What makes a movie monster? Is it an enormous scaly apparition with the power to sack Tokyo? Is it an off-the-charts intellectual who dangerously mingles blood lust with fine cuisine? Or is it those demons we dream about -- horrible, green women whose cackling laughs taunt you with lines such as, "I'll get you my pretty!"

 

Of course, it's all of the above and then some. And to everyone there is one "monster" more horrifying than the other. As such, choosing a list of the greatest movie monsters is a difficult, uh, gargantuan process. Alien vs. Predator? Mothra vs. Godzilla? Wolfman vs. Mummy? Liza vs. Oprah?

 

We're thinking of those baddies who've penetrated pop culture in all their unsightly glory. And with exception given to the great finned one, we're sticking to monsters -- those of the supernatural, uber-natural and unnatural form. No "real" people like, say Hannibal Lecter or Leatherface or Henry Lee Lucas (and they are "real" when standing next to fire-breathing lizards), but extraordinary, legendary beasts. We love them, we hate them and, yes, we love to hate them.

 

10. "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954)
He may not be as scary and he may not have spawned as many sequels, but we're partial to the sexed-up webbed one. Gill-Man, as the scientists call him, is a fancy looking reptilian being who appears as a half-human, half-slimy, fish-headed lizard. In Jack Arnold's beautifully photographed film, he's quite the swimmer -- the underwater sequences are famous -- with a soft spot for the ladies (here, the comely Julie Adams) but deadly if you think of invading his home turf.

 

9. "Child's Play" (1998)
Laugh all you want, but Chucky from "Child's Play" -- as camp and silly as he's become -- is one great little movie monster. Why? Because the foul-mouthed redhead with a penchant for pushing baby-sitters out of windows took all that scares us about dolls and turned those fears into one nasty, fun franchise of varied quality. With lingering horror left from movies such as "Dolls," that dreadful clown in "Poltergeist," Anthony Hopkins' dummy in "Magic," or even better, that African devil doll stabbing Karen Black's ankles in "Trilogy of Terror," Chucky embodies every toy we looked twice at when tucking our little sister into bed at night. And he's one cool-looking brute with snarky demonic facial expressions and attitude improving from film to film. Chucky may not be scary anymore, but he's become so lovable we wouldn't mind having one. Well, ok, he does kill people. But still. 

 

8. "Jaws" (1975)
We're breaking the rules just a little in that sharks are not mere fantasy. They are animals you can behold if you surf long enough or if you think dumping bloody meat out of your tiny fishing boat makes for a good time. But Bruce, the Great White of Steven Spielberg's classic, induced so many nightmares that there are still those who won't swim in the ocean because of him. "Jaws" is so compelling that seeing him isn't entirely necessary -- you can hear his "da-dum...da-dum" theme song and get the chills. Either that or the opening of "Airplane!" comes to mind.

 

7. "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925)
All you Andrew Lloyd Webber fans just stop. Please. We're not talking about some heartbroken dude with a face mask like Tom Cruise's in "Vanilla Sky," bellowing out pop opera tunes. We're talking a bona fide scary guy played by a bona fide cinematic genius -- Lon Chaney -- in the 1925 silent picture, "The Phantom of the Opera," that's so effective, so creepy, even those who'd never thought they'd stray from talkies are freaked out. And we admit he's something of a stretch given that he doesn't grow via radiated sewer water in the opera house to take over Paris and stomp every competing opera singer. Still, in Chaney's brilliant hands (he did his own beautifully ghastly makeup), he is a monster. A gloomy guy, but a monster nonetheless.

 

6. "Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984)
His face is all melted, burned skin. He's equipped with Lee Press-On Nails by way of Ginsu and he only shows up when you're sleeping. Oh, and he's a child molester. In case you've not seen the movies (is that possible?), then we're talking about that silver-tongued devil Freddy Krueger from the popular "Nightmare on Elm Street" series. Though he's become more of a quipster through time, he did begin as one twisted freak. We should all remember that next time we break out the Freddy doll for the kiddies -- a doll! Have we not forgotten what he did to deserve the torch?

