I started thinking about the key role costume design plays in making a classic period film work. My top 10 picks stand as great films on their own, but in each case, the stunning costume work really adds to the impact.

I love St. Patrick's Day. It's so inclusive. By that I mean that though it's a bona fide religious holiday, you don't need to be particularly pious to enjoy it. Wishing everyone a safe and (reasonably) responsible holiday, I present my own candidates for the top drinking movies of all time.

As Ray Bradbury understood, we humans are innately fascinated by the unknown and by what may lie in the future. With contemporary society in the state it's in, the idea of aliens, time warps and alternate realities can seem downright appealing -- a welcome escape. These ten features provide all that, and more.

Over a forty-plus year career, it's astonishing that this brilliant director was Oscar-nominated only once. As I've often said, sometimes the Academy gets it wrong. This was one of those times.

It does not seem quite possible that Jack Nicholson could be turning 75 today. He seems ageless, particularly when you revisit his best films. And that's just what we should all do to mark the occasion.

After screening Criterion's new DVD set, "David Lean Directs Noel Coward," I resolved to compile my own top ten, "desert island" list of British films across the decades.

For those wanting a respite from today's low, "in-your-face" brand of comedy, here are a few tried-and-true classics featuring these top screen comediennes. These special ladies made us laugh -- and feel smart -- at the same time.

As we kick off Oscar month tomorrow, we also honor the birthday of Clark Gable, who picked up a statuette at the seventh Academy Awards ceremony in 1935.

With Martin Luther King's birthday just past us, and Black History month coming up, the time seems right to celebrate those invaluable films that shed light on the black community's long struggle for equal rights in this country.

Duvall can look back with pride on a rich and colorful life, and his contributions to film should never be underestimated, as the following ten titles demonstrate.

I just know many of you out there are scrambling to catch up on your holiday gift giving. This article's for you.

Should we call him "Spartacus"? Or "Champion"? Both names certainly fit the man. Kirk Douglas turns 95 tomorrow, and he is still very much with us.

Just when you start believing there's no hope for anything daring and original coming out of Movieland, something gets released that surprises you. The Artist is one such movie -- and what's new about it is that it's old.

A tale of a scientist who exacts a most unusual form of revenge on the young man that victimized his daughter, The Skin I Live In is gorgeously shot, paced, and acted.

Believe it or not, in a pop culture filled with mindless reality shows and slick formula franchises, there are still a few players out there whose work offers a glimmer of hope that originality and intelligence can prevail. Tilda Swinton is one such player.

Whether or not you were fortunate enough to see George C. Scott in the theater, his best film work remains. Revisiting these six features -- and watching this enigmatic, brilliant actor perform -- is still a revelation.

In the final analysis, religion is what we humans have made of it, good and bad. Perhaps that's what makes it such a fascinating subject for film. Here then are my candidates for the top ten films dealing with faith and spirituality.

Reading subtitles is a lot like riding a bicycle. Practice not only makes perfect, soon enough it's second nature so you don't even notice you're doing it. This particularly holds true when you're watching something great.

Almost fifteen years after Titanic, with six Oscar nods and one win to her credit, Kate Winslet is an actress at the peak of her powers -- no longer a precocious ingénue, but a professional who's conscientiously developed her craft.

This 63-year-old feature looked almost as if it had been shot last week. I was intensely aware of Moira Shearer's heavy make-up and could literally see Anton Walbrook's pores. It was fascinating, hypnotic, but also more than a little distracting.

I saw no mention of Robert Redford's birthday amongst all the pop dreck that seems to capture people's attention these days. I am going to attempt a tribute of sorts, as I can think of few people in the entertainment field more deserving.

Great artists of all types and stripes confront the same challenge: once they've created something truly brilliant, how do they ever equal it, much less surpass it?

I continue to be nostalgic for comedy that doesn't require constant profanity or a surfeit of fart gags to succeed, that relies instead on subtle, clever scripts and witty dialogue; movies that in the end give their audiences some credit for brains and taste.

Which Hollywood director actually made the most great movies? In the Alsace area of Germany, future director William Wyler was born. Here is a sampling of his best movies covering three full decades.