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Who doesn't love John Wayne? The tough-talking cowboy dominated the silver screen for decades, captivating audiences with his endless charisma and dynamic swagger. Growing up, I saw many of the Duke's films — my mom loved him — but only later discovered some of his greatest adventures, including "The Searchers." All told, Wayne appeared in over 250 films, earned three Academy Award nominations, and took home an Oscar for Best Actor ("True Grit"). One need only glance at his resume to notice a handful of classic films: "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," "Sands of Iwo Jima," "The Quiet Man," "Rio Bravo," "The Shootist," and "Stagecoach," among many, many others.

Each of these films comes with a plethora of memorable scenes. Be it a line of colorful dialogue, a well-executed action sequence, or a simple character beat in which Wayne shows off his effortless charm, there are plenty of unforgettable Duke moments to choose from,...

This creepy-crawly epic enjoyed a strong reputation on my grade-school playground! Does George Pal’s man-versus-the-elements saga hold up 68 years later? The ‘exotic’ special effects get the point across but the real appeal is the suppressed lust between Charlton Heston and his mail order bride Eleanor Parker — all heavy breathing and stern reproaches. I’m surprised nobody has fully exploited the original short story, which back in the ’60s showed up in numerous best-of collections. “Marabunta” is not a new fragrance line from Arpege.

The Naked Jungle

All- Region Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint]

1954 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 95 min. / Street Date December 29, 2021 / Available from [Imprint], Amazon.us /

Starring: Charlton Heston, Eleanor Parker, William Conrad, John Dierkes, Abraham Sofaer, Douglas Fowley, Rodd Redwing.

Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo

Production Designer: Art Director: Hal Pereira, Franz Bachelin

Film Editor: Everett Douglas

Special Photographic Effects: John P. Fulton

Matte artist Jan Domela

Miniatures Ivyl Burks

Optical cinematography Paul K. Lerpae...

The Amicus Collection

Blu-ray

Severin

1972, ’73, ’74/ 1:85 / 88 Min., 91 Min., 93 Min. / January 16, 2018

Starring Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Calvin Lockhart

Cinematography by Denys Coop, Jack Hildyard

Written by Robert Bloch

Music by Douglas Gamley,

Produced by Milton Subotsky, Max Rosenberg

Directed by Roy Ward Baker, Paul Annett

Released in 1956, Rock, Rock, Rock was a bantamweight jukebox musical bolstered by the presence of three indelible signifiers of 50’s pop culture, rabble-rousing DJ Alan Freed, Hollywood’s perennial Lolita Tuesday Weld and guitar slinging provocateur Chuck Berry. Produced by Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg, the movie’s success inspired the New York-born duo to pack up shop and move to England where they founded Amicus Productions.

Hedging their bets, the fledgling company followed in the footsteps of both Aip and Hammer, putting one foot in teensploitation and the other into a line of shockers with a supernatural bent. To their credit their initial...

Many unsuspecting cinema-goers who clearly hadn’t read the reviews got quite a shock when they went into Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan expecting a nice movie about ballet. Black Swan is a fully-fledged (pun intended) horror movie full of fantastical elements – or is it? Horror it certainly is – fantasy, it may not be, as it is entirely possible that every uncanny event in the film exists only in the protagonist’s disturbed mind. Black Swan is far from the first film to play with the line between fantasy and reality, and it won’t be the last. What follows is a subjective list of some of my favourite reality-bending fantastical films.*

A Matter of Life and Death (dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1946, known as Stairway to Heaven in the Us)

A Matter of Life and Death uses exactly the same method as Black Swan to bend reality, but to the exact opposite effect.

Filed under: Columns, Cinematical

Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the column in which I continue my film education before your very eyes by seeking out and watching all of the movies I should have seen by now. I will first judge the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation (and my potentially misguided thoughts). Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try!

The Film: 'A Matter of Life and Death' (1946), Dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Starring: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey, Marius Goring and Abraham Sofaer.

Why I Haven't Seen It Until Now: Every film buff worth his salt has at least heard of Powell and Pressburger, the brilliant duo behind such films as 'The Red Shoes,' 'Black Narcissus...

Filed under: Columns, Cinematical

Welcome to Where Everyone Has Gone Before, the column in which I continue my film education before your very eyes by seeking out and watching all of the movies I should have seen by now. I will first judge the movie before I've watched it, based entirely on its reputation (and my potentially misguided thoughts). Then I will give the movie a fair chance and actually watch it. You will laugh at me, you may condemn me, but you will never say I didn't try!

The Film: 'A Matter of Life and Death' (1946), Dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Starring: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey, Marius Goring and Abraham Sofaer.

Why I Haven't Seen It Until Now: Every film buff worth his salt has at least heard of Powell and Pressburger, the brilliant duo behind such films as 'The Red Shoes,' 'Black Narcissus...