Month: November 2002

  • The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 1

    We all serve the greater good in our own way. Some people cure polio. Some build rockets that go to the moon and back. The MST3K guys made unwatchable movies watchable, livening up terrible B-films with zinging commentary and mocking goofball skits during ten seasons on local TV and later on cable. Ordinarily we hate…

  • Stripes, Groundhog Day

    Caddyshack is quoted more often by drunken frat brothers, and Meatballs codified the slacker lifestyle a decade before the word came into use. But the hero of a generation has shined so brightly in so many films, we couldn’t begin to decide which Bill Murray film we like best. (Even his serious turn in Somerset…

  • Talk to Her

    One of the problems with seeing films like Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, Talk To Her, is that it inspires a profound guilt for all the time we’ve wasted on the latest Hollywood drivel. It’s doubly regrettable that this marvelous film will make its way to town during the holiday release frenzy and will probably get lost…

  • Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars

    Although the music on his Ziggy Stardust album is one of David Bowie’s career highs, it was the theatricality surrounding it that was truly revolutionary. His androgynous glam-spaceman persona was stunningly exotic in 1973, and the sense of drama created by the lavishly conceived live shows helped make the Ziggy period one of the most…

  • Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

    Plenty of Hollywood types lead secret lives, but nobody beats the tale spun by Chuck Barris in his 1982 autobiography: He claims that when he wasn’t goofing with Jaye P. Morgan as host of The Gong Show, he was jetting around the world for the CIA, using his cover as a TV producer to mask…

  • “Through the Eyes of The Mummy” and “Portraits of Egypt in Cinema” series

    This sixpack sarcophagus of cinema, screening in conjunction with the MIA’s “Eternal Egypt” exhibit (see our preview, p. 17), offers a half-dozen films showcasing Hollywood’s take on the time of the Pharaohs. While you wouldn’t want to confuse any of these with a history lesson, as sheer entertainment, they ain’t just Cheops liver. Three versions…