Wednesday, 24 May 2000

2016 Centennials


I had a lot of fun in 2014 watching each of the 36 films that Charlie Chaplin made in 1914 (well, the 35 that still exist, at least). What made it most fun was watching them a hundred years to the day from their original release, so seeing them at the rate that the audiences of the time did.

A neat side effect was that I kept on task and so inherently had a book ready to proof and edit by the end of the year, so I conjured up a similar project. This one wouldn't involve the centennials of films but of people, working to the same sort of structure.


So, here's 2016 Centennials.

Each review here was posted on what would have been (or in some instances actually was) the one hundredth birthday of someone important to the film industry. The aim was to remember them with an interesting film from their career that, in the process, allows me to explore another aspect of history, whether to cinema, something wider or both.

Some of these people are famous, household names that we grew up watching. Some aren't. And some used to be, but a hundred years is a long time and things change. All, however, are important.

These carefully curated films vary by era, genre and nationality and, together, help to enrich my knowledge and maybe yours too. I collated these reviews into a book, A Hundred in 2016, which won the Alan Black Cirque du Livre Book of the Festival in 2017.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Latest Review (19 Dec 2016)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde 1971 5 5 Roy Ward Baker IMDb

All 2018 Centennial Reviews
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
10 Rillington Place 1971 7 6 Richard Fleischer IMDb
23 Paces to Baker Street 1956 5 5 Henry Hathaway IMDb
Angel Baby 1961 5 5 Paul Wendkos IMDb
Babies for Sale 1940 5 5 Charles Barton IMDb
The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend 1949 4 4 Preston Sturges IMDb
Behold a Pale Horse 1964 4 4 Fred Zinnemann IMDb
The Brute Man 1946 4 4 Jean Yarbrough IMDb
Bwana Devil 1952 3 3 Arch Oboler IMDb
Carry On... Up the Khyber 1968 6 5 Gerald Thomas IMDb
Curse of the Queerwolf 1988 5 4 Mark Pirro IMDb
The Curse of the Werewolf 1961 5 5 Terence Fisher IMDb
Dance of the Vampires 1967 5 4 Roman Polanski IMDb
The Dark Eyes of London 1939 5 5 Walter Summers IMDb
Death Car on the Freeway 1979 4 4 Hal Needham IMDb
Deathtrap 1982 6 6 Sidney Lumet IMDb
Doctor Syn 1937 5 5 Roy William Neill IMDb
Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine 1965 4 4 Norman Taurog IMDb
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde 1971 5 5 Roy Ward Baker IMDb
The Ghost Breakers 1940 5 5 George Marshall IMDb
Hellzapoppin' 1941 6 5 H. C. Potter IMDb
Horrors of the Black Museum 1959 5 5 Arthur Crabtree IMDb
The Inheritance 1962 6 6 Masaki Kobayashi IMDb
The Iroquois Trail 1950 4 4 Phil Karlson IMDb
Johnny O'Clock 1947 4 4 Robert Rossen IMDb
Lady in a Cage 1964 5 6 Walter Grauman IMDb
The Lost World 1960 3 3 Irwin Allen IMDb
The Night of the Grizzly 1966 5 4 Joseph Pevney IMDb
Postal Inspector 1936 4 4 Otto Brower IMDb
Psychout for Murder 1969 5 5 Edward Ross IMDb
The Shiralee 1957 5 5 Leslie Norman IMDb
Skidoo 1968 2 2 Otto Preminger IMDb
The Spiral Staircase 1945 6 6 Robert Siodmak IMDb
The Tattered Dress 1957 6 5 Jack Arnold IMDb
Terror in a Texas Town 1958 6 5 Joseph H. Lewis IMDb
The Villain 1979 3 4 Hal Needham IMDb

2017 Centennials


I had so much fun last year celebrating the centennials of important people to film, a project that led to my award-winning fifth book, A Hundred in 2016, that I knew I had to continue in 2017.


So, here's my Centennials 2017 project.

Each review here was posted on what would have been (or in some instances actually was) the one hundredth birthday of someone important to the film industry. The aim is to remember them with an interesting film from their career that, in the process, allows me to explore another aspect of history, whether to cinema, something wider or both.

Some of these people are famous, household names that we grew up watching. Some aren't. And some used to be, but a hundred years is a long time and things change. All, however, are important.

These carefully curated films vary by era, genre and nationality and, together, help to enrich my knowledge and maybe yours too. I'll collate these reviews into a new book, A Hundred in 2017, to be released at the beginning of 2018.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Latest Review (22 Dec 2017)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly 1970 5 5 Freddie Francis IMDb

All 2017 Centennial Reviews
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
5 Fingers 1952 6 5 Joseph L. Mankiewicz IMDb
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T. 1953 5 6 Roy Rowland IMDb
Behind Locked Doors 1948 4 4 Budd Boetticher IMDb
Blanche Fury 1948 5 5 Marc Allégret IMDb
Blood on the Moon 1948 5 5 Robert Wise IMDb
The Blue Veil 1951 5 5 Curtis Bernhardt IMDb
Chicken Every Sunday 1949 5 5 George Seaton IMDb
Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? 1968 2 2 Don Weis IMDb
Emperor of the North Pole 1973 5 5 Robert Aldrich IMDb
The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery 1966 4 4 Frank Launder & Sidney Gilliat IMDb
Helter Skelter 1949 4 4 Ralph Thomas IMDb
Hotel Berlin 1945 6 6 Peter Godfrey IMDb
It Always Rains on Sunday 1947 6 6 Robert Hamer IMDb
The Leopard Man 1943 6 6 Jacques Tourneur IMDb
Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly 1970 5 5 Freddie Francis IMDb
The Naked Kiss 1964 6 6 Samuel Fuller IMDb
The Night Walker 1964 5 5 William Castle IMDb
O, My Darling Clementine 1943 4 4 Frank McDonald IMDb
Pool of London 1951 6 5 Basil Dearden IMDb
The Ringer 1952 5 5 Guy Hamilton IMDb
Santo vs. The Vampire Women 1962 5 5 Alfonso Corona Blake IMDb
Stay Hungry 1976 5 4 Bob Rafelson IMDb
That Obscure Object of Desire 1977 6 5 Luis Buñuel IMDb
The Time Travelers 1964 5 5 Ib Melchior IMDb

2018 Centennials


I enjoyed celebrating the centennials of important people to film, a project that led to my award-winning fifth book, A Hundred in 2016, so much that I knew I had to continue in 2017. Here I am for the 2018 edition, year three for me on this project.


