Author Archives: John Grant

The Incredibles

Posted on May 15, 2012 by John Grant

“The Incredibles,”  a movie made in 2004, is an animated movie that isn’t a comedy.  I’m sure the people at Pixar thought up a whole lot of jokes while they worked on it, but few made it into the movie. … Continue reading →

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Akira Kurosawa

Posted on May 8, 2012 by John Grant

If you rent or buy Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film, “Ikiru,” you’ll be treated to an extra disk that contains a documentary about Kurosawa’s filmmaking technique.  He discusses scriptwriting, editing, music, lighting, set design and other aspects of producing a movie. … Continue reading →

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Ellen Is Nice

Posted on May 2, 2012 by John Grant

I saw Martin Scorcese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” from 1974 and I think it holds up very well.  It’s well acted and not preachy, and it concerns a very likeable character named Alice Hyatt who decides to follow her dreams … Continue reading →

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The New Benny Hill

Posted on April 27, 2012 by John Grant

I enjoyed the vehicle film called “So, I Married an Axe Murderer,”  made in 1993.  Mike Myers, who plays a beat poet (complete with a jazz band), falls in love with a butcher played by Nancy Travis. But Myer’s … Continue reading →

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American Madness

Posted on April 24, 2012 by John Grant

“American Madness,” a great Frank Capra movie made at Colombia Pictures Corporation in 1932, features Walter Huston as Dickson, a bank manager who values character over money.  Dickson’s Union National Bank continually gives loans to regular people and local businesses, … Continue reading →

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Charley’s Aunt

Posted on April 21, 2012 by John Grant

The 1941 version of “Charley’s Aunt,” directed by Archie Mayo, stars Jack Benny as a student from Oxford who dresses up in drag to help two schoolmates.  The fellow students need a chaperone so they can woo their sweethearts and … Continue reading →

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Beautiful Blonde

Posted on April 18, 2012 by John Grant

I love seeing Betty Grable in those great color 20th Century-Fox musicals from the 1940’s.  Although she sings a few songs in Preston Sturges’ “The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend,” a 1949 sendup of westerns, we mostly see her as … Continue reading →

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The Sterile Cuckoo

Posted on April 15, 2012 by John Grant

“The Sterile Cuckoo,” an Alan Pakula film from 1969 starring Liza Minnelli as Pookie Adams, highlights the romantic relationship between two freshman college students in upstate New York.  Almost an orphan — her father travels all the time and can’t … Continue reading →

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How to Steal a Million

Posted on April 12, 2012 by John Grant

William Wyler directed “How to Steal a Million” in 1966, which turned out to be both a fabulous caper movie and a wonderful romantic comedy.  Audrey Hepburn plays Nicole Bonnet, the daughter of Charles Bonnet, a successful art forger in … Continue reading →

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Inspiration

Posted on April 9, 2012 by John Grant

I like to watch movies about artists because Hollywood and the world cinema does these films much better than films about food.  Painters and sculptors work in a visual medium, and film is visual.  Food can look good, it’s true, … Continue reading →

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