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…

Brief Encounter: Politely Passionate

Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. Photo: Eagle-Lion The legendary film critic Pauline Kael didn’t seem to care much for this film. Acknowledging it as a “celebrated tearjerker”, she also called…

Closer: Bodies in Motion

Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts and Jude Law. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing Mike Nichols was lauded for turning Tony Kushner’s play “Angels in America” into a great miniseries in…

Amadeus: The Burden of Mediocrity

Tom Hulce. Photo: Orion Pictures Most of us recognize Antonio Salieri’s feelings. He has worked hard to achieve something, got a good education and managed to become court composer to…

Falkenberg Farewell: Avoiding Adulthood

Photo: Memfis Film When this film premiered, I realized that I was probably not the only one in the audience who kept thinking back to the period in life depicted…