Soon after hearing about Jonathan Winters’ death two days ago, I had the realization that we’re running out of truly great NATURAL comedians that made us laugh without resorting to juggling expletives or putting themselves in the public eye constantly in an ego-feeding frenzy. Granted, trying to get today’s short attention spanners out there to sit down and watch Winters’ best work is going to be a hard sell, but I think Stanley Kramer’s 1963 comedy classic kills a few birds with one stone.
Yes, the movie is too long by today’s standards (hell, it was too long for 1963 standards), but it’s packed to the gills with comedians and comediennes from a huge enough slice of history that you could see the careers of some beginning and ending with this one zany epic. The story of a bunch of wildly assorted strangers chasing down a dead robbery suspect’s stolen loot is still required viewing for anyone who considers him or herself a fan of comedy and the film works so well because no one gets away without taking a few lumps or a pratfall or three… Continue reading
If you’re a creaky old horror film buff like me, Tim Burton’s 1999 film Sleepy Hollow is a nice little love letter to a few classics. Of course, going in not knowing what the director is paying homage to works just fine, particularly if you also toss out ANY notions that he’s going to to a straight retelling of the original Washington Irving short story. Granted, I’d bet most people who went to see this back when it was released weren’t stuffy critics who poked at the movie for not staying close to that moldy lore at all (or had even read the story, for that matter). If you wanted a well-paced horror flick with some solid performances, great visual effects and a few shocks along the way, you got that and then some. Those of us who saw this with one eye out for the director’s reference material were more likely than not a great deal more giddy by the time those credits rolled… 
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 