The Ninth Gate
"The Ninth Gate" returns director Roman Polanski to the supernatural turf previously tread in such earlier efforts as "Repulsion" and "Rosemary’s Baby." ("The Fearless Vampire Killers" played up more of the laughs [...]
Articles by Ed Peters
Outside The Law / Shadows
His success defied the conventional wisdom of the time. Movie stars during the period looked like John Gilbert or Rudolph Valentino. The great two-reeler clowns relied on physical elan rather than a chiseled chin and piercing eyes. Yet, with his craggy [...]
The Daytrippers
Imagine the Hope & Crosby ’Road’ pictures cross-pollinated with the Manhattan angst of Woody Allen and you have a beginning marker for ’The Daytrippers.’ Hope Davis plays Eliza D’Amico, a Long Island housewife whose life is turned upside [...]
Play It To The Bone
Splicing ’Pulp Fiction’-esque gab with the feel-good ethos of the ’Rocky’ saga, ’Play It To The Bone’ charms as an insightful dramedy from writer/director Ron Shelton (’Bull Durham’). Fate intercedes in the over-the-hill lives of [...]
The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad
Special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen has fueled nightmares and daydreams for over 40 years. While today’s filmmakers need small armies of technicians to wave their digital wands, Ray was a one-man special effects house, supplying fantastic visions to [...]
The Twelve Chairs
Satisfying as well as infuriating, the movies of Mel Brooks invariably swing between affectionate parody ("Young Frankenstein") and vulgar spoofs ("Blazing Saddles"). Yet he is not afraid to sprinkle in commentary about the human [...]
Seven Days In May
Sandwiched between the paranoia classic ’The Manchurian Candidate’ and the Faustian shocker ’Seconds, ’ John Frankenheimer’s gripping political thriller ’Seven Days In May’ debuts on DVD with a spiffy looking transfer and a thoroughly [...]
Modern Times
Charlie Chaplin would have loved digital filmmaking. Watch his films (especially the Mutual two-reelers) and you see an artist in love with the technology of movies. When film was not malleable enough, only then did he resort to props (e.g. the shoe [...]
