For all its brilliance, the cult television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 lacked two elements that can only be properly experienced via Rifftrax Live, a series of one-night only live theatrical events where MST3K alums Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy,…
‘Horrible Bosses 2’ Review
If Seth Gordon’s Horrible Bosses (2011) was a black comedy akin to such titles as Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Harold and Maude (1971), and Death to Smoochy (2002), Sean Anders’ Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) is more of a screwball…
The Film Canon: Rome, Open City (1945)
Short, stocky, and stoic, Father Pietro Pellegrini smiles rarely and laughs even less. His face fixed into an almost permanent glower, he busies himself taking care of his flock. He accepts indignity with an impassive grace, ignoring the laughs of…
‘Dumb and Dumber To’ Review
Let’s get right to the point: Dumb and Dumber To (2014) is crass, rude, crude, offensive, juvenile, stupid, and lacking in any form of good taste. It is, in a word, perfect. At least devoted fans of the original 1994…
The Film Canon: Pépé le Moko (1937)
Nestled deep in the heart of Algiers is a labyrinthine honeycomb of passages and staircases. Terraces and ceilings melt together into a giant roof that stretches in all directions for miles; streets become roads, roads become alleys, alleys become dead…
The Film Canon: Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922)
In 1919, the Swedish film company Svensk Filmindustri invited a fresh young Danish director named Benjamin Christensen to come to their country and create a documentary on the subject of witchcraft. The task must have seemed to them to be…
The Film Canon: Suspiria (1977)
In a year dominated by uninspired sequels (John Boorman’s Exorcist II: The Heretic), unapologetic knock-offs (Michael Anderson’s Orca and Ovidio G. Assonitis’ Tentacles), and crass exploitation (Joe D’Amato’s Emanuelle in America and Jesús Franco’s Ilsa, the Wicked Warden), three films…
