The Notorious Bettie Page tells the story of the rise to fame of the well-loved pinup girl. It follows her as she leaves her home and hooks up with a successful publisher of “educational” and “specialty” photographs, eventually becoming one of the most famous “non-famous” people in the country. (Bettie may not have […]
The films that Ed Wood is best known for are undoubtedly those on which he collaborated with his freind Bela Lugosi: Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster and, most famously, Plan 9 from Outer Space. In 1994, director Tim Burton filmed a fictionalized version of the making of these films in Ed Wood.
Glen […]
Man on the Moon tells the story of Andy Kaufman (played by Jim Carrey), from his early years (though there isn’t much of that) to his premature death at the age of 35. As with most biopics, it is a highly stylized re-telling, but it’s embracing of Kaufman’s disruptive form of comedy makes it […]
Viewed May 17, 2006
Word of the passing of Paul Marco, noted member of Ed Wood’s stock company, came through on the 17th, so I felt I shoudl watch something Ed-related. The only thing I had that I hadn’t actually watched yet was Night of the Fools, a fan-made film that portrays Ed putting together […]
Viewed February 8, 2006
My interest in Auto Focus obviously comes from an interest in Bob Crane. I had been a fan of Hogan’s Heroes when I was a kid, but had kind of forgotten about it over the years. I remember being incensed when TV Guide named it the second worst sit-com of […]
Viewed January 19, 2006
Apparently, playing Bobby Darin on screen was a long-standing dream of Kevin Spacey’s. He finally realized this ambition with his turn as actor/director/co-scripter on Beyond The Sea. I must admit that my love of Darin’s music combined with a relative malaise concerning Spacey’s recent work made me more than a […]
Viewed January 17, 2006
Center Stage tells the story of Ruan Ling-yu, a Chinese silent film star who commited suicide at the age of 24 after pressure from the local media threatened to destroy her life.
The structure of Center Stage is somewhat odd. The film takes a partial documentary approach, by using footage of the […]