Jean Arthur speaks fluent screwball poetry as written by Preston Sturges in “Easy Living.”
In a script dating from before his own directorial career, the seeds of Sturges’ sharp social satire are already evident.
“Living” is a comedy about a down and out depression girl, played by Jean Arthur, who finds herself the accidental owner of a sable fur coat. Sturges’ screenplay about her unwanted - though not unearned - wealth depicts the demanding career that is Consumption. And not…
“Midnight” presents the mannered airs of a Lubitsch comedy, but has something... nastier under its façade.
It’s no surprise then, to see Billy Wilder’s name listed in the screenplay credits.
Director Mitchell Leisen’s film about a gold digging American showgirl in Paris is a tale of con vs con vs The Great Con. The last one, being the highly lampoon-able charade that is the possession of excess wealth.
Where Lubitsch always seemed to endow even his cads with a sentimental…
Avenging angels duke it out against mere mortals in Paradise City.
“The Set-Up,” Robert Wise’s tale of a boxer on his last legs, clocked in with the concept of a drama unfolding in real time three years before “High Noon.” This idea alone is enough to put “Set-Up” in a weight class with the cinematic classics.
Wise goes a step farther, though — employing the burden of the seconds passing as a constant reminder of fragile mortality. This - like…
“Spartacus” subverts the empty cloak theatrics of many major and minor sword and sandals epics for one reason: the unbridled intensity of emotion swelling on and off camera.
The ‘disowned child’ of substitute director Stanley Kubrick, the history of “Spartacus” is as packed with scandals as its climactic battle scene is with corpses. From lifelong spats between stars Laurence Olivier and Charles Laughton to the picture’s cinematographer essentially quitting in protest of Kubrick’s micromanaging of shots (only to later win…
Disney, its time to come out of the closet.
I understand you are worried about how your family; Russia and China, will perceive you. It’s totally fair that you are concerned about them cutting you off.
But you have friends that will support you.
Friends, that, you have led along for years now. Most especially since “Frozen.” Friends who believe that you have intentions to live your truest self.
I have to say; someone in your position coming out would…
“The Dig” is a movie to put on while you sip tea on a comfy couch; letting it slowly lull you into a peaceful nap.
There’s little surprising about director Simon Stone’s film. Nothing will astonish you, nothing will shock. The entire outing; about the amateur archeological expedition of Sutton Hoo, cruises along with the assurance of an experienced cab driver going below the speed limit on a back country road.
The gentle aural cadences and softly-lit scenic vistas of…
