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Batman famously has one of the best rogues' galleries in American superhero comics. But even among that stunning ensemble, writers do play favorites. You can definitely tell, watching the superlative "Batman: The Animated Series," that plant-controlling femme fatale eco-terrorist Poison Ivy (Diane Pershing) was one of the show's preferred villains.

Poison Ivy was one of the first villains to appear in "The Animated Series," debuting in episode 5, "Pretty Poison." The show gave Ivy a partner-in-crime with Harley Quinn (Arleen Sorkin), establishing a friendship (and ultimately romance) that's lasted 30 years. Ivy also got major supporting parts in villain team-up episodes, "Almost Got 'Im" (where Gotham's worst play poker and swap stories about fighting Batman) and "Trial" (where Arkham inmates start running the asylum). In the series' final run of episodes, Ivy even got a dedicated farewell episode: "House & Garden" (written by Paul Dini). As the title suggests, Ivy seemingly reforms...

"Batman: The Animated Series" was created at Warner Bros. Animation by and for an American audience. As is common practice in American cartoons, though, the animation work was outsourced to studios in southeast Asia.

One of those subcontractors was Japan's Sunrise, the home of the "Gundam" franchise and the studio that would go on to make "Cowboy Bebop." One of the most famous and well-regarded studios in Japan, Sunrise (officially known as Bandai Namco Filmworks these days) is where several animators (such as the founders of Studio Bones) first built their careers.

Sunrise handled seven episodes of "Batman: The Animated Series" — "Pretty Poison," "The Cat and the Claw, Part I," "Heart of Steel," "I Am the Night," "The Clock King," "Off Balance," and "The Man Who Killed Batman." Sunrise itself is divided up into several smaller studios; "Batman" was handled by Studio 6. The experience apparently left an impact, though,...

Blackgate Prison is an iconic Gotham City institution that has only appeared in a handful of Batman movies and television series in the Dcu timeline. Sometimes called Blackgate Penitentiary, Gotham City's notorious prison houses Gotham's more typical (albeit no less dangerous) criminals, as opposed to Arkham Asylums criminal insane inmates. Over the years, Blackgate has appeared in various DC movies, animated series, and prominently in the Batman: Arkham video game franchise. While its depiction varies, it consistently serves as the ultimate destination for Gotham's most hardened criminals.

Blackgate Prison appeared in Detective Comics #629 in 1991, where it was introduced as Gotham's primary prison for non-insane criminals. Over the years, it has housed many of Batman's most infamous enemies, including Bane, Catwoman, and the Penguin. It serves as a complement to Arkham Asylum, which deals with Gotham's more psychologically disturbed villains. In contrast, Blackgate is depicted as a more traditional prison,...

When it comes to Batman’s gallery of rogues, Pamela Isley a.k.a. Poison Ivy remains one of the more bizarre and maniacal. This beautiful botanist turned mad eco-terrorist is now best known for being Harley Quinn’s greener half, yet Poison Ivy proved to be a worthy foe all on her own. Batman: The Animated Series alone well illustrated her twisted sense of environmentalism. And in the few instances where Ivy was shown working in a solo capacity, she had a habit of shocking and disgusting the Caped Crusader with her exploits.

Over the course of The Animated Series (later retitled The Adventures of Batman & Robin), Poison Ivy had only three individual outings — four if we count her pumpkin plot in “Almost Got ‘Im”. Her debut, “Pretty Poison”, established her cracked moral compass and utter disregard for humans. After the more intimate crime of poisoning Harvey Dent,...

If Criterion24/7 hasn’t completely colonized your attention every time you open the Channel––this is to say: if you’re stronger than me––their May lineup may be of interest. First and foremost I’m happy to see a Michael Roemer triple-feature: his superlative Nothing But a Man, arriving in a Criterion Edition, and the recently rediscovered The Plot Against Harry and Vengeance is Mine, three distinct features that suggest a long-lost voice of American movies. Meanwhile, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Antiwar Trilogy four by Sara Driver, and a wide collection from Ayoka Chenzira fill out the auteurist sets.

