As you might expect, the History Channel's "Secrets of the Koran" is completely cartoon-free. In fact, these two episodes (45 min. each) from the network's "Decoding the Past" series avoid even the fa
Years ago, you never heard much about the evacuation of children to the countryside when London was under attack during World War II. Lately, though, film versions of fictional accounts are shedding l
Travel books were extremely popular in the mid-1800s, especially those that described adventures in exotic places. Westerners absolutely loved reading Herman Melville's accounts in Typee and Omoo
Like Oliver Stone, who offers a commentary on the film and a dozen deleted scenes, I hadn't seen "Platoon" for a good many years. Watching it again, 20 years after it won an Oscar for Best Picture, I
It is redundant to describe a Luis Bunuel film as strange or eccentric – that's what the term "a Luis Bunuel film" means. In fifty years of filmmaking, Bunuel produced a body of images and ideas that
Although the film is more than three decades old, "Blazing Saddles" still looks great, more so now in its new high-definition transfer. With video quality that is better than ever, sound that is bette
How can you beat a title as good as 1995's "Crimson Tide"? The words of the title are short, concise, catchy, and, more important, provocative. Well, one way to outdo the title is to have Denzel Washi
Some TV series are likable in spite of themselves. Take "Here Come the Brides," a western adventure-comedy that ran just two seasons from 1968-70. The characters are as stock as can be, the situations
If you're like me, you think of Jerry Bruckheimer as the quintessential producer of dumb-action popcorn flicks, and if you like this kind of thing, "Con Air" is one of the quintessential dumb-action p
"The Lucy & Desi Collection" comprises a trio of big-screen movies that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz made as a team. Two of the films capitalize on the couple's hit TV show, "I Love Lucy," while the ea
I have to admit that of all of America's great playwrights, I've always found Tennessee Williams the most distant from my own way of life. I mean, compared to, say, Arthur Miller or Eugene O'Neill, Wi
"You're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star! " Hollywood has made scores of backstage musicals over the years, some of them like "Cabaret" and "Chorus Line" more meaningful and