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Film

Culture Clashes and Nightmares: The Horror/Suspense Film Collaborations of Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur

By Brian Greene

July 8, 2019

Join Brian Greene as he revisits the trio of horror movies that resulted from the collaboration of Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur in the early 1940s at RKO Pictures. In 1942, film industry professional Val Lewton (1904-51) was hired by RKO Pictures to head up its new horror movie initiative. Lewton, who had recently worked…

Tribeca: Georgetown (2019)

By Joe Bendel

May 18, 2019

In real life, they were named Albrecht Muth and Viola Drath, but the film calls them Ulrich Mott and Elsa Brecht, which maybe does him a small favor. According to the New York Times magazine, their marriage was “Georgetown’s Worst,” but that seems slightly unfair. They had things in common, like their German roots and…

Tribeca: Charlie Says (2019)

By Joe Bendel

May 16, 2019

In a way, he considered himself the fifth Beatle, but he wasn’t Billy Preston or Stuart Sutcliffe, so it was a problem. According to Charles Manson’s twisted mythology, the Beatles were the four angels who came to Earth to warn humanity of all their tawdry problems and he was the fifth angel who would fix…

Tribeca: Dreamland (2019)

By Abe Friedtanzer

May 4, 2019

Gangsters possess a certain allure that can be wildly infectious. Those with no desire to see innocent people or even criminals killed may still look upon infamous outlaws with admiration, envious of the way in which they comport themselves and answer to no one. Impressionable young people who read comic books and detective novels are…

Tribeca: Blow the Man Down (2019)

By Joe Bendel

May 3, 2019

Thematically, murder ballads would better fit the fatal kind of trouble the Connolly Sisters find themselves in, but the sea shanties that punctuate this film better suit their coastal Maine fishing village. Priscilla is the reserved, responsible sister, but she gets caught up in Mary Beth’s chaos, out of sibling loyalty and guilt in Bridget…

Tribeca: Come to Daddy (2019)

By Joe Bendel

April 30, 2019

This is not your Hallmark Channel family reconciliation movie. It’s about mean drunks and their emotionally stunted sons—and a whole bunch of dastardly skullduggery. It would be telling to identify what kind precisely, but eventually plodding Norval Greenwood will start to understand the whole picture. In the meantime, he will try to get to know…

Tribeca: Ten Years of Mysteries, Thrillers, and Crime Docs

By Joe Bendel

April 23, 2019

Since its inception, the Tribeca Film Festival has taken a leading role in efforts to revitalize post-9/11 Lower Manhattan. In that time, it has become the quintessential New York film festival. We dig our crime stories here in New York, so it stands to reason Tribeca has showcased many memorable mysteries, thrillers, and crime documentaries.…

Film Review: The Highwaymen (2019)

By Abe Friedtanzer

April 22, 2019

There is a playfulness to the classic 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, which boasts the tagline “They’re young…they’re in love…and they kill people.” The story of two of the most notorious gangsters in history navigates their dual identity as killers and pop culture icons by presenting their undeniable charm alongside their unapologetic actions. Warren Beatty…

SXSW: Body at Brighton Rock (2019)

By Abe Friedtanzer

March 20, 2019

One of the best ways to achieve terror is to put a character in a place where they should inherently feel safe and make it abundantly clear that they’re not. A lazy park ranger who trades her shift with a friend shouldn’t run into any trouble stapling flyers to trees on well-marked trails, but of…

Film Review: Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)

By Joe Bendel

March 14, 2019

For traditionalists, Nancy Drew mysteries were the ones with the yellow spines, whereas the Hardy Boys were blue. Although the two respective series were written with either girls or boys in mind, there was a lot of crossover readership, because they always primarily focused on some sort of mystery. That changed in the mid-1980s, when…

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