So, here's 2018 Centennials.

Each review here was posted on what would have been (or in some instances actually was) the one hundredth birthday of someone important to the film industry. The aim is to remember them with an interesting film from their career that, in the process, allows me to explore another aspect of history, whether to cinema, something wider or both.

Some of these people are famous, household names that we grew up watching. Some aren't. And some used to be, but a hundred years is a long time and things change. All, however, are important.

These carefully curated films vary by era, genre and nationality and, together, help to enrich my knowledge and maybe yours too. I'll collate these reviews into a new book, A Hundred in 2018, to be released at the beginning of 2019.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Latest Review (17 Apr 2018)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Golden Boy 1939 4 4 Rouben Mamoulian IMDb

All 2018 Centennial Reviews
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
All Through the Night 1942 5 5 Vincent Sherman IMDb
The Baby 1973 5 5 Ted Post IMDb
The Bigamist 1953 6 6 Ida Lupino IMDb
The Girl Hunters 1963 5 5 Roy Rowland IMDb
The Glass Web 1953 5 5 Jack Arnold IMDb
Golden Boy 1939 4 4 Rouben Mamoulian IMDb
Home of the Brave 1949 6 5 Mark Robson IMDb
The Last Page 1952 5 5 Terence Fisher IMDb
The Lineup 1958 6 6 Don Siegel IMDb
The Magnetic Monster 1953 5 5 Curt Siodmak IMDb

2019 Centennials


I enjoyed celebrating the centennials of important people to film, a project that led to my award-winning fifth book, A Hundred in 2016, so much that I knew I had to continue in 2017. I'm enjoying this series, so I'm back for the 2019 edition, year four for me.


So, here's 2019 Centennials.

Each review here was posted on what would have been (or in some instances actually was) the one hundredth birthday of someone important to the film industry. The aim is to remember them with an interesting film from their career that, in the process, allows me to explore another aspect of history, whether to cinema, something wider or both.

Some of these people are famous, household names that we grew up watching. Some aren't. And some used to be, but a hundred years is a long time and things change. All, however, are important.

These carefully curated films vary by era, genre and nationality and, together, help to enrich my knowledge and maybe yours too. I'll collate these reviews into a new book, A Hundred in 2019, to be released at the beginning of 2020.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Latest Review (18 Feb 2019)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
I Died a Thousand Times 1955 4 4 Stuart Heisler IMDb

All 2019 Centennial Reviews
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
The Abominable Snowman 1957 5 4 Val Guest IMDb
The Big Circus 1959 4 4 Joseph M. Newman IMDb
House of Bamboo 1955 5 5 Samuel Fuller IMDb
I Died a Thousand Times 1955 4 4 Stuart Heisler IMDb
I’ve Lived Before 1956 4 4 Richard Bartlett IMDb
Night Train to Mundo Fine 1966 1 1 Coleman Francis IMDb
Noose 1948 5 5 Edmond T. Gréville IMDb
Our Man in Havana 1959 6 6 Carol Reed IMDb

2020 Centennials


I enjoyed celebrating the centennials of important people to film, a project that led to my award-winning fifth book, A Hundred in 2016, so much that I knew I had to continue in 2017. I'm enjoying this series, so I'm back for the 2020 edition, year five for me. Let's see if I can write more than last year.

So, here's 2020 Centennials.

Each review here was posted on what would have been (or in some instances actually was) the one hundredth birthday of someone important to the film industry. The aim is to remember them with an interesting film from their career that, in the process, allows me to explore another aspect of history, whether to cinema, something wider or both.

Some of these people are famous, household names that we grew up watching. Some aren't. And some used to be, but a hundred years is a long time and things change. All, however, are important.

These carefully curated films vary by era, genre and nationality and, together, help to enrich my knowledge and maybe yours too. I'll collate these reviews into a new book, A Hundred in 2020, to be released at the beginning of 2021. Hopefully.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Latest Review (16 May 2020)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Hell is Empty 1967 4 4 John Ainsworth IMDb

All 2020 Centennial Reviews
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery 1975 4 3 Dean Hargrove IMDb
Vicki 1953 6 5 Harry Horner IMDb
Buck Rogers 1939 3 3 Ford Beebe & Saul A. Goodkind IMDb
Gunfight at Comanche Creek 1963 5 5 Frank McDonald IMDb
Nights of Cabiria 1957 7 7 Federico Fellini IMDb
Sorcerer 1977 6 6 William Friedkin IMDb
Hell is Empty 1967 4 4 John Ainsworth IMDb

2021 Centennials


So far, my centennials project has spawned one award-winning book, A Hundred in 2016, and four years where I didn't review anywhere near as much I planned because life got in the way. I'm still enjoying this series, so I'm back for year six, the 2021 edition. Fingers crossed that I can write more than last year.

So, here's 2021 Centennials.

Each review here was posted on what would have been (or in some instances actually was) the one hundredth birthday of someone important to the film industry. The aim is to remember them with an interesting film from their career that, in the process, allows me to explore another aspect of history, whether to cinema, something wider or both.

