His son, filmmaker Duncan Jones (Moon), has confirmed Bowie's death on Twitter. Bowie was seen in only a couple of dozen movies during his four-decade show business career. Among his most memorable film roles were those in the titles listed below. The Man Who Fell to Earth Directed by Nicolas Roeg (Walkabout, Don't Look Now) from a screenplay by Paul Mayersberg (based on a novel by Walter Tevis), The Man Who Fell to Earth...

What are widely considered to be the finest works of late, great Euro-cult master Jess Franco’s labyrinthine career, his 1971 erotic horrors Vampyros Lesbos and She Killed in Ecstasy have long been sought after by cult cinema collectors. Now, for the first time ever in the UK, the fully restored, uncensored versions of both films will be available in Special Editions from Severin Films.

Both films star the bewitching beauty Soledad Miranda, who was tragically killed before either film was released, and achieved additional cult status thanks to the sexadelic, ultra groovy soundtrack that became an unexpected dance floor hit three decades after original release.

Vampyros Lesbos has already had successful and acclaimed theatrical screenings in the UK ahead of these releases, and the time is set for the extraordinary work of the mercurial Franco to reach out to a brand new audience. Featuring newly created cover art by Wes Benscoter,...

Kim Novak to attend Cannes 2013 Vertigo screening Kim Novak will be in attendance at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, festival organizers have announced. Novak will be present at a Cannes Classics screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 psychological thriller Vertigo, which has been recently restored. For all it’s worth, Vertigo was the top movie at the most recent (2012) Sight & Sound decennial poll of film critics and filmmakers. (Photo: Kim Novak Vertigo.) Vertigo was also a source of controversy in early 2012, when Kim Novak took out an ad in one of the trade publications claiming she felt she had been violated ("I want to report a rape") after finding bits from Bernard Herrmann’s Vertigo music in Ludovic Bource’s eventually Oscar-winning The Artist score. Besides the Vertigo screening, Kim Novak will also be a presenter at Cannes’ closing ceremony on Sunday, May 26. According to the festival’s press release, Novak first...

René Clemént's La baby sitter (1975) is a damned good twisty thriller, so I don't know why it has a lousy reputation. Its director belonged to that tricky post-war, pre-nouvelle vague generation which included Clouzot, Bresson, Becker and Melville: lots of talent, but no unity of theme, style or purpose. Consequently, like all the others except Bresson, he's celebrated for a few stand-out movies impossible to ignore, while the rest are swept under the rug.

Maria Schneider plays a French sculptor in Rome who works evenings as a babysitter. Unbeknownst to her, actress friend Sydne Rome is involving her in a kidnapping scam masterminded by a lawyer, a stuntman, and two more actors (actors are evil in this film!). Since the toughest part of any kidnap is the handover, they've hatched the plan of using an innocent patsy to collect the loot and handover the prize, a millionaire's little son, Boots Franklin (I know: Boots Franklin?...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules – Zachary Gordon, Devon Bostick, Robert Capron

Sucker Punch – Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm

Movie of the Week

Sucker Punch

The Stars: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm

The Plot: A young girl (Browning) is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the facility.

The Buzz: It’s certainly a great time to be a fifteen-year-old boy, isn’t it? It’s a shame I’m twenty years past my prime – Sucker Punch would have been 100% pure Pavlovian arousal for me back then. The batch of battling bombshells cartwheeling in all their gorgeously rendered video-game glory, coupled with the film’s flawless focus on, and impenetrable belief in, the great escape that can...

A few weeks back a friend and I were chatting about this whole Polanski business and the reaction to it and such. After reassuring each other with compulsory remarks such as, "Well, he is a fugitive from justice, after all" and "The timing might be weird, but the warrant still applies," we reverted to our decadent cinephilic selves.

"You know, the one thing I never got to see, that I'm curious about, is that thing What?. Although I hear it's pretty terrible."

"What I'm wondering is whether or not Pirates is as bad as I remember it."

It's for addressing such questions, among other things, that the Foreign Region DVD Report exists. Although after subjecting myself toWhat?, I think I'm gonna wait a few weeks before tackling Pirates.

What? is the second film Polanski made after the murder of his wife Sharon Tate in 1969; the first, a gore-slathered adaptation of Macbeth,...