CRITERION SPOTLIGHTS DIETRICH, LOMBARD, AND LUBITSCH
The Criterion Collection remains the Gold Standard for DVDs and Blu-rays. While they cast a wide net over world cinema and contemporary releases by true auteurs, they truly win my heart when they approach Hollywood classics. Several new releases…
THE OLD MAN & THE GUN
I’ve always enjoyed watching Robert Redford onscreen, and although he’s no longer a youngster he retains every bit of the star quality that blossomed sixty years ago. The Old Man & the Gun is a vehicle in the best sense of…
THE PREDATOR
This continuation of the Predator series from writer-director Shane Black starts out well and then peters out. Too bad: I was in its grip for a long time. The storyline is difficult to synopsize—and that’s putting it mildly. Suffice it to…
MOVIES ABOUT MOVIES: FROM PETER SELLERS AND BUSTER KEATON TO ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ
With each passing year we see more documentaries about films and filmmakers. Some get only a passing nod while others are embraced by critics and buffs alike. At this year’s Telluride Film Festival a number of such docs stood…
CELEBRATING OSCAR LEVANT
Oscar Levant was one of a kind: a piano prodigy, Gershwin acolyte, songwriter, noted wit, radio and television personality, best-selling author, and even on occasion a screen actor. His fans are legion, and I am one of them…but even…
REMEMBERING BURT REYNOLDS—TRUTHFULLY
“I’d love to slug ya but there are ladies present.” That’s how Burt Reynolds greeted me the first time I met him, while covering the Western-themed Golden Boot Awards for Entertainment Tonight in the early 1980s. Determined to keep my cool, I…