Some of these people are famous, household names that we grew up watching. Some aren't. And some used to be, but a hundred years is a long time and things change. All, however, are important.

These carefully curated films vary by era, genre and nationality and, together, help to enrich my knowledge and maybe yours too. I'll collate these reviews into a new book, A Hundred in 2021, to be released at the beginning of 2022. Hopefully.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Latest Review (19 Feb 2021)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Klondike Kate 1943 4 4 William Castle IMDb

All 2021 Centennial Reviews
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Clash by Night 1963 5 5 Montgomery Tully IMDb
Fort Massacre 1958 4 4 Joseph M. Newman IMDb
Gang War 1958 4 4 Gene Fowler Jr. IMDb
Happy Go Lovely 1951 5 5 H. Bruce Humberstone IMDb
Klondike Kate 1943 4 4 William Castle IMDb
The Mole People 1956 4 4 Virgil Vogel IMDb
Scandal Sheet 1952 5 5 Phillip Karlson IMDb

2022 Centennials

So far, my centennials project has spawned one award-winning book, A Hundred in 2016, and five years where I didn't review anywhere near as much I planned because life got in the way. I'm still enjoying this series, so I'm back for year seven, the 2022 edition. Fingers crossed that I can write more than last year.

So, here's 2022 Centennials.

Each review here was posted on what would have been (or in some instances actually was) the one hundredth birthday of someone important to the film industry. The aim is to remember them with an interesting film from their career that, in the process, allows me to explore another aspect of history, whether to cinema, something wider or both.

Some of these people are famous, household names that we grew up watching. Some aren't. And some used to be, but a hundred years is a long time and things change. All, however, are important.

These carefully curated films vary by era, genre and nationality and, together, help to enrich my knowledge and maybe yours too. I'll collate these reviews into a new book, A Hundred in 2022, to be released at the beginning of 2023. Hopefully.

Rating System

1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Latest Review (21 Jan 2022)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
The Train 1964 6 5 John Frankenheimer IMDb

All 2022 Centennial Reviews
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Lisa and the Devil 1973 6 5 Mario Bava IMDb
Reprisal! 1956 4 4 George Sherman IMDb
The Train 1964 6 5 John Frankenheimer IMDb

2023 Centennials

So far, my centennials project has spawned one award-winning book, A Hundred in 2016, and six years where I didn't review anywhere near as much I planned because life got in the way. I'm still enjoying this series, so I'm back for year eight, the 2023 edition, on a serious year to get the film side of Apocalypse Later in balance with the book and music reviews I'm doing well with.

So, here's 2023 Centennials.

Each review here was posted on what would have been (or in some instances actually was) the one hundredth birthday of someone important to the film industry. The aim is to remember them with an interesting film from their career that, in the process, allows me to explore another aspect of history, whether to cinema, something wider or both.

Some of these people are famous, household names that we grew up watching. Some aren't. And some used to be, but a hundred years is a long time and things change. All, however, are important.

These carefully curated films vary by era, genre and nationality and, together, help to enrich my knowledge and maybe yours too. I'll collate these reviews into a new book, A Hundred in 2023, to be released at the beginning of 2024. At least that's the plan.

Rating System

1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Latest Review (28 Feb 2023)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
When a Stranger Calls 1979 6 5 Fred Walton IMDb

All 2023 Centennial Reviews
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
The Guilty 1947 5 5 John Reinhardt IMDb
Middle of the Night 1959 6 6 Delbert Mann IMDb
The Night We Got the Bird 1961 4 4 Darcy Conyers IMDb
The One-Armed Swordsman 1967 5 5 Cheh Chang IMDb
Storm Over Tibet 1952 5 5 Andrew Marton IMDb
When a Stranger Calls 1979 6 5 Fred Walton IMDb

Cinematic Hell

Not all movies are created equal. Welcome to Cinematic Hell.

During 2010 I'm working through the greatest movies of all time, two hundred and fifty of them. Each week of the year I'll be posting reviews of five movies from the IMDb Top 250 List, but that creates something of an imbalance on a blog where I review the good, the bad and the ugly.

If the IMDb Top 250 movies are the good and there's plenty on here already to count as the bad, that leaves the ugly. That's what this page is for.

Each week I'll also be writing a review of one of the worst movies of all time for the awesome folks at Cinema Head Cheese and then indexing them here too as premiere examples of Cinematic Hell. I'm grateful to Kevin, Jeff and David for the privilege. Please check out their site and the many, many other wonderful things they do. Go buy a copy of Blown for starters.

Here are my reviews, along with ratings from my wife and I and links to each film's page at IMDb. Read these reviews at your peril! You have been warned!

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

This Week's Review (Week 43: 3 Nov 2010)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
The Robot vs The Aztec Mummy 1958 2 2 Rafael Portillo IMDb

