CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on July 1, 2016

CLASSIC SYMBIOTIC COLLABORATIONS: THE STAR – DIRECTOR BLOGATHON: I hosted my first blogathon waaay back during a cold and blizzard-y New York City weekend six months ago. As I make my way through each essay, I see that the collaborative teams chosen by these bloggers show a kind of love&#823   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on June 14, 2016

Hitchcock introduces us to Mrs. Paradine. His camera slowly revolves around her. He gives her a breathtaking close-up which brings us closer to her than personal decorum or propriety would allow. Alida Valli plays Mrs. Paradine, this cool, beautifully austere, unapproachable looking woman. And she   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on June 13, 2016

<< SIGH! >> The REEL INFATUATION Blogathon hosted by Front & Frock and Silver Screenings is right up my alley. Can you be in love with someone you’ve never met? Sure you can. It happens all the time. I bought Tiger Beat magazine in the 60’s, mooning over the Tys,...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on June 10, 2016

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! This weekend, our “ORDER IN THE COURT! The Classic Courtroom Movies Blogathon” is now in session.  Lesley of  SECOND SIGHT CINEMA and myself, here at CINEMAVEN’S ESSAYS FROM THE COUCH are proud to present you with blog posts on all things courtside. For our joi   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on May 20, 2016

Gather around the soda fountain, folks. Movies Silently is having a Classic Movie Ice Cream Social, where: “All you need to do is review a movie that has a sunny plot or has the power to cheer you up when you’re feeling down.”  Well, never has a movie come more immediately to...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on May 16, 2016

Today is National Classic Movie Day. Hurrah! But honestly, I don’t need a particular day to celebrate classic films. I watch ‘em all the time. But this day is a swell chance to join other classic film fans in that age old question: “…write about the five classic movies you’d...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on May 15, 2016

SCENE I – EXTERIOR An ex-Union soldier rides into town and enters a saloon where he runs into two old friends. SCENE II – INTERIOR The two old friends, the bartender and future Marshal, are both glad to see him. They kibbitz with him about surviving the War. He tells...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on May 8, 2016

  Come on, come on. Don’t get your face all scrunched up and twisted in a knot over my macabre little joke. You know not every woman is meant to be a mother, even if she does have the biology to become one. If you have or had a kind, loving...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on May 7, 2016

WELL YOU’VE COME TO  THE RIGHT PLACE.  I think for us classic film fans there are seminal milestone years for classic motion pictures: 1947 for Film Noir, 1939 for The Golden Age and 1932. Now I don’t know if there’s any thing officially official about it, but for me, 1932 is...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on April 15, 2016

…But no one starts off their career as a giant. An icon. A legend. And sometimes when we see one’s beginning, we may not see the thing they will become.  April 17th, 1918 ~ November 12th, 1981 Stanwyck gave Holden his big break in 1939’s “Golden Boy” and he’s been...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on April 12, 2016

WELL YOU’RE IN THE RIGHT PLACE. COMING SOON… STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS ON MAY 7th HERE AND AT ONCE UPON A SCREEN. UNTIL THEN . . . [    H   O   M   E    ] _____________________________________________________________________________   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on April 9, 2016

Blog of the Darned plays host to this weekend’s blogathon: BLOGATHON FROM ANOTHER WORLD where bloggers explore their favorite science fiction films. You’ll see some loftier choices by clicking onto the banner on the left. My choice? Oh I’m going the Schlock route. This is NOT a put-down. I LOVE Schl   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on April 8, 2016

They say there’s no frigate like a book. But what happens when you turn a frigate into a movie? What’ve you got then? Now Voyaging and Speakeasy have partnered up again to host this weekend’s “BOOK TO COVER: Books to Film Blogathon.” It’s pretty self-explanatory: “This blogathon is your opportunity   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on March 25, 2016

I am joining A Shroud of Thoughts’ blogathon and will talk about one of my favorite tv episodes from Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone.” My favorite Twilight Zone episode has to be  “WALKING DISTANCE.” It aired October 1959 in Season 1 as Episode 5 of the famed series, and is...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on February 26, 2016

My sister and I faithfully watched the Oscars together since the 60’s. The first time I experienced the Academy snubbing a performer I thought should have won an Oscar was, Jack Nicholson losing for “Five Easy Pieces” back in 1971 and we screamed and jumped up and down and fussed in...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on February 22, 2016

I took a whirlwind trip on Amtrak to New England, last week. I went. I saw. I fell in love, with Ingrid Bergman…all over again. Yep, that’s what happened when I went all the way to Kendall Square’s Landmark Cinema up in Cambridge, Massachusetts to see the documentary “Ingrid Bergman: In...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on February 22, 2016

Yeah yeah, I know the Oscar controversy ( #0SCARSOWHAT? ) but I’m grateful for seeing the good performances that were nominated. Here are two of them:   SYLVESTER STALLONE                                    SAOIRSE RONAN Michael B....   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on February 20, 2016

“I can release a destructive power in a human being that would make the split atom seem like a blessing.”  If a male scientist had said that, folks would say: “He’s mad. He’s a genius. Give him some more funding!!” But let a woman say it and folks are like:...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on February 15, 2016

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES…BLACK MAN AHEAD! Why did director George A. Romero do this. Was it some type of allegorical political statement? Was it something more akin to, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I’ll have to do more research on that score. All I know for now, for this...   read more

CineMaven's Essays from the Couch Posted by Theresa Brown on February 14, 2016

Cute song, right? But listen…lets get serious about kissing, shall we? See, you have never been kissed until you’ve been kissed by a Spiderwoman … a black widow … a lethal lady. Its intensity is like no other. 0r if Cary Grant took you in his arms, or Ricardo Cortez...   read more