Frankenstein – the 1910 motion picture

Halloween is coming, so this week I thought I'd share some great bits of old film that fit into the Halloween theme. These are amazing pieces of our cultural history, many sadly forgotten. We'll start with a 1910's Frankenstein. Produced by Edison studios (though Edison himself had nothing to do with it), this adaptation of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein was long thought lost. For decades, only a few stills existed. In the 1970s, it was discovered in a private collection, where it had sat since the 1950s, the owner unaware of just how rare the film was. Though it had been…
Can Pixar Do Wrong?

Can Pixar Do Wrong?

After watching Pixar’s Up last evening, I’m beginning to wonder if Pixar is capable of making a bad film. Theirs is a track record nearly perfect beyond expectation; even their “worst” pictures are quality entertainment by any measure. You all know Pixar. They’re the folks who brought us Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and other delights. From the very start their films were charming and entertaining. Only a soulless creature does not enjoy Toy Story. The thrills of The Incredibles are matched only by the warmth of the Parr family dynamic. Monsters, Inc. showed those other animation studios that…

The craziest DVD reviews I ever wrote pt. 1

So I spent a few years reviewing DVDs (in addition to a stint as Editor-in-Chief at dvdinmypants.com). Finally stepped down to pursue other things -- insert a plug for A Year of Hitchcock here -- but before I left I turned in some good reviews, some bad reviews, and some insane reviews.This blog post is about the insane reviews. Warning: Copious amounts of adult language follows.Keep in mind, most of the time I wrote serious reviews. I wanted to do a good job and be a Film Critic. (Note the important capital letters.) Hell, I co-wrote an entire 450-page book…