Episode One: “None but the Lonely Heart” (27 June 1992) Season Four of Tales form the Crypt opens with a celebrity director at the helm. Tom Hanks made his directorial debut with a story about Treat Williams as a rare black widower, marrying older women, taking them for all their worth, then leaving them to … Continue reading Tales from the Crypt: Season Four
Tales from the Crypt: Season Three
Episode One: “Loved to Death” (15 June 1991) Andrew McCarthy belongs to that most pathetic class of Los Angeles denizen: aspiring screenwriter. He's lusting after his neighbor, Mariel Hemingway, even groping her in a reverie. What does his landlord? Report him to the police, evict him? No, he gives him a love potion to make … Continue reading Tales from the Crypt: Season Three
Tales from the Crypt: Season Two
Episode One: “Dead Right” (21 April 1990) A fortune teller convinces Demi Moore that she will be rich if she marries the hideous Jeffrey Tambour, made up here to look like Monty Python's Mr. Creosote. Boy, this show really loves these sorts of plots. Episode Two: “The Switch” (21 April 1990) William Hickey (Uncle Lewis … Continue reading Tales from the Crypt: Season Two
Tales from the Crypt: Season One
In spite of being a fan of horror, comic books, and absolutely punishing wordplay, I have hardly seen anything form the Tales from the Crypt franchise aside from one episode and the two films released under the brand. I was too young to see the show when it original aired between 1989 and 1997, there … Continue reading Tales from the Crypt: Season One
Until the End of the World (1991)
Until the End of the World (dir. Wim Wenders, 1991) 1999 was the year that the Indian nuclear satellite went out of control. No one knew where it might land. It soared above the ozone layer like a lethal bird of prey. The whole world was alarmed. Only Claire couldn't care less. At the time, … Continue reading Until the End of the World (1991)
Strange Days (1995)
Strange Days (dir. Kathryn Bigelow, 1995) There’s not a moment wasted on an establishing shot or exposition. All that can come later. Now, right now, there’s only this. Two men in the front seat of a car in motion. Someone off-screen says that they are recording. One of the men in front complains that he … Continue reading Strange Days (1995)
End of Days (1999)
End of Days (dir. Peter Hyams, 1999) 1999. The end of the twentieth century. The Cold War was over, the threat of nuclear armaggedon at its lowest since before the Soviets got the bomb, but none of that put us at ease. The premillennial tension was palpable. Religious groups saw signs and wonders. Trials and … Continue reading End of Days (1999)
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Assault on Precinct 13 (dir. Jean-François Richet, 2005) John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 was born of the director’s love of and respect for Howard Hawks, a paranoid seventies sensibility and staggering violent crime rate, and a budget that made a literal western an impossibility. One of the great siege films, Assault on Precinct 13 … Continue reading Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Snowpiercer (2013)
Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2013) Rumble rumble, rattle rattle... It will never die! What happens if the engine stops? We'd all freeze and die. But will it stop, will it stop? No! No! Can you tell us why? The Engine is eternal, The Engine is forever... Rumble rumble, rattle rattle... Who is the reason why? … Continue reading Snowpiercer (2013)
The Apartment (1960)
The Apartment (dir. Billy Wilder, 1960) Opening with population statistics—New York City holding steady at eight million, the insurance company Consolidated Life at just over thirty-one thousand—we know from the start how alone one man can be. Bud Baxter (Jack Lemmon), unmarried with no children, working an all-but-anonymous desk job, distinguished from the other office … Continue reading The Apartment (1960)
oliveresque 