A Walk Among the Tombstones **** Short Take: Grim, powerful crime drama about a private investigator and the unusual serial murders that he is trying to solve. Contains several strong performances especially from Liam Neeson. Reel Take: The transformation of Liam Neeson from leading man to solid character actor toContinue Reading
Chip Kaufmann’s Pick: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1969) November is the month that features Thanksgiving so it seems quite logical to select a DVD that I am giving thanks for finally having made its appearance in a quality version. This new MGM Limited Edition DVD-R blows away the previous versionContinue Reading
by Chip Kaufmann When I refer to British director Terence Fisher as “the poor man’s Hitchcock,” I do not mean that in a disparaging way. I mean it as a compliment, for while Fisher made his movies pretty much the way Hitchcock did, he never had the kind of budgetsContinue Reading
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them **** ½ Short Take: In the wake of tragedy, a young couple struggles to come to grips with life, love and their selves. REEL TAKE: The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is the debut film from writer/director Ned Benson. It’s been met with mixed criticalContinue Reading
Chip Kaufmann’s Pick: Horror of Dracula (1958) Of all the movies to be found in Terence Fisher’s output (see article this section), none is more highly regarded than Dracula (Horror of Dracula in America to distinguish it from Bela Lugosi’s Dracula which had just been reissued in 1958). Everything isContinue Reading
by Michelle Keenan On the night of August 11th the world was stunned to learn of the death of beloved actor and comedian Robin Williams. Making the news even harder to digest was that he had been in a dark enough place to commit suicide. In the world of celebritydom,Continue Reading
Calvary **** ½ Short Take: A good priest in a small Irish town receives a mysterious confessional death threat as payback for the sins of the church. REEL TAKE: John Michael McDonough’s Calvary is a powerful character-driven drama strewn with dark comedy throughout, but it is not a dark comedy.Continue Reading
Chip Kaufmann’s Pick: The World According to Garp (1982) I was one of the last people, among those I knew, to jump on the Robin Williams bandwagon. I never watched a single episode of Mork & Mindy (not even in reruns) and I didn’t care for Williams’s standup comedy routinesContinue Reading
in a Short Attention Span Theatre by Chip Kaufmann If you’re a regular reader of Rapid River Magazine’s movie section, then you know that when I write an article it’s usually a profile of some movie person, such as silent movie comedienne Mabel Normand (March 2014). Or, it’s to provideContinue Reading
