REVIEW: Fear and Desire [1953]

“Rafts always float” I love that legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick began his career with a dud so misguided he was rumored to have tried to destroy every print in existence. In his words it was a “bumbling amateur film exercise” and he’s not wrong. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering he was a twenty-five year old recently quit photographer from Look magazine with two short films under his belt. Unlike Quentin Tarantino‘s My Best Friend’s Birthday, however, Fear and Desire wasn’t some movie made on a whim. Kubrick…

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REVIEW: The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre [1967]

“I gotta go pay a bill” Known to me by his “King of B-Movies” reputation, Roger Corman was always a guy I equated with low-budget horror. So, it was a surprise to see him as director of The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, a film steeped in the historical fiction of late-1920s American gang warfare. It’s Al Capone versus Bugs Moran, both vying to control the dissemination and profit of prohibition speakeasy alcohol, each looking to rid themselves of irksome competition while acquiring vengeance for body counts accumulated on either side.…

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