 

5. "Them!" (1954)
More than 50 years have passed and those gargantuan ants from "Them!" (great title) still remain chilling. A little funny, sure, but watch the entire movie: those fearsome critters outdo much of the new CGI monsters of today. Hatched from the A-bomb (when will we ever learn?), ants the size of street sweepers, mutated from radiation, are fighting for survival and domination. What makes "Them!" so significant isn't just the superior quality of the monsters but how influential they were in insect movies to come. Our favorite homage is that misunderstood bit of brilliance, "Starship Troopers," in which insects aptly show what they could really do when huge -- tear you to bloody pieces! 

 

Read the rest of my monsters here.

 

And Happy Halloween!

 

Some films become such cult phenomena that through time, with increased popularity and critical appreciation, you wonder if they should be categorized as bona fide cult films anymore. If they, for instance, make the American Film Institute’s top 100 greatest comedies, ranked in between “My Man Godfrey” and “Manhattan,” do they lose their quirky appeal? When it comes to Hal Ashby’s charming, funny, poignant, death-obsessed yet life-affirming “Harold and Maude,” the answer is gloriously no. The cult still stands.

 

The next time the picture plays your local revival house, go see for yourself. The beloved movie still draws a cult — not an obvious one, not one dressed in costumes or yelling lines back at the screen, but a crowd of fans who carry a personal association with the picture. Many go by themselves, but many bring friends, dates, neighbors, whomever, partially to watch a unique movie, partially to show a side of themselves and partially to test a loved one. It’s hard not to think that if someone close to you doesn’t like “Harold and Maude,” he or she might not like you.

 

But then a lot of people didn’t like the movie when it was first released. Viewers were weirded out, critics didn’t get it and the studio was, no doubt, frightful of a May-December romance involving not just an older woman but an old woman. Thank goodness for those who adored the picture, keeping it alive.

Bud Cort plays Harold, a wealthy, death-fixated 20-year-old who haunts funerals, converts his nifty little sports car into a hearse and generally taxes his droll mother (Vivian Pickles) with his elaborately staged fake suicide attempts. Ruth Gordon plays Maude, a 79-year-old free spirit who drives any car she sees, saves sick trees and most importantly, believes in living. As they say, opposites attract, and Harold and Maude fall in love, to the consternation of society.

 

And that could have been that — a picture created merely to shake viewers up with a coupling one never sees in movies, much less in real life. But Ashby (who directed other brilliant gems like “The Last Detail,” “Shampoo” and “Being There”) showed he had more on his mind, crafting a small masterpiece that blends black comedy with genuine emotion without ever feeling cloying. Wonderfully acted, beautifully filmed, brilliantly edited and amazingly scored (with now classic songs written and performed by Cat Stevens), “Harold and Maude” is, perhaps oddly, one of the sweetest movies you’ll ever see about death.

 

Read and vote for other cult movies including "A Clockwork Orange" and "Repo Man" here.

 

Most all of the classic movie stars have their impersonators -- we've seen them so much that, after time, they become just too easy. There's the Bette Davis camp in all their bitchy, clipped speech, swirling cigarette glory. There's loads of Katharine Hepburns, ranging from comedic Martin Short routines (as Hepburn's "cousin" running a hot dog stand) to Oscar winning Cate Blanchett performances ("The Aviator"). And, of course, there's the overdrawn Joan Crawfords with their requisite (and rather unfair) battle cry of, "No wire hangers!" But where, pray tell, are the Barbara Stanwyck vamps? Considering her exhaustive, genre-hopping career; her iconic performances; her sexy, clever, plain-speaking glamour; and her sheer brilliance as an actress, surely the great lady has earned a few.

 

But I've only seen one stab at Babs, hilariously and appropriately in Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye." It's by a male Malibu gatekeeper, who screws his face into a perplexed Phyllis Dietrichson (from "Double Indemnity") and repeats: "I don't understand it. I just don't understand it." Watching that, I realize one reason why Miss Stanwyck isn't aped with frequency: She is, fittingly, one tough babe to crack.

