4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on April 11, 2019

Despite the pure 80s-ness of the synths, I cannot help but be charmed by Carol King’s vocals in the opening track to go along with an entire score she composed for this film. It introduces an understated tale of a young divorced mother (Sally Field) and her son (Corey Haim)...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on April 9, 2019

“Don’t show me how profitable it will be to fall in love with you, Charlie. Don’t Americanize me.” – Julie Andrews as Emily Yes, Kubrick’s film is definitive. Though something inside of me wants to rale against convention and wave the flag for The Americanization   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on April 7, 2019

Any knowledge of director Fred Zinnemann only aids in informing The Search. Formerly living in a Jewish family in Austria, he would immigrate to the bright lights of Hollywood in the 1930s only to have both his parents killed in the Holocaust. So if you think he had no stake...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on April 6, 2019

Leave No Trace instantly reminded me of two distinct reference points. The first relates to a man named Richard Proenneke who lived in the Alaskan wilderness for 30 years building his own cabin and raising his own food in a life of tranquil solitude. Then, the other comes from a...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on April 5, 2019

If you had any trouble possibly liking Sally Field before — consequently, one of the sweetest actresses ever to cross the screen — then there’s little gripe to be had with her any longer. Norma Rae really does feel like a gift for her. Both as a story to be a...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on April 5, 2019

Of all the reasons to watch this movie, I felt compelled to as a roundabout reevaluation of Robert Redford’s career as he just recently said The Old Man and The Gun would be his last film. He more recently still, admitted he never should have said he was retiring but...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on April 3, 2019

In adolescence, you are inundated with stories about dogs. The Red Fern Grows, Shiloh, Homeward Bound, Ginger Pie, Marmaduke, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Air Bud, Snoopy, and Old Yeller. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, off the top of my head. Sounder belongs to the same storied tradition bas   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on April 1, 2019

I’m the first to admit I’m no jazz connoisseur but I dig it. In this age that we now live in of shuffling and song roulette — where the single has surged passed a cohesive album in terms of singular importance — there has been some small amount of education going on for...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 31, 2019

When a film seems to materialize in front of you coming out of nowhere and subsequently moves you, it seems worthy to try and champion it to others who might also be pleasantly surprised. But first, I believe an acknowledgment of director Martin Ritt is in order because I’m not sure how much   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 28, 2019

Though it still came out in the middle of The Depression, there is a sense that Footlight Parade does not confront the contemporary issues head on and maybe that causes it to lose some potential power. Because, in a sense, it’s a period piece even if that period is only a...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 26, 2019

With the opening number “We’re In The Money,” this musical sticks it to The Great Depression and gives their audience a respite from the poverty waiting outside the theater doors. The tone is set as Ginger Rogers, surrounded by rows of scantily clad coin-covered women, sings out o   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 24, 2019

“Sawyer, you’re going out a youngster but you’ve got to come back a star!” – Warner Baxter to Ruby Keeler 42nd Street essentially feels like hallowed ground even today because it single-handedly gave an entire generation of films plentiful ammunition for tropes while j   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 23, 2019

The opening gambit of Crazy Rich Asians feels like the scene some Asian moviegoers have been waiting for all their lives. We’re in a stuffy hotel lobby with the snooty staff looking to deny service to Eleanor Sung-Young (Michelle Yeoh) and by the end of the conversation she winds up...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 22, 2019

Tom Cruise is the closest thing we have to a modern marvel on the current cinema landscape. Despite being over 50 years old, it seems like he continues to redefine what it means to be an action hero in the 21st century. A lot of his brilliance stems from taking...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 21, 2019

Tyrone Power was a handsome fellow and it led to a meteoric rise among Hollywood’s elite. But as often is the case, a pretty face can be your undoing as people only see a movie idol and not an actor. Daryl Zanuck for one saw one of his biggest box...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 19, 2019

If you make your way to this swashbuckler you’ll find a movie set in The Spanish Main as England has just brokered a peace treaty with their imperialistic competitors. As you probably already surmised, you might as well leave your textbooks on maritime history at home because there’s no   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 17, 2019

There’s little doubt Blood and Sand was a follow up to The Mark of Zorro (1940) meant to capitalize on the lucrative romantic pairing of devilishly handsome heartthrob Tyrone Power and winsome ingenue Linda Darnell. But what it sets out to do, it achieves through an ability to capture us in a   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 15, 2019

The first time I ever saw My Darling Clementine I couldn’t get over how unimpressive it seemed. If nothing else it certainly didn’t give off any self-aware sense of its own importance. There was nothing that struck me as outright epic and monumental. And yet this western has been a...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 13, 2019

Without question, Hangover Square is in many respects analogous to The Lodger with the reteaming of director John Brahm with Laird Cregar and George Sanders. However, the biggest difference is that we have Cregar putting on on a new persona and losing over 100 pounds! Among other things, it forced...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on March 12, 2019

“Love is very close to hate. Did you know that?” – Laird Cregar as Mr. Slade Some perceptive viewers might well know that The Lodger is based off a novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes and it garnered a fairly high profile silent adaptation by Alfred Hitchcock followed by a sound version   read more