Well, here's something I don't get to say all that often: a few months back, I was in the wedding of the grandnephew (um, or something like that) of Walter Karig, whose satirical 1947 novel Zotz! was adapted into a pretty much unrecognizable slapstick comedy shortly after his death. I know, I know...no one reading this cares, but goshdarnit, that puts me within a couple degrees of producer/director/schlockteur William Castle, and I'm pretty sure that's something to be proud of.

Future sitcom mainstay Tom Poston stars as Jonathan Jones, a professor of ancient Eastern languages. Okay, maybe an etymologist isn't the most obvious choice for the lead role in a manic family comedy, but all that changes when Jo...Read the entire review

It is said that playwright Neil Simon turned a corner with Chapter Two, away from joke-filled comedies only hinting at darker themes (such as The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, and The Sunshine Boys) to more autobiographical and heartfelt works like Brighton Beach Memoirs and Lost in Yonkers. Like the 1977 play it adapts, the movie of Chapter Two (1979) is about a recently widowed writer (James Caan) struggling to accept a new woman in his life (played by Marsha Mason) whom he's only known a few weeks. Simon's wife died of bone cancer in 1973, and later that same year he married actress Marsha Mason. Simon's grief and guilt apparently significantly interfered with their own happiness, and they divorced not long after this was made.

The movie, produced and directed by filmmakers long associated with Neil Simon adaptations, is well written but doesn't quite e...Read the entire review

"I'm Gerald Arthur Otley, and I've had enough."

Delightful shaggy-dog spy story. Sony joins Warner Bros. in the direct mail-order business, printing on-demand DVD copies of their Columbia Pictures library catalogue with smashing results, based on the three titles I've received (watch for my reviews of The Mad Room and Jacqueline Susann's The Love Machine next...). 1968's scruffy comedy spy thriller Otley, starring Tom Courtenay, Romy Schneider, Alan Badel, Leonard Rossiter, and a host of wonderful British supporting actors, is first up, and it's a low-key gem directed and co-written by Dick Clement. No extras (not even a menu), but fans of 1960s British comedies and spy films will most definitely want to add the beautifully-transferred Otley to their year-end wish lists.

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]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=46405 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:37:07 PST Highly Recommended

"He touched you once, but now he's gone.
The pillow that his head was on, is colder than the silent dawn.
He's moving on. He's moving on.
That's Robin Stone. He's moving on."

Awfulness like this is rare--it needs to be acknowledged and celebrated. Sony, jumping into the direct mail-order business by pressing on-demand DVDs of their Columbia Pictures library catalogue (read my review of the spy caper Otley here, and the weirdo shocker The Mad Room here), has released Jacqueline Susann's The Love Machine, the 1971 big-screen expose of sex, perversion, and violence in the cutthroat world of American network television. Starring an absolutely unfathomable cast that includes Dyan Cannon, Robert Ryan, Jackie Cooper, David Hemmings, Shecky Greene (Shecky Greene???), Sharon Farrell, and John Phillip Law as cold, calculating executive and head "love mac...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=46406 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:37:07 PST Highly Recommended

Certainly not terrifying...but definitely creepy. Sony, jumping into the direct mail-order business by pressing on-demand DVDs of their Columbia Studios library catalogue (read my review of the spy caper Otley here, and the trash-fest Jacqueline Susann's The Love Machine here), has released The Mad Room, the 1969 remake of 1941's Ladies in Retirement, this time starring Stella Stevens and Shelley Winters in the ghoulish tale of insane kids and murder. A staple on afternoon and late, late movie shows when I was growing up, The Mad Room may not scare me like it did when I was a kid, but it's effective for the most part, with socko performances and a discernable, strange vibe to it that smoothes over the rough spots. Razor-sharp, pinpoint transfer...but absolutely no extras. Fans of the stars and aficionados of retrograde 60s shockers will be The Mad Room's b...Read the entire review

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