Premiering Saturday, The Girl is the first of two high-profile biopics of the master filmmaker to hit screens this season. The other, simply titled Hitchcock, is a larger-budget feature with a whiff of Oscar bait, yet there’s room enough for both. While that forthcoming film focuses on the making of 1960’s Psycho, The Girl concerns […]
Alfred Hitchcock
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The Steel Trap
Jim Osborne (Joseph Cotten, Citizen Kane) is an all-American, suit-and-tie family man who commutes to work, where he’s the assistant manager of a bank. To get into the vault, he and his fellow execs take turns entering safe codes as a safety measure … but he’s smart enough to memorize the others’ numbers. That’s because […]
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Good Neighbors
Awkward, geeky Victor (Jay Baruchel, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”) moves into a Montreal apartment builder and is eager to befriend the other young residents who aren’t nearly as ecstatic: the cat-crazy, Chinese restaurant employee Louise (Emily Hampshire, “Earthsea”) and the wheelchair-bound, smirking Spencer (Scott Speedman, “Barney’s Version“). Maybe they’re skittish because there’s a serial rapist/killer on […]
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Alfred Hitchcock: A Legacy of Suspense
Mill Creek Entertainment’s “Alfred Hitchcock: A Legacy of Suspense” collects 18 movies on four discs, for less than $10. The cover reads 20 movies, but two episodes of NBC’s “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” while welcome, do not count. While “early” means “public domain” — in other words, expect no “Psycho” — don’t think these aren’t worth […]
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The Terror / Dementia 13
Well, for one thing, the movies may reside at the B level, but they’re not trash. For another, Cultra has given ’em a good scrub-over that they’ve always deserved but have never had. If you’ve bought these before on budget DVD sets, dig them out and ditch. These new versions are spiffy, inexpensive and contain […]
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Birdemic: Shock and Terror
Let’s start with the title: Doesn’t “Birdemic” say it all? What benefit is there to adding “Shock and Terror”? It’s not as if “Birdemic” didn’t sound evil enough; it doesn’t require a qualifier. As you’ll note, however, writer/director/director of photography/producer/executive producer (yes, producer and executive producer, which has to be a cinematic first) James Nguyen […]