Christopher Saunders
I do not propose to recount my life in any detail, what is what. No damn business of anybody's, what is what. I am Groggy Dundee, *that* is what!
MY BLOGS
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Nothing is Written: A Film Blog
http://nothingiswrittenfilm.blogspot.com/
Reviews movies from all eras, countries and genres.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 653 )
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The Elephant Man
After his mind-screw Eraserhead (1976), David Lynch tackled a more commercial project. The Elephant Man (1980) is a compassionate monster movie starring a human. Read more
Posted on 13 October 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
shows that remakes work best by deviating from the source material. Philip Kaufman respects Don Siegel's original (and Jack Finney's novel) while putting a... Read more
Posted on 12 October 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case
The '70s were a boom time for TV crime dramas: Helter Skelter, The Legend of Lizzie Borden and The Marcus-Nelson Murders hold up well decades later. Buzz... Read more
Posted on 11 October 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Gone Girl
David Fincher enjoys plot twists more than M. Night Shymalan. At first glance, Gone Girl (2014) seems a return to the days of The Game and Fight Club, an... Read more
Posted on 05 October 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Groggy On Moviepilot: Revisiting Victim
I'd been preparing a Moviepilot article on Basil Dearden's Victim (1961) for over a month, and finally published it tonight. I've written about this movie befor... Read more
Posted on 03 October 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
The Browning Version (1994)
Terence Rattigan's The Browning Version has inspired several films, but the 1951 version with Michael Redgrave remains the classic. Mike Figgis's 1994 remake... Read more
Posted on 28 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
The Winslow Boy (1999)
David Mamet breaks from profane verbal sparring for a genteel Terence Rattigan adaptation. The Winslow Boy (1999) is one of Rattigan's perennials, already... Read more
Posted on 26 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
At last we review Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922). Four-and-a-half hours long, leisurely paced and heavily stylized, it's tough going for those not... Read more
Posted on 25 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
The Blue Max
(1966) updates the dogfight epic for the cynical '60s. Playing off familiar themes of ambition and class warfare, it's undoubtedly better as spectacle than... Read more
Posted on 24 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Revisiting The Empire of Crime
"When humanity grows bored by the banality of blockbusters... when snobbery has become the supreme law, then the time will have come for the Empire of... Read more
Posted on 23 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Odd Man Out
"Close the door when I'm gone, and forget me."Carol Reed's first masterpiece is Odd Man Out (1947). It's just as stylish as The Third Man but even more... Read more
Posted on 22 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Rear Window
Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954) is the rare movie that appeals to everyone. Auteurists love it for showcasing Hitchcock's thematic preoccupations. Film... Read more
Posted on 21 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Inside Man
(2006) is as safe and commercial a film as Spike Lee ever made. It's a conventional heist film, with some last act revelations that aren't entirely convincing. Read more
Posted on 19 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
The Trials of Oscar Wilde
Ken Hughes' The Trials of Oscar Wilde was one of two 1960 films addressing the playwright's conviction for "gross indecency," released amidst fierce debate... Read more
Posted on 17 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
This Sporting Life
(1963) marks the apex of the British New Wave. Lindsay Anderson transcends the dour grubbiness associated with that movement, showing elements of the wild auteu... Read more
Posted on 15 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
A Taste of Honey
"My usual self is a very unusual self - and don't you forget it!"Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of Honey (1958) is a feminine riposte to John Osborne and Alan... Read more
Posted on 14 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Rogue Male
Geoffrey Household's novel Rogue Male inspired Fritz Lang's Man Hunt (1941), whose anti-Nazi stance was controversial in still-neutral America. Read more
Posted on 13 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Compulsion
Notorious murderers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb inspired numerous films, including Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948) and Tom Kalin's Swoon (1992). Read more
Posted on 13 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Groggy's King of the Hill Blog
Longtime Groggy readers can surmise that I'm a fan of King of the Hill. Right now it's the only TV show I regularly watch, thanks to a screwy cable package and... Read more
Posted on 10 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES -
Room at the Top
(1959) is typical of Britain's Free Cinema movement, the struggles of working class Britons amidst postwar drudgery. Laurence Harvey earned an Oscar nod,... Read more
Posted on 07 September 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES