Category Archives: Film

What I Saw Last Year: Best Revivals and Discoveries 2012

When I moved to New York in 1977 there were quite a few revival movie theaters with great repertory programming, including the Bleeker Street Cinema, Carnegie Hall Cinema, the Regency, Theatre 80 St. Marks (with its odd projection from behind the … Continue reading

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What I Saw Last Year: Best Feature Films 2012

The year just ended turned out to be an unusually strong one for films, both big budget studio pictures, such as Lincoln, Argo, Skyfall, and Flight, as well as smaller productions, such as Liberal Arts, Middle of Nowhere, Moonrise Kingdom … Continue reading

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Famous Monsters and Me – Pt. 2: Books and Comics

As I wrote in my first “Famous Monsters” post last May, “…from an early age, as early as I can remember, I was totally in love with science fiction and horror (monsters!) via all their delivery systems; i.e.  books, magazines, … Continue reading

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Just Saw Something Great – Again!

Silver Linings Playbook – Saturday, December 1 at the Crosby Street Hotel screening room. Director/Writer: David O. Russell. Loved it! I was with this film from start to finish. At the risk of overstatement, it felt like there was never … Continue reading

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Tim Burton shorts: “Vincent” and the original “Frankenweenie”

In 1982 Tim Burton had been working as a conceptual artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios for about two years. Samples of his work at the time already reflected a uniqueness, a fairy-tale strangeness. This was recognized by Tom Wilhite, … Continue reading

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Seeing Movies with an Audience

One of the great pleasures of this year’s New York Film Festival was a special showing of The Princess Bride (1987). The film has developed a strong following in the 25 years since its initial release, though I didn’t realize … Continue reading

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What I Saw: “Wreck-It Ralph,” “The Bay,” and “Flight”

Wreck-It Ralph– Friday, November 2 at AMC Loews Lincoln Square. Director: Rich Moore. Writers: Jennifer Lee & Phil Johnston. This terrific feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios is easily my favorite animated film so far this year. I saw it … Continue reading

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Just Saw Something Great!

Beauty Is Embarrassing – Saturday, September 8 at the IFC Center. Directed by Neil Berkeley. This is great! Do I mean it’s “great” like  Citizen Kane or Children of Paradise? No, of course not, but I know I loved it. … Continue reading

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“Bond… James Bond.” The First Three Films

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 50 years since Dr. No, the first James Bond film, was released. How is that possible? Am I that old? Then again, it feels like Bond has always been on the scene, part of … Continue reading

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What I Saw: Three New Films

The Bourne Legacy – Friday, August 10 at AMC Loews 84th Street. Director/Co-Writer: Tony Gilroy. I’m a big fan of the Bourne films, especially the second and third directed by Paul Greengrass. I find them immensely watchable, repeatedly so. The … Continue reading

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