Frank Calvillo Archives -

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: EP.12 – THE HANDMAID’S TALE/THE TEMP/RUNNING MATES This week on Hollywood Royalty, it’s time for our penultimate episode featuring the Faye you love to hate with three films that show the actress’ knack for exploring characters that, while not outright villains, defy conventional likability. First up, we look at Faye’s chilly take on […]

NECROMANCER EP 141 – GHOULFRIEND EXPERIENCE WITH FRANK CALVILLO: HUSH…HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE The necromancers are joined by Frank Calvillo of Whatever Happened to Bette and Joan to share a common joy: resurrecting dead Hollywood stars. On the slab is who else but Bette Davis in Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964). Listen to our trio of […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: MINISODE #11 – LITTLE BIG MAN Next up on classic 60s/70s Faye, we venture back even further than last time to the 19th century for 1970’s Little Big Man, the sprawling tale of a 121-year-old man named Jack Crabtree (Dustin Hoffman) who is recalling his life as an adopted member of the Cheyenne […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: EP.11 – IT HAD TO BE YOU/ALIAS/MISC. GUEST APPEARANCES This week on Hollywood Royalty, we tune in to prime time Faye and her two prominent stints on series television in the 90s and 00s. First up, host of Heart/Felt, and co-host of Trash in the Can, Eric Samaniego, and I explore Faye’s short-lived […]

MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES SERIES REVIEW From prolific showrunner David E. Kelly comes a new Apple TV series Margo’s Got Money Troubles based on the novel of the same name by Rufi Thorpe. Margo (Elle Fanning) is an aspiring writer and college student who becomes pregnant after a brief affair with her married literature professor, […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: MINISODE 10- OKLAHOMA CRUDE Next up on classic 60s/70s Faye, we go way back to turn of the century Oklahoma for Stanley Kramer’s 1973 oil-themed dramedy Oklahoma Crude. In the film, Faye plays the shotgun-bearing Lena, a woman sitting on an oil rig trying to fight off the ruthless oil companies (headed by […]

REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES MOVIE REVIEW Frank, Neil, and T.C. swim to the shallow end of the One Of Us wading pool to discuss a sad woman who works at a facility with an intensely intelligent and sensitive sea creature who wants to escape into the world. The two form an intense bond. Is it… love? […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY EP.10 – SILHOUETTE/ARIZONA DREAM/DUNSTON CHECKS IN This week on Hollywood Royalty, it’s Faye as you’ve never seen her before, starring in a trio of titles that proved uncharted territory for the actress. Up first, we see Faye take on both Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly’s roles in the 1990 Hitchcock-influenced Silhouette, a reworking […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY MINISODE 9 – PUZZLE OF A DOWNFALL CHILD Next up on the classic 60s/70s Faye front, 1970s Puzzle of a Downfall Child, the stirring directorial debut from photographer turned writer/director Jerry Schatzberg. Faye stars as Lou Andreas Sand, a once sought-after model whose complicated past and sudden rise to success has resulted in […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: MOTHER FAYE – BURNING SECRET/THE TWILIGHT OF THE GOLDS/THE YARDS This week on Hollywood Royalty, Faye is mother. Literally. In this episode, we look at three notable times the actress took on mother/matriarchal roles in the years since Mommie Dearest‘s release. First up is the 1988 arthouse film Burning Secret, where Faye plays […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: MINISODE 8 – CHINATOWN Our next stop through 60s/70s Faye sees us taking a visit to Chinatown, the 1974 Oscar-winning movie that recreates 1937’s Los Angeles for a tale of murder and corruption. An Oscar-nominated Faye enjoys one of the best roles of the decade as a femme fatale harboring dark secrets, which local […]

