Looking back, I think that two movies shaped and/or reinforced my views on “the criminal mind,” the folks who rob, cheat, vandalize and threaten as if they were born to it. “Donnie Brasco” (1998) set in stone my hunch that what Deep Throat said about the Watergate Burglars and the GOP leadership holds true for […]
Classic Film Review: Hoffman’s at his toughest doing “Straight Time” (1978)
Some films achieve “classic” status and even become pop culture shorthand, but eventually find themselves dismissed as overly-earnest, “of its time,” or even “self-parody.” More than one Stanley Kramer production of the ’50s on into the ’70s has suffered that fate. A self-conscious/socially-conscious filmmaker, it’s hard to think of anybody in the modern cinema that […]
Classic Film Review: “The Defiant Ones” (1958) hold up a lot better than expected
This could be the greatest high brow movie battle of all time, pitting Roger Ebert’s favorite movie against the most decorated movie of the 80s. Amadeus was released in 1984 to critical praise and is the fictional biography of Mozart, the famous composer, and his story shares a lot in common with Ebert’s favorite movie, […]
Greatest of the High Brow: Beethoven vs Mozart
