By Alan Hurst Witches have always intrigued me. Whether it was watching the TV series Bewitched as a kid, touring the sites of Salem, Massachusetts (home of the infamous Salem witch trials) on a road trip, reading Arthur Miller’s The Crucible in school, or a first viewing of Rosemary’s Baby (1968), the mere idea of…
By John H. Foote (*) Rarely has either Steven Soderbergh or the extraordinary Meryl Streep made such a weak, empty film as this. Soderbergh emerged as the boy wonder of 1989, his film sex, lies and videotape earning him raves and the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize. But the years in between were mighty lean,…
By John H. Foote (****) For centuries Mary Magdalene was thought to be a prostitute who befriended Christ after he saved her from being stoned. In 2016, after centuries of exploration, the study of ancient texts and the papers that are hidden away in the Vatican library, Mary Magdalene was cleared of being a prostitute…
By John H. Foote At the conclusion of American Graffiti (1973) as the plane carries Curt high into the heavens, college-bound, the faces of the characters we have just spent two hours with flash onto the screen, their futures appear in a title card with their yearbook photo. With melancholy and deep sadness, we learn…
By John H. Foote (****) Arguably the greatest western ever made, the finest film of John Ford’s great career, and containing John Wayne’s ferocious, finest performance, The Searchers (1956) is an American classic, among the finest films to emerge from the fifties. Though admired and respected at the time, its lacerating, staggering power was not…
By John H. Foote (****) Though more recent than most of the films I like to Revisit, The Revenant is a masterpiece no less deserving of celebration for its artistry and daring. For his visceral, stunning performance in The Revenant (2015), Leonardo DiCaprio finally won a long-overdue Academy Award for Best Actor, and the truth…
By John H. Foote (BOMB) While watching, no enduring, this nightmare of a film, an exercise in CINEMATIC torture, I found myself wondering, who wanted this film made in the first place? That it was made by Disney speaks volumes. Greed governs Disney, pure covetous greed. Money is on their mind with every film they…
By John H. Foote (***) Robert Eggers’ new film wowed audiences at Cannes and TIFF, the nightmarish black and white cinematography calling to mind the great films of the German Expressionistic period. Dread fills every frame, from the first blast of the lighthouse horn before the isolated tower comes into view through the fog, through…
By John H. Foote (****) If they crossed the comic minds of Charles Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, Monty Python and Mel Brooks, that might begin to give an idea about the daffy, dazzling comic genius of Jo Jo Rabbit. Easily the funniest American film I have seen since Sideways (2004), possibly the most divisive since…
By Alan Hurst It’s October and for cinephiles and retro-TV junkies thoughts turn to spooky movies and Halloween tinged TV shows. For people of a certain age, just mention the name “Samantha Stephens” and there is instant recognition, usually followed by a little smile as they remember back to the original run or the endless…