THE MADISON SERIES REVIEW John Steinbeck once said “I’m in love with Montana. For other states, I have admiration, respect, recognight, even some affection. But with Montana, it is love.”  Paramount Plus presents  the new show by Taylor Sheridan; a story of a man who had two great loves in his life: his wife, and […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: EP.8 – ON A MOONLIT NIGHT/GIA/THE RULES OF ATTRACTION On this episode of Hollywood Royalty we look at Faye as the quintessential director’s actress; the kind of screen performer whose choices and collaborations tended to challenge traditional movie conventions. We begin with 1989’s On a Moonlit Night, where Faye plays an executive blackmailed by […]

LORNE MOVIE REVIEW There has been no shortage of media analysis of the unexpected phenomenon that is Saturday Night Live. More books and documentaries about aspects of it from all different viewpoints have been released than would be practical to print here. But not much in specific is said about the man himself: the guy […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: MINISODE EP 7: THE ARRANGEMENT For our next venture into 60s/70s Faye, we look at the reunion between the actress and her early mentor, writer/director Elia Kazan with 1969’s The Arrangement, adapted from his own novel. The film tells the story of a top advertising executive named Eddie (Kirk Douglas), who experiences a […]

BAIT SERIES REVIEW Tomorrow Never Dies at the James Bond Rumour mill and with Amazon pulling the strings, The World is Not Enough. It’ll take a real GoldenEye casting director to pick the next actor to be On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Comment sections are being real Dr. No about all suggestions stepping away from […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: EP 7: ELLIS ISLAND/CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS On this special episode of Hollywood Royalty, we break from the show’s traditional three-title format of TV movie/arthouse film/mainstream title to look at Faye: The Miniseries and the two plum roles the actress found herself taking on in a pair of lavish, large-scale productions made for the small […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: MINISODE 6 – THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR On this round of 60s/70s Faye, we look over our shoulder to make sure no one is watching before we revisit the actress in paranoia mode with 1975’s Three Days of the Condor. Sydney Pollack directs this tale of a CIA researcher named Turner (Robert […]

LOVE STORY MOVIE REVIEW Love is a many splendored thing, and back in the 90’s two lovers, named John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, kissed and the world stood still. The two would be lifted up by love where they belonged but alas not every love is like like in the storybooks. While all […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: EP 6 – COLUMBO: IT’S ALL IN THE GAME/DRUNKS/THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1999) Up next on Hollywood Royalty, we flashback a bit to see Faye in throwback mode, with the actress taking on three 90s titles that feel as if they came straight from her new Hollywood era. We begin with the 1993 […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: MINI EP.5: THE TOWERING INFERNO For our next minisode foray into the Faye classics of the 60s and 70s, we take the scenic elevator up to the promenade room for 1974’s The Towering Inferno. Irwin Allen’s big-budget action spectacular about a San Francisco high-rise that becomes engulfed in flames remains a hallmark in […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY EP.5: COLD SASSY TREE/THE CHAMBER/ALBINO ALLIGATOR Up next on Hollywood Royalty, we head down south for three movies that make use of Faye’s Southern background. First, we travel to Georgia at the turn of the century to see Faye play a fiercely independent woman who enters into a May/December romance with a recently […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY: MINI EP 4: BONNIE AND CLYDE Our next venture into classic 60s/70s Faye has us revisiting the film that turned the actress into an overnight sensation, 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde. Starring Warren Beatty and Faye as the infamous titular duo, this tale of crime and romance was one of the biggest hits of […]

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY EP.4: BEVERLY HILLS MADAM/BARFLY/DON JUAN DEMARCO Next up on Hollywood Royalty: Dunaway After Crawford, we head west to actual Hollywood (and thereabouts) for a collection of movies that sees Faye take on three different types of California women in three vastly different films. First up, Faye plays the boss of a group of […]

BREAKDOWN: 1975 MOVIE REVIEW At times, film has the power to give a voice to the voiceless and speak truth to a power that would ignore those voices. When a culture shifts its thinking and changes the method and way stories are told about people, and the world in general, a massive culture shift can […]