Christmas movies are a staple at this time of year, whether you have your classics, your canonical, or just your personal favorites. Within each movie, there are a number of the same tropes and themes: the importance of family, encroaching consumerism, the lost recognition of the holiday, and the diminishing Christmas spirit. In addition, there are often […]

 

 

Hitchcock is tongue-in-cheek, sentimental, revealing, and, overall, a production – which seems to be the way that Hitchcock himself would have wanted it, if the film is to be believed. Admittedly, here lies the rub. Is it accurate that the master of suspense routinely spoke with such a mesmerizing and dreary cadence, extended both his lips and […]

 

 

May05

New to Me: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

(“New To Me” is a column wherein your intrepid reviewer watches the classics — both mainstream and cult — in an effort to fill in the holes in his pop culture literacy and avoid the garbage that generally defines modern cinema. Related thoughts below. See other entries here.) Movies like this make it hard to be a […]