 

The actress, whose birth centennial is this year (she died in 1990), had such singular style while exhibiting an expansive range that moved through melodrama, screwball, noir, Western and television with seeming effortlessness. A rare blend of leading lady and character actor, Stanwyck possessed something usually reserved for men like James Stewart or Jack Nicholson: an offbeat sex appeal that was as recognizable as it was mysterious. And yet, aside from devoted cinephiles, we hear less of Stanwyck than the ladies mentioned above. Hopefully that will start to change. With the release of her first DVD box set ("Barbara Stanwyck: The Signature Collection") we're honoring the woman's career with her greatest performances, a difficult task because, well, we can't find a performance that isn't great. With that, here's 10 (OK, 11) that are not only brilliant, but also make us, like Henry Fonda in "The Lady Eve," a little cockeyed.

 

Here's my ten:

 

10. "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" (1946)
Looking at Barbara Stanwyck's long, impressive career, I realize how tough it is to choose 10 of her greatest performances. From tense thrillers like "Jeopardy" to her fine work with Frank Capra ("Meet John Doe" and "The Miracle Woman" among them) to her less discussed movies (like her wonderfully tortured turn in "Crime of Passion"), I feel guilty leaving so many out. But I will say that Stanwyck's tormented, dominating performance in Lewis Milestone's noir "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" is one of my favorites. Stanwyck plays the title role opposite a studly Van Heflin and a wimpy Kirk Douglas, and she's almost alarmingly powerful. As the domineering Martha, a wealthy woman married to a recently elected district attorney (Douglas), Stanwyck seethes with a sick viciousness that, as ugly as it becomes, never appears entirely inhuman. Her marriage is loveless, resulting in extensive cheating and a rage she takes out on a milquetoast drunkard Douglas. She also harbors a secret that Heflin, whom she's still in love with, is privy to, and both she and Douglas spend the picture scheming, fighting and experiencing a series of stinging nervous breakdowns. Stanwyck has a field day displaying neurotic bitterness with a deep sadness that's so intense it becomes fascinatingly sick.

 

Read my entire top ten here.

 

In Stanley Kubrick's cinematic universe reality, dreams, order and insanity progress on distinct, intersecting planes. Whether he was depicting an absurd, chillingly real war room in"Dr. Strangelove," the disturbing but oddly sexy ultra violence of an Orwellian future in "A Clockwork Orange," the siren call of insanity in "The Shining," or the hyper fantastical yet authentic Vietnam War in "Full Metal Jacket," life was a surreal work in progress – nearly an ambiguous joke that veered from hilarious to sexy to terrifying, sometimes within seconds. 

 

And attempting to understand order, or how any system designed to make our universe more rational or safe seems fruitless. I love how Sterling Hayden approaches this predicament at the end of "The Killing." He watches his life literally fly away on an airport tarmac and bitterly spits one of cinema’s greatest last lines:  “Eh, what’s the difference?”

 

Which brings me to the final line of Kubrick’s frequently misunderstood "Eyes Wide Shut" in which Nicole Kidman states rather flatly...

 

Read the rest of my piece on  "Eyes Wide Shut" which comes out today in a special edition on DVD within the new Kubrick Box Set.

 

 

Gore trumped laughs over the weekend with "Saw IV" making a killing (I can't believe I wrote that...) at the box office, placing Steve Carrell's comedy "Dan in Real Life" at number two. 

 

I'm thinking that part of "Saw's" slice and dice success has something to do with Halloween (which is Wednesday, so get your candy or rather, replace the bags you've already eaten before then) but the Jigsaw Killer movies are popular no matter what the season (or the reason).

