Tag: movies
Seattle, 1965: When a teenager could see three films and three bands for 99 Cents, then sneak into an adult movie
“How did they ever make a movie of Lolita for persons over eighteen years of age?” For two and a half years, I had been wanting an answer to that question, and was beginning to think I wasn’t going to find out until I turned eighteen. Then, while browsing the newspaper’s movie section on a…
Only in the 80s: Five upbeat 80s films you may not have seen
Whether you think back on 80s cinema favourably or not, it can’t be denied that one of the distinct characteristics of films from this decade is “fun”. Even the more challenging or serious 80s films, like Blue Velvet (1986) or The Shining (1980), had more colour or were, somehow, easier to watch. The stories were zanier, genres were broader, but…
A trip to “The Pictures”: Watching movies in Post-WWII London
In London’s working class districts, during the late 1950s and well into the late 1960s, you did not hear the phrase ‘going to the cinema’. It would always be ‘going to the pictures’, or the common slang term, ‘the flicks’. This was a hangover from the earliest days of silent film, when the flickering of…
Dilip Kumar: The Chekhovian amateur who redefined acting
Anton Chekhov revolutionised modern playwriting and short stories. And he is one my favorite writers. Thus, I remember being confused when I first read that Hemingway had said the following about him: “Chekhov wrote about 6 good stories. But he was an amateur writer”. I have never quite been able to understand why Hemingway called…
Thank You, Mr. Welles: Definitive actor, consummate director, and true auteur
Orson Welles is considered by many to be the greatest film maker in history. I do not necessarily agree with that, although I do consider him to be one of the greatest actors of all time. His voice alone is worth a career, let alone his charismatic presence in a film. As a very young…