A book has recently taken my life over, Sinatra: The Chairman by James Kaplan. In case you didn’t see me mention it first in a “But Have You Heard” article for Grumpire, The Chairman covers Frank Sinatra’s career from the […]
Category: Articles
STILL A GALA DAY FOR THE MARX BROTHERS IN DUCK SOUP
In what a Gentile like myself considers an ideal way to celebrate the Festival of Lights, last December (2019) I celebrated Hanukkah by watching a Marx Brothers film every night. It was that or hopping […]
ROBOCOP 2: ODE TO THE SATIRIC, BOMBASTIC SEQUEL
Film sequels exist primarily to make money. As much as cinephiles worship The Godfather Part II, it wasn’t a logical progression Francis Ford Coppola envisioned after filming wrapped on The Godfather; it was Paramount, the […]
DO WE REALLY WANT HORROR WINNING OSCARS?
MIKE VANDERBILT SURE DOESN’T. The Academy Awards were born of cynicism and union-busting, but over the past 93 years have become an arbitrary indicator of quality in filmmaking, despite routinely getting it wrong in the […]
HUMBUG: PLEASE LEAVE ME (HOME) ALONE
If you go back and read the reviews from Home Alone’s release in 1990, you’ll find a portion of major critics and publications weren’t too kind to it. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times said […]
HUMBUG: LOVE ACTUALLY? ACTUALLY…NAH
I don’t like Christmas. Don’t call me Scrooge or a Grinch — I’m not advocating spoiling people’s holiday cheer. Maybe it’s Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), courtesy of shortened winter days, the proliferation of red and […]
WHADDAYA MEAN “THE DARKER WORKS OF ANDY GRIFFITH”?
Here’s what led to me writing this. On Twitter, I saw a post on the page for my favorite television channel, MeTV, with an article titled “Andy Griffith Had His Own Line of Canned Beans […]
HUMBUG: ELF, A SACK OF SUPERFICIAL SPIRIT
The “Christmas movie” is a vital part of the experience of Christmas under modern consumer capitalism, which sustains itself by transforming vital human experience into commodities and selling them back to us. Christmas is red […]
HUMBUG: (NOT SO) RARE EXPORTS
The holiday horror sub-genre has a lot to offer for those who need the macabre to get through the holidays. There’s Silent Night Deadly Night with Robert Brian Wilson portraying the quintessential cinematic beefcake serial killer, Christmas […]
OTTO PREMINGER’S SKIDOO: DON’T MIND THE GENERATION GAP
Few things showcase the late 1960s generation gap like Skidoo. A great place to start when commenting on this attempt made by middle aged men to connect with a thriving new youth culture is the film’s […]
A COLD LOOK AT CANADIAN HORROR IN BRANDON CRONENBERG’S ANTIVIRAL
When Americans think of Canada, they usually think of preternaturally-polite hosers sitting in igloos, drinking Molson or Labatt beer, watching hockey on the CBC as they dunk their Tim Hortons doughnuts in maple syrup, all the while […]
THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T IS A DARK CHILDREN’S TALE THAT DR. SEUSS PROBABLY WISHED WE’D FORGET
My fascination with The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T started a year ago. Like all memorable achievements made in movies, it was Svengoolie who introduced me to it. It had to be when something starring Lon Chaney, […]
1977’S SLAP SHOT IS STILL A ROUGH & TUMBLE TALE OF “OLD TIME HOCKEY” & THE WORKING MAN’S STRUGGLE
October is the first full month of autumn, a time for stylish jackets and sweaters as the air crisps and cools, a celebration of all things Halloween, but it’s also the start of a perennial […]
Grumpire presents: Draculene
About a month before the Grumpire launch, Elbee and I were goofin’ off, drivin’ around, when for some forgotten reason, probably a wordfart, I said “Draculene”…Gasped, paused, then proclaimed that I would design a shirt/poster […]