Monthly Archives: January 2014

When an art exhibition in Australia features a painting of a naked woman on a cross, the outraged bishop of Sydney dispatches a priest to the countryside. His mission: convince the artist Norman Lindsay (Sam Neill) to withdraw the painting … Continue reading →

I personally prefer private eyes in movies who go about their work without the need to question their selfish motives or their need to solve problems with violence. If they were meant to ask moral questions, they’d have become a … Continue reading →

The vivid color palate of “My One and Only,” which tells the story of actor George Hamilton’s 1950’s cross-country trip to Hollywood with his Southerner mother and step-brother, helps to give the 2009 movie a vintage postcard feel that the … Continue reading →

“Ugetsu Monogatari,” a 1953 film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, describes the tribulations of 2 married couples during the Japanese civil wars of the 16th century. That time of violence, lawlessness, famine, rape and pillaging destroyed families and villages, and forced … Continue reading →

As a young school child, I remember reading Thor Heyerdahl’s fantastic true adventure account of sailing on a balsa wood raft with 5 other crew members from Peru to Polynesia. Even though Heyerdahl’s crew made the voyage successfully with little … Continue reading →

“Frances Ha,” a film released in 2013, features Greta Gerwig as the title character, a 27-year-old dancer attempting to make it in New York City. She lives with her best friend from college, Sophie (Mickey Sumner), who works in the … Continue reading →

The title character doesn’t show up in “My Darling Clementine” for about 40 minutes, which is enough time to set up the gritty and grim prospects in Tombstone, Arizona, where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday took part in the gunfight … Continue reading →

“Dance, Girl, Dance,” a 1940 RKO Radio Pictures film directed by Dorothy Arzner, opens with a neon rooftop sign advertising tires, pans down to a club called the Palais Royale and then immediately fades to an 8-woman dance act that … Continue reading →

Despite the great acting ability of James Mason, I find it hard to believe he could play a retiree in the 1945 movie “A Place of One’s Own.” At the time, Mason was only 36 yet he played a man … Continue reading →

One of the reasons I like vintage Hollywood movies is that they often tell interesting stories about women. With all the buddy films and macho adventure flicks prevalent in today’s movie complexes, it’s nice to view a film from the … Continue reading →