All Cinematic Hell Reviews
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
The Beast of Yucca Flats 1961 1 1 Coleman Francis IMDb
Blood Feast 1963 2 2 Herschell Gordon Lewis IMDb
Blood Freak 1972 1 1 Steve Hawkes & Brad Grinter IMDb
The Brainiac 1962 2 2 Chano Urueta IMDb
The Brain from Planet Arous 1957 3 3 Nathan Hertz IMDb
The Brain That Wouldn't Die 1962 3 3 Joseph Green IMDb
Chained for Life 1951 2 2 Harry L. Fraser IMDb
Child Bride 1938 2 2 Harry J. Revier IMDb
The Corpse Grinders 1971 3 2 Ted V. Mikels IMDb
The Creeping Terror 1964 1 1 A. J. Nelson IMDb
Criminally Insane 1975 2 2 Nick Philips IMDb
The Crippled Masters 1979 3 3 Kei Law IMDb
Devil Monster 1946 1 1 S. Edwin Graham IMDb
Double Agent 73 1974 1 1 Doris Wishman IMDb
Eegah 1962 1 1 Nicholas Meriwether IMDb
Fist of Fear, Touch of Death 1980 1 1 Matthew Mallinson IMDb
The Giant Gila Monster 1959 3 3 Ray Kellogg IMDb
Hercules Against the Moon Men 1964 2 2 Giacomo Gentilomo IMDb
The Horrors of Spider Island 1960 1 1 Jaime Nolan IMDb
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter 1966 3 3 William Beaudine IMDb
King Kong vs Godzilla 1962 2 2 Inishiro Honda IMDb
Life Returns 1935 1 1 Eugen Frenke IMDb
Maniac 1934 2 1 Dwain Esper IMDb
Manos: The Hands of Fate 1966 1 1 Harold P. Warren IMDb
Mesa of Lost Women 1953 2 2 Herbert Tevos & Ron Ormond IMDb
The Monster of Camp Sunshine 1964 3 3 Ferenc Leroget IMDb
Monstrosity 1964 2 3 Joseph Mascelli IMDb
Plan 9 from Outer Space 1959 1 1 Edward D. Wood Jr. IMDb
Rat Pfink a Boo Boo 1966 1 1 Ray Dennis Steckler IMDb
Reefer Madness 1936 3 3 Louis J. Gasnier IMDb
Robot Monster 1953 2 2 Phil Tucker IMDb
The Robot vs The Aztec Mummy 1958 2 2 Rafael Portillo IMDb
Santa Claus 1959 1 1 René Cardona IMDb
Tentacles 1977 2 2 Oliver Hellman IMDb
The Terror of Tiny Town 1938 3 3 Sam Newfield IMDb
Test Tube Babies 1948 1 2 W. Merle Connell IMDb
They Saved Hitler's Brain 1976 1 1 David Bradley IMDb
Track of the Moon Beast 1976 2 3 Dick Ashe IMDb
White Pongo 1945 3 3 Sam Newfield IMDb
The Wild Women of Wongo 1958 2 2 James L. Wolcott IMDb
The Wild World of Batwoman 1966 1 1 Jerry Warren IMDb
Zaat 1975 1 1 Don Barton IMDb
Zontar: The Thing from Venus 1966 1 1 Larry Buchanan IMDb

Tuesday, 23 May 2000

Dry Heat Obscurities


Everyone knows that they've been making westerns in Arizona since time began, but we've been shooting other genre flicks here for a long time too and many of those seem to have been unjustly forgotten.


So here's my Dry Heat Obscurities project, in which I take a look back at genre features which were shot entirely or, at least, predominantly in Arizona.

I'm covering the films themselves, of course, and the people who made them (who are surprisingly often people that you've heard of), but I'm also taking a good look at the locations they used. Hopefully, when I hit a particular point in the project, I'll be able to travel around the state to get some photos of what they look like today, decades on.

I'm going to review a new dry heat obscurity every other week, starting in 2017, to alternate with my Weird Wednesdays project.

Note: my reviews of Violent Saturday and Kingdom of the Spiders predate this project, so I'll revisit them at some point.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Latest Review (17 Apr 2018)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
C. C. & Company 1970 4 4 Seymour Robbie IMDb

Latest Review (17 Apr 2018)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Angel Unchained 1970 5 4 Lee Madden IMDb
Captain Newman, M.D. 1963 5 5 David Miller IMDb
C. C. & Company 1970 4 4 Seymour Robbie IMDb
Devil's Angels 1967 4 4 Daniel Haller IMDb
Edge of Eternity 1959 4 5 Donald Siegel IMDb
Kingdom of the Spiders 1977 5 5 John 'Bud' Cardos IMDb
Shotgun Wedding 1963 3 2 Boris Petroff IMDb
Violent Saturday 1955 5 5 Richard Fleischer IMDb

Sunday, 21 May 2000

The First Thirty


Each third issue of the Apocalypse Later Zine will be dedicated to film and most of those will be called The First Thirty. The concept here is to look at how major actors started out their careers by reviewing each of their first thirty films, in order. I'll post the reviews here but they'll be available in print in a quarterly zine, each dedicated to a single actor.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic



Nicolas Cage

Latest Review (19 Mar 2023)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Kiss of Death 1995 5 5 Barbet Schroeder IMDb
Latest Review (17 Apr 2018)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
The Best of Times 1981 3 3 Don Mischer IMDb
Fast Times at Ridgemont High 1982 6 5 Amy Heckerling IMDb
Valley Girl 1983 5 5 Martha Coolidge IMDb
Rumble Fish 1983 5 5 Francis Coppola IMDb
Racing with the Moon 1984 5 5 Richard Benjamin IMDb
The Cotton Club 1984 6 6 Francis Coppola IMDb
Birdy 1984 5 5 Alan Parker IMDb
The Boy in Blue 1986 3 4 Charles Jarrott IMDb
Peggy Sue Got Married 1986 5 5 Francis Ford Coppola IMDb
Raising Arizona 1987 6 6 Joel Coen IMDb
Moonstruck 1987 6 6 Norman Jewison IMDb
Vampire’s Kiss 1988 5 5 Robert Bierman IMDb
Never on Tuesday 1988 4 4 Adam Rifkin IMDb
Time to Kill 1989 5 5 Giuliano Montaldo IMDb
Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted 1990 4 4 David Lynch IMDb
Wild at Heart 1990 5 5 David Lynch IMDb
Fire Birds 1990 4 4 David Green IMDb
Zandalee 1991 2 3 Sam Pillsbury IMDb
Honeymoon in Vegas 1992 5 5 Andrew Bergman IMDb
Amos & Andrew 1993 4 4 E. Max Frye IMDb
Red Rock West 1993 6 5 John Dahl IMDb
Deadfall 1993 2 3 Christopher Coppola IMDb
Guarding Tess 1994 5 5 Hugh Wilson IMDb
It Could Happen to You 1994 6 6 Andrew Bergman IMDb
Trapped in Paradise 1994 5 5 George Gallo IMDb
Kiss of Death 1995 5 5 Barbet Schroeder IMDb

Friday, 19 May 2000

Horror Movie Calendar

I'm a genre fan at heart and the core of that heart is the horror genre, so I've wanted to do a year long horror project for a while.

