Prince’s Magnum Opus Celebrates 40th Anniversary at Circle Cinema I have seen “Purple Rain” many times over the years, starting with its premiere in 1984. There was a fever going on for the Purple One back then that really took off with his breakout album “1999.” Loaded with bangers like “1999”, “Little Red Corvette,” and…
The films of David Fincher (going back to “Alien 3”) invariably, undeniably belong to his vision, and they’re almost always iconic, in some way—no matter the genre shift. Between his groundbreaking ‘90s work with “Fight Club” or “Se7en”, to later masterpieces like “Zodiac” and “The Social Network,” you begin to see how the arc of…
Spoiler alert: None of them are “Halloween” Many people binge on horror movies during October, though I know a few who do that all year long. But in October, it seems to have become a communal conversation. People posting about what they watch, discussing the relative merits of cinematic shockfests, both new and old, and…
Alex Cox’s punk masterpiece gets the 35mm treatment at Circle Cinema There was a time when the Reagan-esqe ideals of the Sharper Image catalog, conspicuous consumption, and upward mobility led to the capitulation of the free love movement and which tumbled into modern capitalism. A generation of people who spent their youths rebelling against the…
Glory Be to Don I’ve been trying to figure out how to not be hyperbolic. Trenchers, a deli at 2602 S. Harvard Ave., opened almost a decade ago by chef/owner Zack Curren, and his wife Melinda (from Shades of Brown fame), is something that flew under my radar forever because I barely leave downtown, or…
One Last Ride In 1981 “Raiders of the Lost Ark” happened. For my money, it should be in the Top Five AFI films, alongside “Casablanca.” I don’t know why anyone likes “Citizen Kane.” The tale of a rough and ready archaeologist, getting in adventures and killing Nazis while searching for the Ark of the Covenant,…
“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” finally cracks the codex When I was a kid in the early ’80s, I was in middle school. It was the height of the Satanic Panic. Be it music or movies, the hands of concerned Christian parents were wringing. I was a nerd with nerdy friends who had somewhat…
And it’s exactly what you think it is Back in 2006 there was a high-concept comedy called “Snakes on a Plane” that largely came into being because of the Interwebs. With a built-in fanbase, and based on the premise of its title, it achieved a sort of cult status before the movie even came out….
A short selection of must-see movies I hate “best of” lists, especially enumerated ones. I love reading them, I just hate making my own. It feels reductive, subjective and sometimes I look back at my Top 10s from years past and cringe. Not so much because my choices were misguided. They rarely are. It just…
Review: “Bones and All” is a cinematic feast With 2017’s “Call Me by Your Name”, director Luca Guadagnino achieved the level of American attention that his films had enjoyed internationally since the start of his “Desire Trilogy”—beginning with the Tilda Swinton-starring “I Am Love” (2009) and which continued with the underseen (by me, at least),…
