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“The Tempest” Starring Christopher Plummer | Review of the Play
Des McAnuff’s 2010 Stratford Shakespeare Festival production of The Tempest starring Christopher Plummer is less like a violent storm at sea than a warm spring shower that freshens the flowers. Plummer...
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“Henry IV, Part 1” Directed by Richard Eyre | Review of the Film
The 2012 BBC “Hollow Crown” production of Henry IV, Part 1 is the perfect public television adaptation of Shakespeare. It is superbly acted and directed, cleanly written, and briskly paced, without...
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The Desultoriness of Smaug | Review of “The Hobbit” Directed by Peter Jackson
The only element of any real interest in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the question “What went wrong?” and even that is a pretty dull question because the answer is clear...
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“Coriolanus” Directed by Ralph Fiennes | Review of the Film
In his 2011 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, director and star Ralph Fiennes delivers a first-rate movie from one of the Bard’s second-rate plays. Coriolanus is Fiennes’ debut as a director...
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“Thelma & Louise” and Emma Bovary | Movie Review and Commentary
There is a great depressing theme in 19th-century literature of woman who – thwarted in their efforts to achieve independence and agency – turn to suicide. Lily Bart in House of Mirth dies from an...
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“12 Years a Slave” Directed by Steven McQueen | Movies, Money, History, and...
Is it possible for a movie to tell a truth its audience does not want to hear? We know that movies can sell the pretty lies of propaganda more persuasively than other medium. In fact, you could say the...
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A Benny Hill “Goodfellas” | Martin Scorsese and “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Martin Scorsese’ 2013 movie The Wolf of Wall Street (now on streaming) is not a morality tale. It is not a caustic satire. It is not even a black comedy. It is – simply – a Three-Stooges, gross-out,...
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“Selma” The Movie: History, Race, and The Oscars
For a movie as universally praised – and as well deserving of that praise – as Selma, the film is getting curiously little positive attention lately. Despite examining the life of arguably the most...
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The 3 Best Movie Versions of Shakespeare’s Henry V | Film Reviews
Henry V may be the most cinematic of all Shakespeare’s plays. It stars a young underdog hero who wins the battle and gets the girl. It is a spectacular piece of theater, with nearly a dozen stand-out...
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Pretty Lies & Ugly Truth: “American Sniper” Directed by Clint Eastwood
Pretty lies sell. Politicians know it. Hollywood knows it. Clint Eastwood knows it – although perhaps he did not intend to sell pretty lies when he made American Sniper. But pretty lies are what...
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