Back in 2011, after Charlie Sheen’s meltdown led to his dismissal from Two and a Half Men, I naively thought he had finally done irreparable damage to his career. Surprisingly, a lot of people seem to enjoy his “tiger blood,”…
Initially, as I was writing this review, word filtered out that Ultimate Warrior had passed away. A favorite of mine in high school, I stepped away from the piece for a bit to decide how to proceed. Do I make…
Riot in Cell Block 11 grew out of producer Walter Wanger’s personal experience. In 1951, Wanger spent four months in prison for shooting Jennings Lang; an agent he believed was having an affair with his wife, the beautiful actress Joan…
For most filmgoers, Rod Steiger’s most memorable role is that of police Chief Bill Gillespie in In the Heat of the Night released in 1967, for which he won an Oscar. Even so, Steiger’s best—and most nuanced—performance came three years…
Widely regarded as one of America’s greatest actresses, Meryl Streep has turned in many memorable performances over the years. Choosing her best performance thus far is subjective of course, but her work as Sophie Zawistowski in Sophie’s Choice, has to…
Nearly sixty years after his death, Humphrey Bogart remains an international icon. Tough, cool, and sophisticated, many regard him as the epitome of class. In a career that spanned nearly three decades, Bogart appeared in seventy five feature films, many…
In the opening minutes of Nurse, director Douglas Aarniokoski promises that the next 70 minutes of the feature will be devoted to an atmosphere of sleaziness so thick and colorfully B-movie, it will be impossible to resist. While Nurse doesn’t…
Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone starred in two of the greatest boxing films in movie history: Raging Bull and Rocky. Grudge Match, directed by Peter Segal and credited to three screenwriters, may have intended to recapture the magic of…
[Note: Parts of this review have appeared in a write-up concerning a previous DVD release of this film.] The first time I saw Fred Astaire glide across the screen with Ginger Rogers in Swing Time (1936), I was mesmerized. They…
A visually stunning film, Walking with Dinosaurs is done in by a paper-thin story and low-brow dialogue. The film is based on a popular 1999 documentary series produced by the BBC and narrated by Kenneth Branagh. Using what would now…