Matt writes: Screen icon Raquel Welch passed away on February 15th at age 82. She will be forever etched in our collective cinematic memory for many reasons, not the least of which being her uproarious duet with Miss Piggy on "The Muppet Show" where they belted out "I'm a Woman."
A feature on the history of female swashbucklers.
With FilmStruck gone and no real alternative filling the void at present, Amazon is in a prime position to grab up fans of classic movies.
An essay about the five screen versions of "A Star Is Born," and why George Cukor's 1954 masterpiece still reigns supreme.
The familiar story, told with a naturalistic sheen, strong songwriting, most of the old contrivances, and a few new ones.
A tribute to the late Oscar-winning actor, Martin Landau.
A preview of the Gene Siskel Film Center's upcoming Brit Noir film series, which runs from November 5-30.
Scout Tafoya responds to our Movie Love Questionnaire.
A celebration of the great actress Charlotte Rampling, currently seen in "45 Years" and soon a retrospective at New York City's IFC Center.
An interview with Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon, who directed "Best of Enemies," the opening night film at AFI Docs 2015.
Sheila writes: It was Edgar Allan Poe's 206th birthday on January 19, and I came across an old post on Open Culture featuring a couple of cool clips, one being Christopher Walken reading Poe's poem "The Raven," and the other being the 1953 Oscar-nominated animated short of Poe's story "The Tell-Tale Heart," narrated by James Mason. It's extremely surreal, very creepy, and well worth watching.
Marie writes: Behold an ivy covered house in Düsseldorf, Germany and the power of plants to transform stone, brick and mortar into a hotel for millions of spiders. To view an amazing collection of such images and showcasing a variety of buildings from around the world, visit The Most Colorful Houses Engulfed in Vegetation at io9.com.
Marie writes: Ever intrepid, club member Sandy Kahn has submitted an intriguing quartet of finds involving a series of Hollywood auctions set to begin at the end of July 2013. Sandy has shared similar things in the past and as before, club members are invited to freely explore the wide variety of collectibles & memorabilia being auctioned LIVE by "Profiles in History". Note: founded in 1985 by Joseph Maddalena, Profiles in History is the nation’s leading dealer in guaranteed-authentic original historical autographs, letters, documents, vintage signed photographs and manuscripts.
Marie writes: There was a time when Animation was done by slaves with a brush in one hand and a beer in the other. Gary Larson's "Tales From the Far Side" (1994) was such a project. I should know; I worked on it. Produced by Marv Newland at his Vancouver studio "International Rocketship", it first aired as a CBS Halloween special (Larson threw a party for the crew at the Pan Pacific Hotel where we watched the film on a big screen) and was later entered into the 1995 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix. It spawned a sequel "Tales From the Far Side II" (1997) - I worked on that too. Here it is, below.
Marie writes: Widely regarded as THE quintessential Art House movie, "Last Year at Marienbad" has long since perplexed those who've seen it; resulting in countless Criterion-esque essays speculating as to its meaning whilst knowledge of the film itself, often a measure of one's rank and standing amongst coffee house cinephiles. But the universe has since moved on from artsy farsty French New Wave. It now prefers something braver, bolder, more daring...