SIMON SAYS (Simon Abrams)
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SIMON SAYS: An Interview with Bobcat Goldthwait
When you talk to Bobcat Goldthwait, the American stand-up comic turned "Police Academy" sideshow attraction and now filmmaker, you see that his demeanor is very similar to the even-handed tone of his films. During our talk, Goldthwait casually referenced Preston Sturges and "Falling Down" as he addr...
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SIMON SAYS: Productive Awfulness, or: THE RAVEN Opens This Week
I often wonder if there is such a thing as a productively awful film.
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SIMON SAYS: The Vulgarian Frontier: On The Three Stooges’ Patently Inconsistent Comedic Genius
Now that "The Three Stooges," the new Farrelly brothers mediocrity, is just a day away from nationwide release, it’s very easy to misremember what made Larry Fine and Moe, Larry, Curly, and Shemp Howard’s routine so memorable.
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SIMON SAYS: Nanni Moretti's Cinema of Opposition
The films of Italian writer/director Nanni Moretti primarily revolve around his own ego and then secondarily around questions of moral responsibility, specifically the extent to which we function in society.
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SIMON SAYS: LOVE IN THE BUFF Redeems China Lion
For a few months now, China Lion Entertainment has been better in theory than in practice. Until this week and with the notable exceptions of some interesting but inconsistent melodramas like "Aftershock" and "Love in Space," China Lion had yet to release a film worth recommending without serious re...
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SIMON SAYS: Come Out to Pla-aaaaay: What Pop Culture Has Made of THE WARRIORS
The pervasive influence of "The Warriors" on pop culture is pretty staggering. Walter Hill’s movie strives for archetypal narrative simplicity, but "The Warriors" is also very much about its setting: a four-colored comic book caricature of crime-infested, Fun City-era ‘70s New York.
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SIMON SAYS: SNOWTOWN MURDERS and a Guided Tour Through Serial Killer Movies
The Snowtown Murders comes out in theaters this week. Based loosely on a series of real-life murders that took place in Snowtown, Australia, the film serves as a great reminder of why serial killers in particular are interesting: they’re pathologically disturbed.
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SIMON SAYS: The Weird World of Unseen Marvel Comics Movies
I want a comic book film that doesn’t pander to first-time audiences and also doesn’t deny the fact that these characters live in worlds where death rays and super-powers are commonplace. Is that so much to ask? I guess so. In my recent search for comic book movies that are out there and exciting...
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SIMON SAYS: Even in 3D, it's still a PHANTOM MENACE II society
In 1999, "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" was released theatrically. The rest is a blur – for me, at least. I was 12 years old at the time, the ideal age for an uncritical "Star Wars" fan to see the first entry in George Lucas’ then-new prequel trilogy.
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SIMON SAYS: THE WICKER TREE needed a different director
Robin Hardy’s "The Wicker Tree" could have been a much stronger film had it not been directed by Robin Hardy. Which is a weird thing to think when you actually waste time thinking about it. Hardy is the director of the original 1973 film "The Wicker Man" and the author of "Cowboys for Christ," a the...
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