What I came up with was the Horror Movie Calendar. So many horror movies are set on holidays (Halloween is merely the most obvious) that I wondered which holidays didn't have their own horror movie. I did some research and found some fascinating titles, not necessarily all good but all fascinating, that spread across the calendar year.

Each of the reviews below was posted on the holiday on which its film was either entirely or, at least, predominantly set. I look mostly at the film, of course, but also the holiday and see how well the two tie together.

Over the year, the list is rather varied, by era and tone and culture, not all of these being American movies. I've also tried to avoid the most obvious titles, like Halloween and April Fool's Day because you know about those already.

I hope you choose to celebrate the Horror Movie Calendar with me!

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Latest Review (1 Nov 2021)
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Hanukkah 2019 2 2 Eben McGarr IMDb
All Horror Movie Calendar Reviews
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
4/20 Massacre 2018 5 5 Dylan Reynolds IMDb
Black Friday 1940 5 5 Arthur Lubin IMDb
Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh 1995 5 5 Bill Condon IMDb
Christmas Evil 1980 4 4 Lewis Jackson IMDb
Cinco de Mayo 2013 4 4 Paul Ragsdale IMDb
Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain 2003 3 3 Christian Viel IMDb
Father's Day 2011 4 3 Astron-6 IMDb
Hanukkah 2019 2 2 Eben McGarr IMDb
Home Sweet Home 1981 2 2 Nettie Peña IMDb
Hospital Massacre 1981 5 4 Boaz Davidson IMDb
Life Blood 2009 3 3 Ron Carlson IMDb
Maniac Cop 1988 4 4 William Lustig IMDb
Memorial Valley Massacre 1989 5 5 Robert C. Hughes IMDb
Mischief Night 2013 5 5 Richard Schenkman IMDb
Mother's Day 1980 4 4 Charles Kaufman IMDb
P2 2007 5 5 Franck Khalfoun IMDb
Presidents Day 2016 4 4 Chris LaMartina IMDb
Resurrection 1999 5 5 Russell Mulcahy IMDb
Ritual of Evil 1970 4 4 Robert Day IMDb
Slaughter High 1986 2 2 George Dugdale, Mark Ezra & Peter Litten IMDb
Solstice 2008 5 5 Daniel Myrick IMDb
Terror Train 1980 5 5 Roger Spottiswoode IMDb
Trick 'r Treat 2007 6 6 Michael Dougherty IMDb
Uncle Sam 1996 4 4 William Lustig IMDb
The Wicker Man 1973 7 6 Robin Hardy IMDb

Thursday, 18 May 2000

The IMDb Top 250 Project

Back in 2004 I decided to finally get on with something I've meant to do for many years: to watch and review all of the films listed in the Top 250 at the Internet Movie Database, from The Godfather at the top to Judgment at Nuremberg at the bottom.

After all, I've always thought of myself as a film fan. I've watched films for as long as I can remember, a lot of films and a wide variety of them too. I knew a lot about them and the people who made them. Even as a youth I bought film magazines, albeit generally specialist ones, and scouted for VHS bargains at flea markets and video rental stores; once DVDs came out I started buying them the way some people buy food. I've also been following the invaluable resource that is IMDb ever since I could download the entire thing from a friend's university account onto fourteen floppy disks.

So I'm a film fan. Yet I could never get past the fact that I hadn't seen three out of every five of the movies on the IMDb Top 250 list, a list that contains what are supposed to be the greatest films ever made. How could that be? Well the one and only reason was unavoidable: maybe I wasn't the expert I thought I was. Maybe I merely knew a lot about a little and there was a lot more out there about which I knew nothing at all. That was certainly backed up when I did some analysis. I had huge gaps, glaring gaps that suggested that I was really more of a cinematic novice than an experienced viewer, merely one with a few areas of expertise.

Partly that's because rather than seeing the latest Oscar winner, it's always been far more likely that I'd be watching a cult movie, an obscure movie or a really bad movie. If life was really good, it would satisfy all three of those descriptions at once. I'd delved quite a way into genres with cryptic names like kaiju, giallo or anime. I had something of a background with Hammer horrors, spaghetti westerns and Hong Kong bullet ballets; fifties sci-fi B-movies, seventies exploitation flicks and all the offbeat stuff that Alex Cox chose to air on Moviedrome on BBC2. You could say that I shared a lot of my taste with industry luminaries like Jonathan Ross or Quentin Tarantino. The big difference is that they've seen the famous stuff too.

To the best of my memory, I hadn't seen a single film by Akira Kurosawa or Ingmar Bergman, Frank Capra or Preston Sturges, D W Griffith or Sidney Lumet. While I knew who they were by sight, I'd never seen Gable or Garbo in a movie, let alone Garfield or Gilbert, Gardner or Gish. Other recognisable names I'd only seen in a single film, people like Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Jack Lemmon, Bette Davis and Woody Allen. That can't be good. I even remembered back to a trip to Universal Studios in Florida where I thoroughly enjoyed an exhibit dedicated to the work of Alfred Hitchcock, without recognising most of what was on show. When I counted up what I'd seen of his work I could only get to four and one of them was an obscurity.

