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Time for a change.

Time for a change.

Some time ago I mentioned that Whatchareading.com would be slowing down our content. Well the time has come to cease posting new articles. We moved very very far away from our original concept, and though the recent content has been wonderful it is not what this site was created for. Thank you all for sticking around. The site will remain up and running for as long as I can afford to fund it. No…

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"Spat" Oktan, special effects wiz and the King of Conventions, Has Published His First Novel!

“Spat” Oktan, special effects wiz and the King of Conventions, Has Published His First Novel!

Spat Oktan is well known for his work on the sci-fi/comic book convention circuit, and in his roles as costume, prop-maker, and practical special effects man on low-budget films such as Bad Kids Go to Hell and its sequel, as well as videos and TV shows in the New York and Atlanta area, where he now resides.  What no one knew is he is a novelist, but it turns out he put his quarantine to good use,…

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From Ozploitation to Skinemax, with George Lazenby, Nicole Kidman and a Leprechaun on the Way: A Review of Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Terrific ADVENTURES IN THE B-MOVIE TRADE

From Ozploitation to Skinemax, with George Lazenby, Nicole Kidman and a Leprechaun on the Way: A Review of Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Terrific ADVENTURES IN THE B-MOVIE TRADE

Brian Trenchard-Smith is well known among certain circles as a high-quality efficient film and television director for nearly fifty years, whereas among others he is not known at all, although many have seen his work even if they haven’t identified him as its author. He has some well-known enthusiasts such as Quentin Tarantino, who have actively talked up his filmography, and was prominently…

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THE LEGENDARY CHIEF ZABU NOW STREAMS! ZACH NORMAN AND NEIL COHEN TALK ABOUT THEIR LOST UNDERGROUND CLASSIC!

THE LEGENDARY CHIEF ZABU NOW STREAMS! ZACH NORMAN AND NEIL COHEN TALK ABOUT THEIR LOST UNDERGROUND CLASSIC!

The loose, zanily charming CHIEF ZABU, a comedy about real estate, ambition, sex and politics, starring Allen Garfield, Ed Lauter and Zack Norman, that was lost for 30 years, only to re-materialize recently for barnstorming screenings across the country featuring Norman and co-director/co-writer Neil Cohen, continues its mission to take over the worldby now becoming available to rent or purchase…

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Let it Snow! David Lee Madison's WIT'S END is out now On Demand.

Let it Snow! David Lee Madison’s WIT’S END is out now On Demand.

David Lee Madison’s WIT’S END

David Lee Madison’s WIT’S END has a kind of trance-like quality, what with all the lush snowscapes captured in this feature shot in Northeast Pennsylvania, released in select theaters on July 10th, and available On Demand on July 17th, 2020. Madison’s homestyle, charming documentary MIDDLE VILLAGE, where he and CLERKS’ Brian O’Halloran lead viewers on a leisurely…

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Throwbacks: CHINESE HERCULES and BRUCE’S NINJA SECRET on Blu-ray from Dark Force!

Throwbacks: CHINESE HERCULES and BRUCE’S NINJA SECRET on Blu-ray from Dark Force!

Throwbacks: CHINESE HERCULES and BRUCE’S NINJA SECRET on Blu-ray from Dark Force!

Growing up in the 1970s in New York, you could watch all kind of glorious crap on tv on the weekends. Channel 9 had Benny Hill, Dr. Who, wrestling and all sorts of eurohorror films in the morning, channel 11 had Abbott and Costello every Sunday morning, and channel five had kung-fu films at 3pm on Saturday afternoons

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Brian Weber, Bartender Journey, and COCKTAILS MADE SIMPLE

Brian Weber, Bartender Journey, and COCKTAILS MADE SIMPLE

Have you ever, like me, imagined yourself a sophisticate ready to seduce a game but innocent Doris Day or charm a seasoned but frisky Sonia Braga? (have you also wished to have some more up-to-date references at your fingertips?)

Have you ever felt like a kid in an adult’s world, knowing there is something out there beyond beer and chemical-laden wine coolers, but you don’t know which way to turn…

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The Ultimate Road Movie (in 13 Minutes): Myriah Rose Marquez's UNCOMFORTABLY COMFORTABLE

The Ultimate Road Movie (in 13 Minutes): Myriah Rose Marquez’s UNCOMFORTABLY COMFORTABLE

“Your Story is Valid.  Your Story is Who You Are.  You are the Writer of Your Story.”

