Supergirl
Superman’s cousin Kara (Helen Slater) finds herself accidentally transported to Earth, where she poses as a schoolgirl and eventually battles an aspiring witch (Faye Dunaway). This spin-off to the Superman…
Why We Need Film Critics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnP9PU71LaQ I've just been browsing through "American Film Criticism", a book edited by Stanley Kaufmann and Bruce Henstell. Published in 1972, it is a compilation of reviews of significant films…
Caligula: A Penthouse Look at Rome
Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren. Photo: Penthouse Films International In the 1970s, Bob Guccione had become a notorious but successful man. His Penthouse magazine had made him wealthy and he…
Lion in Winter: A Plantagenet Power Struggle
Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. Photo: Embassy Pictures You may barely remember Henry II from history class, but in the 1960s the Medieval king was hot stuff. Peter O’Toole played…
The Last Emperor: The Chosen One
Richard Vuu. Photo: Columbia In the late 1980s, the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci was decidedly an international filmmaker, having made movies in France and the United States. That year he…
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…
The Tudors
After writing two movies about Elizabeth I, Michael Hirst turned his attention to another Tudor, the Queen's father, the guy who was married six times and had two of his…
Casino Royale
Sir James Bond (David Niven) is persuaded to come out of retirement to destroy the criminal organization SMERSH; as the new M, he gives every agent the name "James Bond"…
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…
Ratatouille: The Little Chef That Could
Photo: Pixar When creating the concept for Ratatouille, director Brad Bird got help from Thomas Keller, a distinguished chef. He advised the director on what goes on in the busy…