Series-wise, a highlight of 1999 goes beyond the well-established canon with films like Trick and Bye Bye Africa, while of course including Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Scorsese, and Claire Denis. Films starring Shirley Maclaine, a study of 1960s paranoia, and Columbia’s “golden era” (read: 1950-1961) are curated; meanwhile, The Breaking Ice,...

Batman: The Animated Series was a game-changer for cartoons in the 1990s. Up until its premiere on Sept. 5, 1992, animated superhero shows were whimsical children's entertainment. Heroes and villains were often two-dimensional as the cels they were drawn on. Batman: The Animated Series took a considerably different approach.

Batman: The Animated Series was developed with comic book fans of all ages in mind, not just kids. The themes were darker and more serious, and the heroes and villains had more depth than in previous cartoons. The result was a half-hour drama that explored Batman's world in depth. This more earnest approach created some of the most heartbreaking stories ever told about The Dark Knight.

Birds of a Feather Season 1, Episode 47

When he's released from Blackgate Prison, the ornithologically obsessed rogue Penguin -- aka Oswald Cobblepot -- decides to go straight. Seeing himself as a sophisticated blue blood, Cobblepot is thrilled when...

Oscar-nominated producer Lawrence Turman died Saturday at the Motion Picture and Television Country Home and Hospital. He was 96. He had a stellar career not only as a producer of such seminal films as The Graduate (1967), The Great White Hope (1970), American History X (1998) and many more in a producing career that lasted six decades, but he also took a significant turn when he left his partnership with producer David Foster to head the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at USC in 1991, an association that continued until his retirement just two years ago.

His son, John Turman, confirmed the death to Deadline. “Our father Lawrence Turman passed away late yesterday,” he said. “It’s sad, but he had a long and storied life, and it’s the passing of an era.” He added that the MPTF is planning a memorial service as well as USC at a later date.

Related: Hollywood & Media...

Lawrence Turman, producer of films including Oscar winner “The Graduate,” and longtime chair of the Peter Stark Producing program at USC, died Saturday at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills. He was 96.

Turman’s producing career spanned 50 years, and he served as director of USC’s Peter Stark Producing program from 1991 until he retired in 2021 at age 94.

Born in Los Angeles in 1926, Turman graduated from UCLA and broke into the industry after answering an ad in Variety to work at the Kurt Frings agency. He represented actors, and after getting a meeting with Alfred Hitchcock through their friend Ernest Lehman, he was able to book four of his agency’s clients in “North By Northwest.”

Turman moved into producing, working on films including Judy Garland’s last film “I Could Go On Singing,” “The Best Man,” “The Great White Hope” and “Pretty Poison.”

After finding Charles Webb’s book “The Graduate,...

Lawrence Turman, the principled Oscar-nominated producer of The Graduate who was behind other films including The Great White Hope, Pretty Poison, American History X and the last movie Judy Garland ever made, has died. He was 96.

Turman died Saturday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his family announced.

A former agent, he and producer David Foster began a 20-year partnership in 1974, and the first film to come out of the Turman Foster Co. was Stuart Rosenberg’s The Drowning Pool (1975), starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

They went their separate ways in 1991 when Turman left to begin an association heading the esteemed Peter Stark Producing Program at USC that lasted until his retirement in 2021.

However, Turman wasn’t done producing, and in 1996 he and John Morrissey launched the Turman-Morrissey Co., which made the Jamie Foxx-starring Booty Call (1997); Tony Kaye’s American History X...

The dynamic between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent has evolved over time into one of comics' most tragic relationships. Initially a friend of Bruce's and an ally to Batman in modern comics' lore, Harvey's transformation into Two-Face positions him as a tragic villain the Dark Knight longs to save from his inner darkness.

While most adaptations -- including Christopher Nolan's critically-acclaimed 2008 film The Dark Knight -- try to capture this, the best interpretation remains the version from Batman: The Animated Series. The 1990s cartoon expertly sets up Harvey as a sympathetic character ahead of his becoming the villain Bruce most wants to save. This alone puts the animated classic far ahead of even Nolan's most popular Batman film. Here's a look at how Batman: The Animated Series established a more tragic Batman/Two-Face relationship in a way The Dark Knight failed to achieve.

