Trumbo, Cranston and Ozymandias
Sean MurphyA few random thoughts while watching 'Trumbo'. 1. You should watch this. 2. Bryan Cranston remains an American treasure. 3. Can you believe people used to smoke in movie theaters?...…
Coppola’s ‘The Conversation’: A Love Letter to the Process of Making Art
In Dostoeyevsky’s Notes From Underground the self-loathing narrator proposes that every man has secrets he will only reveal to friends and secrets he must keep to himself. And then there…
Remembering Michael Cimino’s Masterpiece, ‘The Deer Hunter’
Imagine this: Michael Cimino, fresh off five Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Director) and the next big “thing” fails to complete the filming of Heaven’s Gate (1980) and…
Celebrating Chinatown: The Ultimate Summer Movie (and the Perfect American Movie)
Chinatown does not usually make the short list of best American films. In fairness, it probably shouldn’t. It will have to settle for merely being the only perfect American film…
The Strange Case of Dr. Dennis and Mr. Miller (Revisited)
(For the remainder of the month, I’ll be revisiting some personal favorites, all of which are available in my recently-released collection, MURPHY’S LAW VOL. ONE, which is available NOW!) March, 2009…
My David Lynch Dilemma (Revisited)
(For the remainder of the month, I’ll be revisiting some personal favorites, all of which are available in my recently-released collection, MURPHY’S LAW VOL. ONE, which is available NOW!) There are…
Harold Ramis: Empathy for the Rebel (Revisited)
Consider this: a world without Animal House. Or Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day. I can’t fathom how much less happy my childhood would have been without any one of…
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and Me (Revisited)
And the Oscar goes to... Who cares? Okay, okay: I'll resist the urge to be a sourpuss and let it suffice that I express my indifference to the pompous and…
“Only Let Be No War”: The Films of Nikita Mikhalkov, Volume 1 (Revisited)
The release of this box set is a welcome development. This is not necessarily to suggest anyone is likely to shell out $80 for five films, but the fact that…
Peter O’Toole, R.I.P. (Revisited)
They're all gone. Burton, then Harris, then Reed, then Taylor. And now, O'Toole. Yes, it all begins and ends with his once-in-a-millennium turn as T.E. Lawrence, and attention must be…