The Godfather II: From Rags to Riches

Al Pacino. Photo: Paramount The Godfather was an incredible achievement by Francis Ford Coppola. Making a sequel that meets at least some of the expectations is difficult enough, but actually…

The Godfather: Paying in Blood

Marlon Brando. Photo: Paramount There's a scene in You've Got Mail (1998) where Tom Hanks says, "The Godfather is the sum of all wisdom. The Godfather is the answer to…

Casablanca: You Must Remember This

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Photo: Warner Casablanca was just another movie meant to bolster the spirit of American audiences at a time when the nation had just entered an…

Bride of Frankenstein: They Belong Dead

Elsa Lanchester and Colin Clive. Photo: Universal Perhaps the filmmakers felt that their original adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" came up short. The 1931 film left out much of the…

Se7en: A Tour of Sins

Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. Photo: New Line Cinema Director David Fincher's first feature, Alien³ (1992), had the misfortune of following in the footsteps of some of Ridley Scott's and…

All the President’s Men: Exposing a CREEP

Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford. Photo: Warner When I was in journalism school, I took a course in investigative journalism. That particular genre is still the finest you can do…

Patton: Worrisome Warrior

George C. Scott. Photo: 20th Century Fox When I mentioned on Facebook the other day that I had been watching Patton, a friend of mine at work said that he…

Lawrence of Arabia: Lost in the Sand

Peter O'Toole. Photo: Columbia I regret never having seen this film on a big screen, the kind of epic for which the widescreen format was invented. But it is a…

The Exorcist: Touched by a Demon

Linda Blair. Photo: Warner Today it may be hard to understand the impact The Exorcist had on people upon its release in 1973. The film followed in the footsteps of…