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Category: Movies

  • I’m Still Here: The Brazilian Film is Worthy of Its Praise

    Academy Award for Best International Picture. Golden Globe for Best Actress. Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Actress. Recognition at numerous film festivals. I’m Still Here is making a lasting impression on audiences worldwide. One of my favorite movie experiences is loving a film that I went into without much knowledge or with relatively…

  • SNL @ 50: The Anniversary Specials Deliver Nostalgic Wonder

    Saturday Night Live understandably went all out for its 50th anniversary. After all, it’s one of the longest-running programs in television history. The day before the historic season began on September 27th, the film Saturday Night, directed by Jason Reitman (Up in the Air), premiered in the theaters. The film begins as Lorne Michaels (Gabriel…

  • Academy Awards 2025: And the Oscars Go To…

    The show opened with a close-up of Dorothy’s ruby red slippers and her voice-over “there’s no place like home” during an homage to the L.A. fire victims. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo brought the house down with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and the Wicked anthem “Defying Gravity.” Host Conan O’Brien was delayed getting on stage…

  • Oscar Predictions 2025: Your Guess is as Good as Mine

    Often by now many of the Oscar categories are sure things by building an unstoppable momentum during the Awards season. (Think Oppenheimer last year and Everything Everywhere All at Once the year before.) While there are a few slam dunks, more toss-up races are in the field this year, particularly in some major categories. This…

  • HBO’s Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos is Enlightening

    The Sopranos is consistently regarded as one of the most influential shows of all time. The groundbreaking series that commenced the Golden Age of Television ran for six seasons on HBO (86 episodes) from 1999-2007. David Chase shares the inspiration, decisions, adjustments, stress, and luck that go into creating a series for the ages. The…

  • A Complete Unknown Brings Rock History to Life

    Bob Dylan. One of the greatest songwriters of all time. A 60-year career with 40 studio albums, 21 live, and 44 compilations. Inducted into the Songwriters and Rock and Roll Hall of Fames and recipient of the Kennedy Center Honor, Pulitzer Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Nobel Prize in Literature. How does a…

  • Women of the Hour Film: The Dating Game Killer

    Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) stars in and directs Woman of the Year, her directorial debut. It’s based on the true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala and his 1978 appearance on the TV show The Dating Game in the midst of his killing spree. Sheryl Bradshaw is a struggling actress, and her agent encourages her…

  • Gladiator II: The Epic Sequel Ramps Up the Spectacle

    Roman gladiator movies rank high in the echelon of epic Hollywood films. The nine-minute chariot race in Ben-Hur. The monumental crowd and battle scenes in Spartacus. The furious gladiator fights in Gladiator, including real tigers. And now the sequel, Gladiator II, with a flooded Colosseum re-enacting a famous naval battle…complete with sharks. Indeed, director Ridley…

  • Conclave: Behind the Scenes of Choosing a New Pope

    Black smoke is emitting from the Vatican signaling that a new pope has not been elected yet. What actually goes on behind those hallowed doors? Conclave takes us inside this beguiling, solemn process that has been occurring since 1271. It’s a fascinating ritual, taking place in the Sistine Chapel, that shows the revered Cardinals grappling…

  • Little Stevie Doc: So Much More Than a Sidekick

    Thirty-five years as guitarist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Lead role in The Sopranos as consigliere and strip club owner, Silvio Dante. These two roles of a lifetime are what most people know about Steven Van Zandt. While I was aware of his “other” music and social justice activism, I had no idea how…

  • Faye: HBO’s Absorbing Doc on the Legendary “Difficult” Actress

    As the day breaks on March 29, 1977, Faye Dunaway is poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Surrounded by the day’s newspapers announcing her Best Actress Oscar for Network, the photo screams “Is That All There Is?” It’s this iconic only-in-Hollywood moment that introduces HBO’s documentary, Faye. To tell her story, documentary filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau…

  • A Quiet Place: Day One Goes for Silence Over Mayhem

    A Quiet Place: Day One has a unique protagonist for an apocalyptic movie. Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther, Us) radiates pain and despair as Samira (“Sam”), a terminally ill cancer patient living in a hospice home outside New York City. She agrees to go on a group outing to a local theater in the city only…