Raging Bull: Fists of Fury

Robert De Niro. Photo: United Artists Martin Scorsese doesn't really care about sports movies. The idea of making a film about Jake LaMotta would probably never have hit him were…

Great Expectations: Educating Pip

Valerie Hobson and John Mills. Photo: Universal After making one of the greatest romantic films of all time, Brief Encounter (1945), director David Lean moved on to what would become…

Bonnie and Clyde: Love on the Lam

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Photo: Warner The term most commonly used to describe Bonnie and Clyde (1967) is probably "landmark film". It may seem a little odd to begin…

Saving Private Ryan: Spielberg in Combat

Tom Sizemore and Tom Hanks. Photo: DreamWorks Steven Spielberg directed several masterpieces over the years, but this one might be the most controversial. The general sentiment expressed by snobs is…

The King’s Speech: Royal Pains

Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Photo: The Weinstein Company After watching this brilliant drama, I knew I had to consult YouTube for the speech King George VI made after Britain's…

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…

The Social Network: Why Can’t We Be Friends

Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg. Photo: Sony Pictures I joined Facebook four years ago. At first, it felt like a playground for grownups where we poked each other and greedily…

The Searchers: A Savage Nature

John Wayne. Photo: Warner The Searchers was a box office hit in its day, but received no Academy Award nominations. Much like several Alfred Hitchcock movies, it's a typical example…

Yojimbo: The Ultimate Sushi Western

Toshiro Mifune. Photo: Toho Some would say that Seven Samurai (1954) is Akira Kurosawa's finest samurai movie, but I'll have to go with Yojimbo. One reason is that unlike Seven…