Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

Posted on October 12, 2026 by Phil Hall

“Jason and the Argonauts” is mostly celebrated today for Ray Harryhausen’s wildly imaginative stop-motion animation special effects. Two sequences stand out as being among the most original ever put on film: the giant blank-eyed bronze statue of the titan Talos coming to life and the climactic sword duel between the Golden Fleece-fleecing Argonauts and a squad of sword-swinging skeletons. Nothing in today’s world of CGI wizardry can even come close to the innovative brilliance of those extraordinary sequences.

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Coffee House (1960)

Posted on October 5, 2026 by Phil Hall

In 1960, King Features Syndicate brought forth “Popeye the Sailor,” an animated television series featuring new misadventures of the beloved spinach-chomping hero and his wacky circle of friends and foes. A total of 220 short cartoons were created for the series by multiple animation studios, and most them were forgettable. But there was one short that stood out for being an extraordinary detour from the usual Popeye-fueled knockabout.
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Tommy (1975)

Posted on September 28, 2026 by Phil Hall

There is a scene in Ken Russell’s 1975 “Tommy” which ranks among the most remarkable and ridiculous visions ever put on film: Ann-Margret, in a swing of drunken rage, throws a champagne bottle at a television set. The bottle smashes the television’s screen, and waves of soap suds and baked beans come pouring out. Ann-Margret then writhes on the floor, covered head-to-toe in baked beans.
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Gun Crazy (1950)

Posted on September 21, 2026 by Phil Hall

One of the most artistically ambitious productions from the golden age of B-movies was Joseph H. Lewis’ pulpy thriller, which borrowed heavily from the Bonnie and Clyde story while offering a production style that transcended its budgetary limitations.
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A Thousand Clowns (1965)

Posted on September 14, 2026 by Phil Hall

I truly cannot understand why Fred Coe’s 1965 comedy “A Thousand Clowns” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture – an honor that put it in the company of “The Sound of Music,” “Doctor Zhivago,” “Darling” and “Ship of Fools.” Those other four films are considered classics, while “A Thousand Clowns” is little more than a tired embarrassment.
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The Wild Chase (1965)

Posted on September 7, 2026 by Phil Hall

Speedy Gonzalez and the Road Runner compete in a match race to determine which is the fastest. As they speed along the empty desert roads, they are respectively pursued by Sylvester and Wile E. Coyote. However, the multiple traps designed to stop the racers constantly backfire on the shabby predators.
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Dodes’ka-den (1970)

Posted on August 31, 2026 by Phil Hall

The 1970 film “Dodes’ka-den” has always been a puzzling piece of the Akira Kurosawa canon. Despite its cred – an Academy Award nomination as Best Foreign-Language Film and the distinction of being the director’s first color film – audiences did not embrace it during the film’s theatrical release. The film’s commercial failure in Japan compounded a myriad of professional and personal problems that pushed Kurosawa to a suicide attempt. Outside of Japan, it was barely seen on the big screen – a U.S. release didn’t take place until 1974.
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