Silent Sunday: "A Virtuous Vamp"

Allow us this tangent for the centennial of the silent comedy The Virtuous Vamp (1919). It starred the then popular actress Constance Talmadge who claims to have been receiving over 60 scripts a week during this period in her career. This particular comedy is among the many honored titles in the Library of Congress National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The Virtuous Vamp is now in the public domain though we haven't found a way to screen it yet. From our understanding, it's not a "lost" film which is always a relief with silent pictures since the bulk of them vanished from existence through Hollywood's own negligence about their movies. Movies were always and remain cultural artifacts rather than disposable "product" to be tossed once they've stopped collecting immediate coin. 

The not-at-all sexist plot (joke) is about a virtuous girl who takes a job at an office of men which causes all sorts of trouble -- none of them can concentrate and do their work due to her beauty...

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Review: The Good Liar

by Scott Thomson

Two Grand High thesps of the most esteemed order playing against each other in a cunning game of deceit. A surefire winning recipe, right? Maybe not.

Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Helen Mirren are most certainly having a gay old time together, practically purring in each calculated exchange with one another. It is not often enough that we get to see the screen shared by a pair of Britain’s most beloved (capital ‘A’) Actors but this is far from enough to lift The Good Liar from the escalating preposterousness that clouds the fun within. It reads like an “oh my God what if we did this thing...” kind of idea conjured by a drunken playwright after too many Merlots round Sir Ian’s pub on a Saturday evening. The result is a film perhaps best enjoyed in a similar state... 

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Best of the "Whodunnit?" Genre (Part Two)

by Eurocheese

If you missed part one, we're celebreating the whodunnit subgenre since Knives Out is out soon. Last time we listed rules of the genre (not all mystery and investigation films are whodunnits) and sang the praises of Gosford Park and The Thin Man. Now let's continue the list,

6. The Big Sleep
Bogie was bound to show up on this list (spoiler: he will again), and what better way to do it than next to his leading lady Lauren Bacall in her (arguable) career-best role...

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Tweetweek: Physical Media, Cute Dogs, and "Forin Langages"

Forin Langage waited for the old Wizard while smoking his second pipe of the day- which, incidentally, had followed his second breakfast... https://t.co/Zr6VFIPTgi

— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 9, 2019

You have to stan Guillermo Del Toro for that hilarious read of a very dumb consumer. After the jump several other curated tweets because they were either amusing or thought-provoking...

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Disney's schedule for the next... four years? er, okay.

Emily Blunt and The Rock in "Jungle Cruise" If you thought Disney was slowing down theatrical to focus on putting Disney+ over, think again. I'm not sure how legit this information is because I've only seen it on twitter but it comees from a Buzzfeed editor with a "verified" check so perhaps. Weird that there hasn't been major trade coverage at this writing but here we go. Supposedly Disney has released their schedule for the next 4 years (what?) though one must view the titles and dates with a healthy dose of skepticism since, for example, Avatar sequels are pure illusions and the world will surely end before we get them. Also though there are a few Fox Searchlight titles listed that mini wing's releases are always decided much later since they regularly pick up films from festivals that they think have awards potentials and so you never know about those in advance. Okay the list goes like so... 

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