Episode 4 of The Write Off Podcast.Main Character Complex.Deals with my 31 years as a writer.As of this month. Listen on Spotify.

FILM FORUM: To Live and Die in LA is ostensibly about two treasury agents trying to take down an artist who produces counterfeit money but is really about how phony the real world and these individuals really are. Stylish. Dangerous . Insightful. One of the great films of the 80s

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FILM FORUM: Manhunter is Michael Mann's take on Thomas Harris and Hannibal Lektor. A beautifully photographed, elegantly constructed nightmarish crime film with excellent performances by Brian Cox and William Peterson. A true work of art.

FILM FORUM: 1972's adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five is a decent, big screen translation and an intriguing time travel drama more than 30 years after its release. Nice work from Valerie Perrine and Michael Sacks in the cast here.

FILM FORUM: 1981's Cannonball Run is the kind of movie they should show students in film schools as a warning about the kind of movie you should never make. A film where every scene should be a deleted scene.

FILM FORUM: 1980's The Man With Bogart's Face. A bland, lifeless assemblage of noir tropes. A shell of a film. Odd title, bad movie.

FILM FORUM: The major film debut of director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997's Cure is one of the best horror movies of the 1990s. A Tokyo police Detective is perplexed by a series of murders that are atypical save for the mark of X on all victims. Germ theory meets crime. A masterpiece.

FILM FORUM: 1997's Insomnia is a eerie, haunted crime film bathed in perpetual sunlight. A Swedish police detective travels to a town near the Arctic Circle where the sun is out all day to solve a murder. Anchored by a first rate performance by lead Stellan Skarsgard. A must see.

FILM FORUM: 1991's Ski School was reportedly funded by touting a poster and little else to investors. It shows. An assembly line, factory made movie with the cliche slobs vs snobs conflict but on ski slopes instead of college campuses. Guess who wins? A nice cast but that's it

FILM FORUM: A broad parody of mystery novels, Murder by Death- written by Neil Simon- is also a critique of mystery stories and their authors' literary tactics. Funny and highly enjoyable

FILM FORUM: Clue is a fusion of farce and murder mystery that was a flop upon release but has since picked up an audience. The movie was misunderstood by critics and audiences as the film is essentially a game that must be played by viewers. A fun movie and well worth seeing.

FILM FORUM: 1991's La Belle Noiseuse Co written and directed by Jacques Rivette is unlike any film about artists and painters and their models. A war of wills at times between a retired painter coaxed to produce one last painting and a model who bears up under tough poses.

FILM FORUM: 2003's hypnotic, intriguing Swimming Pool directed by Francois Ozon. A terrific sensuous, sensory thriller that brings together an odd couple of sorts- older female crime writer, younger freespirited woman to eventually deal with a situation that gets out of hand.

Latest interview .On Parallax Views podcast.

New Interview On .Parallax Views podcast.

My latest interview.On the Parallax Views podcast.

FILM FORUM: 2002's Cinemania is a documentary that looks at five full time film watchers and fanatics living in NYC. It's a film that strikes home with me because I've known people like Jack, Harvey, Bill, Roberta and Eric from attending and later covering film festivals.

FILM FORUM: 1983''s Screwballs is one of my personal favorites in the Raunchy Comedy subgenre. Inspired by the success of Porky's, Roger Corman employees Linda Shsyne and Jim Wynorski wrote this film's script. Simple plot construction, perfect casting choices and solid scenes.

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