Screenshot from the Award announcement with Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman. The 2026 Academy Award nominees have been announced!   For once I predicted correctly: horror IS going to have its year!  I say “for once” because I’m kind of hit or miss with predictions in general.  Who is going to win the Super Bowl?  Who will be the next President of the United States?  Is it going to be a boy or a girl?  Don’t ask me any of these questions, because I don’t have that kind of ps

Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme (2025). Credit: A24 We have had a few awards ceremonies already and the controversy has begun anew. The controversy is "movies with predominantly Black casts and/or with Black directors don't get any respect at awards ceremonies." It is said that "Black movies" don't get asses in the seats. That turned out to be untrue, considering Sinners' $368.3 million box office (the movie cost about $90-100 million). Then the question became "do box

If you follow this blog or listen to my podcast, you know that I have an unabashed love for horror movies. Starting with 2024's Nosferatu, we horror fans have been blessed with an abundance of quality horror films by serious directors and starring major actors. In past years, we usually had one or maybe two movies to look forward to. But 2025 has been glorious. Movies that knocked me out this year include Nosferatu, Bring Her Back, Weapons, Sinners, and Frankenstein. But w

I kept hearing how The Conversation was a very strong Gene Hackman movie and was one of his best.  They were not kidding.   He didn’t...

I'm back, baby! I have been a loyal fan of TCM ever since AMC switched from classic movies and left the field wide open.  I used to be a...

One Gene Hackman movie that popped up on my radar that I had never planned on seeing, but thought it would be light enough to keep on in...

Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa In light of the tragic death of Gene Hackman in the past few weeks, I thought that I would brush...

Where in the World is Valerie?   It’s been a wild year!   I was just checking out the webpage this morning and I was astonished that it...

I completely forgot about the announcement because of a particularly chatty (but very nice) Uber driver.  I usually like complete silence...

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Eve and is relaxing today. I did a lot of work yesterday, so you should be able to access...

Happy Holidays! I think I've mentioned more than a few times that I am a musician. As you can imagine, the holidays are a very busy time...

First up is The Earrings of Madame de... starring Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, and Vittorio DeSica. One of the most sought-after...

[Spoilers] Years have passed since the Na'vi successfully fought for Pandora. Jack Sully and Neytiri have grown a family and adopted...

The New Republic just released a list of the 100 Most Significant Political Films of All Time, and of course, I have thoughts I am very...

Synopsis: Captured by the Germans during WWII, a member of the French Resistance is intent on escaping the prison and will do whatever it...

Synopsis: Three teenagers try to figure out who they are and what they want in a small town in Texas in the early 1950s. With moral...

Synopsis: A mysterious harmonica-playing drifter gets entangled in a land grab plot between a beautiful widow and a greedy rail baron...

Synopsis: In a neighborhood in New York City, the temperature and racial tensions are high. Not only does Mookie have to manage his pizza...

Keng is a soldier falls in love with Tong, a young man who works in an ice factory. Later, a soldier goes into the jungle in search of a...

Sadly, I didn't see this one. You know how you have that one movie that you can't see by yourself because your significant other would be...