Yearly Archives: 2013

“Penny Serenade,” made by Columbia Pictures and released in 1941, tells the story of Julie (Irene Dunne) and Roger Adams (Cary Grant), a couple unable to bear children but decide to adopt one.  The child changes their relationship in profound … Continue reading →

The greatness of Francois Truffaut’s “Shoot the Piano Player (Tirez sur le pianiste)” comes the fondness it shows for several genres of cinema, while simultaneously offering the characterization, pacing and imagination to propel the story forward. Such a blend of … Continue reading →

Fritz Lang’s 1945 movie, “Scarlet Street,” features a very naive old man and a couple of con artists so dumb it amazes me that it doesn’t play more like a comedy. But the innocent story of an older man infatuated … Continue reading →

I expected “The Woman in the Window,” the 1944 thriller directed by Fritz Lang, to be almost the same as “Scarlet Street,” Lang’s 1944 movie with the same cast. But I found Scarlet Street to be much darker because Joan … Continue reading →

A documentary with the rather lengthy title “Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?)” came out in 2010. It explores the rise and fall of one of America’s greatest singer/songwriters and the influence his music and … Continue reading →

Sometimes a movie can have everything going for but it just doesn’t work. “Carousel,” a 1956 movie directed by Henry King, has music by Rodgers and Hammerstein and a couple of exuberant lead characters in Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow, … Continue reading →

They made screwball comedies worldwide well into the fifties, despite the darkening effect of film noir and the realism of Italian cinema. In England, filmmakers probably wanted to put everything right again after World War II, so they gave us … Continue reading →

Anybody with a fascination for crime stories and police procedurals should watch “The Naked City,” the 1948 film directed by Jules Dassin.  The movie stars Barry Fitzgerald as Detective Dan Muldoon, a homicide cop with a heavy Irish brogue and … Continue reading →

In 2013’s “The Way Way Back,” a family goes on a vacation to a seaside resort, but not everyone in the clan is happy about it.  The morose teenager Duncan, played by Liam James, does not like his pushy stepfather … Continue reading →

I saw “Gravity” in 3D at a local theater on a rainy Wednesday night. When the lights went down I realized I was the only customer.  For the next 90 minutes I watched spellbinding 3D outer space action while experiencing … Continue reading →