Much to our chagrin, the festival canceled our showing of Headshot, which his_regard and I had counted on to end our viewing fortnight with a bang instead of a snooze, which is normally how we end up playing ourselves out. But still, we did 20 movies all told (plus I saw Shin Godzilla in there too), which is pretty good for us especially when you consider we ( Read more... )

Hey, ho! It's time once again for the triumph of hope over middlebrow Francophilia that is my plan to take the Chicago International Film Festival by storm, or at least by a stiff breeze. All shows are at the AMC River East 21 conveniently downtown, so join me and his_regard if you dare, cinephiles!

Friday, October 14
6:00: The Confessions (France/Italy, ( Read more... )

If you've been listening to Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff (and why wouldn't you be?) you've already heard this list, and you've even heard it screwed up ( Read more... )

Director: Terence Fisher
Dracula: Christopher Lee

Consider this film (just called Dracula in the UK) the anti-Coppola Dracula. Relentlessly modern (it was the first Technicolor vampire film) and breathlessly paced yet luridly Gothic to the core, carving to the heart of Stoker’s novel while discarding its plot almost entirely, it would be a great ( Read more... )

Director: Gary Shore
Dracula: Luke Evans ( Read more... )

Director: F.W. Murnau
Orlok: Max Schreck

To sum up: F.W. Murnau illegally adapted Dracula, changing the names (Harker becomes Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim), Mina becomes Ellen (Greta Schroeder), Dracula becomes Orlok) and location (1890s London becomes 1838 Wisborg, Germany) while adding an apocalyptic plague element missing entirely from the ( Read more... )

Director: Darrell James Roodt
Dracula: Langley Kirkwood

A Warning to the Curious: This is the worst film I have watched for this project. By far. Compared to this movie, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula is Unforgiven. IMDB users have rated it the 37th worst film of all time. It is not “so bad it’s good.” The cheese promised by a film “starring” Casper ( Read more... )

Director: Tod Browning

Dracula: Bela Lugosi

Is it possible for a film to be simultaneously iconic and bad? Not “iconic for being bad” but plain old iconic - establishing the rules for cinematic Draculas to respond to or rebel against for the next century. In the first act of Dracula, Browning (and cinematographer Karl Freund) and Bela Lugosi ( Read more... )

Director: Guy Maddin
Dracula: Zhang Wei-Qiang ( Read more... )

Director: William Beaudine
Dracula: John Carradine ( Read more... )