What's wrong with today's movie industry? There's only one pilot for every movie and that it is, of course, its director. I've seen quite a few movies already and I respect them enough as individual art works. But there's been something nagging me for decades now already. What's wrong? It...See More »
The Avatar - A five minute rantSomehow I got force fed The Avatar this afternoon. I didn't like the movie and I still don't. Can I explain my dislike? Sure, I'll get back to you with more than five minutes of typing it down next time. Now I got onto the internet quickly and...See More »
Casablanca - 1942 Shot entirely on Hollywood sets, using studio actors, directors, and writers, the movie Casablanca perfectly displays the art of collaborative studio production, rather than the vision of the one creator. Even today it ranks on average third on the...See More »
What's your best actress of the best ever? No-one will guess mine so I'll tell you that up front. I don't know of many actresses who worked harder, were more succesful and were more appreciated by fellow female performers since than Lucille Ball
Movie of the month This new Polish movie Johnny turns "well-worn character types and scenarios into a touching tale of forgiveness". Its animating spirit of grace (yes, the kind of grace even Mother Teresa would be jealous of) is enough to cover any multitude of...See More »
Brother Sun Sister Moon (1973) Roger Ebert called Franco Zeffirelli’s Brother Sun, Sister Moon way back in 1973 "a big, limp Valentine of a movie, filled with an excess of sweetness and light" and that Francis of Assisi was portrayed in it as the first flower child. Moreover, he p...See More »
Two great British post-colonial movies There's only one new book on the true effects of British colonialism that one needs to read and that is William Dalrymple's The Anarchy. However, pointing to the following two lesser known movies I like to wider also the scope of knowledge and...See More »
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry A must see movie. Somehow one movie comes around that will mean something. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is that for me right now. I've done nothing with my life so far, well, I've not used all my talents so far that's for sure
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) There's not often a movie that shook the world as much as this one at the time. Not only did the one actor, Alec Guiness, play a whole family that was aimed to be murdered by the end of movie, it also showed up English society as it still sometimes...See More »
On Earth As It Is In Heaven When the movie The Mission came out in 1986 I was 16 years old and it somehow had one major effect on me. I've read somewhere that someone asked the question what the point was to the movie. Alright, it's heavy going in multiple ways, and my own...See More »
The 39 steps (1935) by Alfred Hitchcock Just watch this short sequence from an early Hitch movie for the perfect mix of sensuality. Not only are the two main characters Richard and Pamela (played delightfully by Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll) handcuffed together, they've just gotten...See More »
Le president (1961) The President (1961) is a French political thriller directed by Henri Verneuil and based on, though altering the ending of, the novel of the same title by Georges Simenon of 1957. In the main speech in the middle of the movie, one for a better...See More »
The Passionate Friends (1949) by David Lean It's almost New Year. I hear fireworks already popping away in the distance. What I like to leave you with now is this little know gem of a movie with a truly terrific acting Claude Rains. The Passionate Friends is based a novel by H.G. Wells and...See More »
The Letter (1940) by William Wyler Yet another play put onto the big screen, The Letter by William Somerset Maugham. In its second movie version Bette Davis's gave perhaps the greatest performance of her long career. In the movie almost everyone believes that she shot her husband's...See More »
Now, Voyager (1942) - a lifestyle movie "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, Now, voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find." (out of Untold Want, a poem by Walt Whitman) There are indeed so many movies that Betty Davis was excellent in. Now, Voyager is my own favourite. One...See More »
Terrence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy The Winslow Boy is one of three or four plays written by Terrence Rattigan that I either love to bits or have made a lasting impression on me. Of course, like any play it's the actors and circumstance of having the play being preformed that makes it...See More »
My best in between Christmas and New Year movie It's by the far one of the best movies ever created and it should be more known today, but it isn't and perhaps it's because of the amoral main character or rather its ending. This morning I know how it feels like to be Rollo 'Holly' Martins, an...See More »
My own very personal favourite In these days of the Hallmark Entertainment Christmas movies I like to look back, throw my hat into the ring and declare that my al time favourite Christmas movie is the Bishop's Wife (1947). It's a romantic comedy directed by Henry Koster and...See More »