Jim Jarmusch and Tom Waits are two of the Sons of Lee Marvin:

Tom Cruise is no bad ass.

Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune
Lee Marvin was a real bad ass and not just in the movies, where he steals every scene he's ever been in—including those with Brando in 'The Wild One'—check out this insane interview:

Well now that I'm at work again, I will:

I'll grant you that a Slasher film like 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' can be described as Horror, despite being in some sense possible in the real world, if only because of the overwhelming nature of the threat (and in an odd way, the lack of the crucial Thriller element of suspense) and I'd extend that courtesy to things…

Horror…and Moral Terror
If you're interested in EC or any of the various out of print Horror comics titles from the pre-code era, there are tons of blog sites that regularly upload scans of them (including the old ads!). I'd throw in a link or two, but it seems I only tend to view them at work (scandolous!) so google…

Thriller is not a subgenre of Horror but an overlapping genre that uses many of the same elements. I don't consider Silence of the Lambs a Horror film for several reasons, but mainly these—Hannibal Lecter, despite stealing the show, is really a subplot. Were he lifted out of the narrative altogether, you would still…

I actually thought Dabney Coleman died, but IMDB tells me otherwise. Still, he made something like 13 movies between 1980 and 1985 while starring in his own TV series. It must be hard to keep up that level of exposure.

Herbie Mann begs to differ.

Wasn't that 'Modern Problems'? I remember that film was eviscerated by Siskel and Ebert on the original Sneak Previews. Then when it came on HBO a lot of kids were talking about how funny it was so I watched it. I did not like it. It was one of the first times I found myself agreeing with (or, if you like, influenced…

It's more insidious than that, Pokus, in that it exploits Indian culture—and a monolithic Hollywood version of it to boot—to sell a Horror narrative, and then tries to duck the issue of exoticism by bringing in a generic New Age Native American to assist the hero. But if you want to see a great Horror movie that…

'Manitou' precedes 'Basket Case' by at least 5 years—and that head coming out of the table is just weird enough.

The problem with that music is that there's a decent root of real Funk in it—in the guitar, bass and keys, but then they ruin it with all that goofy flute and disco strings. You gotta be either Gamble and Huff, Barry White or Nile Rodgers to get that right.

I remember there being a certain amount of hype associated with 'Krull'—including a piece in Dynamite magazine that strongly implied there would be action figures. But then it just never came around. I finally saw it on one of the encore channels last year and so now I know why—not one of Liam Neeson's finest moments.

Why Eli needs Hakan (and vice versa)
Hakan is her insulation. She perhaps doesn't need him to feed, but like Dracula's Renfield, she needs someone to be her daylight caretaker, and bodyguard. But I think there's more to it than that—Even if you're a vampire with all the powers a vampire has, being in the body of a…

'Let the Right One in' is an example I might use in an English class to discuss the terms "Genre" and "Conventions". Of course it's a Horror film, but it is not a conventional Horror film in that it intentionally avoids the typical conventions of the genre. It engages with the same material to an altogether different…

I just found out
Bigelow and Cameron used to be married. I predict 'Avatar' will win best picture and Beigelow best director as a way to split the difference. Either way, congratulations 'Hurt Locker' may be my favorite of the year. And it did have killer sound, too.

Enkidum—I'm not defending Ingsoc, I'm recognizing, as Orwell demonstrated, how what we call Truth can be effectively manipulated or even manufactured. As for "supposedly "deep" metaphysical musings" I'm not the one who decided this documentary was about the nature of reality, but if the topic is on the table I'm…

Any cameo that is not integrated into and necessitated by the storyline is just blatant show biz pandering—Like Mr. T turning up on 'Diff'rent Strokes'. Allison Janney cameo-ed on 'Family Guy' last night and there was nothing wrong with that because she played a character.

Yay!
But this is not all new information—a lot of the Criterion titles have been up for about a month.