1968-born director Brett Morgan makes two excellent choices in creating “Chicago 10″: to avoid the use of 60′s songs in the soundtrack, and to employ a fluid style of animation for much of the picture. Ultimately though he proves himself to be unwilling to grapple with the complexities and emotional underpinnings of the events of [...]

(photo from K. Silam Mohammad’s lostintheframe.blogspot.com) “The Pawnbroker” stars Rod Steiger as a Holocaust survivor who becomes a pawnbroker in Spanish Harlem in the early-60′s. This places the action 20 years out from WWII, roughly the same time that has passed since the first Desert Storm — not a long time.  It must have been [...]

A charming time-capsule starring another charismatic but forgotten actor, Dane Clark (not the execrable Dane Cook), alongside a young Sidney Poitier, “Go Man Go!” features a bebop score by Slim Galliard, who was a favorite of Jack Kerouac. I wonder what the connection with “On the Road” is — I remember the phrase “Go Man [...]

Ali McGraw is so appealing in Love Story. Ryan O’Neal too. The movie is overwrought but it’s truly character-driven. Ali McGraw looks like an ex of mine, and the deathbed scenes reminded me of my mom’s recent passing so I suppose the experience was preloaded. I found myself feeling that slightly painful feeling of falling [...]

I just saw William Wellman’s “Lost Boys of the Road”[correction:"Wild Boys of the Road", ed.], a 1933 film about Depression era kids leaving home and jumping freight trains. Frankie Darro stars and is GREAT. What a natural, I don’t know why he didn’t become a big star. He has an ability to convey honesty and [...]

If I walk around with a t-shirt that says “main character” will I be protected from harm? Clint Eastwood, as Pauline Kael said, only has one expression, but he does that expression really well. Does no one else notice the similarity between Clint Eastwood and Hugh Jackman? Both gracile action stars who bulk up to [...]