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Showing Saturday May 19, Thursday May 31, 8PM Eastern, on TCM This otherwise conventional comedy; girl tricks boy, boy falls for girl, girl falls for boy; would have been unremarkable except for the lead role played by the inimitable Barbara Stanwyck. Remade ten years later by Hawks with the repressively adorable Danny Kaye and a b-list ac... (See the whole review)

A romantic drama in the best sense of the word, this film forever secured for Rita Hayworth the title of "Sex Goddess," a title which, in real life, she found a tragic personal frustration. Directed by Charles Vidor, "Gilda" stars Glenn Ford (recently deceased) as Johnny Farrell, a handsome, streetwise adventurer who "makes his own luck." ... (See the whole review)

Barbara Stanwyck, for a period during the 1940’s the highest paid actress in Hollywood and woman in the US, was a self-made woman, if ever there was one. Queen of the film noir, Stanwyck was known for playing tough broads, often the girlfriend of a mobster as in Night Nurse and in Ball of Fire - or a killer herself - as in Double Indemnity. Havin... (See the whole review)

If you like a really hip, very clever, funny, action thriller, with the nastiest villians you've ever seen and some of the best heros and heroines, plus a thousand turns and twists that will force you to watch it ten more more times just to get every nuance, this is IT! This is one of my fave all-time movies.  (The 2nd time, I suddenly reali... (See the whole review)

Growing up in a small Spanish village, Raimunda (Cruz) and her sister had long heard tales of ghosts and the madness visited upon the villagers by the dry East winds. Years before, their parents had died in a fire driven by this wind. Now, returning to bury their long senile and helpless aunt they hear rumours that she had survived with the aid o... (See the whole review)

* minor spoilers may be below. Nothing that should give away the film or detract from seeing it. I saw this in IMAX this weekend, and loved it. I declare 300 joining Shawshank Redemption and Incredibles in the 'mandatory films for Objectivists' category. Go see it! First I'll note my criticisms of it, minor compared to the great sp... (See the whole review)

Dictators named Saddam and Vladimir, poisoning, assassination, suicide warriors and Jihad, a vital resource found only in dessert sands...sound familiar? But this is not from the headlines, but rather from Frank Herbert's classic novel Dune. Herbert was decades, if not millennia ahead of his time. The 1984 release of the movie adaptation w... (See the whole review)

WARNING: This review contains both spoilers and buzz killers!  Read at your own risk. Introduction and Context Setting Before I even start reviewing the movie, I had better set context with some autobiographical information. Many readers of this site know that my parents raised me on a cattle farm in North Carolina.  I spent ma... (See the whole review)

I have seen a few of the films in the "View Askewniverse." This "universe" and franchise all started with Clerks, made for $27,575 and released in 1994. Clerks Two was made with a still modest budget of $3,000,000. While I have found all of Smith's films somewhat intriguing, and that's probably why I keep watching them. I also wonder what t... (See the whole review)

The basic gist of this film is that "Death" (Pitt) decides to experience life as a human and takes the body of a young man. He appears to a rich businessman (Hopkins) who is going to die soon, and has him act as a guide to all that life has to offer. Without Pitt and Hopkins I doubt this movie would be worth watching. Their interplay is ama... (See the whole review)

"Free" episodes available online from the questionable website ... ... (See the whole review)

After reading the exchanges about this film on a related thread in the General Forum of this site, and having reviewed The Secret here earlier, I decided to make the time to watch and review this film.  Fortunately, I located a streaming video of it on Google Video.  This means you will not need to pay for a film with a questionable agenda and appa... (See the whole review)

The Law of Attraction -- Subjectivist Style The self-help and actualization movement (SHAM) in America today offers two polar opposites of empowerment and victimization.  The former argues that anyone can accomplish anything with enough force of will while the latter claims that everyone ultimately has no control and that someone or somethin... (See the whole review)

I am happy to write a review of this wonderful film. It won Oscars for best director, best lead actor, best screenplay, and best picture. If you watch it just once, you will understand why. Kevin Spacey (best actor) plays Lester Burnham. Lester is going through a mid-life crisis. He is bored, apathetic, and uninspired. He lives in the suburb... (See the whole review)

Preface Objectivism considers a given work of art as a concretization of the artist's metaphysical value judgments.  Ayn Rand considered good art as fuel for the human spirit.  By contrast, bad art drains the spirit of those who consume it.  In his book Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff cites three broad standards by w... (See the whole review)

Introduction and Context Setting A valid philosophy requires the induction of abstract principles based on a suitable number of similar concretes.  When she developed Objectivism, Ayn Rand induced many such principles across all branches of philosophy.  In metaphysics, Objectivism contends that we all live in one reality and that each of us ... (See the whole review)

I am quite surprised that nobody has brought up this movie. I watched it twice over the weekend on DVD. ... (See the whole review)

I have taken quite a few acting classes here in Austin, just for fun. I then found out that one of my classmates actually appeared in this film for a few minutes. She did a good job. ... (See the whole review)

My wife and I caught this average science fiction fantasy thriller while flipping channels on a lazy Sunday afternoon today.  Dean Koontz's novel of the same name serves as the basis for the movie.  It definitely had a "made for TV" look and feel to it. I only mention it here because the film concludes with the main character, a murder myste... (See the whole review)

This review was posted to the General Forum before I discovered how to post it here. Thanks to Jonathan Fauth for his directions. * * * * * After walking out in the middle of the campy Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (supposedly the #1 Movie in America) with the foppish Captain Jack Sparrow, I was sorely in need of a good m... (See the whole review)

For all the 'equal time' this movie gives to fundamentalist Islam -- I feel that it, on balance, depicts the true, destructive nature of the religion (albeit, indirectly enough to avoid a retributive, suicide bombing!). Particularly striking, are the staunch, anti-capitalist indoctrinations by the 'teacher' at the 'Muslim School'.

I figured out this gallery. Another version of this review has been submitted to _Liberty_: Over the years, I have become increasingly distrustful of Hollywood’s biographical and historical movies. However, Sophie Scholl: The Last Days was made in Germany and has only recently come to American theaters. Shown with subtitle... (See the whole review)

This is truly one of the most magical movies I've ever seen in my life. Miyazaki is an extraordinarily gifted director and has a knack for creating truly believable characters, and that's what truly shines about this movie. While there is a scene that is unabashedly environmentalist, it's not a "preachy" film, and there is much for Objectivists t... (See the whole review)

This short movie (click here) was created as a school project, apparently by a 17-year-old-girl, and posted at YouTube on April 16, 2006. (On screen the movie is actually titled The Anthem, perhaps intentionally different from the book.) Despite low production values, I think it is excellent. It evokes somewhat the beginning of the We the Li... (See the whole review)

Here is a movie that I saw on a whim one night when it was on cable. I was completely blown away. It's a comedy/drama about a young Austrailian ballroom dancer who wants to win the big Pan-Pacific Grand Prix dance competition. The comedy mostly revolves around the older people in the film including his parents, dance instructor, and the head of the... (See the whole review)

I saw some clips from this movie and it looked good. Then I saw it was directed by Lasse Hallström who directed the excellent Chocolat and I was sold. Unfortunately it was in and out of theaters locally in a heartbeat. After the first weekend, one local theater showed it only at midnight on Friday and Saturday night. Another showed it only at 10 a.... (See the whole review)