 

Here's the top five movies over the weekend:

 

1. "Saw IV" -- $32.1M

 

2. "Dan in Real Life" -- $12M

 

3. "30 Days of Night" -- $6.7M

 

4. "The Game Plan" -- $6.3M

 

5. "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?" -- $5.7M

 

From Sean Nelson's list of ten of the worst accents uttered by actors in movies:

 

Friends, there's an elephant in the room. And when I say "room," I mean the movie theaters and TV screens of America, and when I say "elephant," I mean Russell Crowe. Specifically the unforgivably broad, unforgettably bad Noo Yawk accent he has saddled himself with in the trailer for Ridley Scott's "American Gangster." I have no quarrel with Crowe under normal circumstances. I've seen almost every movie he's done since "Romper Stomper" in 1992. I'll probably go see "Gangster." But that accent signifies, with almost utter certainty, that at least his portion of it is going to suck.

 

I don't know why I'm such a stickler for accents, but there's nothing that can spoil an otherwise good film/performance faster than a mangled or grossly inaccurate or -- worst of all -- inconsistent dialect. I suppose it's because, well, what the hell else do these actors have to worry about? After all, it's not like they don't have coaches on set to help them remember how Irish is different from English (forget about why Dublin is different from Ulster), why Queens is different from Brooklyn, why Texas and Alabama aren't the same drawl. But somehow -- whether it's directors being too scared to criticize them, lack of preparation time, or just medium talent -- stars still find ways to botch the job. And now they must pay.

 

Here is a list of the 10 most egregious examples of bad accents to ever maim a motion picture. They are in no particular order, and if you have some other candidates, please send them our way.

 

Dick Van Dyke, "Mary Poppins" (1964)
Yes, it hurts to lay the smack down on Bert, the lovable chimney sweep from this justly beloved children's film, but guess what: If you're searching for the all-time standard for judging poor dialect delivery, you need look no further. Granted, in the '60s, the idea of a screen actor, let alone a renowned comedian like Van Dyke, actually working to make his character's accent believable was something of a novelty. And no way could any of them have guessed that videotapes and DVD would arrive to put their shoddy work on display for all time. But that's no excuse. It's a testament to Van Dyke's native lovability that the film and his rancid performance remain perennial family treasures. That said, I still have nightmares about the way he says "puntin' own da Tems."

 

Read his entire list (with a special tribute to Kevin Costner) here.

 

--The critics on Steve Carrell's latest picture, "Dan In Real Life" -- sitcomish but surprisingly rewarding or, sitcomish and typically mediocre. Choose your side.

 

-- Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" is out and some critics are calling it a return to form for the 83-year-old director. Considering that form includes "Dog Day Afternoon," "Network" and "Prince of the City" that's some seriously high praise.

 

-- Yes, there is indeed another "Saw" picture (they're up to four). Who the hell is even in this one? Gary Busey? Oh, no Tobin Bell. Too bad -- Gary Busey would be totally freaking scary, even in a "Saw" movie. Speaking of Busey, why isn't "Carny" on DVD?

 

From the moment I heard one peep (or squack) about this redo, I've been complaining about the Michael Bay remake of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" (starring Naomi Watts and directed by Martin Campbell). Now that I've learned a bit more, the whole thing just gets extra stupid.    

 

Bright Lights After Dark has a little more information on the picture, making the project all the more worrisome. According to C. Jerry Kutner (who is all kinds of right): 

 

"On the other hand, some of the changes from the original that I’ve heard the filmmakers are contemplating sound equally disastrous. Where Hitchcock deliberately withheld any explanation of why the birds were attacking, I understand the present filmmakers are considering blaming it all on the degradation of the environment, climate change, and so on. While this might have the advantage of political correctness, I believe it would seriously diminish the power of the story. It would be like grafting a science fictional explanation onto Kafka’s Metamorphosis - 'Because scientists had injected him with cockroach DNA, Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to find himself transformed into a giant beetle ...'

 

"If Universal really wants to make more money off of their property, they should reissue the 1963 original in digitalized 3-D. Can you imagine seeing all those birds flying around you in the movie theater? Awesome."

 

That is such a great idea. And of course it will never happen.

 

--posted by Kim 

From Tom Keogh's story on doomed rock stars in movies at MSN: 

 

Someone once asked Dick Clark, the legendary radio DJ and "American Bandstand" TV host, what he considered the major cause of rock star deaths.