Related: A Beloved Batman...

This remarkable black comedy is often listed as a horror film yet it has more nervous laughs than shivers. It’s a solid idea: cruelly marginalized old folks get madder than hell and just won’t take it any more. Or maybe they simply go nuts. The cast of ‘over seventies’ playing over eighty is just marvelous, and one murderous little pixie is a delight: Paula Trueman. Things do become absurd but the universally-understood premise stays firm. . . we’ll all be there sooner or later. “A Murder A Day Keeps the Landlord Away.”

Homebodies

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date November 2, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Peter Brocco, Frances Fuller, William Hansen, Ruth McDevitt, Paula Trueman, Ian Wolfe, Linda Marsh, Douglas Fowley, Kenneth Tobey, Wesley Lau.

Cinematography: Isasdore Mankovsky

Art Director: John Retsek

Film Editor: Peter Parasheles

Original Music: Bernardo Segáll

Written by Larry Yust, Bennett Sims,...

This remarkable little black comedy is often listed as a horror film yet it has more nervous laughs than shivers. It’s a solid idea: cruelly maginalized old folks get madder than hell and just won’t take it any more. Or maybe more accurately, they simply go nuts. The cast of ‘over seventies’ playing over eighty is just marvelous, and one murderous little pixie is a delight: Paula Trueman. Things do become absurd but the universally-understood premise stays firm. . . we’ll all be there sooner or later. “A Murder A Day Keeps the Landlord Away.”

Homebodies

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date November 2, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Peter Brocco, Frances Fuller, William Hansen, Ruth McDevitt, Paula Trueman, Ian Wolfe, Linda Marsh, Douglas Fowley, Kenneth Tobey, Wesley Lau.

Cinematography: Isasdore Mankovsky

Art Director: John Retsek

Film Editor: Peter Parasheles

Original Music: Bernardo Segáll

Written by Larry Yust,...

As the drama and disruption that is coronavirus continues, people are looking for ways to temporarily forget the chaos that seems to be sweeping the globe. Thankfully, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is here to perhaps assist you with that, as well as offer you a way to best use your time should you currently be under self-isolation. Gunn has taken to social media to suggest ten movies that are well worth your time, and might just help you get over the Covid-19 worry, even if just for a moment.

James Gunn's recommendation list is just varied enough to appeal to almost everyone, with an assortment of movies from all around the world. He has also chosen a lot of movies that flew under the radar, which not only increases the chance of most people having never seen them, but also giving movie fans the opportunity to see...

With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world, many are finding themselves in quarantine as they self-isolate, as per widespread instructions for those who might be suffering from the illness. These are obviously troubling times for all of us, but on a personal level, it’s also been difficult for folks to know what to do with themselves while stuck inside all day.

Writer/director James Gunn has stepped forward with a neat idea for how film fans can turn this difficult period into a positive, though – why not use the free time to stream some often overlooked movies that deserve your attention? The Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker shared his personal top 10 recommendations, while also encouraging his followers to list their own picks in the replies.

Gunn’s own choices should contain at least one movie that piques your interest as he’s pulled from across the various genres, decades...

Kurt Vonnegut’s quirky sci-fi novels didn’t always adapt well to film, but George Roy Hill’s 1972 effort is a faithful winner. The filmmaking craft used to ‘unstick’ Billy Pilgrim in time is nothing short of brilliant, highlighting the camera talent of Miroslav Ondricek and the editing skill of Dede Allen. The book even has a built-in sex angle that the film doesn’t shy away from — providing our first encounter with Valerie Perrine as a starlet kidnapped by aliens curious about human mating habits. The somber, sometimes spiritually-defeatist tone of the show represents the book well; it ought to be better known.

Slaughterhouse-Five

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date December 3, 2019 / Available from Arrow Academy

Starring: Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, Eugene Roche, Sharon Gans, Valerie Perrine, Holly Near, Perry King, Kevin Conway, Friedrich von Ledebur, Sorrell Booke, Roberts Blossom, John Dehner, Stan Gottlieb, Karl-Otto Alberty, Henry Bumstead,...

