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Part of the thrill of film is the costumes that dress up the screen. But there's a clear distinction between standard costume pictures where clothes simply help evoke a period, and those indelible outings in which great clothes not only draw our eye to their design, but also inform character.  It is, in fact, more accurate to say “wardrobe” than costumes, and, as with our own wardrobes, there are standouts that we return to again and again. These are pieces that are stars in their own right: Edith Head’s dresses for Grace Kelly in “Rear Window”; Cecil Beaton’s black and white dress for Audrey Hepburn, worn to Ascot in “My Fair Lady”; Lauren Bacall’s check suit in “The Big Sleep”; and countless bias-cut crepe gowns, Technicolor satins, wide hats, snug corsets, and acres of rhinestones, beads, and feathers. When paired with crackling dialogue, powerful stories, and flattering cinematography, these signature looks create the models for our own evolution in style.  Why not slip into our own look at some of the movies’ most memorable fashion moments...

News flash from Cannes: It’s Nicole Kidman’s zombie apocalypse. Alright, it’s not quite that bad, but apparently her turn as Grace Kelly in “Grace Of Monaco” suggests the Aussie actress thought she was playing the part post-mortem. Though she admits to nothing (just a little botox), from all reports, her face is stitched in a puffy perma-grin in an attempt to play the much younger Kelly. And, according to early reviews, the 46 year-old Nicole has all the charm and animation of her Madame Tussaud likeness. Are the monkey glands not working?  Scott Foundas of Variety had this to say: "Handsomely produced but as dramatically inert as star Nicole Kidman's frigid cheek muscles, (director Olivier) Dahan’s strained bid to recapture the critical and commercial success of his smash Edith Piaf biopic 'La Vie En Rose' is the sort of misbegotten venture no amount of clever re-editing could hope to improve.” And we thought the festival couldn’t get any worse than Naomi Watts’ disastrous turn as Princess Di. Dare we suggest a slippery slope into "Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor" territory? For Kidman’s part, she has admitted that it is “awkward” that the royals of Monaco denounced the film as a “farce” and canceled their traditional trip to the festival – one that has some significance, as it was where Grace Kelly originally met Prince Rainier III in 1955. But what do they know? They’re just her family.  

Two gunslingers stand toe-to-toe in a dusty crossroads… on the left, a powerfully built man donning a cowboy hat and wearing a leather vest and bandanna; on the right, a tall, cool customer in a serape, with a rope burn ‘round his throat.     You duck down inside an old barrel and hold your breath… a tumbleweed rolls by… and the church bells chime…. bong… bong…bong... (Cue the “Waah Waah Waah Waah Waah” of Ennio Morricone’s signature soundtrack theme).     As far as I’m concerned, the only man thick-skinned enough to stand up in a town square to the cool, rattler squint of Clinton “Clint” Eastwood, would be the Duke himself (better known as John Wayne). But on which would you stake your claim when facing a hail of bullets?

Actor Alain Delon, whose life was every bit as dramatic and eventful as his films, passed away last month at 88. He was among the last stars standing from that fertile period in the swinging sixties when French films were all the rage. His beginnings were hardly promising but he rose to dizzying heights on […]

It’s hard to believe it’s been over half a century since Hollywood experienced a creative renaissance. Just what happened back then? Starting in the mid-sixties, the film industry underwent a dramatic transition as the major studios realized their approach to moviemaking was no longer working. Too many big-budget releases were falling flat at the box office; the losses were staggering.

Sometimes, when choosing a film, only a documentary will do.