–Myriah Rose Marquez, writer, editor and director of UNCOMFORTABLY COMFORTABLE

Despite being all of 13 minutes, Myriah Rose Marquez’s debut film, UNCOMFORTABLY COMFORTABLE, might just be the Ultimate Road Movie.  Detailing Marquez’s severe childhood illnesses, living out of her car, Going West, young girl, to…

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A 10 year old reviews James Rallison's THE ODD 1s OUT book and YouTube series

A 10 year old reviews James Rallison’s THE ODD 1s OUT book and YouTube series

Fresh off his hot review of AMERICAN GARGOYLES, my now older-and-seasoned son has written his second review, for one of his most favorite things on earth, the new James Rallison THE ODD 1S OUTbook.  I had never heard of Rallison when my son asked me to pick up the first book at Target one day, and was immediately wary when I learned he is a YouTube sensation of some sort.  I am most suspicious of…

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Short and Sweet: Robert Leckington's 5 MINUTES ALONE

Short and Sweet: Robert Leckington’s 5 MINUTES ALONE

Long Island actor and filmmaker Robert Leckington put together a scene written by his acting coach to use during auditions for a manager, and the feedback was so positive, he ultimately developed it into the darkly funny short 5 MINUTES ALONE, about the tense exchanges between a grumpy supermarket cashier manning the 10-items-or-less and various customers.

Robert got a hand from prolific local…

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A Hell of a Movie: in praise of the underseen THE THIRD MIRACLE and a talk with its author, Richard Vetere

A Hell of a Movie: in praise of the underseen THE THIRD MIRACLE and a talk with its author, Richard Vetere

Ed Harris as Father Frank Moore in THE THIRD MIRACLE

THE THIRD MIRACLE came out in the fall of 1990 and had a brief run on the art-house circuit, collecting some respectful reviews before gently exiting the Oscar race with less than $600,000 in grosses.  The film had a reasonable DVD release (featuring a commentary from director Agnieszka Holland) but has not been discussed much since – it has…

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A Small But Real Achievement: Talking with writer Steve Mitchell about AGAINST THE LAW, inking and writing comics, and KING COHEN.

A Small But Real Achievement: Talking with writer Steve Mitchell about AGAINST THE LAW, inking and writing comics, and KING COHEN.

“A True Anomaly.”

In Jim Wynorski’s 1997 film, AGAINST THE LAW, written by Steve Mitchell and Bob Sheridan, 21 JUMP STREET’s Richard Grieco plays Rex, a psychopathic self-fancied modern day gunslinger, who heads to Hollywood on a bright sunny day in a red convertible with a longhorn strapped to the front grill, after having killed a lawman he challenged to an  “Are you fast enough?” duel,…

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Moon Man Grind - Coming Soon!

Moon Man Grind – Coming Soon!

Moon Man Grind is a brand new project that launches this week from Cee Raymond. I’ve been a huge fan of Cee’s work since coming across the Crime & Space Kickstarter way back in 2016. (Crime & Space by Cee Raymond Looks Crazy Good! APRIL 23, 2016) If you didn’t catch that one maybe you heard me raving about The Wendell in 2017? (Beware The Wendell! OCTOBER 5, 2017)

No? Okay so you may not be the…

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One of the Greats. And Sylvester Stallone.

Golden Globe and Tony Award winner, and multiple time Emmy nominee, Brian Dennehy has passed at 81, and the actor that Pauline Kael in her February 24th, 1986 review of F/X called “the kind of actor John Wayne would be if he was an actor” is getting deserved respect far and wide, as his theater and television work playing Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, his film work in First Blood, Cocoon, Tommy Boy and many others.  His beefiness could be used for menace but it could also be all sensitivity, and he showed considerable wit in F/X and Silverado.  I want to speak off the cuff of a few deeper cuts in Dennehy’s repertoire.

Early Dennehy turns I was exposed to by the fabled WHT!

While many are rightly naming First Blood as his breakout role, we knew Dennehy early in our household, as my dad loved him as the sympathetic Club Med bartender listening to Dudley Moore whine about his marriage and strategize how to seduce Bo Derek in Blake Edwards’ 10, and I still remember his memorable turn as a heavy in Walter Matthau’s Little Miss Marker, co-starring Tony Curtis, Julie Andrews and Bob Newhart, one a major film and one quite minor, but both of which were in regular rotation on Wometco Home Theater back in those days.

Everyone remembers Bo Derek from 10, But I remember Dennehy.

Dennehy overpowering Newhart and Curtis in Little Miss Marker.

Neither those nor a memorable turn around that time in Michael Ritchie’s Semi-Tough that I caught up with later are necessarily where you should go tonight to pay respect to one of our great character actors, although they are all solid character parts.  I wish to bring up a few later works you may/may not be aware of.

“Best Seller” Good disreputable fun.

BEST SELLER — Directed by John (Rolling Thunder) Flynn and written by high-concept legend Larry Cohen, BEST SELLER is one of those crazy baroque and occasionally silly Cohen thrillers involving a best-selling author played by Dennehy who gets caught up with a sociopathic hit man played by James Woods who wants him to write his life story.  It doesn’t wholly hang together, but its shopworn parts are kept humming by two ace mechanics in Dennehy and Woods.  Woods gives one of his terrifically feral performances, and Dennehy gives it some dimension, some credible emotion and realism.  It’s a lot of fun.

