It’s a Wonderful Life: Wing and a Prayer

James Stewart, Donna Reed, Carol Coombs, Jimmy Hawkins, Larry Simms and Karolyn Grimes. Photo: RKO This Christmas I decided to catch Frank Capra's last masterpiece again. Having seen it several…

Argo: The Great Escape

Photo: Warner In my reviews of Persepolis (2007) and A Separation (2011), I wrote that those films offer a well-needed opportunity to understand Iran. Argo, however, is not that type…

The Girl

Former model Tippi Hedren (Sienna Miller) is thrilled to learn that Alfred Hitchcock (Toby Jones) is choosing her to star in his next movie… but the professional relationship quickly turns…

North and South: Book II 

When we meet the Mains and Hazards again, the Northern and Southern families are pitted against each other as the Civil War unfolds; the miniseries takes us through it. Elaborate,…

The Right Stuff: Touching the Sky

Photo: Warner I have never understood those who have no interest in space. That’s like showing no interest in the questions that have occupied scientists and philosophers ever since mankind…

Tristana: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Catherine Deneuve. Photo: Época Films When Luis Buñuel wanted to turn Benito Pérez Galdós's novel "Tristana" into a movie in 1962, his and Julio Alejandro's script was rejected. The same…

North and South 

In the 1840s, George Hazard (James Read) from Pennsylvania and Orry Main (Patrick Swayze) from South Carolina enroll at West Point and become friends for life… but the increasing tension…

Platoon: Taking the Pain

Photo: Orion After serving in Vietnam, earning a Bronze Star as well as a Purple Heart, Oliver Stone came back to the United States in 1968. Disgusted with the way…

Shame 

What is it about director Steve McQueen and his desire for punishing Michael Fassbender's body and soul? In his first film, Hunger (2008), McQueen subjected the star to starvation and…

Becket: The Bishop Who Found God

Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole. Photo: Paramount When I told a friend recently that I had just seen Becket and that Richard Burton plays the Archbishop of Canterbury, he quickly…