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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. 

It’s been called the oldest profession in the world: offering companionship and sexual favors for money. As movies reflect life, portrayals of prostitution are numerous.

With Thanksgiving upon us, let’s consider those memorable movie moments that capture family (and friends) around the dinner table or kitchen. When we all convene together like this, amazing things happen- and get said! Here are some great titles, old and new, that reflect this abiding truth.

What makes a movie cool? Perhaps the better question might be: what is cool? To introduce our list of coolest movies, it seemed like a good idea to start by defining, well, coolness.

I found it interesting (if not particularly surprising) that the top box office performers of the last several decades have tended to be longer movies. Scanning over tent-pole movies released since the millennium, blockbusters like the “Lord Of The Rings” series clock in at about three hours per installment, while “Avatar” and “The Dark Knight Rises” run well over the two and a half hour mark. Other more recent superhero franchises show the same trend. Examples: “The Avengers” (143 mins.), “Captain America” (136 mins.), and “The Amazing Spiderman” (142 mins.) Then there’s the talented but increasingly self-indulgent Quentin Tarantino, whose pictures most always go on and on. Most recently, “Inglorious Basterds” (153 mins.) and “Django Unchained” (165 mins.) prove my point.