Clark, who knew many late, great rock-'n'-roll musicians of the 1950s, '60s and beyond, might have listed the sordid obvious: drugs, suicide, murder, general debauchery. Instead, he mentioned something tragically ordinary: transportation.

 

Why not? After all, airplanes took out Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Rick Nelson and several members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Duane Allman and his Allman Brothers Band cohort, Berry Oakley, both died in motorcycle accidents. Marc Bolan and Eddie Cochran were killed in cars.

 

But the truth is, rock stars die prematurely in all kinds of sad ways. Often their lives and deaths are portrayed and explored in films, including several movies in the current release pipeline. Among them are a long-awaited Janis Joplin biopic, "Gospel According to Janis," starring Zooey Deschanel; "Chapter 27," the story of John Lennon's encounter with his assassin, Mark David Chapman; and "Control," a portrait of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, who killed himself at age 23. (Curtis also appeared as a character in Michael Winterbottom's remarkable "24 Hour Party People" in 2002.)

 

Films about doomed rock stars -- real and imagined -- may never be in short supply. Here are some of the best.

 

10. "Biggie and Tupac" (2002) and "Tupac: Resurrection" (2003)

Nick Broomfield's powerful "Biggie and Tupac" is a damning documentary linking the murders of rap pioneers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls (aka The Notorious B.I.G.) to hip-hop's notorious East Coast/West Coast feud. Much of Broomfield's investigation focuses on the work of Russell Poole, an ex-cop who has evidence that the Los Angeles police department obscured its relationship with Los Angeles gangs and Death Row Records, the rap label run by Marion "Suge" Knight.

The Oscar-nominated "Tupac: Resurrection," by Lauren Lazin, is a persuasive if controversial biography about Shakur's life and evolution as a poet, told almost entirely -- using video clips and other archival materials -- from the perspective of his self-discovery. The film is honest about Shakur's contradictions and struggles to reconcile conflicting elements in his life, but it doesn't go out of its way to paint what a lot of non-fans would consider a balanced picture of his words versus his deeds. Still, Shakur had a voice, and it is captured here. Nick Broomfield's powerful "Biggie and Tupac" is a damning documentary linking the murders of rap pioneers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls (aka The Notorious B.I.G.) to hip-hop's notorious East Coast/West Coast feud. Much of Broomfield's investigation focuses on the work of Russell Poole, an ex-cop who has evidence that the Los Angeles police department obscured its relationship with Los Angeles gangs and Death Row Records, the rap label run by Marion "Suge" Knight. 

 

Read the entire list here.

 

Over at Entertainment Weekly, Adam B. Vary has written an essay concerning the state of gay cinema in Hollywood.  According to Vary "Brokeback Mountain" has changed little in terms of gay themes in movies and TV is proving to be a much more gay friendly environment.

 

Vary wrote:

 

"But Brokeback was more than a movie. It was a phenomenon that commanded the cultural conversation for months, from Jay Leno to YouTube to the cover of The New Yorker. More important, it proved that straight audiences would snap up tickets to a same-sex romance. Since then, a few gay-themed films have been released (e.g., 'Notes on a Scandal'). But seemingly no studio — nor any studio art-house division — has greenlit a film with a gay lead character. 'I don't think any studio responded by saying, Quick, dust off whatever gay dramas we have!' says one former studio head. As surprising as it seemed that 'Brokeback' could lose the Oscar to 'Crash,' the real shock is just now setting in: 'Brokeback' may have changed nothing."

 

Read the entire essay here.

 

The Independent has come up with a fine list of film's greatest endings. Obviously, if you haven't seen the movies, you've been warned with a major spoiler alert. Look at the list with one eye closed so you don't surprise yourself.

 

Here's number ten on their list:

 

"'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three'

(US 1974, dir. Joseph Sargent)

This so-so group-in-jeopardy thriller stars Walter Matthau as a New York Transit Authority chief forced to deal with a crisis: a subway train has been hijacked and its passengers held to ransom. The gang, led by a somewhat mechanical Robert Shaw, have already executed two hostages, and Matthau has the job of negotiating with them.

