Movie-A-Day #252: Re-Animator (1985).
Happy 57th birthday to Jeffrey Combs. I’ve lost count of how many great creepy guy roles he’s had over the years, but the one he’ll always be defined by is Dr. Herbert West in “Re-Animator.”
Movie-A-Day #251: Being There (1979).
Today is Peter Sellers’ birthday. He gave so many hilarious, chameleonic performances over the years, but his best might have been as Chance the Gardener in “Being There.”
Movie-A-Day #250: Biggie and Tupac (2002).
Fifteen years ago today, Tupac Shakur was gunned down in his car on the Las Vegas Strip. And then just six months later, the Notorious B.I.G. was also killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. How these two murders are related – and why they remain officially unsolved to this day – is the subject of Nick Broomfield’s uncompromising documentary “Biggie and Tupac.”
Movie-A-Day #249: Targets (1968).
On this day in 1949, Howard Unruh, a decorated World War II veteran, left his home in Camden, N.J., and took a walk down the street with his German Luger pistol, firing on every person he met. By the time the police captured him a few hours later, he had killed 13 people and wounded three others. And with that, Unruh became America’s first single episode mass killer. By the time Peter Bogdanovich made his debut film “Targets” in 1968, spree killings political assassinations had become more common. The film is a great commentary on gun violence in general, with a truth that still resonates in today’s even more violent culture.
Movie-A-Day #248: Modern Times (1936).
Happy Labor Day, fellow Americans. Although the holiday now is just an excuse to fire up the grill and celebrate the unofficial end of summer, it used to mean a whole lot more. It began as a day to honor the workers of America, but the modern labor movement is in a shambles now. The rights of workers are under attack by corporations and extreme right wing politicians, while the middle class is shrinking and jobs are drying up. The situation is so bad that it’s quickly degenerating into the same conditions of a century ago that the original labor movement fought so hard to remedy. And nowhere is the importance of that movement captured on film so well as in Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times.” Sadly, it’s still relevant today.
Desuko Movie Spot. 