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When I was a kid, I looked upon the summer movie season with great anticipation. That anticipation was partly fueled by preview articles from publications like "Starlog" and "Cinefantastique", which made all the various upcoming films look like must-see events. You never have the same feelings abo read more

Prior to viewing Sophie’s Choice, it’s terribly easy to assume the film is the tale of one woman, the eponymous Sophie Zawistowska. (Indeed, the incontestable talents of a young Meryl Streep do nothing to refute this assumption.) Upon further inspection however, it is not one, but three read more

Joan Davis was a master of zany comedy. She was the feminine variant of Danny Kaye, Oscar Levant and Billy de Wolfe all rolled into one. But mostly she was uniquely Joan Davis : rubber-faced, loose-limbed and shamelessly outrageous. A lost species from the bygone era of vaudeville.   It was read more

Joan Davis was a master of zany comedy. She was the feminine variant of Danny Kaye, Oscar Levant and Billy de Wolfe all rolled into one. But mostly she was uniquely Joan Davis : rubber-faced, loose-limbed and shamelessly outrageous. A lost species from the bygone era of vaudeville.   It was read more

Joan Davis was a master of zany comedy. She was the feminine variant of Danny Kaye, Oscar Levant and Billy de Wolfe all rolled into one. But mostly she was uniquely Joan Davis : rubber-faced, loose-limbed and shamelessly outrageous. A lost species from the bygone era of vaudeville.   It was read more

This may sound pretty dry and boring, but if you’ve ever been curious about why certain movies look different on your TV (especially now that “widescreen” TV’s have become so prevalent) or why older films look so much different than newer ones, one of the main reasons is what read more

Dum-dee-dum-dum.  It was Saturday, June 25, 1988.  It was hot and hazy in Toronto.  We were working the Marriage Watch out of St. Mark's United.  The groom was Garry.  I carried a bouquet.  I was the bride.  Dum-dee-dum-dum-dah. Judge and Mrs. Hardy and childr read more

Steve McQueen : A Biography (Marc Eliot, 2012) First, I must thank the fine folks over at Three Rivers Press that sent me a bunch of great movie/ movie stars related books. It took me a while getting to read those books, because I’m such a slow reader. But I got around it and it revealed read more

And yes, I think I mean that in every way possible. It’s coming to Nashville: http://www.wmarocks.com/events/detail/john-waters-war-memorial?perf-no=4246 And possibly to a town near you? read more

First,  just a small bit of introduction before we get things underway. Top 250 Tuesdays is my attempt to wend my way through the Sight and Sound Top 250 Greatest Films list. Basically, for me it’s a way of exploring what are considered some of the all-time great movies, in an attempt both to read more

Have you met Gwen of Movies, Silently?  She's a grand gal - knowledgeable, bright and with a great sense of humour.  A couple of weeks back Gwen graciously awarded this blog the coveted Liebster Award.  In such cases I would like to be diligent about responding, but it's been a busy t read more

Pious. In today’s vernacular, the term has come to describe those with a platitudinous zeal for religion, usually with more than a twinge of a negative connotation. The word “pious” itself however stems from the Latin “pius”, which can be roughly translated as devoted. read more

Okay, I admit it. I’ve yet to sit all the way through any of the Lord of the Rings movies. And considering what I heard about the first Hobbit movie I doubt that that’s likely to change with this one. Probably someday when this trilogy is wrapped up I’ll sit down with all of them a read more

Have you ever noticed that the most melodramatic movies take place at the most beautiful locales? I always marvel at how the "Summer Place" characters can have such problems while living in such a paradise.  This week's still shot features Richard Egan having a chat with the kiddies ( Tro read more

Have you ever noticed that the most melodramatic movies take place at the most beautiful locales? I always marvel at how the "Summer Place" characters can have such problems while living in such a paradise.  This week's still shot features Richard Egan having a chat with the kiddies ( Tro read more

Recently, my husband and I drove to the birthplace of John Wayne of Winterset, Iowa. Every year, the entire town holds a big gala to commemorate the Duke's birthday with a 3-day series of special events which takes place the weekend closest to his birthday anniversary (May 26, 1907). I'm not gonna l read more

Have you ever noticed that the most melodramatic movies take place at the most beautiful locales? I always marvel at how the "Summer Place" characters can have such problems while living in such a paradise.  This week's still shot features Richard Egan having a chat with the kiddies ( Tro read more

For the recent TCM Classic Film Festival, I was honored that Turner Classic Movies asked me to introduce two films from the standpoint of style.  The first was Billy Wilder's post-war project A Foreign Affair (1948).  Of course Wilder is a wonder of the cinema, writing and directing s read more

***SPECIAL “GUEST BLOGGER” NOTE*** I suppose you could consider this a late Memorial Day Post. I had not really planned to do anything special for the day, but when I was looking at a couple of other things, I was reminded of this post that I did a while back. However, due to an extended work schedu read more

Jack Nicholson in the famous “Here’s Johnny” scene (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I’ll admit upfront that I haven’t bothered to watch Room 237 yet, because from all reports, while the premise – gather a group of obsessive nutcases with various theories about the “real” read more