Ken Kercheval, who played oil tycoon Cliff Barnes, the rival of Larry Hagman’s J.R. Ewing on “Dallas,” has died. He was 83.

A spokeswoman at Frist Funeral Home in Kercheval’s hometown of Clinton, Ind., confirmed his death on Wednesday to Variety, but did not provide additional information.

Kercheval and Hagman were the only two stars who appeared on CBS’ soap opera “Dallas” for its entire 14-season run between 1978 to 1991. Kercheval was a recurring character for the first two seasons, but was then upped to a regular in the 1979-1980 season. He reprised his role in the 1996 “Dallas” reunion, the 2004 CBS reunion special and the 2012-2014 TNT revival. He was among five series stars who directed episodes, taking the helm for two episodes for Seasons 13-14.

When “Dallas” viewers asked him when Cliff was “finally going to get J.R.,” Kercheval always answered: “This Friday night!”

In the 1960s,...

Guest Reviewer Lee Broughton is back, with a rodent roundup of horror, or more accurately, psychological suspense interrupted by a few salacious slayings. What would Mickey say?

The brief synopses of Daniel Mann’s Willard and Phil Karlson’s Ben that appeared in the horror movie books and magazines that kids in the UK loved to pore over during the late 1970s always gave the impression that this pair of killer rat films were hardcore horror shows.

In truth, the actual horror content of both films is relatively mild and infrequent. In spite of this, Willard and Ben still tend to be discussed in terms of their relation to the often more extreme movies that appeared in the “animals attack” cycle of horror films that flourished during the 1970s.

That particular subgenre represents something of a niche interest area that is governed by a pretty tight set of boundaries. The...

Charles Bronson plays a real-life Mafiosi in a period picture with a fine script, some good performances and a production so sloppy that the whole thing could be called The Anachronism Papers. Joseph Wiseman and Lino Ventura bring additional tough-guy star-power, and Bronson actually commits himself to the role — quite a change of pace for one of his later pictures.

The Valachi Papers

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 125 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Charles Bronson, Lino Ventura, Jill Ireland, Walter Chiari, Joseph Wiseman, Gerald S. O’Loughlin, Amedeo Nazzari, Fausto Tozzi, Pupella Maggio, Angelo Infanti, Guido Leontini.

Cinematography: Aldo Tonti

Film Editor: Johnny Dwyre, Monica Finzi

Original Music: Riz Ortolani, Armando Trovajoli

Written by Stephen Geller from the novel by Peter Maas

Produced by Dino De Laurentiis, Roger Duchet

Directed by Terence Young

In 2001 I received the plum assignment of editing a...

Unsung actress Beverly Garland becomes TV’s first lady cop, in what’s claimed to be the first TV show filmed on the streets of New York City. This one-season wonder from 1957 has vintage locations, fairly tough-minded storylines and solid performances, from Bev and a vast gallery of stage and TV actors on the way up.

Decoy

(Policewoman Decoy)

TV Series

DVD

Film Chest Media

1957-’58 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame (TV) / 39 x 30 min. / Street Date May 30, 2017 / 19.98

Starring: Beverly Garland

Art Direction (some episodes): Mel Bourne

Original Music: Wladimir Selinsky

Written by Lillian Andrews, Nicholas E. Baehr, Cy Chermak, Jerome Coopersmith, Don Ettlinger, Frances Frankel, Steven Gardner, Abram S. Ginnes, Mel Goldberg, Saul Levitt, Leon Tokatyan

Produced by Arthur H. Singer, David Alexander, Stuart Rosenberg, Everett Rosenthal

Directed by Teddy Sills, Stuart Rosenberg, David Alexander, Michael Gordon, Don Medford, Arthur H. Singer, Marc Daniels

How did I experience...

Or, “Never on Sunday with Your Stepson.” Director Jules Dassin’s monument to his beloved Melina Mercouri transposes a Greek tragedy to a modern setting. The pampered wife of a shipping magnate is like a queen of old — she can fling a priceless gem into the Thames on just a whim, and she goes in whatever direction her heart takes her. When her attractive stepson Anthony Perkins enters the picture, there will be Hell to Pay.

