They Live was a postmodern pastiche of old-school science fiction that, for a variety of reasons, was too ahead of its time to be properly appreciated. Actually, that’s not quite…
First off, a confession of sorts: scary movies don't scare me. Or, to put it less bluntly, as a one-time horror movie aficionado, I quickly outgrew the ways gore supplanted suspense…
Chinatown does not usually make the short list of best American films. In fairness, it probably shouldn’t. It will have to settle for merely being the only perfect American…
When you think about the distinctive ingredients of Americana, the elements that comprise what we think about when we think of what makes America so...American, it's easy to recite the clichéd…
Well, it finally happened, albeit a lot later than many of his enemies would have liked. The world's most famous --and recalcitrant-- bad-guy-turned-FBI-informant, Henry Hill, has passed away at age…
I may have to go purchase a five gallon (ten gallon?) hat just so I can properly tip it to the good folks at Sabotage Times for unearthing this gem.…
Still reeling from the sad news about Don Cornelius, it's painful to acknowledge the loss of another irreplaceable master, Ben Gazarra. Some good tributes out there. (Here's one.) What can…
Words need not be minced here: the Criterion Collection treatment of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s trilogy is an essential, if overdue cultural event. The high-definition digital restorations are reason enough to rejoice;…
This weekend PopMatters is revisiting an outstanding feature from a couple of years ago: The Best of TV on DVD. Definitely worth checking out. My entry, below, was on the…
Toward the end of Sydney Lumet's '70s classic Serpico there is an unnerving scene that encapsulates the conundrum faced by the eponymous cop: already persona non grata within the law…
Sean Murphy