A New Leaf (1971)

I’ve been slowly catching up on Elaine May’s films as a director. A New Leaf (1971) was apparently a longer, darker film in her original cut before Robert Evans head of Paramount stepped in to make it more audience friendly – still, despite that, I think it is such a funny, wonderful film. A bit […]

The Hot Rock (1972)

With Robert Redford announcing his retirement after The Old Man And The Gun, hopefully another earlier film where he played a bank robber will get new attention. I remember seeing the ending to The Hot Rock (1972) and loved Redford’s walk to the jazzy score by Quincy Jones. Finally sat down and watched the whole […]

Just One Of The Guys (1985)

Another movie poster I remember seeing in video stores, Just One Of The Guys (1985) is an eighties teen movie with a high concept twist: Terri (Joyce Hyser) wants to be a journalist and is passed over for a summer internship at a newspaper by her teacher’s sexism, so she decides to go undercover as […]

F/X2 (1991)

I used to watch F/X2 (1991) so much when I was a teenager, taped off TV on VHS, more than the first one which starred “our” Bryan Brown as a special effects technician caught up in a criminal plot with Brian Dennehy as the cop after him. The sequel is more upbeat and cartoonish with […]

Girlfriends (1978)

Girlfriends (1978) is a buried treasure of independent cinema whose influence was touted awhile back by Lena Dunham (who held a revival screening and hired director Claudia Weill to helm an episode of Girls). It also feels like the inspiration to filmmakers like Nicole Holofcener, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, etc as it is about […]