-

Reel 77: Love the Film, Hate the Side Effect
To give you some idea of the lead time we have on our episodes, ponder this: we recorded this episode only a couple of days before President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address for 2024. And here we are, with me coincidentally composing this post shortly after Biden announced his withdrawal from…
-
Shelley Duvall and Robert Altman
There’s been a lot written about the great director/actress relationships, ranging from the seven movies Marlene Dietrich did for Josef von Sternberg to all the movies Ingmar Bergman did with many different actresses, including Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, and Liv Ullmann. One of the stronger actress/director pairings in America was director Robert Altman and actress…
-
Thief (1981) – Review
The following review was originally written in August of 2012 as part of a blogathon for TCM’s “Summer Under the Stars”. Anyone who follows movie history in general, and Hollywood history in particular, know it takes a combination of factors to become a star, most of all luck. But once you reach that level, there…
-

The Claim (2000) – Review
Thomas Hardy, who wrote poetry and fiction, wrote detailed stories full of richly drawn characters struggling against society and fate. While they would seem to be the type of novels that could be made into successful movies, that hasn’t always been the case. Director Michael Winterbottom, for example, has made three movie adaptations of Hardy…
-

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) – Review
On the surface, Robert Altman’s McCabe& Mrs. Miller may sound like your traditional Western film. The title character, John McCabe (Warren Beatty), is a gambler with a mysterious past who comes to town to set up a business, and he partners up with people in the town, including a saloon owner (Sheehan, played by…










