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When I was ten years old, nuclear war seemed a real possibility. I knew U.S. relations with the Soviet Union were fraught through occasional glimpses of…
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Actor and director Edward James Olmos, best known for his roles including patriarch Abraham Quintanilla Jr. in the film “Selena,” his Oscar-nominated…
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Can you imagine watching David Lynch’s bleaker-than-midwinter prequel to “Twin Peaks” without having seen a minute of the TV show? That was me, back in…
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In a 2005 essay for NPR’s “This I Believe” series, filmmaker Errol Morris laid out the personal philosophy behind his documentary filmmaking: “Truth is…
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Mystery abounds in Peter Weir’s “Picnic At Hanging Rock,” a movie that would not ever be made today both for its unresolved plot as well as the subtlety…
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At one time in America, “The Little Tramp” was one of the most recognized characters in the world. Among classic movie characters, I think Dorothy from…
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It’s really a shame that any review of “On the Waterfront” is colored by EliaKazan’s infamous friendly testimony before the House Un-American Activities…
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This week, the Criterion Collection released a marvelous set of David Lean films based on the work of Noël Coward. Of those films (and many others),…
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A painter may paint a picture, a composer may write a beautiful melody for solo piano, but in the world of the theater (and here I count motion pictures…
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“The Jazz Singer” may have brought sound to the movies in 1927, but it didn’t exactly bring them to life. Cumbersome sound equipment ensured that talking…