Throwback Review: “Hail, Caesar!”

There are two very different sides to the Coen Brothers’ body of work. One is the serious drama, the likes of “No Country for Old Men” or “Inside Llewyn Davis;” the other is the light-hearted farce, such as “Burn After Reading” or “Raising Arizona.” Their latest directorial effort, “Hail, Caesar!,” belongs in the latter category. “Hail, […]

Cinema Classics: “Jezebel” (1938)

Today’s Cinema Classics spotlight is devoted to another film that is airing on Turner Classic Movies this weekend as part of the TCM Film Fest: Special Home Edition. The tale of a fiery Southern belle looking for love around the time of the Civil War quickly became one of the most memorable films of all […]

Cinema Classics: “The Lady Vanishes” (1938)

Sadly, Turner Classic Movies’ annual Classic Film Festival, which was to take place in Hollywood this month, had to be cancelled due to the current situation surrounding COVID-19. But in its place, the station is having a TCM Film Fest: Special Home Edition this weekend, which kicked off tonight with the 1954 version of “A […]

Cinema Classics: “The Young Girls of Rochefort” (1967)

In 1964, French director Jacques Demy’s musical film “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (Las parapluies de Cherbourg) was an international sensation, winning the Palmes d’Or at Cannes and being nominated for five Academy Awards. Even watching it today, it’s easy to see why. “Cherbourg” is unique in that it is entirely sung through, as opposed to […]

Throwback Review: “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” (2008)

“Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” is a modern movie with all the hallmarks of a 1930s screwball comedy. The film, set in pre-World War II London, stars Frances McDormand as Guinevere Pettigrew, a governess who just got fired from her fourth job. Desperate, Miss Pettigrew steals a job meant for someone else, but it […]

Cinema Classics: “Four Daughters” (1938)

What a crazy couple weeks it has been! The last article I posted was my review of “Onward,” the last film I saw in theaters about two weeks ago. Since then, movie theaters have closed and most major theatrical releases have been postponed until further notice. While that is absolutely the right thing to do […]

Review: “Onward”

3.5 out of 5 stars. Pixar Animation’s “Onward” is what is probably the studio’s most personal film wrapped in a fantasy adventure. Director and co-writer Dan Scanlon based on the story on the relationship he had with his brother after their father’s passing when they were children. “Onward” is set in a world that is […]

Review: “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”

5 out of 5 stars. In “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” we know that Marianne and Héloïse’s relationship is doomed from the start. But that doesn’t make their interactions onscreen any less passionate or romantic; if anything, they are even more so, as the time that they have left together dwindles away. Written and […]

Review: “The Invisible Man”

3.5 out of 5 stars. Monster movies have always been compelling because, as far from reality as they may appear on the surface, we see reflections of the good and the bad in humanity in their stories. This is especially apparent in the new version of “The Invisible Man,” directed by Leigh Whannell and based […]

Review: “Emma.” (2020)

4 out of 5 stars. Jane Austen possessed a sensibility about feminism, class, and other social matters that was in many ways ahead of her time. The timeliness and timelessness of her work is always apparent when it is newly adapted, and director Autumn de Wilde and screenwriter Eleanor Catton’s version of “Emma.” is no […]