 

"In the course of their fraught exchanges via radio, Matthau can hear that one hijacker (Martin Balsam) has a heavy cold, and occasionally interrupts his boss with a loud sneeze. 'Gesundheit!' says Matthau distractedly. Cut to the movie's endgame: all the hijackers are dead, apart from Balsam, who has somehow escaped with the loot and hastily hidden it in his kitchen. Matthau and his partner arrive to interview him – a standard suspect because he's actually a subway train driver – and seem to have drawn a blank: Balsam claims to have been home with a cold all day, so he couldn't have been hijacking a train. Matthau is out the door and mentally striking the suspect off his list when, suddenly, Balsam sneezes. Gesundheit! Matthau's head pokes round the door again – he's busted. A superb final twist: it deserves that house in Bel Air."

 

Read their entire list here.

 

Oh my goodness...it's Drew Barrymore as Little Edie.

 

I'm assuming (I hope!) she's playing a younger Edie here before she appeared in the documentary "Grey Gardens" (that's Edith Beale at left) and she looks, as Edie did, very pretty but I'm having a hard time processing this. 

 

How does she sound? Can she handle the specifically Edie mannerisms? Is she going to pull off the revolutionary costumes? Can she do the dances properly? Will she possibly not overact? Oh my God...does Drew understand the huge responsibilty she has on her hands? Does she realize that she's not dealing with just any kind of fan, she's dealing with "Grey Garden" fans -- people who fancy themselves like Edie, as "staunch characters"?

 

Don't mess this up Barrymore!

 

And, as always, if you haven't seen "Grey Gardens" by David and Albert Maysles, do yourself a favor and track it down. 

 

You'll understand the great concern over Drew discussing "Marble Fauns" and finding "that Scorpio Man."  And yes, I need a valium.

 

--posted by Kim 

Since both Ryan Gosling and Mark Wahlberg are talented this seems like an equal trade. And thinking further, Wahlberg is the right age for the role. From MSN:

 

"One day before shooting began, Mark Wahlberg stepped in to replace Ryan Gosling in 'The Lovely Bones,' the Peter Jackson-directed adaptation of the Alice Sebold novel for DreamWorks.

 

"Wahlberg has taken the role of Jack Salmon, the grieving father of a young girl. That role was vacated Friday by 'Lars and the Real Girl' star Ryan Gosling, who stepped out after gaining 20 pounds and growing a beard for the job. Sources attributed the exit to creative differences.

 

"After reading the script, Wahlberg quickly committed Sunday. He joins Rachel Weisz as a couple whose world is shattered after their daughter is murdered. The girl watches over her family and her killer from heaven. Jackson wrote the script with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens."

 

If there actually were any, I wonder what the creative differences were about?

 

We all knew this was going to happen and we'll have to find our way of dealing with it:

 

"Universal Pictures has snapped up the rights to 'Heavier Than Heaven,' Charles Cross' 2001 biography of late Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain. The film will be scripted by 'Troy'/'25th Hour' screenwriter David Benioff, and co-executive-produced by Cobain's widow Courtney Love."

 

But that title.

 

I know it has something to do with Nirvana's UK tour with the band Tad but it still sounds like the alternate title to "Walk Hard." And that movie is, as you know, a joke.

 

--posted by Kim 

Audiences yearning for blood sucking scares (and probably getting few of them-- are vampires ever that scary anymore?) flocked to "30 Days of Night" over the weekend.

 

The picture received mixed reviews -- some critics hailed the horror movie as scary as "The Descent" (I say, no way) and some were simply bored by it all.  Others, like Brian Tallerico of UGO, issued a warning for potential viewers. He wrote: " Your enjoyment of Hollywood's latest vampire flick, '30 Days of Night,' is largely going to depend on how forgiving you are towards the flaws of the 'Underworld' movies."

