The first chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book is titled “An Unexpected Party” and that’s exactly what’s just transpired in the film adaptation.  Peter Jackson has just announced that THE HOBBIT will go from being a two-part feature film experience to a trilogy of films… Read full post »

As a continuation of my last post “Book Me: Reading, Buying, & Saving Books”, I’ve decided to add this new series of what I’m reading and where I’ve acquired the book.

So what’s currently fired up on my Kindle?  It’s “Napoleon for/… Read full post »

When I look back on my life, some of the happiest parts have been spent browsing bookshelves in libraries and stores and the subsequent hours of reading.  But I must confess that I’m not a purist.  I own a Kindle – in fact, with the recent release… Read full post »

Watch It:  Wednesday, September 28, 2011 (5pm, PT or 8pm, ET)

Joan Fontaine’s best roles are as heroines with unreliable lovers. In REBECCA (1940), she marries Laurence Olivier before finding out that he’s covering up his part in the death of his first wife. In SUSP… Read full post »

Though J.K. Rowling has announced Pottermore.com and the Harry Potter theme park has opened in Orlando, something very important will be coming to a close when the final installment of the film adaptations, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2, is released this Friday, July 15.  A… Read full post »

Once upon a time, Alan Ladd was a huge star.  Like Bogart, he toiled in thankless parts for years before breaking out in a noir classic.  In Bogart’s case, it was HIGH SIERRA and THE MALTESE FALCON (both 1941).  In Alan Ladd’s, it was THIS GUN FOR/… Read full post »

With her lustrous beauty, Elizabeth Taylor was born to be a star.  But she was more than a posing goddess, she was a gutsy dame with a talent for resiliency.  Her death today, at age 79, marks the end of a fully-lived life.  Though, had her health been/… Read full post »

If you’ve never read “Jane Eyre”, then you have an exquisite pleasure ahead of you.  If you were “forced” to read the novel in school, I’m sorry you felt forced.  Hopefully, however, you had the curiosity of mind to venture forth and leav/… Read full post »

The abbreviated biopic COCO AVANT CHANEL (2009) doesn’t have the fire and guts of LA VIE EN ROSE (2007), but it does have something to quicken the pitter patter of hearts in actor Alessandro Nivola who plays the love of Coco’s life, Arthur “Boy” Capel.  Although COCO is a… Read full post »

Every Valentine’s Day, the same list of romantic films gets recommended for viewing.  The danger of this overkill is to make love a ready-made candy confection with paint-by-numbers wrappings.  To change things up, I’ve listed many of the usual suspects and supplied somewhat les… Read full post »

I’m not a trendy sort of person, but I have a few rules that I live by, that serve me well.  Some may sound kinda quirky, but let them simmer in your mind a while, test them out when you’re shopping, and then get back to me.… Read full post »

My favorite public event of the year is the San Francisco Silent Film Festival which celebrates its 15th year at the Castro Theatre this week (July 15 – 18, 2010).  Highlights include Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS (1927), and DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (1929) starring Louise Brooks, and the open… Read full post »

Turner Classic Movies — Sunday, May 23, 2010, early Monday (9pm PT or 12am ET)

Apologies for the short notice, but I would be doing you an outrageous disservice if I didn’t try to call The Big Parade (1925) to your attention.  This is one of the… Read full post »

Most people are going to remember John Forsythe and Peter Graves for their distinctive voices and for their places in TV iconography.  Forsythe was the voice of Charlie Townsend and the silver fox in a Linda Evans and Joan Collins sandwich.  Graves narrated those A&E biographi… Read full post »

Saturday, March 27 (7:15pm, PST or 10:15pm, ET)

In a recent posting, I cited an Asian adaptation by Jinglei Xu of Stefan Zweig’s story A Letter From An Unknown Woman  among my favorites of the past decade.  There is also a 1948 version starring Joan Fontaine and Louis/… Read full post »

After the success of 7th Heaven, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell were reunited in Street Angel, another love story set amongst the poor of Europe.  This time, it’s the itinerants of Naples, Italy.  Director Frank Borzage begins the tale with the title card: &ldq… Read full post »

It’s still the same old story — a fight for love and glory – a case of do or die when a girl and a boy meet and fall for each other.  But American director Frank Borzage (pronounced “Bor-zay-gee”), the great romantic, gives us the transformativ… Read full post »

I saw Wanted (2008) the other night.  What I got from it was that Angelina Jolie looked uncomfortably thin and James McAvoy is a soulful presence in an otherwise vacant character.  But let’s go back to Angelina.  In just about every role I’ve ever seen her in (or even glimp… Read full post »

Sunday (Jan. 24), early Monday (9:15pm PT or 12:15 am ET)

John Gilbert had been building his career for a decade when The Merry Widow (1925, not available on DVD) finally made him a superstar.  The film was directed by Erich von Stroheim, best remembered as Gloria Swanson’s unnervingly dedi… Read full post »

Over at the Salon site, Andrew O’Hehir is discussing why the Lord of the Rings Trilogy didn’t appear on end-of-the-decade lists for favorite films.  The debate is pretty extensive.  I figure I’ll give my two cents here.

Theme
Some have argued that there is no thematic messag… Read full post »

If you’ve got access to TCM Sunday night (January 10), don’t miss Bardelys the Magnificent (Midnight ET or 9pm PT), followed by the documentary Rediscovering John Gilbert (1:30am ET or 10:30pm PT).

After seeing Bardelys (1926) at the Silent Film Festival last summer, I was a newly minted f… Read full post »

Okay, I will succumb and give you my top ten list of favorite movies from the last decade.  How did I pick them?  For every film here, I sensed that the filmmaker was all too aware of what mainstream Hollywood expects and these films go their own way.  They offer restraint… Read full post »