Category:Movies

PM – Il Piccolo Missionario, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter From the gawky pre-teen in Lucas to the Goth-crazed teenaged Lydia in Beetlejuice to the manipulative and it’s-fun-to-be-bad accessory after the fact in Heathers, Winona Ryder has always—at first because of her age and then in spite of it—exuded an air of innocence tempered by a keen …
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Wvfunnyman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter At first glance, Paramount TV’s production of Ted Lasso seems like your generic fish-out-of-water story: Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), an American college football coach, is hired by Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) the owner of the English soccer club AFC Richmond to coach the team—this despite the fact Lasso …
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Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Film Review of The Offer The script of Paramount’s limited series The Offer, the behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film classic The Godfather, must have looked like the goose that laid the golden egg to any film producer worth her salt. It has everything. The Offer tells …
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Siebbi, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter He is a paragon of extremes, portraying characters that range the spectrum from Jesus Christ in The Last Temptation of Christ and the heroically righteous Eli in Platoon to devilish arch-villain Green Goblin in the original Spiderman and the deliciously demented Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire. These extremes of good …
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Joan Hernandez Mir, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter The high cheekbones, piercing eyes, firm set of her jaw, and throaty contralto give Cate Blanchett an imperiousness rivalled by few other actresses. Perhaps only Katherine Hepburn demonstrated quite as much command on the screen as Blanchett—the other Cate. It’s also very interesting, and …
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GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter He is a gifted actor who actually started his career as a dancer, a fact that is readily evident when viewing Hairspray, Pennies from Heaven, The King of New York, and much of his other work in and out of musical, an actor who is then able to …
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Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Over the course of his seven decades on the stage, in movies, and on television, Robert Duvall has played characters ranging from ruthless corporate executives (Network or The Conversation), a Mafia consigliere (The Godfather), a strutting egotistical colonel obsessed with surfing in a war zone …
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Trish Overton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter During his long and storied career, spanning back to his breakthrough role as Buck Barrow in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, Gene Hackman has excelled at portraying tough gritty characters as both a leading man and a character actor. While perhaps not as handsome as some of …
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Marianna Amill, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter This week, just for fun, I’ve decided to compile a ranked list of what I very subjectively consider to be the best fifty films of all time. After all, everyone likes a list, right?  Now, because there’s only room for fifty films and these picks are …
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Gorupdebesanez, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter In The New Wave 2.0 series, The Pen in Hand Blog will be examining the work of our most provocative and influential filmmakers, artists whose filmic stylings and compelling narratives have stretched the boundaries of modern cinema. Referencing Francois Truffaut’s definition of an auteur, these pieces …
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English: “Copyright by Warner Bros. Inc.”, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter In The New Wave 2.0 series, The Pen in Hand Blog will be examining the work of this era’s most provocative and influential filmmakers, artists whose filmic stylings and compelling narratives have stretched the boundaries of modern cinema. Referencing Francois Truffaut’s …
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