FEDORA is a fiasco, but an interesting one that rehashes much of the setting and thematic material from SUNSET BOULEVARD.  It's essential from an autueurist perspective, making it the best of AVANTI's successors.  While well mounted, THE FRONT PAGE doesn't live up to its previous incarnations:  An all too common case…

FEDORA is a fiasco, but an interesting one that rehashes much of the setting and thematic material from SUNSET BOULEVARD.  It's essential from an autueurist perspective, making it the best of AVANTI's successors.  While well mounted, THE FRONT PAGE doesn't live up to its previous incarnations:  An all too common case…

It has some strained topical references also, as if Wilder was trying to convince the audience that he was hip to what was going on in contemporary culture.  Otherwise it is a very poignant film, and the real capstone to Wilder's career.

It has some strained topical references also, as if Wilder was trying to convince the audience that he was hip to what was going on in contemporary culture.  Otherwise it is a very poignant film, and the real capstone to Wilder's career.

I haven't spent too much time analyzing Mamet's plays and movies, but my sense is that there was always a subtle conservative strain there for a long time before he announced his political "conversion".  His piece in the New York Review of Books didn't strike me as an Elia Kazan moment, as he never really advanced a…

I haven't spent too much time analyzing Mamet's plays and movies, but my sense is that there was always a subtle conservative strain there for a long time before he announced his political "conversion".  His piece in the New York Review of Books didn't strike me as an Elia Kazan moment, as he never really advanced a…

Several cinematographers I know feel that the video was released to embarrass the victim of Bale's wrath, not the actor.  Apparently the DP abuses his assistants all the time.

Several cinematographers I know feel that the video was released to embarrass the victim of Bale's wrath, not the actor.  Apparently the DP abuses his assistants all the time.

Disappointing yes, but pretty close to appalling.  Anyone with Mamet's literary background ought to know that conservative sensibilities can make for powerful and moving works of art, both on page and screen (T.S.Eliot, Evelyn Waugh, Patrick O Brian, Alfred Hitchcock, and Howard Hawks, for starters).  Because such…

Disappointing yes, but pretty close to appalling.  Anyone with Mamet's literary background ought to know that conservative sensibilities can make for powerful and moving works of art, both on page and screen (T.S.Eliot, Evelyn Waugh, Patrick O Brian, Alfred Hitchcock, and Howard Hawks, for starters).  Because such…

My sense is that actors don't sense a relationship between the process of doing the work itself and whatever taste criteria constitutes making an artistically important movie.  Certainly auteur filmmakers have to fret about the state of film culture, but that isn't really an actor's primary concern.

My sense is that actors don't sense a relationship between the process of doing the work itself and whatever taste criteria constitutes making an artistically important movie.  Certainly auteur filmmakers have to fret about the state of film culture, but that isn't really an actor's primary concern.

As a community college adjunct lecturer who uses films to teach American cultural history, I hear "I can't get into black and white films" a few times a year, often from students who are not total rubes.

As a community college adjunct lecturer who uses films to teach American cultural history, I hear "I can't get into black and white films" a few times a year, often from students who are not total rubes.

I once had a job at a museum where I got to deal with various celebrities and VIPs.  Gotta say that Vincent Price was awesome.  Not just nice and low key, but someone who was engaging and interested in conversation.

I once had a job at a museum where I got to deal with various celebrities and VIPs.  Gotta say that Vincent Price was awesome.  Not just nice and low key, but someone who was engaging and interested in conversation.

He did an excellent dramatic turn on a 4 episode arc on WISEGUY in the 80s.

He did an excellent dramatic turn on a 4 episode arc on WISEGUY in the 80s.

I like it too, but its humor comes from a real desperation born of the conflict between desire and propriety.  The ending is actually a bit poignant.

I like it too, but its humor comes from a real desperation born of the conflict between desire and propriety.  The ending is actually a bit poignant.