So in 2004 I began working through the whole IMDb Top 250, watching the films, reading up on them and reviewing them, with vague aims of publishing the results in book form as a travelogue through the history of cinema by someone who thought he was an expert but quickly found that he wasn't. However the list could only ever be a starting point, albeit a solid one, and I had to track sideways to the actors and filmmakers I discovered, learning more about them and about cinema in general through experiencing their work. That decision led to a minor blog on my main website and then to this far more substantial blog and a couple of million words. It also led to a journey I thought might take a couple of years taking no less than seven instead. Here are the results, posted five reviews a week through 2010 and with subsequent followup to address the changes since I began.

I hope your journey is as fascinating, as enjoyable and as eye opening as mine.

This Week's Five Reviews (Week 19: 19 May 2010)
# Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
69 Modern Times 1936 6 6 Charlie Chaplin IMDB
95 The Seventh Seal 1957 7 7 Ingmar Bergman IMDB
109 Run Lola Run 1998 7 6 Tom Tykwer IMDB
191 Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror 1922 6 6 F W Murnau IMDB
214 Rain Man 1988 6 6 Barry Levinson IMDB

Here's the static list I've worked from as I grabbed it in late 2004, with links to my reviews, IMDb pages and ratings from my better half and I. I'll post five more every Wednesday night through the year. I'll follow up in 2011 with films that charted after I grabbed this list.

Here's a link to the current IMDb Top 250 List, which is an everchanging thing.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

