Tag Archives: classic-film-review

Classic Film Review: A Ken Loach dip into Dickensiana — “Black Jack” (1979)

Posted on April 15, 2025 by Roger Moore

Ken Loach built his career on films of protest, depicting the oppressed of many places and many eras in their struggle against their oppressors. The Brit’s “socialist realism” was obvious from his breakthrough English working class classic “Kes,” with the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: A Ken Loach dip into Dickensiana — “Black Jack” (1979)

Classic Film Review: Ferrer, Huston and the Can Can — “Moulin Rouge” (1952)

Posted on April 9, 2025 by Roger Moore

The American master John Huston was an Oscar winning director and screenwriter, and no slouch as an actor. A bon vivant, boxer, horseman and at his richest, a member of the Irish landed gentry, he became Hollywood’s most famous Renaissance … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Ferrer, Huston and the Can Can — “Moulin Rouge” (1952)

Classic Film Review: Serious and Seldom Seen Sellers — “The Blockhouse” (1973)

Posted on March 27, 2025 by Roger Moore

Filmed on the whim of a liquor empire heir, a “true story” whose German Army WWII victims were changed to French and citizens of other occupied countries, “The Blockhouse” is one of the strangest titles in the later, quixotic career … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Serious and Seldom Seen Sellers — “The Blockhouse” (1973)

Classic Film Review: Kingsley, Mirren and Dance scheme their way across “Pascali’s Island” (1988)

Posted on March 24, 2025 by Roger Moore

The decade after Ben Kingsley won the Oscar for his performance in the title role “Gandhi” was one of the most interesting of his storied, four-Oscar nomination career. He’d been a respected but mostly unknown player on Brit TV for … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Kingsley, Mirren and Dance scheme their way across “Pascali’s Island” (1988)

Classic Film Review: Still a hoot — Mssr. Belmondo’s Holiday — “That Man from Rio (L’homme de Rio)” (1964)

Posted on March 5, 2025 by Roger Moore

Adrien, dashing from 1960s Rio de Janiero to Brasilia, the then new capital of Brazil, in a pink 1929 Chrysler 75 adored with green stars, pulls over at the first modernist police station he spies. He steps out of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Still a hoot — Mssr. Belmondo’s Holiday — “That Man from Rio (L’homme de Rio)” (1964)

Classic Film Review: Hackman’s a Working Class CIA Joe taking care of “Company Business”

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Roger Moore

Not every actor’s all that picky about her or his wardrobe. But the great ones are. Glenn Ford didn’t find a character until he picked out just the right hat. Piper Laurie would fuss over what purse somebody she was … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Hackman’s a Working Class CIA Joe taking care of “Company Business”

Classic Film Review: A late life James Earl Jones gem is restored — “The Annihilation of Fish”

Posted on February 21, 2025 by Roger Moore

One of the first accomplishments of the then newly-created National Film Registry was to rescue the work of Black indie filmmaker Charles Burnett. The Registry was Created by the Library of Congress in 1988 and set up to “preserve” as … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: A late life James Earl Jones gem is restored — “The Annihilation of Fish”

Classic Film Review: Jeremy Irons leads a Polish Home Renovation in 1980s London — “Moonlighting” (1982)

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Roger Moore

A cut-rate Polish work crew slips into wintry 1981 London to do an off-the-books home renovation in “Moonlighting,” Jerzy Skolimowski’s droll and intimate comment on capitalism, the collapse of communism and the horrors of cut-rate home repair. It’s one of … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Jeremy Irons leads a Polish Home Renovation in 1980s London — “Moonlighting” (1982)

Classic Film Review: George C. Scott is the “Transporter” in a much older BMW for “The Last Run” (1971)

Posted on February 8, 2025 by Roger Moore

“The Last Run” is a tidy if not exactly tight template for generations of “driver” movies to come. Here is George C. Scott as the original “Transporter,” taking out and thrashing a collectible BMW from Portugal to the Pyrnees all … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: George C. Scott is the “Transporter” in a much older BMW for “The Last Run” (1971)

Classic Film Review: Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Kennedy in a Rodeo Love Triangle by Nicholas Ray — “The Lusty Men” (1952)

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Roger Moore

Which classic film to watch on a chilly Sunday afternoon often comes down to a coin toss for me. Does the day have a ’40s, ’50s melodrama vibe? That usually means it’s Douglas Sirk or Nicholas Ray time. And if … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, previews, profiles and movie news | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Classic Film Review: Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Kennedy in a Rodeo Love Triangle by Nicholas Ray — “The Lusty Men” (1952)