First, let’s acknowledge that I laughed as hard at Bridesmaids as most anyone else. It was a consistently diverting, often very clever romp, and I thought Kristen Wiig and the rest of the cast were, on the whole, first-rate. That said, even with the extra smarts and wit that distinguished this movie from so many imbecilic contemporary comedies, Bridesmaids still … More Details

As we kick off Oscar month tomorrow, we also honor the birthday of Clark Gable, who picked up a statuette at the seventh Academy Awards ceremony in 1935. He got it for a movie he did not want to do — a comedy called It Happened One Night – and though he would be nominated twice more, he would not … More Details

Judging by what I’ve seen recently, I think the answer is “yes”. Yet even so, some of our (supposedly) finest critics still find reasons to celebrate. Truth be told, I have a bone to pick with New York Times reviewer Manohla Dargis- a big one. In her maddening write-up of an execrable movie called “Bad Teacher” (“When The Teacher Gets … More Details

Even though mainstream Entertainment Weekly magazine named him the 16th best film director of all time, if I mention the name Ernst Lubitsch to my own middle-aged contemporaries, I usually get a hazy look. “I’ve heard that name, but who was he?” The reason for this may be that Ernst Lubitsch had heart trouble, and died young (in 1948, at … More Details

With the passing of British filmmaker Ronald Neame, I decided to revisit the classic Archers’ film “One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing” (1941). Here is an historic film, released when the Brits were at their lowest ebb in the war, and due to its public domain status, it is only available in a muddy print, with the sound so muffled … More Details