Brian

Nicholas Ray never made a good film, Aug 25 2003

In the seventies Ray couldn't get work, so film buffs began to think that he was a rebel (unwarranted assumption number one; he could have just been a soak) and that his movies must therefore be too cool for the studio brass (unwarranted assumption number two; they may have just stunk) and if they were too cool for the studio brass they must therefore be great (unwarranted assumption number three; they're not). He also wore an eyepatch, and eyepatch directors are always cool, aren't they? Lang, Ford, Walsh, de Toth. This Ray guy? Nah. Make that unwarranted assumption number four.

This one mainly offends by its dullness. Slow, mushy, unstructured, cursed by a pillowy and nonstop… Read more

Judgment thou art fled to brutish beasts..., Nov 8 2002

He just won't shut the hell up! My fondest wish during the highly aggravating job of listening to this album is that this Tatum character - who I've never heard before and, if a merciful God is willing, will never hear again - would shut up and maybe let some music happen. If I had a time machine I'd go back with a cleaver and lop off his fingers.

A good musician can take your breath away with a single note. Tatum it seems is too insecure to try this approach, and with good reason. He has no talent, no taste, no musicianship. I've never heard a more appalling racket. He's like a more flamboyant version of Liberace. The beautiful Jerome Kern standard All The Things You Are is… Read more

I HATE this Image DVD, Oct 25 2002

(Five stars for the film itself, though.)

When I was a kid I had a VHS copy of this film put out by "Goodtimes Video", one of those cheapjack public domain knock-off operations. There was no tinting, no technicolor, no score... but I loved it. Every Halloween I'd watch Dracula, Frankenstein, and Phantom before I went trick-or-treating. So I was eager to see what Image had done in this restored version.

In the opinion of this reviewer, it's bad news all around.

First of all, the Thibaudoux score is far from inspired. It's generically spooky and has little to do dramatically with what's happening on screen. There are a few gimmicky exceptions, which can cause much head scratching… Read more