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Temple Grandin. Now there’s a name that was ready-built for fame and consequence. It’s a name that may only now be entering household use, but Grandin’s influence, both as a professional and as an example to others, has had a significant impact for decades, in this country and elsewhere. Few [...]

Italian cinema was once distinguished for its postwar “neorealism” movement, with films that were shot on location in a stripped down, almost documentary style, exemplified by titles like Rossellini’s Rome, Open City (1946) and de Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948). Times seem to have changed, though not necessarily for the worse. With a [...]

Stephen Fry may not be a common household name in the United States, but he’s become a much-beloved figure in British popular culture. Something of a popular intellectual and polymath, he’s well-known there as an actor, comedian, author, and director. He had a long comedy partnership with Hugh Laurie (famous here for [...]

2009 marked the anniversaries of two of the greatest milestones in human understanding. 400 years ago last year, Galileo Galilei turned his improved telescopes to the sky and found new evidence that the earth was not the center of the universe. 150 years ago last year, Charles Darwin published “On the [...]

If the dialogue in The Last Station had been delivered about twice as fast, it would not be a stretch to label the film as a screwball tragedy. Its characters engage in clever repartee and trade barbs throughout, but ultimately it is the story of two people who have grown remote [...]

It’s not wrong to still get a little excited about the latest offerings from Martin Scorsese. Though some might be inclined to dismiss him these days, making the assertion that he has abandoned the grittier, “simpler” style that made him famous, I find his crisp formalism refreshing. That’s not to [...]

Morgan Freeman is uniquely qualified to play Nelson Mandela. He has, during his career, already portrayed a South African, a President, and a man who has spent decades in prison. In Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Invictus, he finally gets to play all three at once, helped in large part by [...]

It’s a peculiar thing to review a movie that has grossed enough money to launch the space shuttle twice or to build a complete Virginia-class nuclear fast attack submarine. Is there actually a point in doing so? If I say it’s overrated will that stop anyone from renting it? If I [...]

Well, gentle readers, now we must address ourselves to an examination of the latest cinematic incarnation of the eminent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous prototypical super-sleuth. Did our director, Mr. Guy Ritchie, famous for his brawling British caper flicks (Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels among them), indeed [...]

Disney makes a much-heralded return to its 2D hand-drawn animation roots with The Princess and the Frog. The return to a medium considered dead (at least in the eyes of dimwitted studio execs) is historic enough. But it also marks the debut of Disney’s first black princess, Tiana. The setting for the [...]