For Spring, the 10 Best Road Movies Ever

With spring gently settling on the East Coast, I feel once again I’ve emerged from a confining cocoon of my own making. I don’t like cold, I don’t like snow, I don’t like winter sports. For me, everything goes decidedly downhill (no pun intended) after New Year’s. But now, I’m renewed. I raise my face to the sun, and movie … More Details

2012 Oscars – Picks and Perspectives

Thinking ahead to Sunday, what’s my overall impression? Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but this seems like a pretty lean year. Unquestionably, there are a few memorable films in the running, but also a lot of filler — some nominees that simply make you scratch your head in wonderment. For instance, I was stunned to find the oppressive Extremely … More Details

Best Actor: Clooney or Pitt?

No doubt: it’s been a very good year for both these stars. And much as I admire Jean Dujardin’s sublime performance in The Artist, my hunch is that the industry will favor one of its own on Oscar night. So who will it be — George or Brad? I’m saving my prediction for a later Oscar piece, but for now … More Details

As He Turns 75, Thoughts on the Legacy of Robert Redford

I’ve just sat down dutifully and read the reviews for the new 3-D rehashes of Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night, as well as the treacly-sounding One Day, and realized once again there is no reason to make my way to the multiplex this weekend. Just where are all the great movies these days? I think I’ll stay home and … More Details

Even When A Great Film Comes Out You Can’t See It .. Except Maybe in New York

Let me simply lead off with the sobering statistic that inspired this piece: While mindless dreck or kiddie fare like “Thor”, “The Hangover-Part 2″ or the latest “Pirates Of The Caribbean” installment all opened on around four thousand screens across the country, when at long last a brilliant, provocative film for grown-ups gets produced- Terrence Malick’s “The Tree Of Life” … More Details