Jake Cole

LATEST ARTICLES ( 682 )

• One False Move (Carl Franklin, 1992)

  

  One False Move, directed by Carl Franklin from Billy Bob Thornton's first and best screenplay, is a moral thriller and neo-noir posing as a simple... Read more

  Posted on 12 July 2011 MOVIES

• The Phenix City Story (Phil Karlson, 1955)

  

  Speaking pleasantly but pointedly with a local mob boss, attorney general candidate Albert Patterson (John McIntire) wearily agrees to the reminder that a... Read more

  Posted on 11 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Capsule Reviews: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Cœur Fidèle, On the Waterfront

  

  The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920) Set in a hilly village more twisted with jagged, crowded shacks than a Brazilian favela, The Cabinet of Dr.... Read more

  Posted on 11 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Sherlock, Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)

  

  Sherlock, Jr.'s self-awareness sets into the film instantly, the intertitles that establish each character also listing the actor's name as if it were the... Read more

  Posted on 09 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Keaton Shorts: One Week, The Boat, The Paleface, Cops

  

  "It was Keaton's notion that cutting, valuable as it was in a thousand ways, must not replace the recording function of the camera, must not create the... Read more

  Posted on 08 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Tony Scott, 2009)

  

  Tony Scott's remake lacks any and all suspense (as do nearly all his movies despite his penchant for thrillers), but he also finds a surprising resonance in... Read more

  Posted on 06 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Brian De Palma: Raising Cain

  

  One of the more depressing critical threads that wove its way through the positive reviews of the recent Transformers film was that, for the film's glaring... Read more

  Posted on 06 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Capsule Reviews: All About Eve, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Mary and Max

  

  All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)Probably the most glaring omission in my movie viewing. And boy was I missing out: this camp satire on showbiz is a... Read more

  Posted on 04 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, MUSIC, TV & VIDEO

• Park Row (Samuel Fuller, 1952)

  

  Sam Fuller's Park Row is his most optimistic feature. Contrary to his cynical depiction of sleazy tabloid muckraking in such pictures as Shock Corridor, Park Ro... Read more

  Posted on 04 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)

  My review for Johnny Guitar, Nicholas Ray's narrow-framed but epic-scope Western, is up now at Cinelogue. A gender-bending, brazenly political film, Johnny... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Pale Flower (Masahiro Shinoda, 1964)

  

  Pale Flower is noir in an almost literal sense, set almost entirely at night or in interiors without windows, obscuring the time of day and suggesting darkness... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Public Enemy (William A. Wellman, 1931)

  

  Nobody fit the Pre-Code era like James Cagney. With his handsome yet smushed face (like a dapper Cro-Magnon), Cagney captured the glamor and grime of the... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• A Life in Music

  Inspired by a series I came across at YAM Magazine, I've decided to complement my A Life in Movies post with a similar journey through the music that's stood ou... Read more

  Posted on 02 July 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC

• Boudu Saved from Drowning (Jean Renoir, 1932)

  

  Jean Renoir's satiric gutting of René Fauchois' play is one of the director's finest works, a biting work whose ambiguous target (does it ultimately side with... Read more

  Posted on 01 July 2011 MOVIES

• Movie Review: Transformers III

  

  If there is any sliver of decency in this universe, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third entry in the most crass, vile and offensive big-budget franchise i... Read more

  Posted on 29 June 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)

  

  One of the chief reasons Howard Hawks' Bringing Up Baby is the king of the screwball comedies because it never stops. It has a straight man in Cary Grant's... Read more

  Posted on 29 June 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Brian De Palma: The Bonfire of the Vanities

  

  Brian De Palma may be perennially mistreated by a Hollywood that doesn't fully understand where he's coming from, yet I don't know of many directors who have... Read more

  Posted on 29 June 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES, TV & VIDEO

• Blood Money (Rowland Brown, 1933)

  

  Rowland Brown's snarling Pre-Code feature Blood Money was thought lost for decades, perhaps out of wishful thinking for decency's sake. Read more

  Posted on 27 June 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Doctor Who — Series 5

  Doctor Who's fifth series takes the strengths of Russell T. Davies' revival and smooths out nearly all the issues that routinely gave me pause. Read more

  Posted on 27 June 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, TV & VIDEO

• Movie Review: Cars 2

  

  I will not ask why Cars 2 exists because I've seen the merchandising figures from the first film. Nevertheless, it's a question I couldn't force out of my mind... Read more

  Posted on 26 June 2011 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES