Critics often refer to Odd Man Out as a political film, but its director Carol Reed believed his film was apolitical. I agree with the latter. Odd Man Out centers on the conflict in Belfast as the IRA (Irish Republican…
Out of the Past: “Blast of Silence” (1961)
Allen Baron, a former cartoonist, was hailed as the “new Orson Welles” after the release of his low budget urban noir Blast of Silence. Baron’s existential noir ran as a second feature and, despite glowing reviews from critics, the film…
Out of the Past: “Blood Simple” (1984)
Blood Simple is about murder and miscalculations. The Cohen Brother’s 1984 film debut is an emotionally brutal and wonderfully twisted noir. If it wasn’t for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre like nauseating and horror visceral quality of the film, much of…
Out of the Past: “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950)
The Asphalt Jungle is filled with clichés: a criminal with a moral code, a double crossing millionaire with a blonde bombshell mistress, a crooked cop, and a heist that goes wrong. In the hand’s of another director, all of this would…
Orson Welles in the 21st Century
By the end of the Great Depression, cinema was at a standstill, sound made the movies into talkies and the invention of Technicolor transported Dorothy into Oz. But sound and color were only aesthetics. Cinematic storytelling was not progressing. Directors…
Out of the Past: “Touch of Evil” (1958)
Orson Welles was not long for Hollywood. Every attempt he made at resurrecting his career was masterful, but ultimately rejected by the studio and audiences alike. Like Jay Gatsby, Welles futilely tried to achieve the unachievable: a return to the…
TV Review: Penny Dreadful (2×01) “Fresh Hell”
When God spoke to Adam after Eve and he had disobeyed his orders and took the fruit given to them by the serpent, Adam and Eve lost the ability to communicate with their father. The Devil took the language of…
