Examples of Theocracy: Since the early days of filmmaking, theocratic rule – in its many forms – has often been depicted on screen. Cinema & TV examples of theocracy range…
Oscar diversity: Women – including two lesbianish characters – form the core of the 1950 Best Picture winner All About Eve. But would the Broadway-set classic have met the new…
Belfast movie: Kenneth Branagh has begun shooting the semiautobiographical indie drama – “my most personal film,” as per the screenwriter-director – set in the turbulent Northern Ireland of the late…
Robert Pattinson in The Batman: COVID-19 scare. Pattinson’s positive result has halted filming of the latest reboot of DC Comics’ Batman, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and first…
Ruth Warrick: In show business for nearly seven decades, actress Ruth Warrick is best remembered for two disparate roles: Charles Foster Kane’s genteel wife in Orson Welles’ 1941 classic Citizen…
The Women remake with Meg Ryan. In the old Margalo Gilmore (on Broadway, 1936), Norma Shearer (1939), and June Allyson (1956) role, 1990s Hollywood Sweetheart Meg Ryan plays a materially…
Valentino with Rudolf Nureyev and Michelle Phillips. Ken Russell’s 1977 Rudolph Valentino biopic Valentino is based on the dubious 1966 bio (“Was he a great lover – or a sham?”)…
‘Under the Volcano’ screening: John Huston’s ‘quality’ comeback starring daring Albert Finney As part of its John Huston film series, the UCLA Film & Television Archive will be presenting the…
Crime novel The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. While her husband is away during World War II, housewife Lucia Holley – the sort of “Everywoman” who looks great in…
Roy Rogers, Singing Cowboy of 1940s and 1950s Hollywood. Known for his affable characterizations and, both on and off screen, “traditional values” stance, the King of the Cowboys – step…
“Latin Lover” Ricardo Cortez, who went on to play a series of all-American scoundrels and criminals, in addition to similar unsavory types of other nationalities. Although never as big a…
‘Making Love’: Groundbreaking romantic gay drama returns to the big screen As part of its Anniversary Classics series, Laemmle Theaters will be presenting Arthur Hiller’s groundbreaking 1982 romantic drama Making…
In the Fade with Diane Kruger: Fatih Akin’s Avenging Woman drama may give its German-speaking star the chance to become next awards season’s Isabelle Huppert. Diane Kruger: 2017–2018 awards season’s…
Canadian-born actress Alexis Smith (born 1921) would have turned 96 years old on June 8. Turner Classic Movies is celebrating her birthday by presenting nine of her movies, mostly during…
Frances Dee movies: From ‘An American Tragedy’ to ‘Four Faces West’ Frances Dee began her film career at the dawn of the sound era, going from extra to leading lady…
Alien: Covenant review: Michael Fassbender plays android brothers David and Walter in this effective sequel to Ridley Scott’s muddled Prometheus. ‘Alien: Covenant’ review: Recapturing ‘some of the excitement, awe, and…
Danielle Darrieux in ‘La Ronde.’ Film icon Danielle Darrieux turns 100: Longest ‘star career’ in movie history? Screen legend Danielle Darrieux is turning 100 today, May 1. In all likelihood,…
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with Chris Pratt as Star-Lord a.k.a. Peter Quill, and Drax (voice by Dave Bautista): When “the pressure to be good isn’t as intense as…
Christian movies: Starring Nicolas Cage, the widely panned 2014 apocalyptic thriller Left Behind was a box office bomb – unlike (relatively) recent popular “faith movies” such as Heaven Is for…
Logan movie with Hugh Jackman as the mutant Wolverine: 20th Century Fox’s gamble results in one of the best superhero movies. ‘Logan’ movie review: ‘Wolverine’ trilogy concluded ‘in surprising and…
2016 movies Things to Come (pictured) and Elle have earned French cinema icon Isabelle Huppert her – surprisingly – very first National Society of Film Critics Best Actress Award. 2016…
Sully movie with Tom Hanks as US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger: Clint Eastwood homage to the “noble and decent American” threatened by a “heartless government.” ‘Sully’ movie review: ‘Taut, straightforward’…
Rebecca 1940: Joan Fontaine as the “successor” and Judith Anderson as the creepy lesbian housekeeper, madly in love with her deceased mistress. ‘Rebecca’ 1940: Alfred Hitchcock Best Picture Oscar winner…
Star Trek: Beyond with Chris Pine as Captain Kirk: Will movie franchise reboot achieve “escape velocity”? ‘Star Trek: Beyond’ review: Movie franchise needs to boldly go where J.J. Abrams has…
It’s So Easy and Other Lies movie: Biographical documentary of Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, diving into the pits of drug addiction and back. ‘It’s So Easy and Other…
Playwright Arthur Miller vs. Red Scare Hysteria: The Crucible Demythologizes American Exceptionalism
Playwright Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible (1953) – about the witchcraft trials held in late-17th-century Salem – as a political allegory against the HUAC hearings held in mid-20th-century Washington, D.C.…
“Movies” or…? Quo Vadis: One of the first feature films ever made, Enrico Guazzoni’s Italian epic came out in 1913, going on to become a global sensation. Should American “moving…
Antihero Ricardo Cortez in Symphony of Six Million, with Irene Dunne. Directed by Gregory La Cava, this 1932 family/romantic melodrama may have been one of Cortez’s favorite among his own…
Cannes Film Festival winners: The Square with Claes Bang. “Gobsmackingly weird” Cannes Film Festival favorite may have a tough time landing a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award nomination. As…
One of cinema’s early comediennes, Dorothy Devore: between 1918 and 1930, the Ft. Worth-born actress was seen in nearly 100 movies, both features and shorts. Among them were Salvation Sue,…
Best Picture Arrival – Shawn Levy. Dan Levine. Aaron Ryder. David Linde. Fences – Scott Rudin. Denzel Washington. Todd Black. Hacksaw Ridge – Bill Mechanic. David Permut. Hell or High…
Don’t Breathe movie: Dylan Minnette is a burglar who discovers the hard way that blind man Stephen Lang is not quite like earlier blind film victims Audrey Hepburn (Wait Until…