Blow Out (1981)

A biography of Quentin Tarantino that I owned when I was 15 informed me that Blow Out (1981) was Tarantino’s favourite performance by John Travolta, the film he cited to convince the actor to trust in his comeback with Pulp Fiction (1994). After so many years of hearing that it was great from critics (especially Pauline Kael’s loving review […]

All That Jazz (1979)

I’d been keen to see Bob Fosse’s semi-autobiographical All That Jazz (1979) for awhile and I finally sat down with it over one weekend. Fascinating to watch such a reliable and straight-laced performer like Roy Schneider stretch himself, playing a version of Fosse that is glib, controlling, physical, exhausted and ultimately, a rueful asshole. Some […]

Raising Cain (1993)

John Lithgow running the acting olympics in Raising Cain (1993), doing the most by playing the most characters, both real and/or imagined. Director Brian De Palma’s underrated early ‘90s return to the thriller genre, riffing on Hitchcock and Psycho once again in a story about baby stealing, infidelity and multiple personalities. I’d seen this before […]