All-timer classic Hollywood director Howard Hawks LOVED to re-use elements from his movies.  Whether it was to mine Bringing up Baby to produce the superior Man’s Favorite Sport (yeah, superior, I said it!), or whether it was to simply write the same ballsy dame that reminded him of his second wife into every single one…

I’ve never been the biggest Sam Peckinpah fan.  He’s just a little too revisionist, a little too obvious, and a little too over-reliant on slow-motion bloodbaths. While nothing will ever compare to peak pre-revisionist classic Hollywood westerns, a large part of my resistance to Peckinpah’s movies is how often his most egregious stylistic excesses are…

There are many movies “about” the creative process. Sometimes they can be indulgent (“key word here is ‘indulgent’”) self-referential films about making a film like Fellini’s 8 1/2. Sometimes they can circle right past indulgent and land at “insightful masterpiece” like Fassbinder’s Beware of a Holy Whore. Still others can find something profound in watching…