Crooked Marquee

1 week ago | crookedmarquee.com | Kimber Myers

A lonely, bullied orphan and an alien forge an unlikely friendship in this Disney movie. No, it’s not Lilo and Stitch, even though that live-action remake is still in theaters. Elio is the photographic negative of the film that beat it to the screen just weeks ago — and which is likely to threaten the box office prospects of this one. Instead of an alien landing among humans, Elio’s story makes it a kid’s turn to live amongst them in space.

1 week ago | crookedmarquee.com | Josh Bell

A wide-eyed kid and a traumatized former cult member both go on journeys of self-discovery in this week’s fringe VOD releases, which also feature a drag-queen superhero and a pair of our finest DTV action stars. Diablo (VOD and select theaters June 13): As producers and co-writers, B-movie action mainstays and frequent co-stars Scott Adkins and Marko Zaror know how to tailor this enjoyably straightforward project to their respective strengths.

2 weeks ago | crookedmarquee.com | Sean Burns

If you walked in a minute or two late and missed the ominous opening shots of gathering clouds, one could easily misconstrue from the beginning of The Mortal Storm that you were watching a cutesy family comedy. The first few scenes of Frank Borzage’s stark 1940 political drama follow university professor Victor Roth on his 60th birthday.

2 weeks ago | crookedmarquee.com | Sean Burns

There was no such thing as homosexuality in the Golden Age of Hollywood. At least not officially. Movies of that era were subject to the Motion Picture Production Code. Better known as the Hays Code, the industry’s guidelines for self-censorship were named after Will Hays, president of the organization that would eventually become the Motion Picture Association of America and more recently, the Motion Picture Association.

3 weeks ago | crookedmarquee.com | Josh Bell

When Billy Wilder adapted George Axelrod’s 1952 stage play The Seven Year Itch for the screen in 1955, he bypassed the sex and adultery in order to conform to the stringent Hollywood Production Code. For Wilder and Axelrod (who share the screenplay credit), the film was a watered-down compromise, and in later years Wilder expressed regret at having made it at all.