Category: Film

  • The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)

    When you have real-life brothers portraying brothers, you’re bound to elicit some interesting dynamics. That’s the case with The Fabulous Baker Boys. A modest box-office success upon its 1989 theatrical release, it chiefly earned raves at the time for a memorable star turn by Michelle Pfeiffer. But the movie holds up, thanks to its richly drawn…

  • Score!

    Bet you didn’t know today, April 3, is National Film Score day. Well, now you do. And no one will ever be able to take that away from you. It’s no secret that music composition is integral to the cinema experience. A great score can make a great picture even better (Oppenheimer, for instance) while…

  • Awkward moments at the movies

    Did you know there is an annual day devoted to the celebration of awkward moments? Well, now you know that day is – wait for it – today. Yes, today. National Awkward Moments Day happens to coincide with the beginning of National Introverts Week, meaning this week – and this day in particular – is…

  • A Stanley Kubrick countdown

    Stanley Kubrick, arguably the greatest filmmaker of his generation, shuffled off this mortal coil 25 years ago today. He was 70 years old. Only six days earlier, he had given Warner Brothers the final cut of what would be his last motion picture, Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick didn’t make me a cinephile, but he did…

  • If I picked the Oscars – 2024 edition

    In this exercise that no one asked for, let’s imagine for a moment that I were not only a voting member of The Academy, but the ONLY voting member of the Academy. What would my nominations look like? Who would be the winners? Admittedly, determining the Oscars would be way down on my list of…

  • Romance on the Big Screen

    This week we commemorate the 95th anniversary of that fateful day seven members of the George “Bugs” Moran gang were mowed down, deep-dish Chicago style, by four of Al Capone’s Tommy gun-wielding henchmen. Or to put it another way, this Wednesday marks Valentine’s Day. As such, it seems as appropriate a time as any to…

  • Hugo (2011)

    Given Martin Scorsese’s prodigious love of film, it is hardly surprising that he made a mash note to the medium that has so dominated his life. To some extent, Scorsese’s entire catalog has been a love letter to movies, immersed as he is in the singular possibilities of cinema. What is unexpected, however, is that…

  • The Last Detail (1973)

    There is no doubt that screenwriter extraordinaire Robert Towne wrote The Last Detail with his friend Jack Nicholson in mind. As 1st Class Signalman Billy “Badass” Buddosky, one of two Navy lifers tasked with escorting a young midshipman to the brig, Nicholson was gifted with a meaty role that enabled him to demonstrate his full…