By Nick Maylor Two of Al Pacino’s most famous characters are icons of organized crime. Pacino’s fame exploded after the release of The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974) cemented Michael Corleone as America’s quintessential cinematic crime-lord, the ultimate representation of the dark side of the American dream, and how absolute power corrupts absolutely.…
By John H. Foote (***) Let me begin by stating that the performance given by Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland in Judy is the odds-on favourite to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. Yet it is so much more, less a performance than a merging of Garland’s broken, damaged soul to that of Zellweger.…
By Nick Maylor Charles Chaplin was a Master of Physical comedy. Countless hours of footage of him in character as “The Tramp” serve as testimony to the notion that he was perhaps the greatest slapstick performer in history. Chaplin was also a writer, director, producer and composer for much of his famous works. In his first…
By John H. Foote When he comes into view there is unmistakable swagger in his walk, an arrogance, a huge chip on his shoulders, hair perfectly teased into a pompadour, his eyes blaze with seething anger. It is as though he challenges anyone he encounters, as though he has something to prove. Yet once seated,…
By John H. Foote Is it possible to show Adolf Hitler as the least bit sympathetic? Vulnerable? Even human? He was, after all, just a man, but a man who put into motion the vilest mass murder of a people in modern world history. Can this man be portrayed as human? Until seeing Bruno Ganz…
By Alan Hurst It has not been a good couple of years for Faye Dunaway. In 2017 she got caught in the maelstrom of confusion during the presentation of the Best Picture award at that year’s Oscars, ultimately awarding the Oscar to Moonlight – the true winner – after having already announced La La Land…
By John H. Foote It was a bold act by director Billy Wilder to cast former silent screen star Gloria Swanson as deluded, former silent screen star Norma Desmond in his superb film Sunset Boulevard (1950). It was much bolder of Swanson to accept the role, delivering a performance for the ages as the utterly…
By John H. Foote “My men were chopping off heads…because that’s what they were into” explains Bob Hyde to his visiting wife Sally, while on liberty in Hong Kong. She knows at once he is changed, off somehow, but she has no idea how deep the wounds on his soul really are. Captain Bob Hyde…
By John H. Foote The raid on the village is subsiding, the fighting is much less as the rebels have taken to the jungle to hide. Kilgore (Duvall) orders his chopper to land on the beach so he can get a look at the surf. He has encountered a famous surfer from Malibu and destroyed…
By John H. Foote Derek (Edward Norton) is an imposing figure as he stands in the middle of his street, wearing only boots and jockey shorts. Muscles ripple, a swastika covers his heart, various tattoos cover him, his head is shaved. He puts down his gun, gingerly as the police arrive, placing his arms above…