The Sting: Good-Hearted Grifters
Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Photo: Universal One of David S. Ward's first scripts introduced us to the world of confidence men. Not that they hadn't been seen on screen…
The Apartment: Executive Privilege
Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Photo: United Artists When Billy Wilder saw Brief Encounter (1945), where Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard have their rendezvous in an apartment belonging to a…
American Beauty: Beyond Italian Upholstery
Mena Suvari. Photo: DreamWorks The story of how American Beauty, one of the most celebrated films of the 1990s, was made is the story of how a struggling TV writer…
Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) is on top of his game, but when he decides to turn a real-life story about a deranged murderer who shared a bed with his dead…
Driving Miss Daisy: The Burden of an Oscar
Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy. Photo: Warner When people list the movies they feel did not deserve to win a Best Picture Oscar, this one often comes up. I agree.…
Desperate Housewives: Wisteria’s Wildest
Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria and Felicity Huffman. Photo: ABC I have to begin this review with a spoiler alert for those planning on watching this show in the…
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
After cheating on and abusing her throughout their 18 years of marriage, wealthy attorney Charles McCarter (Steve Harris) finally kicks his wife (Kimberly Elise) out; her family helps her rebuild…
The Dresser: Theatre of War
Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney. Photo: Columbia I went to see the musical “Sugar” last week. I should go to shows like that more often. Apart from enjoying it, I…
The Artist: A Silent Treatment
Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo. Photo: Warner Michel Hazanavicius is obviously a man who loves the cinema. French audiences know his OSS 117 films, spoofs of the spy genre, and…
Sunset Blvd: The Walking Dead
Gloria Swanson. Photo: Paramount Gloria Swanson used to be big. She had a pretty decent career as a silent-movie star, but shortly after transitioning into talkies she was abandoned by…