Character Actors Unite!

LAST OF THE FINEST — A conventional L.A. cop film, looking better in the rear-view mirror because they don’t make conventional cop films so much anymore, and because a solid director, John Mackenzie (who made a true classic, the British crime flick The Long Good Friday with Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren) worked with an excellent who’s-who-of-late-80s-character-actors cast, with Dennehy getting a rare lead: Joe Pantoliano, Jeff Fahey, and Bill Paxton all give able support.  A serviceable flick, and that’s not meant in the pejorative.  Action, drama, some cliches, and a chance for Dennehy to be front and center.

The Belly of the Architect.

THE BELLY OF THE ARCHITECT — The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (remember that? it was a solid mid-level art-house hit around 1988) was made by notorious, committed-to-his-vision filmmaker Peter Greenaway.  A couple years before it he gave Dennehy another lead as an architect whose health and marriage deteriorate while he’s in Rome. Definitely an art film about alienation and mortality, and not for all tastes, it nevertheless is a showcase for a major Dennehy performance, again in a lead, showcasing his versatility.  Put him in Europe with a self-serious auteur or in a fistfight with Sylvester Stallone, Dennehy could do it all.

Curious billing.

  INDIO — this one is kind of junky, an Italian action flick that I’m just pointing out because it is the flip-side of Architect.  Those who like seeing Americans taking paychecks to work in low-budget euro-genre flicks will enjoy Dennehy take his turn at bat, somehow getting lower billing than boxer Marvelous Marvin Hagler on the poster!  I hope the check paid for an in-ground pool at Dennehy’s nice Malibu spread or something.

  This still bleeds intensity.

SPLIT IMAGE — First Blood director Ted Kotcheff made this underrated movie about trying to deprogram a young man brainwashed by a cult, which was overshadowed at the time by art house success Ticket to Heaven with Nick Mancuso.  But this holds up, with a superior cast including Miles O’Keefe (Great Santini and Caddyshack) as the troubled young man, Dennehy and Elizabeth Ashley as his distraught parents, Peter Fonda as the charismatic cult leader, and James  Woods again showing up on a Dennehy set to play the deprogrammer.  Kotcheff could make some turkeys, but he’s an underrated director who has directed several excellent films in many genres, including Wake in Fright, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, North Dallas 40, Uncommon Valor, Weekend at Bernie’s, and, yes, the original First Blood.

I’ll just add that Dennehy’s scenes in Righteous Kill with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are a guilty pleasure; the film is crap, but as they gave the two leads enough money to show up in this craptastic cop thriller, playing active street detectives despite both being around 70 at the time, they had to find someone older, bigger, and talented enough that he cold convincingly play a captain who could chew their asses out.  Sure enough, Brian Dennehy was the man they called, and De Niro and Pacino wake up and actually get a spark going with him in their few scenes together.

(Left to right.) Robert De Niro, Brian Dennehy and Al Pacino star in Overture Films’ RIGHTEOUS KILL.

As Stallone, the star of First Blood, of course, tweeted today, “the world has lost a great artist.”

R.I.P. Brian Dennehy. Even in the middle of a prolonged crisis, this news stands out.  We miss you already.

Brian Dennehy, 1938-2020: Some Non-Rambo Choices to Watch this Week Golden Globe and Tony Award winner, and multiple time Emmy nominee, Brian Dennehy has passed at 81, and the actor that Pauline Kael in her February 24th, 1986 review of…

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In Praise of Emily Mortimer, and why MARY is a "Humpback Movie."

In Praise of Emily Mortimer, and why MARY is a “Humpback Movie.”

Don’t turn around, Emily!

Emily Mortimer is an actress of prodigious talent.  Everyone recognizes her but I guess some may still not know her name, as she is not “box-office” and stars in films that show up on Netflix or in Redbox without theatrical release with portentous regularity.  But she rocks.   I cannot deny that I found her, well, really appealing the first couple of times I set eyes on…

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"It's real, Charlie'" Actor Charlie Romanelli talks about Recording Audibooks, Working with Martin Sheen, and Male Pattern Baldness

“It’s real, Charlie'” Actor Charlie Romanelli talks about Recording Audibooks, Working with Martin Sheen, and Male Pattern Baldness

Charlie Romanelli at work

Sure. I’ll occasionally sit down and enjoy a celebrity profile piece, learning what Val Kilmer thinks about holistic medicine or Alyssa Milano’s political views.  But with the recent unfortunate passings of Mark Blum, a theater powerhouse perhaps best known to larger audiences as Roseanna Arquette’s suburban husband in DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSANand Allen Garfield, best…