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The IMDb Top 250 List (late 2004)
# Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
1 The Godfather 1972 Francis Ford Coppola IMDb
2 The Shawshank Redemption 1994 Frank Darabont IMDb
3 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003 Peter Jackson IMDb
4 The Godfather: Part II 1974 Francis Ford Coppola IMDb
5 The Seven Samurai 1954 7 7 Akira Kurosawa IMDb
6 Schindler's List 1993 Steven Spielberg IMDb
7 Casablanca 1942 7 7 Michael Curtiz IMDB
8 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2002 Peter Jackson IMDb
9 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 Peter Jackson IMDb
10 Star Wars 1977 George Lucas IMDb
11 Citizen Kane 1941 7 7 Orson Welles IMDB
12 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975 Milos Forman IMDb
13 The Empire Strikes Back 1980 Irvin Kershner IMDb
14 Rear Window 1954 7 7 Alfred Hitchcock IMDB
15 Dr Strangelove 1964 Stanley Kubrick IMDb
16 Pulp Fiction 1994 Quentin Tarantino IMDb
17 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 Steven Spielberg IMDb
18 The Usual Suspects 1995 6 6 Bryan Singer IMDB
19 Memento 2000 7 7 Christopher Nolan IMDb
20 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 1966 Sergio Leone IMDb
21 12 Angry Men 1957 7 7 Sidney Lumet IMDB
22 North By Northwest 1959 6 6 Alfred Hitchcock IMDb
23 City of God 2002 Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund IMDb
24 Lawrence of Arabia 1962 David Lean IMDb
25 Psycho 1960 7 7 Alfred Hitchcock IMDB
26 Amélie 2001 7 7 Jean-Pierre Jeunet IMDb
27 It's a Wonderful Life 1946 Frank Capra IMDb
28 The Silence of the Lambs 1991 Jonathan Demme IMDb
29 Goodfellas 1990 Martin Scorsese IMDb
30 American Beauty 1999 Sam Mendes IMDb
31 Sunset Boulevard 1950 7 7 Billy Wilder IMDb
32 Once Upon a Time in the West 1968 7 7 Sergio Leone IMDB
33 Vertigo 1958 7 7 Alfred Hitchcock IMDb
34 The Matrix 1999 Andy & Larry Wachowski IMDb
35 To Kill a Mockingbird 1962 7 7 Robert Mulligan IMDB
36 Apocalypse Now 1979 Francis Ford Coppola IMDb
37 The Pianist 2002 Roman Polanski IMDb
38 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004 Michel Gondry IMDb
39 The Third Man 1949 7 7 Carol Reed IMDB
40 Paths of Glory 1957 7 7 Stanley Kubrick IMDB
41 Fight Club 1999 David Fincher IMDb
42 Taxi Driver 1976 6 6 Martin Scorsese IMDb
43 Spirited Away 2001 Hayao Miyazaki IMDb
44 Some Like It Hot 1959 7 7 Billy Wilder IMDB
45 Double Indemnity 1944 7 7 Billy Wilder IMDB
46 Das Boot 1981 7 7 Wolfgang Petersen IMDB
47 Singin' in the Rain 1952 7 7 Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen IMDB
48 Chinatown 1974 7 6 Roman Polanski IMDb
49 LA Confidential 1997 7 7 Curtis Hanson IMDB
50 M 1931 7 7 Fritz Lang IMDB
51 Requiem for a Dream 2000 7 7 Darren Aronofsky IMDB
52 The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957 David Lean IMDb
53 The Maltese Falcon 1941 7 7 John Huston IMDB
54 All About Eve 1950 Joseph L Mankiewicz IMDb
55 Se7en 1995 David Fincher IMDb
56 Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975 Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones IMDb
57 Rashomon 1950 Akira Kurosawa IMDb
58 Saving Private Ryan 1998 Steven Spielberg IMDb
59 Raging Bull 1980 Martin Scorsese IMDb
60 Alien 1979 Ridley Scott IMDb
61 American History X 1998 Tony Kaye IMDb
62 The Wizard of Oz 1939 7 7 Victor Fleming IMDB
63 Kill Bill: Vol 1 2003 Quentin Tarantino IMDb
64 Léon 1994 Luc Besson IMDb
65 The Manchurian Candidate 1962 John Frankenheimer IMDb
66 Mr Smith Goes to Washington 1939 Frank Capra IMDb
67 The Sting 1973 7 7 George Roy Hill IMDB
68 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 7 7 John Huston IMDB
69 Modern Times 1936 6 6 Charlie Chaplin IMDB
70 Touch of Evil 1958 7 6 Orson Welles IMDB
71 Reservoir Dogs 1992 7 7 Quentin Tarantino IMDB
72 Life is Beautiful 1997 Roberto Benigni IMDb
73 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Stanley Kubrick IMDb
74 A Clockwork Orange 1971 7 7 Stanley Kubrick IMDB
75 Finding Nemo 2003 Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich IMDb
76 Ran 1985 Akira Kurosawa IMDb
77 The Great Escape 1963 John Sturges IMDb
78 On the Waterfront 1954 Elia Kazan IMDb
79 Amadeus 1984 Milos Forman IMDb
80 Annie Hall 1977 7 6 Woody Allen IMDB
81 The Apartment 1960 7 6 Billy Wilder IMDB
82 Jaws 1975 7 7 Steven Spielberg IMDB
83 Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2000 Ang Lee IMDb
84 High Noon 1952 7 7 Fred Zinnemann IMDB
85 Braveheart 1995 Mel Gibson IMDb
86 Metropolis 1927 Fritz Lang IMDb
87 Aliens 1986 James Cameron IMDb
88 Fargo 1996 7 7 Joel Coen IMDB
89 The Shining 1980 Stanley Kubrick IMDb
90 Strangers on a Train 1951 7 7 Alfred Hitchcock IMDB
91 City Lights 1931 7 7 Charles Chaplin IMDB
92 Donnie Darko 2001 6 6 Richard Kelly IMDb
93 The General 1927 Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman IMDb
94 Blade Runner 1982 7 7 Ridley Scott IMDB
95 The Seventh Seal 1957 7 7 Ingmar Bergman IMDB
96 The Sixth Sense 1999 M Night Shayamalan IMDb
97 The Great Dictator 1940 7 7 Charles Chaplin IMDB
98 Duck Soup 1933 6 5 Leo McCarey IMDB
99 Cinema Paradiso 1988 Giuseppe Tornatore IMDb
100 Princess Mononoke 1997 Hayao Miyazaki IMDb
101 The Princess Bride 1987 6 7 Rob Reiner IMDb
102 Full Metal Jacket 1987 Stanley Kubrick IMDb
103 Notorious 1946 7 7 Alfred Hitchcock IMDb
104 The Bicycle Thief 1948 Vittorio De Sica IMDb
105 Rebecca 1940 7 7 Alfred Hitchcock IMDB
106 The Best Years of Our Lives 1946 7 7 William Wyler IMDB
107 Yojimbo 1961 7 7 Akira Kurosawa IMDB
108 The Big Sleep 1945 7 7 Howard Hawks IMDB
109 Run Lola Run 1998 7 6 Tom Tykwer IMDB
110 Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991 James Cameron IMDb
111 Toy Story 2 1999 Ash Brannon, John Lasseter & Lee Unkrich IMDb
112 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 George Roy Hill IMDb
113 It Happened One Night 1934 7 7 Frank Capra IMDB
114 Patton 1970 Franklin J Schaffner IMDb
115 Forrest Gump 1994 Robert Zemeckis IMDb
116 The Graduate 1967 Mike Nichols IMDb
117 The Deer Hunter 1978 Michael Cimino IMDb
118 Kill Bill: Vol 2 2004 Quentin Tarantino IMDb
119 Glory 1989 Ed Zwick IMDb
120 Manhattan 1979 Woody Allen IMDb
121 Cool Hand Luke 1967 Stuart Rosenberg IMDb
