Search for 1

One of the questions I am frequently asked by e-mail is "What is your favorite comedy?" In a horse race that's almost too close to call, I have decided upon A Fish Called Wanda, followed closely by The Life of Brian, then Monty Python and the Holy...

Each of the three "official" Monty Python movies has its own distinguishing quality. The first, 1975's Monty Python and The Holy Grail, is arguably the funniest and (in some ways) the silliest. The last, 1983's The Meaning of Life, is the most un...

The Monuments Men is a World War 2 story, but it's unlike the traditional World War 2 stories we have become familiar with over the years. Many of the historical touchstones are present, including Normandy and The Battle of the Bulge. Roosevelt, Tr...

On the surface, Moonlight presents three formative episodes in the life of a gay black man, but taking such a bird’s eye view of the film misses all the details and nuances. Although Barry Jenkins’ film is indeed about the struggles and d...

Moonraker is a sort of James Bond meets Star Wars. Released in 1979, the year that saw the arrival of Star Trek on the big screen, Moonraker was the latest film to latch onto the science fiction revival started by George Lucas' 1977 picture. ...

Few working directors are as consistently, dependably quirky as Wes Anderson, whose films tend to excite art house audiences while being ignored and bypassed by mainstream movie-goers. His latest, Moonrise Kingdom, represents one of his best, in la...

If Mogan’s DNA exhibits traces of Blade Runner, it’s not coincidental. The film’s director is Luke Scott, Ridley’s son, and the same questions about artificial intelligence, sentience, and humanity can be found in this movie. ...

Like the occasionally dark Broadcast News and the considerably bleaker Network, Morning Glory takes a peek behind the curtain of television newscasts and reveals that all is not as clean and ordered as it appears over-the-air. The film is at its b...

When it comes to fantasy and soft science fiction, the concept of “world building” is at least as important as narrative and character development. “World building” refers to the ability of an author or filmmaker to craft a new and ama...

Spoilers... I guess. Those who care, however, will have already read the book and therefore can't be spoiled. When it comes to movies based on YA novels, there are two flavors: those designed exclusively for fans of the books (Twilight, for ex...