By Alan Hurst A near perfect movie recipe: atmospheric black and white cinematography combined with a big old house, a troubled heroine, a troubling hero, a quirky cast of supporting characters, and all set in a bygone era. If a filmmaker and screenwriter can get those things right, then for me that’s movie bliss. Two…
By Alan Hurst It has not been a good couple of years for Faye Dunaway. In 2017 she got caught in the maelstrom of confusion during the presentation of the Best Picture award at that year’s Oscars, ultimately awarding the Oscar to Moonlight – the true winner – after having already announced La La Land…
By Craig Leask It all started with a simple one panel comic in 1938 where Charles Addams introduced a wealthy, but ghoulish, extended family who delight in the macabre. This was the first of some 150 single panel cartoons originally published in The New Yorker magazine continuing to 1988 when Charles Addams passed away. Interestingly,…
By John H. Foote (***) When I hear or heard a film student refer to this as “that disco movie” I always did my best to correct them gently, refusing to explode and lose my mind on their stupidity. Released in late 1977, Saturday Night Fever turned actor John Travolta into a movie God, instantly…
By John H. Foote (****) Growing up, the years eight through twenty I loved hockey. My brothers and I played winter through spring, following our teams. Mine was Boston because of their goalie Gerry Cheevers, who ironically I met later in life. As a goalie, I loved the sensation of pulling on the thick pads…
By Nick Maylor Trey Parker and Matt Stone started their cartoon franchise over twenty years ago and the show is still putting out new episodes. Unlike The Simpsons Movie (2007) which took a long, slow journey to the big screen, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) was green-lit almost immediately after South Park began…
By John H. Foote My daughter Aurora, and her boyfriend Andrew, recently returned from Paris, a whirlwind birthday present her from Andrew, something he had planned, and executed as a complete surprise. When they returned, Andrew handed me a small jar of sand from Juno Beach. While in Paris they made the journey to the…
By John H. Foote The American Bicentennial year brought with it many great films, from both the United States and around the globe. 1976 was the year I REALLY discovered the power and art of cinema. I had my drivers license and could freely drive in my own car to Oshawa, twenty minutes from home…
By John H. Foote (****) If there is a greater American film, I have not seen it. If there is a greater film made in the history of the cinema, I am not aware of it. Francis Ford Coppola’s expansive, brilliant sequel to his Oscar-winning The Godfather (1972) actually bookends the first film, moving into…
By Alan Hurst 1964, 1972 and 1979 were three defining years in my movie going youth that have embedded themselves on my psyche. From a personal standpoint, it was the start of movies helping me grow up, figure out who I was and to begin establishing a point of view on basically everything. At the…