122 Dogville 2003 Lars Von Trier IMDb
123 The Philadelphia Story 1940 7 7 George Cukor IMDB
124 Once Upon a Time in America 1984 Sergio Leone IMDb
125 Mystic River 2003 Clint Eastwood IMDb
126 The African Queen 1951 John Huston IMDb
127 Unforgiven 1992 Clint Eastwood IMDb
128 The Searchers 1956 John Ford IMDb
129 Ben-Hur 1959 William Wyler IMDb
130 The Elephant Man 1980 David Lynch IMDb
131 Return of the Jedi 1983 Richard Marquand IMDb
132 The Green Mile 1999 Frank Darabont IMDb
133 Bringing Up Baby 1938 7 7 Howard Hawks IMDB
134 Stalag 17 1953 7 7 Billy Wilder IMDB
135 Talk to Her 2002 Pedro Almodovar IMDb
136 The Grapes of Wrath 1940 John Ford IMDb
137 Shrek 2001 Aron Warner IMDb
138 Smultronstallet 1957 Ingmar Bergman IMDb
139 Life's a Bitch 2000 Alejandro González Iñárritu IMDb
140 Lost in Translation 2003 Sofia Coppola IMDb
141 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1989 Steven Spielberg IMDb
142 The Night of the Hunter 1955 7 7 Charles Laughton IMDB
143 Back to the Future 1985 Robert Zemeckis IMDb
144 Arsenic and Old Lace 1944 7 7 Frank Capra IMDb
145 The Straight Story 1999 7 7 David Lynch IMDB
146 A Christmas Story 1983 6 6 Bob Clark IMDB
147 Platoon 1986 Oliver Stone IMDb
148 Gone With the Wind 1939 6 6 Victor Fleming IMDb
149 The Wild Bunch 1969 Sam Peckinpah IMDb
150 The Hustler 1961 7 7 Robert Rossen IMDB
151 The Gold Rush 1925 Charles Chaplin IMDb
152 All Quiet on the Western Front 1930 6 6 Lewis Milestone IMDB
153 Young Frankenstein 1974 Mel Brooks IMDb
154 The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 7 7 Michael Curtiz & William Keighley IMDB
155 His Girl Friday 1940 Howard Hawks IMDb
156 Die Hard 1988 John McTiernan IMDb
157 Battleship Potemkin 1925 Sergei Eisenstein IMDb
158 Hero 2002 7 7 Zhang Yimou IMDB
159 Life of Brian 1979 Terry Jones IMDb
160 The 400 Blows 1959 Francois Truffaut IMDb
161 Monsters, Inc 2001 Peter Docter, David Silverman & Lee Unkrich IMDb
162 The Grand Illusion 1937 Jean Renoir IMDb
163 Spartacus 1960 Stanley Kubrick IMDb
164 Witness for the Prosecution 1957 Billy Wilder IMDb
165 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962 7 7 John Ford IMDB
166 Charade 1963 Stanley Donen IMDb
167 The Celebration 1998 Thomas Vinterberg IMDb
168 Gladiator 2000 Ridley Scott IMDb
169 Roman Holiday 1953 6 6 William Wyler IMDB
170 Sling Blade 1996 Billy Bob Thornton IMDb
171 Grave of the Fireflies 1988 Isao Takahata IMDb
172 Magnolia 1999 Paul Thomas Anderson IMDb
173 The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951 7 7 Robert Wise IMDB
174 The Conversation 1974 Francis Ford Coppola IMDb
175 Ed Wood 1994 Tim Burton IMDb
176 A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 Elia Kazan IMDb
177 Toy Story 1995 John Lasseter IMDb
178 The Killing 1956 7 7 Stanley Kubrick IMDB
179 To Be or Not to Be 1942 Ernst Lubitsch IMDb
180 Almost Famous 2000 Cameron Crowe IMDb
181 A Night at the Opera 1935 6 6 Sam Wood IMDB
182 All the President's Men 1976 Alan J Pakula IMDb
183 Brazil 1985 7 7 Terry Gilliam IMDB
184 Three Colours: Red 1994 Krystof Krystofski IMDb
185 The Insider 1999 Michael Mann IMDb
186 Big Fish 2003 7 7 Tim Burton IMDB
187 21 Grams 2003 Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu IMDb
188 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 2003 7 7 Gore Verbinski IMDB
189 Shadow of a Doubt 1943 6 6 Alfred Hitchcock IMDB
190 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966 Mike Nichols IMDb
191 Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror 1922 6 6 F W Murnau IMDB
192 Gandhi 1982 Richard Attenborough IMDb
193 Ikiru 1952 Akira Kurosawa IMDb
194 Harvey 1950 7 7 Henry Koster IMDb
195 Being John Malkovich 1999 Spike Jonze IMDb
196 Stand By Me 1986 6 7 Rob Reiner IMDB
197 The Exorcist 1973 William Friedkin IMDb
198 Dog Day Afternoon 1975 Sidney Lumet IMDb
199 Twelve Monkeys 1995 Terry Gilliam IMDb
200 Mulholland Dr 2001 David Lynch IMDb
201 In America 2002 Jim Sheridan IMDb
202 The Terminator 1984 James Cameron IMDb
203 Trainspotting 1996 7 6 Danny Boyle IMDB
204 Groundhog Day 1993 Harold Ramis IMDb
205 The Passion of Joan of Arc 1928 7 7 Carl Theodor Dreyer IMDb
206 The Lion in Winter 1968 Anthony Harvey IMDb
207 Miller's Crossing 1990 4 5 Joel Coen IMDB
208 This is Spinal Tap 1984 7 7 Rob Reiner IMDB
209 La Strada 1954 7 7 Federico Fellini IMDB
210 Laura 1944 Otto Preminger IMDb
211 The Right Stuff 1983 Philip Kaufman IMDb
212 1963 Federico Fellini IMDb
213 King Kong 1933 7 7 Merion C Cooper & Ernest B Schoedsack IMDB
214 Rain Man 1988 6 6 Barry Levinson IMDB
215 Whale Rider 2002 Niki Caro IMDb
216 Adaptation 2002 Spike Jonze IMDb
217 Network 1976 7 7 Sidney Lumet IMDB
218 Bonnie and Clyde 1967 5 6 Arthur Penn IMDB
219 Midnight Cowboy 1969 6 6 John Schlesinger IMDB
220 The 39 Steps 1935 Alfred Hitchcock IMDb
221 Snatch 2000 Guy Ritchie IMDb
222 The Big Lebowski 1998 Joel Coen IMDb
223 Stagecoach 1939 John Ford IMDb
224 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 1998 7 7 Guy Ritchie IMDB
225 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans 1927 F W Murnau IMDb
226 X2 2003 Bryan Singer IMDb
227 The Thin Man 1934 7 7 W S Van Dyke IMDB
228 Rio Bravo 1959 Howard Hawks IMDb
229 In the Heat of the Night 1967 7 7 Norman Jewison IMDB
230 The Untouchables 1987 Brian De Palma IMDb
231 Bride of Frankenstein 1935 7 7 James Whale IMDB
232 The Others 2001 Alejandro Amenabar IMDb
233 The Killer 1989 John Woo IMDb
234 Planet of the Apes 1968 Franklin J Schaffner IMDb
235 Persona 1966 Ingmar Bergman IMDb
236 Fanny and Alexander 1982 Ingmar La Cava IMDb
237 Sullivan's Travels 1941 7 6 Preston Sturges IMDB
238 Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949 7 7 Robert Hamer IMDB
239 The Station Agent 2003 Thomas McCarthy IMDb
240 Red River 1948 7 7 Howard Hawks IMDB
241 Being There 1979 Hal Ashby IMDb
242 Children of Paradise 1945 Marcel Carne IMDb
243 Beauty and the Beast 1991 Kirk Wise & Gary Trousdale IMDb
244 Spider-Man 2 2004 7 7 Sam Raimi IMDB
245 Heat 1995 Michael Mann IMDb
246 Traffic 2000 Steven Soderbergh IMDb
247 Minority Report 2002 Steven Spielberg IMDb
248 Good Will Hunting 1997 Gus Van Sant IMDb
249 Sleuth 1972 Joseph L Mankiewicz IMDb
250 Judgment at Nuremberg 1961 Stanley Kramer IMDb