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.

The Carnegie Studios made it possible for artists to live as true bohemians: to enjoy the freedom of being deliciously different and quirky. I suppose it was simply too good to last.

So what's your pick for the greatest screen team of them all? My money is on Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. And the DVD box set Tracy and Hepburn: The Definitive Collection makes the case.

We have lost a national treasure. As a kid, I remember vividly Life magazine's 1972 cover of Elizabeth Taylor turning 40, and glimpsing what glamor really meant.

Christian Bale strikes me as a complete enigma. Yes, his acting chops are prodigious, but he seems to me to be all technique and no heart; we get buckets of perfectly formed ice, but very little fire.

There are some celebrities who, by virtue of what they represent and contribute beyond their talent, become something more than simply what their chosen profession would indicate.

As we salute fathers far and wide this Sunday, why not pop in some first-rate DVD titles that examine the distinct challenges of fatherhood, and how various dads rise to the occasion or, for a host of reasons, fall short.

I look at the new action movies coming out, and I have to wonder: Where's our new Lee Marvin? The manly man, the bad guy turned good guy, the guy who's so ugly he's almost beautiful, the guy who takes no prisoners?

Hollywood will not have put down its racial baggage until it permanently moves away from flaunting the "racial" formulas and themes which garner the biggest bang for their buck.

Get ready, folks, for the coming blur of forced reunions, work-related functions, and cacophonous Christmas parties.

One of the finest actors and leading men from Hollywood's Golden Age, William Powell was born towards the end of this month way back in 1892. It's unlikely most people under 30 would even recognize his name, which is sad, but also easily remedied.

Prior to this Sunday, why not check out some first-rate DVD titles that examine the distinct challenges of fatherhood, and how we either rise to the occasion or, for a host of reasons, fall short.

While Hollywood continues to dominate the global film market, the most original, intelligent, and enduring movies today are being made outside this country.

Regardless of one's faith, at its core the holidays involve gatherings of extended family spanning all life-stages, so it makes sense to lay in a store of films that all generations can watch and enjoy together.