Book Review: The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger
The studio system that produced Hollywood movies from the 1930s through the 1950s was tightly controlled by those in charge to ensure that the American people only saw the stars they wanted them to see, how they wanted them to see them. In The Star Machine, noted film historian Jeanine Basinger examines how studios worked […]
DVD Review: Dreamgirls (Two Disc Showstopper Edition)
Bringing very successful Broadway musicals to the big screen is notoriously difficult. It is often easy to loose the power and intimacy created on a stage, when a story is magnified to fit the bigger than life proportions of a Hollywood film.
DVD Review: Black Snake Moan
There’s no doubt about it, some movies just make me flat out uncomfortable. When I saw the poster for Craig Brewer’s (Hustle & Flow) drama Black Snake Moan, with a scantily clad Christina Ricci being held in chains by Samuel L. Jackson, I had little desire to see the picture. The tagline, “Everything is hotter […]
DVD Review: Warner Bros Tough Guys Collection (1936)
In the 1930’s and 40’s, Warner Brothers had the largest group of film tough guys in the movie business. Among these were James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, and George Raft. While none of these movies are considered classics, they are entertaining and would be a welcome edition to any film buffs library. Warner […]
DVD Review: Apocalypse Now – The Complete Dossier
The new two-disc set of Francis Ford Coppola’s classic film Apocalypse Now is rewarding and disappointing, comprehensive yet incomplete. No film fan’s DVD collection is complete without one version of Apocalypse Now, and since The Complete Dossier contains both the theatrical release of the film and Apocalypse Now Redux in the same set along with […]