Given the state of affairs in our nation today, I was moved to revisit documentarian Robert Greenwald's scorching Outfoxed (2004), about Rupert Murdoch's insidious, reactionary propaganda machine commonly known as FOX News. My mounting anger as...

It's been said that master film-maker Stanley Kubrick named The Decalogue, the critically acclaimed 1988 Polish mini-series (now compiled in one DVD set) the only "film masterpiece" he could think of. (Clearly he was being modest about his own Dr. Strangelove).

I confess the title of this piece may be a trifle misleading. Often, when people hear the term "summer movies", they think of the bloated blockbusters coming out of Hollywood for the big summer season, when our...

I saw the headline last week on the back of a New York City paper saying something about a hooker (or pimp) copping a plea in the Spitzer scandal. For the first time ever, I began to feel a bit sorry for Eliot.

Always a tough and highly driven customer,...

Viewing the evolution of Hollywood films over time, I tend to place our male movie stars in one of two categories: romantic leads, and what we'll call "everyman" leads.

First and foremost, romantic leads attract the ladies in...

I just finished a fascinating book called Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris which seeks to pinpoint the moment of Hollywood's initial transition to a new generation and a fresh form and model of film-making. That defining...

Few would disagree that our society is moving at a faster clip than ever before. Now we can always be reached, and the Blackberry and PC have become not just life enhancements, but crucial determiners of how we...

It seems Barack Obama got into some trouble over some unseemly remarks about the fears and attitudes of some of the middle class. Although his comments did not sound nasty or belittling to my ears, more like...

Just this once, I'm going to bite (more like nip) the hand that publishes me, or more accurately, the fingers of those who contribute its content.

I was scanning the Huffington Entertainment page several days ago, looking...

If you've not seen it already, I invite you all to go to YouTube and watch the video labelled "Dick Cheney SO." With all the inevitable political jabbering and hype going on in this political...

Much of the reason Maureen Dowd of The New York Times is so scathingly funny is that there's usually some potent, blunt truth behind her clever, jibing prose. So, while we laugh, we also take her...

Many people more eminent than I have decried the insanity of our outmoded gun laws, which along with our current wasteful, protracted foray into Iraq, constitutes an international embarrassment.

How many acts of gun violence among...

With that special day upon us when we honor affairs of the heart, I decided to review the various romance movie recommendations on the web. On Moviefone's "Best Of" list for instance, I noted "Ghost", "Gone With The...

As follow-up to my last installment on some of the more notable domestic films of this decade, I reviewed the comments that came back, which were most appreciated. However they also made me feel I should clarify the...

Living in a DVD world, you tend to become age-neutral about movies: you seek the best of old and new, black and white and color, narrative and documentary, U.S. and foreign.

It makes sense that more...

I remember reading about a year ago that Maxim magazine had pronounced It's A Wonderful Life (1946), the ageless Frank Capra chestnut, one of the worst Christmas movies ever made.

That claim just seems silly, then and now, as the film is still widely acknowledged as one of our...

In his heart of hearts, Dad actually wants a real muscle car or truck to drive, depending on where he might live, to use right away or about five months from now. But unless he's Ted Turner...

When venerable writer/director Billy Wilder was asked in the seventies if his latest film work wasn't out of step with the times, he shot back: "Who'd want to be in step with these times?"

I only wish Sidney...

With Halloween's approach, I'm reminded how much I love scary movies. What's behind this fondness for horror and mayhem? Is it a form of masochism? I think I'll save on the shrink bills and say "no". It's simply the thrill of the experience, like the most intense ride at the...

Lt. General Ricardo S. Sanchez, an Iraqi War insider if there ever was one, tells us the quagmire in Iraq is a "nightmare," and it makes the front page of Saturday's New York Times. Here, the message is hardly a revelation, but the messenger is.

Meanwhile, the man who won...