Roma

When Oscar time rolls around in a few days, this and Black Panther will be the only Best Picture nominees we will have seen. If you read my review of that latest superhero piece of garbage, you will know there is no contest, in my mind, at least. But is this one worthy on its own, knowing not a whole lot about the other six? I have to say that none of the others ... Read more »

Roman Holiday

This movie is all about Audrey Hepburn, and I guess a little bit about Rome. It was her first starring role, she won the Oscar for it, and if ever a debut film simply glowed with incipient star power, it’s this one. Her waif-like beauty is damn near perfect. It’s a great tragedy that she was taken from us at the relatively young age of 64, without a chance to perform some of the elder ... Read more »

Romance and Cigarettes

I love musicals, and I love experimentation. I loved Pennies From Heaven, where the performers lip-synched to old recordings, and the dancing was really swell! I thought Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You mostly worked, except for the part where Woody sang. I liked the things Tim Burton did with Read more »

Romance With a Double Bass

Connie Booth was married to John Cleese for ten years, and near the end of that time they co-wrote “Fawlty Towers,” without a doubt the best sitcom (only 12 episodes, alas) ever to come out of England or any other country. The year before, they wrote and starred in this 40-minute trifle, based on a story by Anton Chekhov, about a bass player and a princess who are naked most of the time, ... Read more »

The Romantic Englishwoman

Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson are a well-off married couple, but she is restless. She takes off to Baden-Baden to “find herself.” While there she has a brief encounter in the lift. The man she speaks to, Helmut Berger, is a thief, a con man, a gigolo, and a drug smuggler. He loses a briefcase full of heroin and must flee. Through a series of unlikely circumstances, he ends up a guest at ... Read more »

Rome

This huge series was originally planned to run for five seasons, but was cancelled after two because it was too expensive even for HBO. But the writer-showrunner knew it was coming after the first season, so he packed all the planned story into the second season. Which doesn’t seem to have hurt it. We found it to be addictive, and binged the whole thing in not much more than a ... Read more »

Rome, Open City

I did a little research on the term “Open City,” and it confirmed what I thought. In wartime, if a government sees that it is unable to defend a city, they will declare it open, which means that the enemy is free to march in, the city will not be defended. This strikes me as a remarkably humane provision of the Geneva Conventions. It was invoked several times in WWII, and even the fucking ... Read more »

Romeo + Juliet

I am an unapologetic Baz Luhrman fan. I say this because a lot of people feel he starts out over the top, and then goes on from there. I wouldn’t argue, and that’s what I like about him. The only director I can think of who made such totally, all-out, balls-to-the-wall, jaw-dropping visual and musical insanity is Ken Russell. Luhrman has made only five films and of them, only Read more »

Ronin

This movie contains maybe the purest example of a McGuffin I’ve ever seen. Hitchcock defined a McGuffin as “the thing everybody wants.” It’s the object the plot revolves around. In an Indiana Jones movie it’s the Ark of the Covenant, or the Crystal Skull. Really, it’s just an excuse for all the action. Here the McGuffin is an aluminum case of the sort that usually holds ice skates. The ... Read more »

Room

I have not seen the performances of Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlotte Rampling, or Saoirse Ronan, so I can’t say this performance by Brie Larson is the “best” of 2015. What I can say is that it is definitely Oscar-worthy. She totally shines, as does her young co-star, Jacob Tremblay.

The idea was inspired, I assume, by the ordeals of women like Elizabeth Smart and Jaycee ... Read more »