Eva Vives’ drama comedy about a fracture comedienne is one of the most honest and engaging dramas of the year, and “All About Nina” is a success mainly because of Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s stellar performance. Winstead is one of the most underrated and overlooked actresses of modern cinema. She’s mostly been relegated to playing supporting characters and final girls most of her career, but given the right material she’s shone in roles that should have earned her awards notice. She was immense in “Smashed” and she’s remarkable in “All About Nina.”
The Bootleg Files: The Fighting Kentuckian – The 8mm Version
BOOTLEG FILES 655: “The Fighting Kentuckian – The 8mm Version” (severely truncated 8mm version of the 1949 John Wayne film).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Severely edited version of a feature film in a long-defunct home entertainment format.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
Prior to the proliferation of video cassette recorders in the late 1970s and early 1980s, movie lovers who wanted to screen their favorite classic films at home made use of portable projectors that screened the 35mm or 70mm Hollywood theatrical fare in the much smaller 16mm, 9.5mm, 8mm and Super 8 formats.
Continue reading
Eighth Grade (2018)
Bo Burnham’s coming of age drama comedy “Eighth Grade” is an impressive debut that’s managed to tap in to the point in life where we’re transitioning in to a very difficult period of puberty and adolescence. Everyone remembers their time in eighth grade, and like John Hughes, he explores a period of youth that is very much modern, and speaks to today’s teens. Burnham sets a light on the age of self discovery and the time where we’re learning about what we are as people.
Extremity (2018)
A traumatized young woman signs up to be a visitor/victim at an extreme haunt to overcome her fears, her anxieties, and her past.
Written by David Bond and Scott Swan and directed by Anthony DiBlasi, Extremity takes a look into extreme haunts, how some operate, why some people may be interested in running them and in going to them. The phenomenon was explored in the documentary Haunters: The Art of the Scare and here it’s dramatized to bring a compelling story that can easily fall into horror on multiple levels. The writing and directing for Extremity are well-done and the interest in the explored themes seems genuine and not solely done for shock effect. The film does have a few mostly shocking moments but it is much more about the characters and their motivations than about attempting Hostel-like levels of torture porn which works for some movies but would have felt wrong here. Extremity is not about the body count but about fear and trauma on a more psychological level.
Mae West: Between the Covers
In this first episode of the third season of the SoundCloud podcast “The Online Movie Show,” film historian Michael Michaud provides rare insight into the off-screen world of the woman who changed the face of movie comedy: the one and only Mae West!
The episode can be heard here.
King of Kings (1961)
It is difficult to view the 1961 version of “King of Kings” without wondering whether the creative talent involved in the production had any familiarity with the inspiration for their work. Although it was not unusual for Biblical epics to take some fanciful liberties with the subject matter, rarely has the sacred text been so wildly rewritten.
Continue reading
The Bootleg Files: Anderson’s Own Gang Comedy
BOOTLEG FILES 654: “Anderson’s Own Gang Comedy” (1926 fan film inspired on the Our Gang series).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Partially-lost film with no perceived commercial value.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
For every Hollywood franchise that gets screen time at the multiplex, it seems there are an endless number of fan films created by overenthusiastic movie lovers who want to be part of cinematic fun. But fans films are not a recent phenomenon. Indeed, the earliest known fan film was made back in 1926, and it was also part of a strange trend that brought a mix of filmmaking and hucksterism to small town America.
Continue reading