 

For screwing up vampires vs. werewolves, I am not so forgiving. Nevertheless, I'm still catching a decidedly unfrightening matinee this week to see if the concept of eternal life, endless days of sleeping in and speaking with a Romanian lilt is at all scary to me. Though to be fair, "30 Days of Night" looks more like a zombie picture, and zombies are scary.

 

And don't get me wrong, I love great vampire pictures like "Dracula" (both Bela Lugosi and Gary Oldman) and "Interview with a Vampire," and F.W. Murnau's masterpiece "Nosferatu" actually frightens me. But a campy Stuart Townsend in a puffy shirt? Not so much. Maybe it's just me, but if I was going to walk the earth forever, I wouldn't buy all of my clothes at Hot Topic.

 

 

1. "30 Days of Night"-- $16M

 

2. "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?"-- $12.1M

 

3. "The Game Plan" -- $8.1M

 

4. "Michael Clayton" -- $7.1M

 

5. "Gone Baby Gone" -- $6M

 

 

"Well, on the other hand, I've got a bathing suit under my dress... "

 

--Deborah Kerr, "From Here to Eternity"

 

"A combination of the demure and the sexy, Kerr received an Oscar nomination for her role in From Here to Eternity and went on to star opposite the macho Mitchum in 'Heaven Knows Mr Allison' and the 'Sundowners.'

 

"In another box office hit, she played Anna Leonowens in the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I. Kerr even played a Bond girl in the 1967 version of 'Casino Royale.'

 

"While the gold statue may have eluded her, she was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1993 in recognition of the 'perfection, discipline and elegance' of her screen work."

Rest in peace Miss Kerr.

 

Here’s something film lovers need to be reminded of in our “Kill Bill,” “Resident Evil,” “Charlie’s Angels” movie-watching times: Tough babes have been gracing the big screen for a long time. Though fewer furious femmes saw the light of celluloid in the earlier days of film than they do now, they were indeed around — some with more grit, gusto and attitude than their modern kick-butt sisters.

 

Examples? Try curvy hand-to-hand combat killer Tura Satana in “Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” or karate-chopping Pam Grier in “Coffy” or Faye Dunaway’s iconic tommy-gun–wielding Bonnie Parker in “Bonnie and Clyde.”

But my favorite, and truly the greatest womanly wonder, came back in 1950 when the unforgettable Peggy Cummins shot her way through the classic film noir “Gun Crazy.”

 

With the more explanatory alternative title of "Deadly Is the Female" (“Gun Crazy” is a lot more evocative), Joseph H. Lewis’ seminal noir features a mild-mannered but gun-obsessed John Dall falling for ultimate bad girl Cummins after watching her sharpshooting skills at a local carnival. When you see this scene (which could also rank as one of the sexiest in cinema), you can’t blame his immediate infatuation. Clad in a cowgirl outfit, the mysterious blonde hits her targets, even, in the film’s most obviously erotic moment, between her legs.

 

An ace shot himself, the lanky Dall challenges Cummins, and the two gun nuts fall swiftly in love, marry, and to their demise, go astray after the hotheaded babe convinces Dall to couple up on some robberies.

 

Though it certainly helps that the movie is so brilliantly filmed, featuring nonstop action and loads of shooting, the presence of a female who, though toxic, asserts such authority, is especially intriguing here. Beautiful femme fatale Cummins, whose affair with guns equals anger, sex and power, is a potent symbol of female frustration and eventual rage — something you clearly don’t want to cross. And though complex and ultimately tragic, the picture is oozing with sex appeal from not just guns, but guns in the hands of a tough-as-nails woman.

 

The quintessence of a pistol-packin’ mama, Peggy Cummins reigns as the numero uno violent femme.

 

Read two other odes to gals with guns (and vote for your favorite) here.

 

I love that Ben Kingsley literally looks at what's inside his DVD player.

 

From Sean Axmaker's column:

 

"MSN Movies: What's in your DVD player?

