Capsules Blog

THE DAMNED — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, Cult Film, FIVE STARS, Historical Epic, Horror, Italian Cinema, Political History, sex, Sexploitation, SHOCKTOBER!, Transgressive Cinema, True Crime, War, Women's Cinema

October 17, 2023

That Visconti’s iconic vision became a cinematic touchstone for other influential filmmakers is a testament to the Italian director’s lasting…

ZODIAC — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, FIVE STARS, Horror, Serial Killer, SHOCKTOBER!, True Crime, Women's Cinema

October 17, 2023

Towering performances from Jake Gyllenhaal (as staff newspaper political cartoonist Robert Graysmith), and Mark Ruffalo (as famed homicide Inspector David…

STRANGE BEHAVIOR — SHOCKTOBER!

Australian Cinema, Capsules Blog, Cult Film, Horror, Ozploitation, SHOCKTOBER!

October 17, 2023

Here is a campy B-horror movie with some very funny moments. Ozploitation lives! Cole Smithey.

WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT — SHOCKTOBER!

Animation, Capsules Blog, Children's Cinema, Classic Cinema, Cult Film, FIVE STARS, Horror, SHOCKTOBER!, Women's Cinema

October 17, 2023

British Claymation geniuses Nick Park and Steve Box bring to life their best-loved characters Wallace (voiced by veteran actor Peter…

PEEPING TOM — SHOCKTOBER!

British Cinema, Capsules Blog, Cult Film, FIVE STARS, Horror, Serial Killer, sex, Sexploitation, SHOCKTOBER!, Women's Cinema

October 16, 2023

Screenwriter Leo Marks includes satirical grace notes about things like psychology and parental abuse that enables the audience to empathize…

DRAG ME TO HELL — SHOCKTOBER!

Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Cult Film, FIVE STARS, Horror, SHOCKTOBER!, Women's Cinema

October 16, 2023

“Drag Me to Hell” is the most fun I’ve had at the movies in years. It’s destined to be a…

DARK SHADOWS — SHOCKTOBER!

Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Children's Cinema, Cult Film, Horror, SHOCKTOBER!, THREE STARS, Women's Cinema

October 16, 2023

“Dark Shadows” is a lot more fun than any of the “Twilight” movies combined. The movie is about sustaining a…

STRANGE DAYS — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, Cult Film, FIVE STARS, Neo-Noir, Political Satire, Sci-Fi, SHOCKTOBER!, , Video Essay, Women Filmmakers, Women's Cinema

October 15, 2023

One of the most ambitious examples of the dystopian genre, Kathryn Bigelow’s “Strange Days” (1995) is a forward-looking predictor of…

HIGH ANXIETY — SHOCKTOBER!

BDSM, Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, Comedy, FIVE STARS, SHOCKTOBER!, Spoof, Video Essay, Women's Cinema

October 15, 2023

Dedicated to “the Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock,” “Mel Brooks’s “High Anxiety” (1977) arrived as a polished comedy behind Brooks’s…

KILLER JOE — SHOCKTOBER!

Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Neo-Noir, sex, Sexploitation, SHOCKTOBER!, Transgressive Cinema, Video Essay, Women's Cinema

October 15, 2023

William Friedkin has made the most triumphantly dark, funny, and sexy black comedy you could ever imagine. Cole Smithey.

THE FACULTY —SHOCKTOBER!

Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, Coming-of-Age, Cult Film, Dystopia, FIVE STARS, Horror, LGBTQ, SHOCKTOBER!, , Women's Cinema

October 14, 2023

Great energy, great story, great tone, “The Faculty” is a truly great movie. I already want to watch it again.…

HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, Cult Film, FIVE STARS, Horror, Japanese Cinema, Martial Arts, SHOCKTOBER!, , Video Essay

October 13, 2023

Takashi Miike maintains his reputation as a prolific international filmmaker of considerable talent. A 52-year-old director with 88 films to…

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER — SHOCKTOBER!

Black and White, Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, Crime Drama, Criterion Collection, Cult Film, FIVE STARS, Gothic, Horror, Literary Adaptation, Noir, sex, SHOCKTOBER!, , Video Essay, Women's Cinema

October 13, 2023

Charles Laughton, a consummate British actor of stage and film, directed only one film during his lifetime, but he made…

PARANORMAN —SHOCKTOBER!

Animation, Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Children's Cinema, Cult Film, FOUR STARS, Horror, SHOCKTOBER!

October 13, 2023

“ParaNorman” has its share of jaunty chase sequences to keep kids on the edge of their seats. No matter how…

FRANKENWEENIE — SHOCKTOBER!

Animation, Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Children's Cinema, Classic Cinema, Cult Film, FIVE STARS, Horror, SHOCKTOBER!, , Video Essay, Women's Cinema

October 13, 2023

Looking back at Burton’s flawed 1984 version of “Frankenweenie” is informative for the many layers of corrective narrative tissue the…

KILLING THEM SOFTLY — SHOCKTOBER!

Capsules Blog, Crime Drama, FIVE STARS, Neo-Noir, Political Satire, SHOCKTOBER!,

October 13, 2023

One of the ten best films of 2012, Andrew Dominik’s cold-blooded satire of American corporate-political-capitalism cuts through its subject like…

DJANGO UNCHAINED — SHOCKTOBER!

African American Cinema, Black Comedy, Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, Cult Film, FIVE STARS, Horror, Political Satire, SHOCKTOBER!, , Transgressive Cinema, Video Essay, Women's Cinema

October 12, 2023

You know from Tarantino’s audacious choice of intro music — the haunting theme song from Sergio Corbucci’s iconic 1966 Spaghetti…

IN COLD BLOOD — SHOCKTOBER!

Black and White, Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, FIVE STARS, Horror, Literary Adaptation, SHOCKTOBER!, True Crime, Video Essay

October 12, 2023

Screenwriter-director Richard Brooks’s faithful adaptation of Truman Capote’s innovative 1966 “non-fiction novel,” about a 1959 multiple homicide in Holcomb, Kansas,…