The Music Man with Robert Preston and Shirley Jones: Independence Day movies. Numerous Hollywood musicals have attempted to capture that elusive, reality-averse quality known as “Americana-ness” – e.g., Yankee Doodle Dandy, Meet Me in St. Louis, In the Good Old Summertime, On Moonlight Bay, By…
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John Paul Jones with Robert Stack: 4th of July movies. Although every sign indicates that 2019 is the new 1984, those in the U.S. shouldn’t fret: TCM’s 4th of July movies will transport viewers to the distant past, when there was no climate crisis (or…
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Detroit movie street riot scene: The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow tackles the 1967 Detroit riots in “horribly real” and “deeply self-serving” 2017 release marketed as a “dramatic thriller.” Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Detroit’ movie: Horribly real semidocumentary or self-serving Hollywood depiction of…
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Ronald Colman: Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month in two major 1930s classics Updated: Turner Classic Movies’ July 2017 Star of the Month is Ronald Colman, one of the finest performers of the studio era. On Thursday night, TCM presented five Colman star vehicles…
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The Great Wall movie with Matt Damon: Awkward-accented British mercenary fights the Taotie in costly Chinese-American collaboration. ‘The Great Wall’ movie: Zhang Yimou-Matt Damon collaboration evidence that – for better or for worse – countries can work together In this divisive age, when countries are…
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Die Nibelungen: Siegfried: Paul Richter as the tragic dragon-slaying hero of medieval Germanic mythology – with a bit from Homer’s Iliad thrown in. ‘Die Nibelungen’: Enthralling silent classic despite complex plot and countless characters Based on the medieval epic poem Nibelungenlied, itself inspired by the…
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‘Ben-Hur’ 2016 trailer with Jack Huston: Deadly chariot race in religious epic for the CGI-loving crowd. ‘Ben-Hur’ 2016 trailer: ‘Gladiator’ meets ‘Fast Seven’ meets ‘Star Wars’ meets… Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have released the trailer for their Ben-Hur 2016 remake (or reboot or readaptation) –…
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Johnny Depp family movie Finding Neverland. Directed by Marc Forster, and starring Johnny Depp as Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie and Kate Winslet as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, the audience-friendly, truth-distorting period piece Finding Neverland was the National Board of Review Awards’ Best Film winner. Making…
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‘The Fixer’ movie cast: Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde and Ian Holm (background left) in political drama about the persecution of Jews in Czarist Russia. ‘The Fixer’ movie review: 1968 anti-Semitism political drama wrecked by cast, direction and its own good intentions In 1969, director John…
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Being Julia movie: Annette Bening and Shaun Evans: ‘All About Eve’ with a London setting. ‘Being Julia’ movie review: Annette Bening showcase tells us a little about Avice Being Julia movie antecedents: In Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1950 Oscar-winning classic All About Eve, Bette Davis plays…
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‘Downfall’ movie with Bruno Ganz: Iconic Adolf Hitler. ‘Downfall’ movie: Overlong and overwrought World War II drama lifted by several memorable performances Oliver Hirschbiegel’s German box office hit Downfall / Der Untergang is a generally engrossing psychological-historical drama whose emotional charge is diluted by excessive…
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Nicholas and Alexandra movie with Janet Suzman and Michael Jayston. ‘Nicholas and Alexandra’ movie review: Opulent 1971 spectacle lacks emotional core Nicholas and Alexandra is surely one of the most sumptuous film productions ever made. Production designer John Box’s elaborate sets, Yvonne Blake’s equally elaborate…
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Jack Huston. Jack Huston cast in ‘Ben-Hur’ remake? ‘Boardwalk Empire’ actor to follow in the footsteps of Ramon Novarro and Charlton Heston Jack Huston, best known for playing World War I veteran-turned-bootlegger-cum-assassin Richard Harrow in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, may star in the latest…
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Inside Llewyn Davis with Oscar Isaac as “the last folk singer who didn’t make it.” Written and directed by veterans Joel and Ethan Coen (Blood Simple, Raising Arizona), Inside Llewyn Davis offers “their deepest dive into characterization since their inward-looking masterpiece A Serious Man.” ‘Inside…
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Ben-Hur 1925 with Ramon Novarro: The chariot race. ‘Ben-Hur’ 1925: Fast & furious epic Los Angeles screening Directed by Fred Niblo and starring Ramon Novarro, the 1925 Ben-Hur, a.k.a. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, will be screened at 8 p.m. on Wed., June 26,…
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The Great Gatsby characters: Leonardo DiCaprio is the latest incarnation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby. ‘The Great Gatsby’ characters still popular after all these years: Leonardo DiCaprio’s second-biggest opening ever? May 13 update: The Great Gatsby movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel…