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Not too long ago, our cinematic champions didn’t need Spandex to save lives. We celebrated men (and women) who were heroic in dusters and dungaroos. We came out of the theaters believing that on our best days, we could be a Sam Spade or a Harry Callahan, precisely because they were human. Still, these “bygone” heroes shared many characteristics with their modern caped crusader counterparts. They routinely stared down mayhem and death, but did so using sharp tongues, quick reflexes and forged steel, rather than say, a technically advanced, computer-powered iron suit you don’t just wear but fly.  And even in pants that didn’t hide rocket launchers, they ended up saving the girl and the day.

The topic today is old age — not always the most popular subject, particularly in Hollywood, land of botox, face lifts, and tummy tucks. Still, its universality is worth exploring, because let's face it: unless you chop your head off and stick it in a freezer like Walt Disney and Ted Williams, you won't be around in 100 years.   One movie that explores this theme with uncommon sensitivity is the multiple-Oscar nominee, “Nebraska.” Although this year’s Oscar for Best Actor went to Matthew McConaughey for his performance in “Dallas Buyer’s Club,” and although we’re fans of his since he graduated from projects like “Failure to Launch” and “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,” we were pulling for Bruce to win. His fearless performance in “Nebraska” was unflinchingly honest, as was the movie itself. Sometimes the Academy will give its prized statuette to a veteran actor as a way to pay tribute not just to one performance, but a whole career. Such was clearly the case in 1970, and 1982, when John Wayne and Henry Fonda won for (respectively) “True Grit” and “On Golden Pond.” Though they’d both been previously nominated twice, neither star had taken home the golden statue.

A multiple Oscar-winner from 1953, “Roman Holiday” is best remembered as the film that launched Audrey Hepburn like a bottle rocket out of an empty Peroni. This charmer plays like a modern fairy tale. On an official visit to Rome, the lovely Princess Anne (Audrey Hepburn) feels cooped up and bored in her lavish hotel suite. One night, she slips out incognito to sample the “real” Rome. Reporter Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) happens upon her, and at first thinks she’s an innocent waif lost in the big city. When he finally realizes who he has in his midst, Joe knows he’s got the scoop of his life. But given his growing feelings for Anne, can he really bring himself to exploit the situation? Of course not! This is Gregory Peck – he couldn't exploit a broken ATM spitting out 10,000-Lire notes, much less a pretty young girl. 

Screenwriter, musician, composer, author, sometime actor, and man who never sleeps, Nick Cave is the epitome of prolific. From books to albums to movie scripts, Cave never seems to sit still. Today, we’re focusing on the music from an excellent film he had more than a hand in, “The Proposition.” With credit for both soundtrack and script, “Proposition” is very much Cave’s movie, a Western with a twist. Set in late 19th Century Australia and directed by John Hillcoat (who might claim it was his movie), you get the sweeping vistas and white-knuckle gun fights, only with kangaroos instead of rattlesnakes. 

In 1983, the Center for Disease Control reported 1,025 cases of AIDS. By 1985, it had claimed the lives of over 6,000 Americans. Still no word came from the White House. When Reagan finally addressed the issue in 1987, over 36,000 Americans had been diagnosed.  The Oscar-winning “Dallas Buyer’s Club” is set in the midst of this terrifying silence. It’s 1986, and heterosexual Rob Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), gets diagnosed due to unprotected sex. While searching for treatments unavailable in the US, he realizes he can make a buck selling those drugs to patients back in the States. The homophobic Rob begins an awkward partnership with the transgendered Rayon (Jared Leto), whom Rob initially sees as nothing more than a foot in the door to their largest customer base: gay men.        McConaughey and Leto won Lead and Supporting Oscars for their memorable performances, and joined a small cadre of distinguished actors to be nominated by the Academy for portraying men living with the disease.

We’ve noted a lot of people waiting in airports lately, and through some keen reasoning, deduced that this ghastly winter weather and its god-awful Polar Vortex must have something to do with it. Whether you’re in New York (as of last week, 7th most snow ever dumped in Central Park), Chicago (as of March 1st, 5th most snow ever), Los Angeles (a historical drought, followed by mudslides when it finally does snow), or any point between, it’s been a winter to remember (or forget).  On top of the dehumanizing atmosphere and a myriad of inconveniences, being delayed or stranded in an airport – or worse, a plane – truly stinks because you feel (and are) absolutely powerless to influence the outcome. You are cattle, or if you prefer a more delicate image, a FedEx package. You’re not only stuck, but all-too-aware that some unseen person or power has total control over your destiny. Fortunately, there is such a thing as anxiety-reducing prescription medication.

It hardly needs to be said, but we love driving home the obvious: hostage movies are natural thrillers. You’ve got the innocent victim, the evil kidnapper, and (most often) the rescuer. Based on a real-life incident, “Captain Phillips,” starring Tom Hanks and directed by Paul Greengrass, is one such film. And it’s a real humdinger, fully meriting its 6 Oscar nods, including one for Best Picture. Despite handing out those six Oscar noms, the Academy still managed to sit on their keys, metaphorically. In the ever-mysterious, vaguely arcane and often inane ways of the Oscars and its voters, Tom Hanks was passed over. It’s not the first time, nor the last, that a much deserving actor will get the shaft due to Academy politics, ageism, or sheer “Let’s give ‘Crash’ Best Picture”-idiocy. It boggles the mind.

The engine roars, the tires scream, the camshafts do whatever it is camshafts do -- and you swear you can feel the road vibrating through the supple leather… of your armchair? Yes, like that intense roller-coaster ride at the amusement park, you get that surge of adrenaline, that frisson of fear coursing through your system. Only this time you won't puke cotton candy all over the girl you brought on a date, and she won't scream and take a taxi home and never call you again. Wait, what are we talking about again? Oh, yes. Car chases! 

X-rated movies are forever associated with pornography now, but that wasn’t originally the case. In fact, an X-rated movie once won an Oscar.