By Craig Leask The term “Greatest Films” troubled me when I was first presented with this topic as an “assignment”. My stress is based upon the concept that creating such a list is entirely subjective. Could these be my “Desert Island” films? Are these the films that were the most ground breaking? Most controversial? Most…
By John H. Foote There was a time he was the most electrifying actor in movies, his performances earning raves from the nations film critics, legions of fans following his work, his peers celebrating his artistry, from film audiences around the globe. In the seventies his work was astounding, seeing him nominated for four consecutive…
By John H. Foote He was the least likely movie star because he was ordinary looking, he looked like one of us. No movie star good looks, but a short, ordinary little guy who was remarkably unremarkable yet who would become one of the greatest actors in film history. Hoffman was remarkably intelligent, astute, did…
By John H. Foote Since the first-year nominations for the Academy Awards were announced, there have always been great performances left out of the final five. Always. In fact, if the truth were to be told some of the greatest film performances were ignored for an Oscar, the Academy settling on five other actors, often…
By John H. Foote When discussing the Great Directors of the Seventies, his name is often not in the discussion or on the list, but it most certainly should be. Bob Fosse directed films which explored performance, celebrity and the behind the scenes of that world or the manner those living in that…
By John H. Foote It was the seventies and sequels were becoming the in thing in the film industry. Both a way to continue the story of beloved characters and make more money for the studios, sequels were a true oddity. Odd because they had existed since the beginnings of the sound era, the Universal…
By John H. Foote While it was happening, the eighties did not feel like a great decade for film, perhaps because we got off to such a rough start with Heaven’s Gate (1980) which in fairness was never the horrific movie which film critics claimed at the time. Nevertheless, it ended the artistic and financial…
By Nick Maylor Welcome to the third installment of our weekly series wherein our staff names their respective choices for the ten greatest films ever made. As John and Alan have already mentioned, this task comes with the inherent disadvantage of being completely impossible. Narrowing the playing field down to just TEN entries is just…
By Alan Hurst Broadway has always been a major source of inspiration for film musicals. In the thirties Hollywood lured the great composers of the day to write film scores: Irving Berlin, the Gershwin brothers, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter among others. Broadway performers – including Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Fred…
By John H. Foote Lean was, before Spielberg, the great visual storyteller working in movies. It is no surprise the modern masters like Scorsese and Spielberg revere him, have paid homage to his work in their own, and been active in preserving his films. David Lean began his career in film as an editor,…