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1.  She was talented. Enough said. 2.  Who needs glamour when you can have realism? When Bette Davis first signed with Warner Brothers, the executives at Warner’s had no idea what to do with her.  Bette said of her early days at Warner’s, “I was known as the little brown wren.  read more

One of the most biggest stars of the 1960s--and a personal fave at the Café--gets our "Five Best" treatment. It wasn't easy culling through Sidney Poitier's impressive array of performances and it was harder still to relegate the immensely likable Guess Who's Coming to Dinner to honorable menti read more

To bring out an old cliche, weddings are meant to be the happiest day of your life. On screen, however, they can often be far from perfect. Anyone who’s ever seen a soap opera will know what a screaming, fighting, sobbing frenzy they can be portrayed to be, and films often highlight the more read more

(NOTE: In the interest of full disclosure, I must acknowledge that Josh Kennedy is a Facebook friend of mine, and he asked me to review this film.) THE MENACE WITH FIVE ARMS can definitely be described as a "personal" project--it was written, produced, and directed by one man, Josh Kennedy. Young read more

(NOTE: In the interest of full disclosure, I must acknowledge that Josh Kennedy is a Facebook friend of mine, and he asked me to review this film.) THE MENACE WITH FIVE ARMS can definitely be described as a "personal" project--it was written, produced, and directed by one man, Josh Kennedy. Young read more

Last night Turner Classic Movies debuted a documentary on Clint Eastwood's movie directing career. It was made by film critic Richard Schickel, a biographer and personal friend of Eastwood. The documentary was okay, but I was kind of disappointed on how most of Eastwood's work in the 70s and 80s was read more

Last night Turner Classic Movies debuted a documentary on Clint Eastwood's movie directing career. It was made by film critic Richard Schickel, a biographer and personal friend of Eastwood. The documentary was okay, but I was kind of disappointed on how most of Eastwood's work in the 70s and 80s was read more

It's not uncommon for a television performer to use the popularity of his or her TV series as the springboard for a music career. Ricky Nelson may be the most famous, but there have been numerous others. Lorne Greene scored a surprising #1 hit with 1964's "Ringo," a song about a legendary gunfighter read more

Harryhausen and some of his models. Ray Harryhausen, cinema's undisputed master of stop-motion special effects, worked on his first feaure-length film in 1949. Under the tutelage of King Kong's special effects wiz Willis O'Brien, Harryhausen did much of the stop-motion animation for Mighty Joe Youn read more

The Comic Book/Superhero film has now become the leading big-budget spectacular of choice for the 21st Century entertainment industry. It wasn't that long ago that the idea of spending a huge amount of money and hiring A-list talent to make a movie based on a comic book would have been considered ab read more

The Comic Book/Superhero film has now become the leading big-budget spectacular of choice for the 21st Century entertainment industry. It wasn't that long ago that the idea of spending a huge amount of money and hiring A-list talent to make a movie based on a comic book would have been considered ab read more

One a recent episode of Jessie a faux Danish arthouse film was mentioned in passing. It was called Cries of Ice and Pain and elicited from me one of the few genuine laughs that show can ever get. However, it did bring to mind that there are quite a few fake movie titles mentioned or chronicled eithe read more

Besides being extremely funny and rather well-acted, Nine to Five has a lot of narrative problems. The story isn’t a mess exactly, because there’s not enough story for there to be a mess. Higgins and co-writer Patricia Resnick have an idea (Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin are s read more

While recently reading a new biography of Lee Marvin, I was reminded of his many memorable performances. That led to this latest installment in our "Five Best" series: 1. Point Blank.  As the vengeance-driven Walker, Lee Marvin could have opted to play the protagonist as a robotic read more

A blast from the Pretty Clever Films past – This review was originally published in September of 2011.  It’s tough to pass up a movie made in 1931 starring Edward G. Robinson as a fast talking newsman. Five Star Final, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, does not disappoint, but it does surprise. read more

Sometimes we watch movies to simply be entertained. Other times we want to be terrified, challenged, intrigued. And there are movies that inspire. Filmmakers have long turned their lenses to situation where humans are required to be better than they are, face unimaginable obstacles, or sacrifice th read more

I love a good courtroom drama. There’s so much natural tension in a trial…they just seem tailor-made for the cinema. The list below focuses on the best classic films with courtroom centerpieces, so My Cousin Vinny and A Few Good Men (which would probably have made the honorable ment read more

Forget Katharine Bigelow and her little Oscar for The Hurt Locker. There’s lot of ladies doing it for themselves in the film biz and they’ve made many awesome movies. Here’s five of my favorite films directed by women. What are your top 5 films directed by women? Let us know in th read more

Forget Katharine Bigelow and her little Oscar for The Hurt Locker. There’s lot of ladies doing it for themselves in the film biz and they’ve made many awesome movies. Here’s five of my favorite films directed by women. What are your top 5 films directed by women? Let us know in th read more

Following a recent less-than-flattering review of Magnificent Obsession (1954), someone on Twitter asked why I didn't like Rock Hudson. Nothing could be further from the truth! Over the last decade, I have become a Rock Hudson fan, which prompted the following list of what I consider his five best p read more