By Alan Hurst I love Melissa McCarthy. I think she’s one of the most inventive comedic actresses on the planet and she’s also a very fine dramatic actress. She won me over in a big way with Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013), Spy (2015), Can You Ever Forgive Me (2018), and in the first few…
By Alan Hurst Thirty-two years after her passing, 2021 is seeing a resurgence of interest in Lucille Ball, the pre-eminent comedienne of the 20th century. I Love Lucy, the landmark sitcom created with then-husband Desi Aranz, is still available on streaming services and some local TV stations. It’s also available on DVD, along with The…
By Alan Hurst I don’t like using the descriptor “muse” to describe the inspired partnerships between a film director (for the purposes of this article all men) and his female lead when they’ve enjoyed a series of films together. Each of the directors on this list have enjoyed spectacular success with other leading actresses and…
By Alan Hurst When I see a trailer or read about a movie featuring a number of female stars from my formative years as a movie goer, I get a little excited and I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s the idea that these ladies are still working well into their seventies and eighties, or…
By Alan Hurst Our own John H. Foote has written the cover story for the latest edition of “Cinema of the ‘70s”, a terrific magazine out of Britain that focuses on one of the greatest decades for movies since their inception. “Cinema of the 70’s” is fast becoming one of the hottest selling magazines in…
By Alan Hurst Everyone has their favourite summer big screen movie, a movie that seems to define summer with just its very title – The Seven Year Itch (1955), Jaws (1975), Grease (1978), Dirty Dancing (1987), Independence Day (1996), Call Me by Your Name (2017). These are all movies where the season and time of…
By Alan Hurst After 170 episodes and eight seasons, the CBS situation comedy Mom ended its run last month and, ironically for show where addiction was a central theme, I’m already feeling the pangs of withdrawal. One of the wonders of the show for me was its ability to find the right balance in delivering…
By Alan Hurst For an actor or actress to play against type, they had to have had a certain amount of success in a particular genre of film or played a consistent type of character. Think of James Cagney’s gangster films, Esther Williams’ aqua extravaganzas, Burt Reynolds’ good ol’ boy comedies. Cagney and Reynolds did…
By John H. Foote The casting of Nicole Kidman in a new film as television icon, the beloved Lucille Ball, known simply as Lucy, is drawing the wrath of Ball’s fans online. People are wondering why Kidman, best known for her work in intense drama, was cast as the hilarious comic, who proved to be…
By Alan Hurst Trying to take 87 years of Oscar winning songs and pick the best is ultimately a futile task. I started the process by making a Spotify mix of every Oscar winning tune, but I admittedly lost the interest to listen once I got to the tail end of the 1990s. My own…