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Frank Pavich’s documentary, “Jodorowsky’s Dune,” tells the remarkable story of director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s failure to make an adaptation of the sci-fi classic, “Dune.” But it’s also about the eternal conflict between art and commerce in Hollywood, and what can happen when an artist’s uncompromising vision of a film causes those opposing forces to collide.  In the end, what was to be Jodorowsky’s crowning achievement instead became a heartbreaking episode that truncated his career as a director.  The director and his producing partner, Michel Seydoux, had secured the rights to Frank Herbert’s wildly popular book and raised about $10 million to produce it. Jodorowsky was ecstatic, even manic. He scoured Europe for the finest artists to visualize the narrative he had pouring out of his mind. Every character, costume, spaceship, and set was meticulously designed and catalogued.

It seems implausible now, but fame did not come to Jack Nicholson quickly. In 1969, after a decade of trying to break through as a movie star, the 32-year-old was slowly acclimating himself to the idea of giving up the stage and working behind the camera.

Continuing our series comparing the greatest actors in the world, past and present, we come to a pair of forever-young superstars. Both are considered potent sex symbols to this day, despite their age or ability to breathe. Why Dean and Depp? Both are or were considered iconoclasts. Both were called rebels, and could be considered so in their on-screen personas. Both had explosive starts to their careers, becoming teen heartthrobs after being catapulted to stardom virtually overnight. And both exuded that smoldering, mysterious cool that makes men jealous and ladies swoon. So which one is the shiniest superstar? Which one will take home the Best Movies by Farr “Hunkiest Heartthrob” trophy? Let’s find out.

Though the celebratory pomp won't literally explode (with a 21-cannon salute!) until her "Official" birthday in June, it’s today that Queen Elizabeth II actually turns 90, and she shows no signs of slowing down. Her Majesty still rides horses, carries out Investitures (those big ceremonies where diplomats and Rolling Stone singers become Knights), and brightens over 400 engagements each year with her little-legged corgis and big hats. 

Grow out your sideburns, dim all the lights, pour the wine, start the music. What the world needs now is to love Burt Bacharach again. Why? Beyond a massive songbook that stands the test of time, an off-Broadway show called “What’s It All About,” filled with hip, talented, and attractive 20-somethings, closed recently after a wildly successful run. Every night, it was filled wall to wall with Bacha-maniacs, yes, but also music lovers ages 15 to 85. It was a modern re-imagining of, and reverent tribute to, Bacharach’s awe-inspiring musical legacy.

“Noah,” starring Russell Crowe and a Pentateuchal God punishing the wicked with about 45 minutes of world-destroying CGI, opens today. While you could go blow money on this floating mess of animalia, we recommend you skip it, and watch a better Biblical movie – “The 10 Commandments” (1956), directed by the King of Spectacle Films, Cecil B. DeMille.  “Commandments” retells the Biblical tale of Moses, from his float down a river, to becoming a prince of Egypt, to his successful career as a prophet. It’s a film worthy of the record-breaking $13.5M budget it eventually received. It was to be DeMille’s magnum opus, and he treated it as such. When studio bean-counters complained about spiraling costs, DeMille asked if he should stop filming and make “The Five Commandments” instead.

Here’s a film that’s never quite got its due in Alfred Hitchcock’s oeuvre, an atypical feature for “the Master,” which posed a difficult challenge: sustaining tension and intrigue in the most confined of spaces.

The Olympics finally wrapped last week with a blowout Closing Ceremony in Sochi that featured a hellish, 3-story animatronic bear that Putin probably designed for the upcoming attack on Ukranian freedom fighters.  Amongst the thrills and spills that come part and parcel with humans travelling at unholy speeds atop icy surfaces, we had the usual whining from ice dancers and figure skaters over anonymous judges’ scoring, some truly amazing tumbling and spinning from the more amicable (and fun) crowd of skiiers and snowboarders, and those weird moments that happen once every four years where we suddenly care deeply about non-sports like curling.

There are still a few players whose work proves that intelligence and integrity can occasionally overcome blatant commercialism and greed in the movie business. Tilda Swinton is one such example.