Written by James M. Tate / 7/31/2023 / No comments / bill condon , dan shor , dey young , eighties , elizabeth cheshire , fiona lewis , horror , louise fletcher , marc mcclure , michael laughlin , michael murphy , science-fiction , scott brady , tangerine dream
DECONSTRUCTING 'STRANGE BEHAVIOR' INVOLVING 'DEAD KIDS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/31/2023
Title: STRANGE BEHAVIOR aka STRANGE KIDS Year: 1981 Rating: ****In director Michael Laughlin and co-writer/producing partner Bill Condon's second in their Strange-Double-Feature, titled STRANGE INVADERS, Dey Young and Dan Shor appear in a q
Written by James M. Tate / 7/30/2023 / No comments / biopic , charles napier , comedy , dabney coleman , denise galik , drama , eighties , elizabeth cheshire , indie , jason robards , jonathan demme , mary steenburgen , michael j pollard , paul lemat
PAUL LE MAT DRIVES JONATHAN DEMME'S 'MELVIN AND HOWARD'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/30/2023
Michal Hendrych's artwork for MELVIN AND HOWARD Year: 1980 Rating: ****Quirky biopic based on the truth as told by a liar, in this case Melvin Dummar played by AMERICAN GRAFFITI hot-rod hotshot Paul Le Mat, again behind the wheel in the imp
Written by James M. Tate / 7/23/2023 / No comments / adaptation , fifties , frank silvera , george hamilton , jazz score , mary murphy , neo noir , warner archives , wayne heffley
GEORGE HAMILTON KILLS FOR 'CRIME AND PUNISHMENT U.S.A.'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/23/2023
Title: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT U.S.A. Year: 1959 Rating: ****Actually more like the previous years' COMPULSION than a modernization of Fyodor Dostoevsky's CRIME AND PUNISHMENT... although that's exactly what it is, by title, and if Frank Silve
Written by James M. Tate / 7/22/2023 / No comments / elke sommer , ernest borgnine , harlan ellison , hollywood satire , jean hale , jill st john , joseph cotten , melodrama , milton berle , rex holman , sixties , stephen boyd , tony bennett
STEPHEN BOYD, ELKE SOMMER AND TONY BENNETT IN 'THE OSCAR'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/22/2023
Stephen Boyd with Eleanor Parker or Jill St John in THE OSCAR Year: 1966 Rating: ***One of the most gloriously uncompromising Hollywood-set melodramas, THE OSCAR stars real life semi-star Stephen Boyd, whose chiselled looks and menacing cou
Written by James M. Tate / 7/19/2023 / No comments / 2019 , al pacino , brad pitt , bruce dern , counter-culture , dark comedy , exploitation , hangout , hollywood satire , leonardo dicaprio , madisen beaty , margot robie , new , quentin tarantino , thriller
REVIEW CRUISING THROUGH 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/19/2023
Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD Rating: ****Make an important note while experiencing Quentin Tarantino's entirely different kind of revisionist-history revenge picture: It not only centers around real life
Written by James M. Tate / 7/14/2023 / No comments / charles bronson , david morse , dennis hopper , drama , jordan rhodes , melodrama , nineties , patricia arquette , sean penn , vietnam , viggo mortensen
SEAN PENN DIRECTS VIGGO MORTENSEN IN 'THE INDIAN RUNNER'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/14/2023
Title: THE INDIAN RUNNER Year: 1993 Rating: ****Sean Penn wrote and directed THE INDIAN RUNNER about two brothers that couldn't be more different: the central lead is David Morse as Joe Roberts, a humble cop in a small town the movie's set,
Written by James M. Tate / 7/13/2023 / No comments / 2023 , action , creature , franchise , godzilla , new
TOHO GOES SPEILBERGIAN FOR 'GODZILLA MINUS ONE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/13/2023
Ryunosuke Kamiki in GODZILLA MINUS ONE (doing a JAWS imitation) Year: 2023 Grade: CJapanese cinema (Toho Studios in particular) have made a popular Godzilla vehicle in GODZILLA MINUS ONE, which makes sense since the creature was literal
Written by James M. Tate / 7/12/2023 / No comments / action , church ortiz , danny aiello , don blakely , eighties , frank pesce , jan-michael vincent , john flynn , lenny montana , rudy ramos , theresa saldano , vigilante
JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT FIGHTS BACK IN JOHN FLYNN'S 'DEFIANCE'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/12/2023
Title: DEFIANCE Year: 1980 Rating: ***1/2Both lead actors from THE MECHANIC would get the vigilante bug, especially Charles Bronson, two years later inadvertently igniting the DEATH WISH franchise; and right before the second of five featur
Written by James M. Tate / 7/11/2023 / No comments / adventure , catherine o'hara , comedy , eighties , griffin dunne , john heard , linda florentino , martin scorsese , neo noir , teri garr
MARTIN SCORSESE DIRECTS GRIFFIN DUNNE IN 'AFTER HOURS'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/11/2023
