Latest Columns & Features

BEST OF 2011 CHOICES FROM FIR’S WRITERS

The writers of Films In Review choose their favorite films, DVD’s, and BluRays of 2011. With selections by Roy Frumkes, Mark Gross, Glenn Andreiev, Bryan Layne, Ben Peeples, David Guglielmo, and Oren Shai.

CAMP DAVID NOVEMBER 2011: REFLECTIONS ON DEMILLE BY JOHN CARRADINE

In the late 80′s the archivist and author John Kobal began in earnest to create a large coffee table book to honor the films of Cecil B De Mille. He chose to call it DEMILLE AND HIS ARTISTS. John had the full cooperation of the DeMille estate and the surviving heirs of De Mille himself. [...]

INTERVIEW: SID HAIG

The sixties ushered peace, love, and war into American society and as this volatility raged and stung at the hearts of the populace, couch potatoes in American living rooms were unwittingly transmitted a new face of a hood, a terrorist, an all-around bad guy. Embodying psychos and mad doctors and zombies and those that go bump in the night, like a seal of approval, today Sid Haig is the face of horror.

INDIE CORNER NOV 2011

I’ve been watching a lot of films submitted to me by talented film-makers, who usually make genre films (horror or science fiction) on zero budgets. I make films with budgets lower than a pregnant ant, so I can relate. What bothers me is that most of these film-makers make films that are imitating Hollywood successes…

HALLOWEEN TRICKS AND TREATS 2011

It appears the studio Archives are doing the heavy lifting this year. Some exquisite delights and rare turkeys have crept out of the vaults by the way of internet orders. Doled out the old, traditional way, as well as an archive item or two, are the following titles, which are causes for rejoicing and/or cautious consideration…

BEN-HUR BLU-RAY BONANZA

Warner Bros has released the much-awaited BEN-HUR BluRay Ultimate Collector’s Edition, having undergone a million dollar renovation by Ned Price and team, and a tasteful, impressive feat of packaging. Billed as the 50th Anniversary release, it’s a few years late, but one can assume it was in production for those extra years, and now it’s [...]

CAMP DAVID OCTOBER 2011: A COCKTAIL BAR ON FIGUEROA

EDIE’S: A COCKTAIL BAR ON FIGUEROA Sometime during the summer of 1982 I found myself at Duke’s Tropicana Café, then located on Santa Monica Boulevard. Duke’s had become a Hollywood rock-and-roll institution since both Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin had nursed many a hangover within its greasy walls and booths during the summer of ’68, [...]