Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on October 27, 2014

I always enjoy getting mocked, particularly by people who are related to me That’s exactly what happened at a family party last weekend when I suggested to five different relatives, ranging in age from 12 to 43, that they check out the new animated series Star Wars Rebels on the Disney XD cabl   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on October 26, 2014

Dark Shadows fans, I summon thee! Barnabas Collins, the anti-heroic bloodsucker from ABC’s undyingly popular supernatural soap opera of the 1960s, has been selected as one of eight candidates for Best Vampire in the World Series of Monsters, an 11-category competition going on now on the HitFi   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on October 21, 2014

Turner Classic Movies was dropped today by the nation’s third largest multichannel video programming distributor in a dispute over carriage fees, a move affecting more than 14 million viewers in the United States. The Englewood, Colorado-based DISH Network removed TCM from their lineup in the early   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on October 7, 2014

When Turner Broadcasting announced job cuts yesterday that would eliminate nearly 1,500 employees, many TCM fans began to worry about the fate of their favorite channel – and the loyal men and women “behind the curtain” who work to keep classic film relevant and accessible. But one viewe   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on October 6, 2014

Turner Broadcasting, the parent of TCM, announced today that they’ll reduce their global workforce by roughly 10 percent through a combination of layoffs and buyouts. Roughly 1,475 positions – out of 14,000 worldwide – will be eliminated, with affected employees expected to be info   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on October 4, 2014

Being a classic film fan can be a lonely experience. When I discovered old movies in the late 1970s, like any kid with a new toy, I wanted to share it, talk about it on the playground, show off my skillz (we didn’t randomly add z’s to words back then, but you...   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on October 2, 2014

Turner Classic Movies turns “legal” next spring. But, in the wake of recent headlines regarding buy-outs, layoffs, and management changes at Turner Broadcasting, some fans feared the channel might not reach its 21st birthday in the form in which it exists today, and that the future of th   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on September 30, 2014

Last month, when I wrote about Netflix “pulling” classic films from its streaming service, a few readers pointed out that programming decisions are often predicated on licensing agreements with rights holders, and that the “pulling” can sometimes be attributed to studios choo   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on September 13, 2014

Cancel your Saturday night plans, because I’ll be guest co-hosting the inaugural episode of Hollywood Time Machine with Alicia Mayer live tonight at 9 p.m. (ET) on L.A. Talk Radio. Guests include Victoria Wilson, author of A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel True 1907-1940, Steve Anderson from t   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on September 11, 2014

Richard Kiel, who died yesterday at age 74, was unforgettable as the steel-toothed villain Jaws in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) and MOONRAKER (1979). But 15 years before he put the bite on Roger Moore’s James Bond, Kiel chomped on the scenery in a delightfully terrible drive-in classic. In EEGA   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on September 6, 2014

One of the great things about being freelance, unmarried, and childless is, I can pretty much do whatever I want, whenever I want to. For example, if I want to stay home on a Friday and watch movies all day long in my jammies, I can do it – without...   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on September 1, 2014

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end,” said Seneca the Younger, or my freshman year guidance counselor, or the guy that sang “Closing Time” in the late ’90s. Whoever it was, it’s certainly true – and nowhere more so than on Netfli   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on August 27, 2014

The average U.S. household receives 189 TV channels, but regularly watches only 17 of them. If you’re an Old Movie Weirdo, however, that number may be closer to one: Turner Classic Movies. TCM is the only U.S. TV channel airing classic films 24 hours per day, uncut and commercial-free, and in their   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on August 14, 2014

Turner Classic Movies announced today that they will preempt scheduled programming on September 15 and 16 for a 24-hour marathon honoring the life and career of Lauren Bacall, who died on August 12 at age 89. Following Robert Osborne’s delightfully candid 2005 interview with the then-81-year-old leg   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on August 5, 2014

Tough broads, bootleggers, drug-abusing doctors, debauched rich people, and Barbara Stanwyck – William A. Wellman’s NIGHT NURSE (1931) has everything I love about Pre-Code movies. Stanwyck is Lora Hart, a determined young nursing student in a busy metropolitan hospital in this lurid melodrama,   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on July 29, 2014

“I can’t stand old movies,” my Uncle Tommy once said to me. “Any time I see a guy wearing a hat, I change the channel.” Despite his dismissal of a filmmaking era I love, and have since childhood, I kept my cool. (I learned that from Cary Grant, who, by...   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on July 24, 2014

A gang from Newark’s South Side is hiding Vinnie Martine’s body in a restaurant freezer. Tony’s mad because Anthony Jr. got caught pranking another mobster. And a boss who’s trying to reform gets his mansion sprayed with bullets. Remember that episode of The Sopranos? If you do, your memory’s playin   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on July 18, 2014

Here’s something I probably shouldn’t admit, but what the hell: in 1982 I was a regular viewer of six daytime soap operas: The Edge of Night, The Guiding Light, As the World Turns, Search for Tomorrow, Another World, and Texas (a daytime knock-off of Dallas.) When I tell people that, as a...   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on July 16, 2014

“There’s a storm blowin’ up – a whopper, to speak in the vernacular of the peasantry!” Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan) says to Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) in THE WIZARD OF OZ. If you’re a fan of that beloved 1939 MGM film, or of Warner Bros., the studio that now controls it, or...   read more

Cinematically Insane Posted by Will McKinley on July 9, 2014

In the second episode of Vicious, a new British sitcom on PBS, over-the-hill actor Freddie Thornhill is invited to a fan club screening of an old Doctor Who episode in which he played a villain. “One of the most iconic roles of my career!” Freddie boasts to his flatmate, Stuart....   read more