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The Cost of Success in EMPLOYEES’ ENTRANCE (1933)
“There’s no room for sympathy or softness – my code is smash or be smashed!”… Warren William as Kurt Anderson In the heart of the Great Depression of 1933, Roy Del Ruth’s EMPLOYEES’ ENTRANCE was...
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Hollywood Dreams Come True at TCM Film Fest 2015
Years from now, the 6th annual Turner Classic Film Festival may be described as the year that made history. How suitable considering this year’s theme of ‘History according to Hollywood.’ There was a...
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HOLLYWOOD HIGHLIGHTS: The “Fake” Studio Tour
Beyond the incredible four days packed with screenings and awe-inspiring events, my recent trip to Tinseltown for the TCM Film Festival included much more. I traveled out to Hollywood and bookended my...
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The Charming Psychopath of INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
There are so many types of villains in the movies- mobsters, monsters, scoundrels, crooks, creeps, vixens, killers… and they come in all persuasions of evil, smarmy, spooky and scary. The variety of...
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Classic and Colorful ‘Momisms’
Kathee- aka my mother As we close on another Mother’s Day weekend, it’s not hard-pressed to think of Mom. My mother died of breast cancer thirty four years ago. Interestingly, it will be thirty four...
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The Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon: STAGE DOOR (1937)
How can a film from 1937 seem relevant and impressive today? It can when it’s Gregory La Cava’s STAGE DOOR. Based on the popular stage play written by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman, the film...
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Goodbye Mad Men
Social media and water coolers alike have been a buzz since the series final episode of “MAD MEN” aired. Some have wondered just why the series became such an intensely popular phenomenon. Was it the...
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MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)
Imagine this. This bubbly optimist who enjoys all sorts of cinema- from the silents right up to the latest blockbuster- goes to see the latest entry of Mad Max. I’ll fully admit that a bleak dystopian...
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ALOHA (2015) means hello and goodbye
I was all set to take a couple of my kiddos to the summer disaster flick SAN ANDREAS because it seemed to be a movie of commercial and mass appeal across multiple ages. But we soon realized my true...
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ANNOUNCEMENT! 2nd Annual BILLY WILDER Blogathon
I reached out to my Cubish cinema sister Aurora of ONCE UPON A SCREEN aka @CitizenScreen to see if she wanted to reprise our BILLY WILDER birthday blogathon again this year. As we contemplated our...
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Finding No Faults in SAN ANDREAS (2015)
I’m a sucker for an over-the-top, blockbuster disaster movie. The mega budget versions of this film genre seemed to initiate in popularity in the 70’s with films like AIRPORT (1970), THE POSEIDON...
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KICKS OFF THIS WEEKEND! Summer Sizzles in Cool Noir on TCM- plus more!
Boy howdy, is there a fun summer in store for you, film fans! In case you haven’t heard, Turner Classic Movies network has packed your summer with everything you need to keep those hot, sizzling days...
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Beach Party Films: the Fashion, Music and Pop Culture, Daddy-O!
In the steamy summers as a kid, I would often pass the time in the muggy Kansas heat at my grandparents’ houses. When I needed a break from the lake or the community pool or my uncle’s baseball games...
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SPY (2015) is the Gal Pal, Snort Fest
Melissa McCarthy has accomplished more than offering up a light comedy this summer, much more than a silly spy spoof. She’s headlining a continuation of a recent trend of feminism and female...
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Why SHE DONE HIM WRONG (1933) defines SEX
What defines sexy in film? Is it watching a couple make out? Adonis and goddess bodies of perfection? Is it showy shots of skin? Is it something more taboo? If you ask, most people define sexy as not...
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Billy Wilder’s SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
To honor Billy Wilder’s birthday (today would have been his 109th birthday), I’m sharing my thoughts on one of his most beloved comedies of all-time, SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959). Written (along with...
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Happy Birthday, Billy Wilder! (Bloggers Beguile Us with Bday Bash Gifts)
For the 2nd year in a row, the ‘Cubish duo’ Aurora aka @CitizenScreen of Once Upon A Screen and yours truly of Outspoken & Freckled aka @IrishJayhawk66 are so in awe of the mega talents of...
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Classic Movie History Project: Women In Film 1932-1934
What made the Pre-Code era so scandalous, was the content and characterizations in those films made between 1930-1934 in a time when censorship was in name only. In the years 1932-1934, these were the...
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Nuances of Antisemitism in GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT (1947)
Despite urgings from industry colleagues to avoid predicted controversy (especially when three political figures are called out for their well-known antisemitism by name), producer Darryl F Zanuck...
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A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985)
Based on EM Forster’s novel, the famed production/directing duo Ismail Merchant/James Ivory’s A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985) takes an unconventional view of a romantic tale in a very conventional time. Set...
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