Jonathan Rosenbaum's Blog: jonathanrosenbaum.com, page 49

Heavy Plotting [MY NEW GUN]

From the Chicago Reader (April 30, 1993). — J.R.

MY NEW GUN
* (Has redeeming facet)
Directed and written by Stacy Cochran
With Diane Lane, James LeGros, Tess Harper, Bruce Altman, Maddie Corman, Bill Raymond, and Stephen Collins.
I finally got to feel that I had to unpack large crates by swallowing the excelsior in order to find at the [...]

NICKELODEON (1977 review)

From Monthly Film Bulletin, February 1977 (Vol. 44, No. 517). Over 30 years later, in my DVD column for Cinema Scope, I wrote, “Is it possible to find a picture acceptable only with its director’s commentary? Yes, if it’s Peter Bogdanovich’s clunky but interesting comedy about American moviemaking during the patent wars (1910-1915), prior to [...]

A Different Kind of Swinger [GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE]

From the Chicago Reader (August 1, 1997). — J.R.

George of the Jungle
Rating ** Worth seeing
Directed by Sam Weisman
Written by Dana Olsen and Audrey Wells
With Brendan Fraser, Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church, Holland Taylor, Richard Roundtree, Greg Cruttwell, Abraham Benrubi, and the voice of John Cleese.

There’s no getting around it: George of the Jungle is an [...]

Jazz Soundies and other numbers from the 1940s

From Monthly Film Bulletin, July 1976 (Vol. 43, No. 510). –- J.R.



Nat King Cole Trio

U.S.A., 1948                                               Director: Josh Binney

Dist—TCB. p.c–All-American. p–Glucksman. m/songs–“Oo

Kickerooni”, Rooney”, ‘”Now He Tells Me”, “Breezy and the Bass”

performed by–Nat “King” Cole (piano, vocals), Johnny Miller (bass),

Oscar Moore (guitar). No further credits available. 262ft. 7 [...]

Patience Pays Off [I’M GOING HOME]

From the Chicago Reader (September 13, 2002). — J.R.

I’m Going Home
**** (Masterpiece)
Directed and written by Manoel de Oliveira
With Michel Piccoli, Antoine Chappey, Catherine Deneuve, John Malkovich, Leonor Baldaque, and Sylvie Testud.

It seems entirely fitting that I’m Going Home — a beautiful feature by Manoel de Oliveira, who turns 94 this December and is still [...]

Program Notes for the North American Theatrical Premiere of THE TIGER OF ESCHNAPUR & THE INDIAN TOMB

On January 3, 1978, during what must have been my first visit back to London after moving from there to San Diego in early 1977, I attended a private screening at the British Film Institute of glorious new prints of Fritz Lang’s Indian films. Over four years later, when I was invited to program “Buried [...]

Marilyn Monroe’s Brains

From the Chicago Reader (December 2, 2005). Also reprinted in my collection Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia. — J.R.


This weekend the Gene Siskel Film Center launches “Merry Marilyn!,” a Marilyn Monroe retrospective, starting with two pivotal Howard Hawks features, Monkey Business (1952) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). The series will include most of her major films [...]

Critic With A Camera

From the Chicago Reader (September 15, 2000). It’s delightful to report that this film is now available in the U.S. from Icarus Films. — J.R.


One Day in the Life of Andre Arsenevich
Rating **** Masterpiece
Directed and written by Chris Marker.

Industry flacks claim that Hollywood movies have been dumbed down out of commercial necessity — they’re just [...]

The Unknown Statue

Written for Moving Image Source and posted online November 6, 2009. — J.R.

It’s fascinating to consider the possibility that the essential film oeuvres of both Alain Resnais and Chris Marker commence with the same remarkable, rarely seen essay film from 1953 — a film whose direction is co-signed in [...]

Reflections on the New Sight & Sound Poll (and Four Lists, 1982-2012)

1. For me, there have been quite a few surprises in the results of Sight and Sound’s latest ten-best poll of film critics around the world — not so much the displacement of Citizen Kane from first place (which it occupied for half a century, ever since the second poll in 1962) by Vertigo, something [...]