A MEL BLANC DISCOVERY
Sometimes a gem can be hiding in plain sight—or within hearing distance. A few weeks ago I turned on Turner Classic Movies (my go-to channel) and watched part of Alexander Korda’s 1942 production The Jungle Book, starring Sabu. I hadn’t…
STAR WARS: VARIATIONS ON A THEME
I saw Star Wars in 1977 at the Loews State Theater in Manhattan, now long-gone. Little did I know that the universe George Lucas created would still be alive and well decades later. Diehard fans have a singular attachment to this…
AND THE OSCARS GO TO…
I count my blessings over and over again. Having watched the Academy Awards since I was ten or eleven years old, I have to pinch myself whenever I rub shoulders with Oscar candidates at their annual nominee luncheon and…
PATREON: THIS TIME IT’S PERSONAL
Last week we sat at our kitchen table and did something I haven’t done in years: stuffed envelopes and licked stamps. Goodness knows I did all that and more in the nine years I published Film Fan Monthly, beginning…
GOOD BOYS: JUST WHAT YOU EXPECT
When the first words out of young Jacob Tremblay’s mouth are “F—, yeah!” as he’s about to ogle pictures on his laptop, you know what you’re in for with Good Boys. The MPAA’s rating carries this impressively specific warning: “Rated…
OSCARS REACH FAR AND WIDE
A Marvel movie is up for Best Picture. Spike Lee has earned his first Best Director nod. A critically acclaimed film has been nominated for Best Picture AND Best Foreign Language Film. And one of cinema’s reigning masters, Alfonso…
ON THE BASIS OF SEX: A CONVENTIONAL PORTRAIT OF RBG
On the Basis of Sex is a pretty good movie that has the distinction of being eclipsed by a recent documentary on the same subject: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This dramatization was sanctioned by Justice Ginsburg, in…
