With the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination approaching, there’s been no shortage of tributes and recollections of that tragic day. One of the best programs thus far, a segment of PBS’ American Experience, JFK: Like No Other, manages…
Brian De Palma is one of the most respected, yet unpredictable directors of the last forty years. Responsible for the genre-defining greatness of Carrie (1976) and Scarface (1983), he also had some major disappointments such as Mission to Mars (2000)…
Sergio Leone’s Man with No Name Trilogy—A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)—made a movie star out of Clint Eastwood, but by the early 1970’s the spaghetti…
On February 24, 2010, one of SeaWorld’s most experienced trainers, forty-year old Dawn Brancheau, was pulled under water by the park’s largest Orca (most commonly referred to as killer whales),12,000 pound Tilikum and killed. A devastating event, the incident made…
John Cassavetes is considered by many the “father of American independent cinema.” Like any moniker, this can be debated, but Cassavetes was unquestionably nonconformist; an actor/writer/director that openly railed against set scripts, fancy crews and the Hollywood “star system.” His…
Joanne Woodward won an Oscar for her effective portrayal of Eve White, an otherwise normal housewife suffering from multiple-personality disorder in The Three Faces of Eve. Inside Eve White also lurks Eve Black, an aggressively sexual woman, and Jane, a…
These days, Erich von Stroheim is likely best remembered for his role as Max von Mayerling in Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950). However, during the silent era he was considered one of the mediums greatest directors, making films that presented…
Released in 1972, Deep Throat was a phenomenon, eventually raking in over $600 million; it brought porn into the mainstream, and made a star out of Linda Lovelace who was paid just $1,250 for her appearance. The film became such…
Adapted from Tom Wolfe’s engrossing book, it’s still hard to believe that The Right Stuff wasn’t one of the biggest hits of 1983. One explanation might have been that former astronaut and veteran Ohio Senator John Glenn was gearing up…
I’ve been a fan of Queen for as long as I can remember. Their ability to combine opera, hard rock, a ballad and a guitar solo in a great song like “Bohemian Rhapsody” is testament to their talent, and the…