Phaedra

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1962 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date March 21, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.95

Starring: Melina Mercouri, Anthony Perkins, Raf Vallone, Elisabeth Ercy.

Cinematography: Jacquest Natteau

Film Editor: Roger Dwyre

Original Music: Mikis Theodorakis

Written by Jules Dassin, Margarita Lymberaki from the play Hippolytus by Euripides

Produced and Directed by Jules Dassin

Anyone into amour fou, the romantic notion of a love without limits, beyond the harsh constraints of reality?...

Psycho launched a thousand twisted sickos and pathological relationships in films, but none can best Noel Black’s fascinating, funny romance between a newly-released arsonist and a fetching high schooler, hungry for freedom and lacking a moral compass. The pairing of Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld is inspired.

Pretty Poison

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph, Dick O’Neill, Clarice Blackburn, Joseph Bova, Ken Kercheval.

Cinematography David L. Quaid

Original Music Johnny Mandel

Written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. from the novel She Let Him Continue by Stephen Geller

Produced by Marshall Backlar, Noel Black, Lawrence Turman

Directed by Noel Black

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Although the dates don’t match up, I’m absolutely certain that I saw Noel Black’s theatrical short Skaterdater when it was screened as a warm-up for,...

The selection for the 2016 Venice Film Festival has been announced, with new films by Terrence Malick, Pablo Larraín, Lav Diaz, Wang Bing, Amat Escalante, Tom Ford, and more.COMPETITIONVoyage of TimeThe Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour)Une vie i (Stéphane Brizé)La La Land (Damien Chazelle)The Light Between Oceans (Derek Cianfrance)El ciudadano ilustre (Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat)Spira Mirabilis (Massimo D'Anolfi, Martina Parenti)The Woman Who Left (Lav Diaz)La región salvaje (Amat Escalante)Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford)Piuma (Roan Johnson)Paradise (Andrei Konchalovsky)Brimstone (Martin Koolhoven)Jackie (Pablo Larraín)Voyage of Time (Terrence Malick)El Cristo Ciego (Christopher Murray)Frantz (François Ozon)Questi Giorni (Giuseppe Piccioni)Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)Les beaux jours D'Aranjuez (Wim Wenders)Out Of COMPETITIONSafariOur War (Bruno Chiaravolloti, Claudio Jampaglia, Benedetta Argentieri)I Called Him Morgan (Kasper Collin)One More Time with Feeling (Andrew Dominik)The Bleeder (Philippe Falardeau)The Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua...

Titles this year range from Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai to John Landis’s An American Werewolf In London.

The selection of restored titles screening at this year’s Venice Film Festival (Aug 31 - Sept 10) have been revealed.

Italian director Roberto Andò (The Confessions) will oversee the strand’s jury of cinema history students which will award two prizes: Best Restored Film and Best Documentary On Cinema (the line-up of the latter will be revealed at a later date).

Now in its fifth year, this year’s selection includes Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Woody Allen’s Manhattan, John Landis’s An American Werewolf In London, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, and George A Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead amongst a host of other restorations.

The full Venice Film Festival line-up will be revealed on Thursday (July 28).

Venice Classics 2016 line-up:

1848, Dino Risi (Italy, 1948, 11’, B/W)

restored by: Archivio Nazionale Cinema Impresa-csc-Cineteca Nazionale and Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano...

Cult movie classic ‘Pretty Poison’ filmmaker Noel Black dead at 77 (photo: Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins in ‘Pretty Poison’) Noel Black, best remembered for the 1968 cult movie classic Pretty Poison, died of pneumonia at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on July 5, 2014. Black (born on June 30, 1937, in Chicago) was 77. Prior to Pretty Poison, Noel Black earned praise for the 18-minute short film Skaterdater (1965), the tale of a boy skateboarder who falls for a girl bike rider. Shot on the beaches of Los Angeles County, the dialogue-less Skaterdater went on to win the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film and tied with Orson Welles’ Falstaff - Chimes at Midnight for the Technical Grand Prize at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. Besides, Skaterdater received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Short Subject, Live Action category. (The Oscar winner that year was Claude Berri’s Le Poulet.) ‘Pretty Poison’: Fun and games and...