Title: AFTER HOURS Cast: Griffin Dunne, Patricia Arquette Year: 1985 Rating: *****For the then very underrated, semi-underground and mostly unrewarded director Martin Scorsese, between his 1990 breakthrough GOODFELLAS and gritty boxing biop
Written by James M. Tate / 7/09/2023 / No comments / action , adventure , comedy , dennis christopher , eighties , john hurt , karen kopins , kidnapping , wayne crawford
WAYNE CRAWFORD PLAYS 'JAKE SPEED' STARRING KAREN KOPINS
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/09/2023
Title: JAKE SPEED Year: 1986 Rating: ***1/2The plot of ROMANCING THE STONE involves a mousy female harlequin-style novelist living sad and single in Manhattan who, after her pretty, footloose blond sister is kidnapped, goes on an action-pa
Written by James M. Tate / 7/08/2023 / No comments / cleavon little , eighties , horror satire , jim carrey , karen kopins , lauren hutton , sex comedy , vampire
JIM CARREY & KAREN KOPINS IN 'ONCE BITTEN' WITH LAUREN HUTTON
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/08/2023
Karen Kopins and Jim Carrey in ONCE BITTEN Year: 1985 Rating: ***1/2Bizarre that the future highest paid comic actor (at the time a hyperactive standup comedian) with the talents to go insanely overboard with zany expressions and physical z
Written by James M. Tate / 7/07/2023 / No comments / dark comedy , drama , eighties , gena rowlands , john cassavetes , molly ringwald , paul mazursky , paul stewart , raul julia , sam robards , shakespeare , susan sarandon
JOHN CASSAVETES, SUSAN SARANDON & MOLLY RINGWALD 'TEMPEST'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/07/2023
Title: TEMPEST Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2“Show me,” says John Cassavete’s intensely desperate character each time a tempest brews: once in New York, where he’s married to Gena Rowlands; the next on a tiny Greek island he lords over with frus
Written by James M. Tate / 7/06/2023 / No comments / anouk aimée , british , british film noir , europe , fifties , herbert lom , thriller , trevor howard , wilfrid hyde-white
TREVOR HOWARD AND HERBERT LOM IN 'GOLDEN SALAMANDER'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/06/2023
Title: GOLDEN SALAMANDER Year: 1950 Rating: ***1/2No matter how low budget a British movie is, there's usually great acting being filled with great actors... of the British or neighboring-European kind... here from 1950 with night-passage s
Written by James M. Tate / 7/04/2023 / No comments / action , adventure , bounty hunter , buddy , charles grodin , comedy , crime , dennis farina , eighties , FBI , joe pantoliano , john ashton , mafia , martin brest , road movie , robert deniro , yaphet kotto
ROBERT DENIRO TEAMS WITH CHARLES GRODIN IN 'MIDNIGHT RUN'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/04/2023
Robert DeNiro in MIDNIGHT RUN Year: 1988 Rating: ****1/2Director Martin Brest's action/comedy MIDNIGHT RUN is a double-edged sword for Robert De Niro: while it moved him from the cult into the mainstream, he's been continuously selling-ou
WILLIAM LUCAS IN THE BRITISH ARMORED CAR ROBBERY 'PAYROLL'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/04/2023
Original Title: PAYROLL/I PROMISED TO PAY Director: Cliff Owen Year: 1961 Rates: ****Early example of girl power encroaching a manly action flick, or more like widow power in that Billie Whitelaw only initially seems the docile suburban wif
Written by James M. Tate / 7/02/2023 / No comments / adventure , beth rogan , cy endfield , gary merrill , michael callan , michael craig , ray harryhausen , sixties
RAY HARRYHAUSEN EFFECTS JULES VERNE'S 'MYSTERIOUS ISLAND'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/02/2023
Title: MYSTERIOUS ISLAND Year: 1961 Rating: ***1/2Known for Ray Harryhausen's giant crab and some kind of lethal chicken, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is really about the characters, and if you're not "way into films" they're mostly no-named actors, b
Written by James M. Tate / 7/01/2023 / No comments / action , adventure , franchise , harrison ford , indiana jones , james mangold , john rhys-davies , karen allen , mads mikkelsen , nazi , new , science-fiction
HARRISON FORD AS 'INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY'
No comment / Posted by James M. Tate / 7/01/2023
Title: INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY Year: 2023 Grade: CFor diehard defenders of the entire INDIANA JONES franchise (not just those who feel that RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK stands alone since it was never called INDIANA JONES AND THE R
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GENE HACKMAN COMMANDS TED KOTCHEFF'S 'UNCOMMON VALOR'
Randall Tex Cobb & Kelly Junkerman in UNCOMMON VALOR Year: 1983 Rating: **** Recently, three important people connected to 1983's UN...
