John Bliss Movies
Filmmaker Terry Zwigoff and comic artist and screenwriter Daniel Clowes, who collaborated for the acclaimed 2001 comedy-drama Ghost World, team up once again for this offbeat satire. Jerome (Max Minghella) is an aspiring artist who arrives at a prestigious East Coast art institute to study. While Jerome enjoys daydreams of becoming the best-respected painter on Earth and winning the hearts of his female classmates, he soon learns the sad truth -- his "cool artist" act is old hat in the big city, and as he's surrounded by every art school cliché on Earth, practically nothing about him stands out. Determined to be recognized whatever the consequences, Jerome maps out a bizarre plan to become famous that has some unexpected consequences. Loosely adapted from a story in Clowes' comic book Eightball, Art School Confidential also stars John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Anjelica Huston, and Sophia Myles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, (more)
Joel and Ethan Coen take on the classic battle-of-the-sexes screwball comedy with Intolerable Cruelty. George Clooney plays Miles Massey, a high-powered Los Angeles divorce lawyer nearing a midlife crisis . While representing wealthy client Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann), Miles meets his match in Rex's gold-digging wife, Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones). He's impressed by her similarly heartless ways of using marriage to fuel an expensive lifestyle, but he still defeats her in court. With Marilyn looking to get her revenge and Miles finding himself attracted to her, the two engage in a ruthless romantic pursuit to out-swindle each other. Billy Bob Thornton shows up in a small role as Texas oil tycoon Howard Doyle. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, (more)
A cult of "caninus" or dog-worshippers is terrorizing a farm woman in order to get her to sell them her land, land that they need for a special ritual. The members of the cult keep their association secret and apparently have infiltrated all levels of local society, on up to Senator Bradford (John Carradine) who is the cult leader. Gory scenes are interspersed throughout the story as the cult murders anyone who starts catching on to the fact that they exist. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Wayne, John Carradine, (more)
Two sisters (Jane Johnstone, Kathy McHaley) seek vengeance when they are evicted from their farmhouse and a gunslinging sheriff shoots down their moonshining father. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
The good campy fun in this sci-fi horror movie really begins when the head of a racist mad scientist (Ray Milland) is sewn onto the shoulders of a large black convict (Rosie Grier) and the two heads begin fighting--literally trying to punch each other out--to control their shared body. The whole mess begins because the brain surgeon suffers from terminal cancer. He reasons that he will survive if he can transplant his head onto the shoulders of another. He and his team begin experimenting. First he has his head sewn to a gorilla (featuring a simian created by fledgling make-up artist Rick Baker). Something goes terribly wrong, he goes into a coma and when he wakes up, he finds himself having a permanent tete-a-tete with the wrongfully convicted Grier. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Roosevelt Grier, (more)
- 1969
In this exploitation western, a renegade unit of Confederates conspire to rob a Union payroll wagon. Unfortunately, they don't realize that the war is over when they ride into a little town to await the shipment. While there, they amuse themselves by raping and murdering the townsfolk. Fortunately a brave African servant manages to escape and make it safely to an encampment of newly freed slaves. They rush back to the town and fight the rebels to the death. This film is filled with graphic violence and sex. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Vengeance is a low-key American "B" western with a largely unknown cast. William Thourlby plays ex-Confederate officer, who seeks revenge for his brother's death. Only after much blood is shed does Thourlby discover that the man he seeks is not the genuine culprit. Wrestlers Tiger Joe Marsh and the Great John L show up in bit roles. Vengeance attained a bit of regional drive-in play before being consigned to the Late Show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The meteoric popularity of Arthur Godfrey was allegedly the basis of the 1957 drama Face in the Crowd. Andy Griffith makes a spectacular film debut as Lonesome Rhodes, a philosophical country-western singer discovered in a tanktown jail by television talent coordinator Patricia Neal and her assistant Walter Matthau. They decide that Rhodes is worthy of a TV guest spot, the result being that the gangly, aw-shucks entertainer becomes an overnight sensation. As he ascends to stardom, Rhodes attracts fans, sponsors and endorsements by the carload, and soon he is the most powerful and influential entertainer on the airwaves. Beloved by his audience, Rhodes reveals himself to his intimates as a scheming, power-hungry manipulator, with Machiavellian political aspirations. He uses everyone around him, coldly discarding anyone who might impede his climb to the top (one such victim is sexy baton-twirler Lee Remick, likewise making her film debut). Just when it seems that there's no stopping Rhodes' megalomania, his mentor and ex-lover Neal exposes this Idol of Millions as the rat that he is. She arranges to switch on the audio during the closing credits of Rhodes' TV program, allowing the whole nation to hear the grinning, waving Rhodes characterize them as "suckers" and "stupid idiots." Instantly, Rhodes' popularity rating plummets to zero. As he drunkenly wanders around his penthouse apartment, still not fully comprehending what has happened to him, Rhodes is deserted by the very associates who, hours earlier, were willing to ask "how high?" when he yelled "jump". Written by Budd Schulberg, Face in the Crowd was not a success, possibly because it hit so close to home with idol-worshipping TV fans. Its reputation has grown in the intervening years, not only because of its value as a film but because of the novelty of seeing the traditionally easygoing Andy Griffith as so vicious and manipulative a character as Lonesome Rhodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, (more)
