I, Claudius: Fool, Biographer, Emperor

Derek Jacobi. Photo: BBC One thing is certain. The years may fly by in this adaptation of Robert Graves's books on the first four Julio-Claudian emperors, but when 77 years…

John Adams: The Reluctant VP

Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti. Photo: HBO Sometimes there are discrepancies between filmmakers and the people hired to market their work. The tagline of this ambitious HBO miniseries has nothing…

Belle de Jour: Nasty Girl

Catherine Deneuve. Photo: Valoria Films Luis Buñuel scholar Julie Jones once claimed that the famous director told her that he doesn't know what the end of this film really means.…

Chariots of Fire: For God and Honor

Photo: Allied Stars I have taken up running recently and discovered that it is easy to get hooked. It’s tough in the beginning but some days it is as if…

Gentleman’s Agreement: Walk in My Shoes

Dorothy McGuire, Gregory Peck and John Garfield. Photo: 20th Century Fox This film caused quite a stir on its arrival, but ended up winning an Oscar for Best Picture. Still,…

Casino 

"Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) tries to run his Las Vegas casino as effectively as possible, but his doomed marriage to a hustler (Sharon Stone) and his friendship with a…

Interiors 

As a well-to-do family in New York falls apart, its members get ample opportunities to vent their anxieties and feelings of insufficiency. In Love and Death (1975) Woody Allen made…

Rome: Rise and Fall of a Dictator Perpetuus

Photo: HBO It is obvious where Rome got its primary inspiration. In 1976, I, Claudius was quite the phenomenon, a well-written British drama series that chronicled key events in Rome…