Joel Schumacher (1939-2020)

by Nathaniel R

Joel Schumacher and the star he made, Colin FarrellI once walked across the street in the East Village with Joel Schumacher. I didn't say anything though I immediately recognized him; as directors go he was hard to miss -- very tall with long silver hair. Anything I might have wanted to say would surely have been too belabored in a street crossing. "I love your work," is rote and in this case untrue though I loved some of his work enthusiastically in a formative (St Elmo's Fire) or camp (Batman & Robin) or moment-in-time (Flatliners, Tigerland).

Sometimes I loved his work in all of those ways at once -- Love you, Lost Boys!

It's been curious to see so much appreciation spring up on the internet today, particularly because Schumacher was never a director to inspire reverence in the masses though he made several popular pictures...

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200 Oldest Living Screen Stars

We thought it was time to update this list..

200 OLDEST LIVING SCREEN STARS
last updated 06/10/2021

103 years old

Marsha Hunt (10/17/17)
This Chicago born actress made over 50 films but never achieved A list stardom (during her peak she was often just below the title) and was one of many victims of the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s. Among her best known films: the Greer Garson version of Pride & Prejudice (she played Mary Bennett), the comedy Bride by Mistake, the family dramedy The Human Comedy (which gave Mickey Rooney a historic nomination), and the well-loved noir Raw Deal.

101 years old

Nehemiah Persoff (8/2/19)
Modern audiences probably remember him best as the loving Papa whose ears Yentl kept checking in song in Barbra Streisand's hit musical. But that was just scratching the surface of his career as he had numerous tv and film roles for decades including the voice of Papa Mousekwitz in the An American Tail movies. At the peak of his career in the 1950s he was in films like Hitchcock's The Wrong Man and the immortal comedy Some Like It Hot...  

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Introducing the Smackdown Panel for '57

Are you enjoying our super-sized Supporting Actress Smackdown season? We've already discussed 1947, 1981, and 2002. We normally only do 4 episodes but we're super-sizing things this summer so there's lots more to come. It's our own niche movie-loving way of trying to alleviate your (and our) anxiety, depression, exhaustion, during this tumultous time of righteous protests, pandemic sheltering, and treasonous manchild in the White House. Up next 1957

THE NOMINEES

• Hope Lange (Peyton Place)
• Carolyn Jones (The Bachelor Party)
• Miyoshi Umeki (Sayonara)
• Elsa Lanchester (Witness for the Prosecution)
• Diane Varsi (Peyton Place)

Get to watching those four films when you need a break from the real world! Send in your ballots once you've screened 'em with "1957" in the subject line. But please only vote on the movies you've seen.

PLEASE WELCOME OUR NEXT PANEL ... 

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Over & Overs: Young Frankenstein (1974)

by Ginny O'Keefe

When you’re blue and you don’t know where to go to 
Why don’t you go where passion sits
PUTTINNNONDAREEEEEEEEEZ

In these dark times we are living in, it’s good to have a little escapism. Even if it only lasts an hour and forty-six minutes. And nothing puts a larger smile on my face quite like Mel Brooks’ classic horror-parody, Young Frankenstein. I watched this movie with my family on a skit trip when I was eight years old, not knowing what I was getting into...

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Mike Leigh on Criterion

by Cláudio Alves

One of the Criterion Channel's newest and most enticing additions is a Mike Leigh collection that includes 11 of the director's films. His is a cinema of compassionate observation that finds beauty in the bleakest settings, the wildest characters, and most complicated psyches. From Thatcher-era social realism to lavish period pieces, passing through farcical character studies, we can find much variety in this director's oeuvre, though some things remain constant. For one, we have Leigh's social preoccupations, a humanistic mindset that bleeds into every aspect of his productions. For another, there's his methodology when working with actors…

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