I have a difficult time remembering film titles that are clichés. It is one thing if a title encapsulates the theme or point of the film, such as Field of Dreams or Unforgiven, or if it is a pun or twist on a familiar phrase, such as Pillow Talk or Dolphin’s Tale. But, unimaginative titles [...]

When I started my version of an annual top-ten movie list a few years ago, I decided to focus on little-known indies, documentaries, and commercial features that have been overlooked, unfairly judged, or lost under the mountains of hype generated by Hollywood blockbusters. As much as I liked Hugo, Drive, or My Week With Marilyn [...]

I love those comedies from the Swinging 1960s that are part farce, part caper movie in which a huge international cast sashays through Europe in an incomprehensible plot. The cinematic equivalent to a 1960s discotheque, with its trendy music, jet set movie stars, mod costumes, and fab hair styles, this subgenre not only includes breezy [...]

On a cold, blustery Chicago afternoon, I was safely tucked in the back row of a theater watching Vertigo as it was intended to be seen—on the big screen in 35mm with a theater full of movie buffs, cinephiles, and Hitchcock fans.  The rich, saturated colors of the new print were a treat after seeing [...]

Whether in the news, online, or around the water cooler, more attention was paid to Black Friday than to Thanksgiving this year. What used to be an unacknowledged tradition for mainstream America—women shopping the day after Thanksgiving while men watched football—has now become a barometer of the American economy. Retailers and their corporate masters outdid [...]

Each semester in my film studies class, I look forward to presenting the work of the Film School Generation of the 1960s and 1970s. Not only do the students respond well to the era of film history that broke the rules, but I am always surprised at how many of the films feel fresh and [...]

Recently, I showed Citizen Kane to the young college students in my Intro to Film class. I estimate that in my 20+ years of teaching, I have seen Citizen Kane at least 100 times. I am sure other film instructors have faced the same challenge as I do when teaching a required classic shown over [...]

French animation boasts a long history, harkening back to Emile Cohl who produced the hand-drawn Fantasmagorie in 1908. What I like about the history of French animation is that it includes bold experimentation alongside commercial endeavors. While the history of American animation is equally as impressive, I wish contemporary Hollywood was less dominated by that [...]

I have the unenviable task of wrapping up the Morlocks’ week-long blogathon devoted to horror. Actually, most of us jumped the gun and wrote on horror movies or related subjects even before the blogathon began. I wish I were clever enough to offer an insightful summary or, at least, a show-stopping list of terrific horror [...]