Category Archives: fantasy

“There Ain’t No Sanity Clause”: Classic Film Images Photo Quiz, Dec. 2022 Edition, Vol. 12.25

“There Ain’t No Sanity Clause”: Classic Film Images Photo Quiz, Dec. 2022 Edition, Vol. 12.25      With all due deference to Chico Marx, with the approach of that most irresistible season of blind avarice, it is incumbent on that deservedly … Continue reading

Posted in biography, books, Boston, Christmas, comedy, Culture, Entertainment, fantasy, holidays, Movies, photography, Puzzles, Santa Claus, writing | 7 Comments

Boom and Boom Again: “The Suicide Squad” (2021)

          “The Suicide Squad”  (2021)     The first overt merging of deliberate trashy Troma aesthetics with big studio mega-budgeted inevitably trashy content. If there is a confusing similarity to a previous DC Comics-sourced vehicle from … Continue reading

Posted in comic books, crime, fantasy, Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, Movies | 1 Comment

Heart of Darkness: “Justice League” (2017)

                “Justice League”  (2017)      If “Justice League” proves anything it’s that any pretense of the inclusion of genuine human heart in the halting but expanding collection of high-powered missteps known as … Continue reading

Posted in comic books, fantasy, Movies | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Saving Santa: “The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t” (1966)

         “The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t”  (1966)     Hollywood (a popular cultural abstract which we use as a convenient shorthand to identify the purely commercial cinema regardless of geographical origin) may be many things, but a … Continue reading

Posted in books, children, children's books, Christmas, fantasy, holidays, Movies, Musicals, Santa Claus, writing | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Revisit: Mismatch: “La petite marchande d’allumettes” / “The Little Match Girl” (1928)

  “La petite marchande d’allumettes / The Little Match Girl” (1928) (Originally posted on March 13, 2014)      Jean Renoir’s film version of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1854 story “Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne” (“The Little Match Girl”) alters the … Continue reading

Posted in books, children's books, fantasy, French cinema, Jean Renoir, Movies, religion, short films, short stories, silent movies, writing | Tagged | 2 Comments

Too Much Monkey Business: “King Kong Escapes” (1968)

     “King Kong Escapes”  (1968)     If one were to remove all of the unconvincing effects shots from “King Kong Escapes” (and some of them are fairly wince inducing, even by Japanese standards), it would remain an embarrassing resume … Continue reading

Posted in children, Drive-In Movies, fantasy, kaiju, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, writing | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Black Gowns Matter: Hollywood Explains It All To You

Black Gowns Matter: Hollywood Explains It All To You       Ah, the Golden Globe Awards, that monument to critical integrity that once put Pia Zadora on the map by way of the deep pocket resources of the reckless … Continue reading

Posted in Boston, cartoons, Culture, fantasy, juvenile delinquency, politics, psychiatry, Sex in Cinema, women | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Hanging by a Thread: “Il cappotto” / “The Overcoat” (1952)

             “Il cappotto” / “The Overcoat”  (1952) In “Il Cappotto”, director Alberto Lattuada transposes Nikolai Gogol’s  short story from 1800’s Russia to a contemporary Italy, and while the film is representative of an early fledgling move in … Continue reading

Posted in book reviews, books, comedy, fantasy, Italian cinema, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, Romance, short stories, writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

No More Undocumented Aliens!: Classic Film Images Photo Quiz, August 2016 Edition, Vol. 30, 000, 000

No More Undocumented Aliens!: Classic Film Images Photo Quiz, August 2016 Edition, Vol. 30,000,000     If we have learned anything from this election season, it is that it has never been more imperative that the sanctity of national borders … Continue reading

Posted in books, fantasy, Film, Hammer films, horror films, humor, movie reviews, Movies, politics, Reviews, Romance, science fiction, women, writing | Tagged | 2 Comments

Finger of Fate: “Zotz!” (1962)

     Timing is everything in comedy. Tom Poston is effectively eccentric in”Zotz!”, a daffy little film with supernatural overtones that is part of a particularly overlooked and all but abandoned mini-genre of film-  the college comedy  -which enjoyed a brief … Continue reading

Posted in books, Cold War, comedy, education, fantasy, Film Reviews, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Chandler’s Trailers: “X-Men” (2000)

       Bryan Singer’s “X-Men”is in many ways not your usual comic book adaptation: first of all, it dispenses-  for the most part  -with those annoying origin stories (except for a brief, powerful vignette demonstrating the genesis of the hatred toward nonmutants … Continue reading

Posted in comic books, fantasy, Film Reviews, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Zzzzzzz: CLASSIC FILM PHOTO QUIZ, JUNE 2015 EDITION, VOL. 987654321

Zzzzzzz:  Classic Film Photo Quiz, June 2015 Edition, Vol. 987654321      Another month has come and gone and that can only mean one thing (well, actually it could mean several things, but time is short, though not as short … Continue reading

Posted in art house cinema, comedy, erotica, fantasy, Film, horror, humor, Movies, photography, Puzzles, Romance, science fiction, women | Leave a comment

Chandler’s Trailers: “Man of Steel” (2013)

     Director Zach Snyder attempts to address some serious problems with the Superman mythos that have generally been conveniently ignored for eighty years, and for that “Man of Steel” deserves attention beyond the usual fan-based hyperbole surrounding every new … Continue reading

Posted in comic books, fantasy, Film Reviews, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Peeping Ben: “Cashback” (2006)

             The little British movie that could’ve. Initially an award winning short film that has been subsequently expanded to feature length, Sean Ellis’ serio-comic meditation of life, love and the meaning of beauty tries for too much within … Continue reading

Posted in British films, comedy, fantasy, Film, Film Reviews, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, Romance, sex, women | Leave a comment

Portrait of Anxiety as a Child: “Invaders From Mars” (1953)

******* Jimmy Hunt sees the landing of a flying saucer from his bedroom window.******      Not to be confused with the atrocious Tobe Hooper retread, William Cameron Menzies’ “Invaders From Mars” is a small gem of a film; the kind … Continue reading

Posted in 1950's movies, children, Drive-In Movies, fantasy, Film Reviews, movie reviews, Movies, Reviews, science fiction | 2 Comments

Beach Blanket Bronto: “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth” (1971)

     Once hitting pay dirt with the Raquel Welch vehicle “One Million Years B.C.”, Hammer Films would leave no cave unexplored in producing their next monosyllabic prehistoric epic, “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth”.       Forgoing the iconic presence of … Continue reading

Posted in 1970's movies, animation, Drive-In Movies, fantasy, Film Reviews, Hammer films, movie reviews, Movies, Raquel Welch, Reviews, Romance | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Conjuring a Sense of Blunder: “Wizards” (1977)

       Ralph Bakshi continues a downward spiral of technical quality of animation detail while simultaneously making preparatory practice motions toward his later incomplete rendering of “Lord of the Rings” in the dismal 1977 “Wizards”, a film which by all available … Continue reading

Posted in 1970's movies, animation, cartoons, cinema, fantasy, Film, Film Reviews, movie reviews, Movies, Ralph Bakshi, Reviews | 1 Comment