Imitation Game: Another Beautiful Mind
Benedict Cumberbatch. Photo: The Weinstein Company The title refers to a paper that the brilliant mathematician Alan Turing wrote in 1950 where he introduced his now-famous test of a machine’s…
From Here to Eternity: Before Armageddon
Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. Photo: Columbia This is what Michael Bay was aiming for when he made Pearl Harbor (2001) – a hopefully engaging romance that's suddenly interrupted by…
Where Eagles Dare: The Nazi Nest
Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton. Photo: MGM Whoever wrote director Brian G. Hutton's Wikipedia entry listed Kelly's Heroes (1970) as his most notable work, which seems odd. That movie has…
Notorious: Spy Games
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Photo: RKO In the mid-1940s, the legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick had plenty of opinions about the casting of Alfred Hitchcock's upcoming thriller Notorious.…
Force 10 From Navarone
After the mission that destroyed the guns of Navarone, Keith Mallory and John Miller (Robert Shaw, Edward Fox) are asked to find a spy who may have infiltrated the Yugoslav…
Das Boot: Under Pressure
Photo: Bavaria Film On my last visit to New York City, I visited the Intrepid Museum and boarded USS Growler, the 1950s-era cruise missile submarine that is part of the…
Captain America: The First Avenger
In 1942, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a skinny kid who keeps getting rejected for military service, is finally recruited for a special project that will turn him into a supersoldier.…
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…
The Dresser: Theatre of War
Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney. Photo: Columbia I went to see the musical “Sugar” last week. I should go to shows like that more often. Apart from enjoying it, I…