Noel Black, who directed the 1968 cult black comedy Pretty Poison starring Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld, has died. He was 77. Black, who earned a Cannes Film Festival prize and an Oscar nomination for his 1966 live-action short film Skaterdater, died July 5 at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, his son, director and unit production manager Marco Black, told The Hollywood Reporter. The Chicago native and UCLA film school graduate also helmed episodes of such TV series as McCloud, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Kojak, Hawaii Five-o, Quincy, M.E. and the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone.

read more...

Film and television historian Stephen Bowie not only seems to have broken the news that director Noel Black has died at the age of 77, he's also written a vital remembrance. Though he won a prize at Cannes in 1966 for his short film Skaterdater and directed dozens of television movies and episodes, we can be sure Black will most likely be remembered for Pretty Poison (1968) with Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins. We gather links to appreciations of that cult favorite as well as to another entry on A Change of Seasons (1980). » - David Hudson...

Film and television historian Stephen Bowie not only seems to have broken the news that director Noel Black has died at the age of 77, he's also written a vital remembrance. Though he won a prize at Cannes in 1966 for his short film Skaterdater and directed dozens of television movies and episodes, we can be sure Black will most likely be remembered for Pretty Poison (1968) with Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins. We gather links to appreciations of that cult favorite as well as to another entry on A Change of Seasons (1980). » - David Hudson...

Happy April, dear readers! The snow is almost entirely gone, the weather is warming up, and we can go outside without putting on coats. Best of all, this Friday finally sees the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and by all accounts it’s awesome. And fittingly, this week’s installment of Trailer Trashin’ examines another of this year’s movies based on Marvel Comics – X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Premise: The X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of their species across two different time periods. Following the events of X-Men: First Class, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) has disbanded the X-Men, and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is continuing his war against humanity. In a dystopian future, Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), and the surviving members of the modern-day X-Men decide to change the past by sending Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back through time to inhabit his younger body...

It's a crowded weekend at the movies in Austin. Polari (formerly the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival) is in full swing at venus across the city until Sunday. If you didn't get a badge for the fest, $10 individual tickets will be available for most screenings (capacity permitting) including Pj Raval's powerhouse doc Before You Know It. Raval will also be hosting a special Austin Film Society presentation of Paris Is Burning in 35mm on Wednesday night at the Marchesa.  

The Austin Film Society's "Terror In The Aisles" series continues tonight at the Marchesa and Sunday with a 35mm screening of the 1960 Hammer Horror film The Brides Of Dracula. Essential Cinema's focus on the masters of Japanese cinema will also deliver Kenji Mizoguchi's 1946 film Utamaro And His Five Women at the Marchesa on Thursday in a 35mm print direct from Janus Films. 

As always, there's a diverse...

Women in Film: Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner, and dozens of movie actresses in curious morphing montage A few dozen top international female movie stars, most of them Hollywood celebrities, are seen in the Women in Film morphing montage below created by Philip Scott Johnson. The faces belong to actresses from the 1910s to the early 21st century. (Image: The ‘Daughter’ of Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner — who sort of looks like a cross between Eleanor Parker and Cyd Charisse as well — in the Women in Film morphing montage.) Just as interesting as trying to identify each of the famous faces is stopping the video while the morphing is going on, so you get Daughter of Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner, or Daughter of Audrey Hepburn and Dorothy Dandridge, or Daughter of Michelle Pfeiffer and Sigourney Weaver. Some of those Daughters are quite pretty; others look like they’ve just landed on this planet.

Anthony Perkins in Goodbye Again

Happy birthday to the man I call my Time Machine Husband (Tm), Anthony Perkins. The effete, beautiful actor best known for his astonishing performance as Norman Bates in Psycho would've been 81 today, and without even reading Charles Winecoff's gripping biography Split Image, you can tell in Mr. Perkins' performances that he was enigmatic, complicated, and conflicted. Though Perkins died of AIDS in 1992, his silver screenlegacy endures thanks to his lengthy, strange filmography.

