Author: Dave Franklin
-
Icky Sex in Movies: Part One
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Icky Sex in Movies: Part OneSometimes it’s hard to believe what other people get up to when it comes to their nether regions. The early twentieth century child killer Albert Fish liked to soak balls of wool in lighter fluid, shove them up his bum and set fire to them. That was when he wasn’t driving needles into his groin…
-
White Heat (1949)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: White Heat (1949)Synopsis: Not every mummy’s boy is a pansy. Director: Raoul Walsh Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O’Brien, Steve Cochran, Margaret Wycherly Goodfellas’ Joe Pesci won an Oscar for his Spider-squashing portrayal of a nutso mobster but when it comes to wiping people out he pales next to his forerunner, the similarly dwarfish Cagney. Good…
-
Naughty Postcards from a Hungarian Trashmeister
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Naughty Postcards from a Hungarian TrashmeisterSordid glory. Would you call that the defining trait of writer Joe Eszterhas’ distinctive body of work? After all, this is the man who cooked up Basic Instinct, Sliver and Showgirls in his steamy, body-filled kitchen. Most screenwriters dawdle in obscurity, even if their creative juice results in a colossal hit, but Eszterhas gained notoriety…
-
Starring Debuts #25: Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future (1985)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Starring Debuts #25: Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future (1985)Fox was a lightweight actor, his limitations exposed whenever he took on stuff with any gravity, such as a rape-objecting grunt in Casualties of War or a cokehead loser in Bright Lights, Big City. Man, does he not sit right in those two flicks, but as a bewildered Californian schoolboy frantically trying to save his…
-
Starring Debuts # 24: Sissy Spacek in Badlands (1973)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Starring Debuts # 24: Sissy Spacek in Badlands (1973)Some people need a good, hard slap to wake them the fuck up and there would be no more deserving recipient than Holly Sargis (Spacek). She’s vapid, easily led and amoral, a freckled, baton-twirling fifteen-year-old girl who barely mutters a word of protest during the murder of her father. “Are you gonna be OK?” she…
-
Fucked-Up Films #13: Spetters (1980)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Fucked-Up Films #13: Spetters (1980)Synopsis: A rough and raw portrayal of young Dutch lives Director: Paul Verhoeven Cast: Hans van Tongeren, Renée Soutendijk, Toon Agterberg, Maarten Spanjer, Marianne Boyer, Rutger Hauer, Jeroen Krabbé, Peter Tuinman Verhoeven can’t do too much wrong in my eyes, probably because he’s one of the most politically incorrect filmmakers of all time. Now in…
-
Fucked-Up Films #12: Fingers (1978)
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: Fucked-Up Films #12: Fingers (1978)Synopsis: Keitel puts the bark in Bach Director: James Toback Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tisa Farrow, Michael V. Gazzo, Jim Brown, Tanya Roberts, Tony Sirico Do you ever watch a movie and end up unsure whether it’s a gem or a pile of bollocks? Perhaps you then start skimming the reviews, an exercise that results in…
-
20th Century Duvall: Part 7 -Other Stuff
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: 20th Century Duvall: Part 7 -Other StuffOther stuff: The Greatest (1977), Phenomenon (1995) & The Apostle (1997) Given the arse-licking title and its gag-inducing theme song, you’d expect The Greatest to be nothing more than ninety-minutes of Muhammad Ali cuddling himself. And for the most part (especially during his anti-Vietnam stance) it does its best to depict him as The Most…
-
20th Century Duvall: Part 6-War
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: 20th Century Duvall: Part 6-WarWar: M*A*S*H (1970) & The Eagle Has Landed (1976) I guess I’m no different to you in that there are some movies I don’t get. M*A*S*H is the perfect example, a flick that was a big box-office hit, garnered five Oscar nods and spawned a long-running TV show. It centers on the frat boy hijinks…
-
20th Century Duvall: Part 5-Cops
Tag(s):
Author:
Read more: 20th Century Duvall: Part 5-CopsCops: The Rain People (1969), Badge 373 (1973), True Confessions (1981), Colors (1988) & Falling Down (1993) Duvall has played a lot of law enforcement officers, kicking things off with a homophobic head-buster in The Detective before popping up as an obnoxious, daughter-abusing motorcycle cop in the vaguely feminist Rain People. He’s introduced with half…