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WONG KAR WAI’S ‘HAPPY TOGETHER’“I didn’t think you were so weak…”
© 2018 by James Clark Many folks swear by exotic travel to lift themselves out of doldrums. The duration may be as brief as a week and as long as years. By and large, the voyagers adopt a...
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Blackkklansman and Eighth Grade on Monday Morning Diary (August 13)
by Sam Juliano My family will be departing New Jersey for the NC/SC border (Sunset Beach, just minutes from Myrtle Beach) very early Monday morning, so I won’t be seeing this MMD until I check it on a...
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Sam Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
By J.D. Lafrance Sam Peckinpah spent his career fighting against the Hollywood studio system to make his own distinctive brand of films. Out of all the ones he made only on Bring Me the Head of...
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Michael Mann’s Manhunter
By J.D. Lafrance “Do you think I’m going to see him standing in the street and say, ‘there he is.’ That’s Houdini you’re thinking about. Toothy Fairy’s going to go on until we get smart or get lucky....
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Picture Book Review: The Mud Princess
by Sam Juliano Michigan educator and picture book author Jordan J. Scavone launched his writing career a few years back with the superhero concept book Might-E, a spirited collaboration with Caitlyn...
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Crazy Rich Asians and Eight-Day trip to Sunset Beach, NC on Monday Morning...
by Sam Juliano Summer 2018 is close to becoming a statistic with the new school year, football, autumn leaves and horror film lovers all sending notice that their time of the year is imminent. Here...
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Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid
By J.D. Lafrance In the early 1980s it must’ve seemed like a crazy idea to mix several contemporary actors with clips from classic films into something resembling a coherent story. Even now it seems...
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CLAIRE DENIS’ WHITE MATERIAL “Nothing’s mine. But I’m in charge.”
© 2018 by James Clark Sometimes it pays to be ridiculously late. Years ago, I saw two or three of the films of Claire Denis, and wrote them off (figuratively) as overwrought, Grand Guignol...
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The Searching and Operation Finale on Monday Morning Diary (September 3)
by Sam Juliano Labor Day 2018. Stateside this inexplicable holiday when everything is closed down is the official announcement of summer’s end, but it is rarely acknowledged by Mother Nature who has...
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Tom Tykwer’s The Princess and the Warrior
By J.D. Lafrance After the breakout success of Run Lola Run (1998) established his international reputation, Tom Tykwer reteamed with his leading lady Franka Potente for a follow-up film entitled, The...
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“I Am Not a Witch” on Monday Morning Diary (September 10)
by Sam Juliano Thanks to our film writer J.D. Lafrance for sorting out and re-starting the Twitter feed for the site. As a result traffic has improved. The annual Caldecott Medal Contender series is...
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Sidney Lumet’s Q & A
By J.D. Lafrance Among the many genres prolific filmmaker Sidney Lumet has dabbled in, the one in which he excels and demonstrates the most affinity for is the crime thriller. In particular, he is...
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10th Anniversary Celebration at WitD, Jamie Uhler’s Horror Fest and 2018...
Tenth Anniversary at Wonders in the Dark! Last week we at the film/arts site WONDERS IN THE DARK celebrated our 10th anniversary. So much has been achieved that to list them here would be a Herculean...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Imagine!
by Sam Juliano You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. -John Lennon The Museum of Modern Art, affectionately identified as MOMA is surely the most heterogeneous all New York City art...
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Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets
By J.D. Lafrance Martin Scorsese’s truly great films have all had a personal touch to them. One only has to look at films like Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980) to see a...
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INGMAR BERGMAN’S ‘THE SILENCE’“I wish Ester were dead…”
© 2018 by James Clark Ingmar Bergman’s film, The Silence (1963), is generally understood to be part of a trilogy upon the issue of an absent God. Though it does raise affinities to the film,...
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Princeton Children’s Book Festival; Jamie Uhler’s Horrorfest, White Boy Ricky...
by Sam Juliano The annual New Jersey children’s book bonanza known as the Princeton Book Festival was staged Saturday at Hinds Plaza next to the Princeton Public Library. Jeremy, Sammy IV and I were...
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Bruce Weber’s Let’s Get Lost
By J.D. Lafrance Why do we find ourselves fascinated by people who seem to have it all: good looks, loads of talent, and that special sort of something that elevates them to iconic status? Yet, they...
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Colette, Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival and Horrorfest review of ‘The...
by Sam Juliano A week after Princeton, we attended an even bigger festival up in Chappaqua, New York on Saturday afternoon (where the Clintons have long resided) on the specious grounds of the Bell...
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Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy
By J.D. Lafrance El Topo (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972), Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and Repo Man (1984). These iconic films are examples of “midnight movies” – cinema so outlandish and bizarre...
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