Hollywood wanted Perkins to be the next James Dean, but his vulnerability and (frankly) apparent gayness stood at odds with that demand. As I like to say, we can't rewrite cinematic history to include all the wonderful gay characters we deserve, so we as gay entertainment anthropologists have to find our stories in the nuances, innuendos, and otherwise untold stories hidden right onscreen (perhaps unintentionally), right within all the stated heterosexuality. Though...

Man, did this week's episode of The Good Wife feel light, interesting, and lean to you too? Why was that? Hmm.

Oh, yeah: Eli's one-note descent into perpetual anger didn't even make a cameo this week. We got a break from watching our main man torpedo his own awesome identity with hapless mugging. That's a break we needed. No dumbfounded Peter antics either. Phew. We really needed that break.  

The Good Wife felt renewed and revived as the Lemond Bishop case surfaced again, Alicia tangled with an old law school foe and a creepy lawyer, and some Cary-and-Kalinda zsestxy-ness came on strong ("zsestxy" is an obvious combination of "zesty" and "sexy," and I want you to deal with it). 

Here are my picks for the five most notable moments of "Runnin' With the Devil."  

1. Alicia had two kickass moments right at the start of the show. Can you name them?...

New York. The Last Modernist: The Complete Works of Béla Tarr opens today at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and runs through Wednesday, and R Emmet Sweeney has a wide-ranging talk with the retired filmmaker. "Whether or not The Turin Horse turns out to be Béla Tarr's last film, as the gnostic, gnomic Hungarian master has claimed it will be, the sense of finality is absolute," writes the L's Mark Asch. Aaron Cutler for Moving Image Source: "Primo Levi writes in Survival in Auschwitz that the lowest point a human can reach is when he or she is forced to act without choice, performing tasks purely for his or her own survival. Freedom of choice is what separates humans from other animals. The Tarr crew (which, beginning with him and partner, Ágnes Hranitzky, has gone on to include a regular screenwriter [László Krasznahorkai], composer [Mihály Vig], and cinematographer [Fred Kelemen]) began by comparing humans to each other,...

"Tuesday Weld will not be attending the Film Society of Lincoln Center's retrospective American Girl: Tuesday Weld, running from September 21—25, which will showcase 10 performances by the unconventional actress." Louis Jordan, who's working on a biography of Weld, at the House Next Door: "For a tantalizing moment, the reclusive Weld agreed to be interviewed at the Walter Reade Theatre in an event called 'An Evening with Tuesday Weld,' but later suddenly cancelled. Weld hasn't made a public appearance in more than a decade. Perhaps she's gone into self-imposed exile a la Marlene Dietrich, wanting to preserve the public's memory of the brazen, luminous beauty that made her an icon of the '60s and turned the heads of everyone from Elvis Presley to Pinchas Zukerman. But then again, Weld has made a career of not giving the public what they want, or expect."

"As an actress, Weld is famous for...

Anthony Perkins made his film debut in The Actress (1953) in which he received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year and three years later he received an an Academy Award nomination for his second film, Friendly Persuasion (1956). Although Perkins specialized in playing many awkward young men, notably in Fear Strikes Out (1957), The Tin Star (1957), and Desire Under the Elms (1958), he will always be known best for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

The actor also went on to create a critically-acclaimed portrayal of Joseph K. in Orson Welles’ The Trial (1962) a cinematic adaptation of the novel by Franz Kafka, and in 1968 he took the role of a disturbed young murderer in Pretty Poison (1968), which served to affect the rest of his career. He would later find himself typecast, starring in the sequels and prequel to Psycho, including Psycho II, Psycho III (which he...

 

The Aero Theatre in Santa Monica will present a film festival dedicated to screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr., who will make appearances during the course of the festival. Films to be screened include the 1966 Batman, Pretty Poison, Flash Gordon and the drastically underrated satire The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker, which features a deftly played supporting performance by Adam West. For more click here...