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The Third Man (1949)

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Sam Hollis. “The Third Man” blends the visual style film noir is so known for with personalities and motivations that an audience can fully grasp. It is a mystery that made me confront aspects of my own identity, without lacking charm, suspense or character. Holly Martins, played with restraint by Joseph Cotton, is a pulp writer who has come to a broken post-war Vienna to meet a dear friend, Harry Lime. However, upon arrival Martins is told that Lime was killed walking into traffic, a story he finds hard to believe. He becomes obsessed with the suspicious circumstances of his friend’s death, and the identity of the shadowy “third man” who was seen…

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HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE & BLACK PANTHER: A FULL CIRCLE DOUBLE FEATURE

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Jeannine Brice. Black Panther is one of the biggest films of 2018. It surpassed its $200 million budget in its opening weekend and has since made 1.3 billion dollars at the worldwide box office. It’s been praised by filmmakers, critics and fans alike. And it just happens to be a film featuring a majority black cast and director. I knew it was going to be something special. I had never seen a movie so steeped in black culture with majority black creators be embraced by the mainstream like this. It made me proud, that people who looked like me were being highlighted in such a powerful way. I immediately thought of Hollywood Shuffle. I…

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DVD DISCOVERIES: FLEISCHER, FAIRBANKS, JOSEPHINE BAKER AND MORE

Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
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Even as studios and streaming networks try to eliminate “physical media” from the scene, a handful of hardy individuals are making rare and desirable material available on Blu-ray and DVD—some of it for the first time.   Our survey begins with the latest release from Steve Stanchfield’s Thunderbean Animation FLEISCHER RARITIES. This wide-ranging collection includes silent educational shorts, advertising cartoons, two installments of a clever series called Inklings, early bouncing-ball singalongs from the silent era, Let’s Sing with Popeye, a two-color musical short I’m inexplicably fond of called Dancing on the Moon, and a pair of Betty Boop shorts. I also enjoy the Screen Song called This Little Piggy Went to Market (1934) with radio crooner Singin’ Sam because the framework is a satire of newsreel theaters and the newsreels they…

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PUZZLE: A WELCOME STARRING ROLE FOR KELLY MACDONALD

Film In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
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Based on a 2009 Argentinian film called Rompecabezas, this pleasing story  serves as a starring vehicle for the wonderful Kelly Macdonald. Like the character she plays (a devoted wife and mother who works like a dog and never complains) she has been taken for granted somewhat and deserves a leading role like this that allows her to shine. Set in modern-day but bearing earmarks of decades past, this feature is aimed at mature moviegoers and (inevitably, for films aimed at that demographic) follows a familiar path. Agnes (Macdonald, playing American) has never questioned the drudgery of her daily routine, and genuinely loves her blue-collar husband and indolent sons. Then one day she takes a train into Manhattan to purchase a challenging jigsaw puzzle and sees a…

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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — TOM CRUISE IS REALLY GOOD AT RUNNING

Film In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
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The newest Mission: Impossible movie lives up to its title with action scenes that are so spectacular—and preposterous—that it’s hard to know which ones to take seriously. Two highlights are an extended, white-knuckle car chase on the streets of Paris and much later, a helicopter pursuit. Yet Mission remains a piece of sheer escapism, even turning a lethal terrorist into just another movie bad-guy. With Tom Cruise in the lead and all the moviemaking knowhow on display, how can you go wrong? Here’s how: you can have too much of a good thing. That’s the problem with this fast-and-furious sequel written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Tom Cruise is fierce and charming as the occasion demands; he also performs death-defying stunts. And boy, can that…

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WHITNEY

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Dalin Rowell.  For most, the image of the late Whitney Houston is either one of two variations – a sparkly, bright eyed singer with magic pouring from her, or a thin, raspy voiced individual that got into trouble no matter which direction she went. But in the documentary Whitney, director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) adjusts audiences to a different “lens” of sorts – one in which we don’t see the iconic vocal legend, but instead a New Jersey born “Dorothy”, trying to find her way back from a destructive Oz. Sure, you could say that statement comes from a scene in which Macdonald shows Houston singing the ballad “Home” –…

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FADE TO BLACK

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Julia Marchese. Released in 1980, Fade to Black is a fantastic and under seen horror film with a killer premise. Directed by Vernon Zimmerman and starring one of my favorites, Dennis Christopher, as Eric Binford. Eric is a shy young man living with his shrewish, wheel chair bound aunt in a cramped Venice apartment. She hovers over him and criticizes his every move. Things aren’t much better at work, where both his co-workers and boss love to yell at him. Eric’s only escape is film. In an era long before streaming, or even home VCR’s, Eric watches his films on his OG 16mm projector in his darkened bedroom, covered floor to ceiling with…

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