For a film that revolves around a teen with a case of existential angst so bad that he can't bring himself to do any homework for school--because what's the point, we all die alone some day anyway--"T
Cinema history is full of stories of celebrities plucked from obscurity. Lana Turner was discovered at a soda fountain in Hollywood, former bit player Harrison Ford while building a cabinet for George
The Film According to John: Let me begin by admitting that I've never quite understood the allure of Leonardo DiCaprio that so many other filmgoers have found. I mean, he seems always in demand by
"Cowboys & Aliens" has one of those high-concept titles that tells you exactly what you're going to get. Just like "Snakes on a Plane" had snakes on a plane, "Cowboys & Aliens" has cowboys and aliens.
2011 marks the 30th year since "The Smurfs" debuted on North American television as a Saturday morning cartoon, which means that the original audience for those little blue creatures (and collectible
"One hundred and eleven years ago, when I was ten years old, my family crossing the Great Plains was wiped out by a band of wild Indians. " --Jack Crabb, "Little Big Man" A penetrating historical epi
What an odd masterpiece "12 Angry Men" (1957) is. Few films have ever telegraphed their endings so clearly and incessantly; from the early moment when Henry Fonda persuades his first fellow juror to v
This time it's CBS's turn to release "My Fair Lady," turning it out in high-definition Blu-ray picture and sound. It's the least they could do for one of the world's best musicals ever, even if they m
“It was like a symphony of placid beauty.” That’s how International Chess Master Anthony Saidy describes Game Six of Bobby Fischer’s legendary 1972 match with Boris Spassky, and any patzer who has st
"Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.... Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. " It must be the Christmas season. How can we tell? It's time for yet another edition
Rumors about Tuesday's Blu-ray release of "West Side Story" started swirling many weeks ago, with two points of contention: First, that the overture visual sequence, the Saul Bass credit sequence was
I love it when a film surprises me. One look at the cover for "Water for Elephants" and three words came to mind: cheesy, melodrama, chick-flick. The artwork looks like the cover of a paperback roman