 

"Ben Kingsley: I'm literally having a look now. What have I got? 'La Captive.' I really loved it. It's by Chantal Akerman and it's based on a Proust novel. Oh dear, I'm not being very popular here, am I? I'm sorry. It's absolutely beautiful. The way the French keep the camera on something and don't move it for a very, very, very long time, I find absolutely enthralling."

 

Read the rest of this terrific interview here.

 

Though the term is sometimes discussed with disdain by elitists, the actor-turned-director has proven to be an impressive evolution (or merging) since the beginning of cinema. From film pioneers like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin to innovators like Orson Welles, Elia Kazan and John Cassavetes to icons like Warren Beatty, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood to major stars like Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson and Tom Hanks, an impressive array of directors have worked both sides of the camera with distinction. Add actors such as Sean Penn (who has made some great pictures, including his latest, "Into the Wild"), Denzel Washington and Sarah Polley into the mix and you'll see that the double-duty directors are a talented brood that appears to be increasing.

 

The newest addition to this multitasking film family is Ben Affleck, whose bleak adaptation of Dennis Lehane's "Gone Baby Gone," starring brother Casey, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, is already garnering positive buzz. So, with Affleck's work from the director's chair in mind, we're looking at some of cinema's most interesting movies directed by actors. Excluding actors largely associated with their directed work (which leaves off filmmakers and actors like Keaton, Kazan, Cassavetes, Eastwood, Woody Allen and more), we're focusing on filmmakers who surprised, inspired and impressed with their unique turns behind the camera. Some made just one film, others crafted more, but all brought something unique to a screen they know so well.

 

 

10. "One-Eyed Jacks" (1961)

Director: Marlon Brando

Famous (and infamous) for being Marlon Brando's lone stab at directing, "One-Eyed Jacks" has remained underrated, underseen and misunderstood since its messy release. Coming in an era when the creative actor (and sometimes genius) would find difficulties in many of his roles, it's not surprising that when problems arose he simply decided to direct himself in this creative Western -- and replace Stanley Kubrick no less. The picture began with a rocky start -- first with "Twilight Zone" creator Rod Serling's initial rejected treatment; second with Sam Peckinpah's nixed screenplay (Kubrick didn't like it, so Brando fired Peckinpah); and third with new scripter Calder Willingham, who, with Kubrick, was also eventually canned. That left Brando to hire himself as director, resulting in a four-hour cut that was extensively trimmed by Paramount to 141 minutes. The story finds bank-robbing Brando facing off with his ex-partner and betrayer (Karl Malden) -- a man who became a "respectable" sheriff while Brando served five years in a Mexican prison. After Brando escapes and learns what Malden's been up to, he seeks revenge, resulting in an affair with Malden's adopted daughter (played by Pina Pellicer), a situation with the imitable Timothy Carey, and a final showdown with Malden. Though many critics find the film aimless and overly long, the picture, even with its messy backstory and clipped final product, remains an interesting, moody, richly realized Western that is, not surprisingly, beautifully acted by Brando and Malden.

 

Read my entire list here.

 

 

From "The Searchers," to "The Magnificent Ambersons" to "Munich" to "Lolita" and then some, Screengrab found eleven awful scenes in eleven otherwise "great" movies.

 

Here's one of their mentions:

 

"Simon Oakland Explains It All For You, PSYCHO (1960)

 

"Alfred Hitchcock played games with viewer expectations all the way through his groundbreaking shocker, but surrendered to the squarest Drama 101 impulse in the final reel when, having given the entire theater audience a collective heart attack, he wheeled Simon Oakland on to deliver an endless lecture explaining Norman Bates. The other characters onscreen seem rapt, too, though you might expect that at this point the only question they'd want or need answered would be, 'You did triple-check the ties on his straight-jacket, right?' Some part of Hitchcock must have rebelled at what he was doing, because when the psychiatrist finally runs out of balloon juice and Hitch cuts to Anthony Perkins looking into the camera, smiling what Norman imagines to be his reassuringly harmless-looking smile, it undercuts the speech completely, reminding us that some things are way beyond anyone's ablity to explain them."

 

Read their entire list here and here.