The mid 1950’s were an interesting time in America. Television was wholesome, music was wholesome and movies were essentially Technicolor tributes to innocence. While Marlon Brando’s 1953 appearance in the Wild One and James Dean’s Rebel Without A Cause (1954)…
Frederick Frenger, Jr. (Alec Baldwin), who prefers to be called Junior, is a con man, thief and a cheat. Just out of prison, he’s headed to Miami looking for a fresh start (and a whole new crop of victims). Things…
Rory Kennedy’s (youngest child of the late Robert F. Kennedy) latest documentary, Last Days in Vietnam, makes no apologies or justifications for the war, but instead takes an unflinching look at the fall of Saigon in 1975. Signed in 1973,…
First made in 1974 as a gritty drama starring James Caan, The Gambler has been transformed dramatic actor. Wahlberg plays Jim Bennett, a college English professor and longtime gambler he’s got the upper hand. When he foolishly bets it all…
Like lots of people, I was first introduced to Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s classic 1954 novel, in junior high school English class as required reading. We also got to watch Peter Brook’s excellent 1963 film adaptation, which I,…
Directed squarely at kids, Teen Titans Go! is delivered in in 11-minute blasts of anything-goes craziness. The 26 season two episodes found on the two-disc Appetite in Disruption will likely appeal to anyone with a taste for strange, slightly off…
While John Carpenter’s place in cinema history is secure—Halloween alone would have made him an important figure in the horror genre—there’s no denying that his star has dimmed quite a bit since the 1980’s. This is partly due to the…
Though Carol Reed’s Odd Man Out has—and most likely always will—remain in the shadow of Reed’s masterpiece The Third Man, Odd Man Out seems to get better with age. One hopes that this newly released Criterion edition will allow cause…
Released just five years before Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon, First Men in the Moon based on H.G. Wells’ iconic tale, opens in 1964 with the first manned United Nations moon flight, consisting of a three…
The fabulous Jules Verne meets Cinemascope in 1959’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. James Mason, who starred in Disney’s hit Verne adaptation 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, had to take second billing to then current pop star Pat…