RSS Parrot

House of Usher, 1960 - ★★

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Published: September 21, 2026 13:45

Roger Corman’s low-budget adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher inaugurated his celebrated 1960s Poe cycle. Although the cycle produced several entries, The Masque of the Red Death remains its only real highlight, benefiting from a…

Halloween II, 1981 - ★★

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Published: September 20, 2026 14:10

Rick Rosenthal’s Halloween II picks up directly where John Carpenter’s original left off. Jamie Lee Curtis, with an unconvincing wig, and Donald Pleasence once again face the monstrous, seemingly motiveless killer in another night of terror, though this…

Halloween, 1978 - ★★★½

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Published: September 20, 2026 10:47

John Carpenter’s Halloween is a surprisingly tasteful, grounded, and enjoyable shocker that emphasizes suspense and atmosphere over blood and gore. In many ways, it is a perfectly engineered genre machine, and it had a profound influence on the American…

Gold Diggers of 1933, 1933 - ★★★★½

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Published: September 15, 2026 18:57

Gold Diggers of 1933 is a cheerful, effective, and well-cast musical comedy, adapted from Avery Hopwood’s play and skillfully directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The all-star ensemble includes Dick Powell, Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks, Ginger Rogers, Clarence Nordstrom,…

Goodbye, Columbus, 1969 - ★★★★½

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Published: September 13, 2026 20:58

Goodbye, Columbus, directed by Larry Peerce, is an amusing, bittersweet, and perceptive study of social class, sexuality, and materialism. The film is based on Philip Roth’s award-winning 1959 debut novella. Richard Benjamin, Ali MacGraw, Jack Klugman, and…

Hot Acts of Love, 1975 - ★½

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Published: September 13, 2026 15:40

Jean-Marie Pallardy’s utterly awkward erotic psycho-thriller L’amour aux trousses is ineptly directed, poorly written, erratically edited, and driven by a blatantly incoherent, nonsensical plot. As with much of Pallardy’s early exploitation work, the film…

Unsatisfied, 1972 - ★

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Published: September 12, 2026 21:16

L’Insatisfaite, Jean-Marie Pallardy’s first feature film, starring Danièle Vignault, Michèle Bory, Patrice Cuny, and Georges Guéret, is an exploitation thriller with plenty of tedious sex scenes but very few thrills. Both its premise and plot are…

Victor and Victoria, 1933 - ★★★★★

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Published: September 10, 2026 20:56

Viktor und Viktoria, the German musical comedy written and directed by Reinhold Schünzel, is a charming and exceptionally entertaining cinematic achievement. The entire ensemble cast gives remarkably fresh,and at times boldly unconventional performances.…

Captains Courageous, 1937 - ★★★★★

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Published: September 9, 2026 19:30

Victor Fleming’s Captains Courageous, adapted from Rudyard Kipling’s beloved novel, is a splendid production in every respect and a quintessential example of  Hollywood’s prestige pictures of the 1930s. The cast is stellar: Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer…

Tentacles, 1977 - ★½

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Published: September 8, 2026 10:44

Along with René Cardona Jr.’s ¡Tintorera!, Ovidio G. Assonitis’s Tentacoli is one of the many inept copycats rushed out to capitalize on the massive success of Jaws two years earlier. This wave crystallized into a distinctly Italian genre across the late…

Murder, My Sweet, 1944 - ★★★★½

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Published: September 7, 2026 20:21

Edward Dmytryk’s brilliantly crafted Murder, My Sweet is an adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel Farewell, My Lovely. The film marked a decisive turning point for Dick Powell, transforming him from a romantic crooner into the hardboiled detective Philip…

Crossplot, 1969 - ★★★½

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Published: September 6, 2026 19:06

Crossplot is like an extended Simon Templar episode. It’s nicely paced, with an agreeable plot and starring a delightfully zestful Roger Moore. Alvin Rakoff’s old-fashioned direction is competent and Brendan J. Stafford’s cinematography is clever and…

The Long Hair of Death, 1964 - ★★

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Published: September 6, 2026 13:53

Antonio Margheriti’s I lunghi capelli della morte suffers from sluggish pacing, and Riccardo Pallottini’s cinematography lacks cinematic flair, giving the film too often the flat look of a television production of the same period. This visual dullness…