By Alan Hurst Witches have always intrigued me. Whether it was watching the TV series Bewitched as a kid, touring the sites of Salem, Massachusetts (home of the infamous Salem witch trials) on a road trip, reading Arthur Miller’s The Crucible in school, or a first viewing of Rosemary’s Baby (1968), the mere idea of…
By John H. Foote 91-year old Lina Wertmuller, the first woman ever nominated for an Academy Award as Best Director, will receive an Honorary Oscar next month as well as be awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Wertmuller, an Italian filmmaker dominated her country’s cinema in the seventies, especially Swept Away (1975)…
By John H. Foote (*) Rarely has either Steven Soderbergh or the extraordinary Meryl Streep made such a weak, empty film as this. Soderbergh emerged as the boy wonder of 1989, his film sex, lies and videotape earning him raves and the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize. But the years in between were mighty lean,…
By John H. Foote (****) For centuries Mary Magdalene was thought to be a prostitute who befriended Christ after he saved her from being stoned. In 2016, after centuries of exploration, the study of ancient texts and the papers that are hidden away in the Vatican library, Mary Magdalene was cleared of being a prostitute…
By Melissa Houghton Do you remember the ABC TV comedy Bosom Buddies? It was my introduction to actor Tom Hanks as Kip Wilson, a struggling New York City ad writer who resorts to cross-dressing alongside his buddy to live at the only apartment they can afford, the female-only Susan B. Anthony Hotel. The series aired…
By Melissa Houghton Netflix has enjoyed nearly free reign of TV and movie offerings via its streaming platform for over nine years. Their mission to dominate video rentals stemmed from the obliteration of Blockbuster Video. Let’s not forget Netflix started out as a DVD rentals-by-mail service. Its business has been booming ever since they introduced…
By John H. Foote At the conclusion of American Graffiti (1973) as the plane carries Curt high into the heavens, college-bound, the faces of the characters we have just spent two hours with flash onto the screen, their futures appear in a title card with their yearbook photo. With melancholy and deep sadness, we learn…
By John H. Foote Long ago Jack Nicholson passed Marlon Brando as the greatest screen actor of his generation. As good as his friend Brando was, Nicholson had greater range and was fearless with his image. He knew what audiences liked and could not care less, he took roles that interested him, that challenged him…
By Nick Maylor Bill Murray is a comedic legend that has firmly cemented himself as a great dramatic actor. With his appearance in Lost in Translation (2003), Murray showed that he had serious skill for the dramatic in addition to his omnipresent, unrivaled mastery of being one of the funniest people in the world. I…
By John H. Foote (****) Arguably the greatest western ever made, the finest film of John Ford’s great career, and containing John Wayne’s ferocious, finest performance, The Searchers (1956) is an American classic, among the finest films to emerge from the fifties. Though admired and respected at the time, its lacerating, staggering power was not…