Stairway to Heaven (A Matter of Life and Death)

Titus, written and directed by Julie Taymore, is a revelation. Like most students of Shakespeare, I had always thought Titus Andronicus the weakest of his plays, its Grand Guignol effects obviously the fruits of an apprentice hand. I think so still. But it took Miss Taymore to show us that even Shakespeare’s prentice work was…

Despite some stirring moments, and a fine performance from Gary Oldman, the movie gets its portrait of a war leader wrong

[See “Honor Bound” in The American Spectator of April, 2012, under “Articles”] Discover more from James Bowman Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email. Type your email… Subscribe

Velvet Goldmine, written and directed by Todd Haynes, comes with the following “Director’s Statement” Velvet Goldmine is a valentine to the sounds and images that erupted in and around London in the early 1970’s: to Brian Ferry, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed — and the extraordinary inversions they imposed on our notions of the…

The Spanish title of Only Human by Dominic Harari and Teresa Pelegri is Seres queridos, or “loved ones” and suggests one of those happy-clappy, boosterish Euro-junk films, like Cédric Klapisch’s Auberge Espanole, in which everybody is part of one big happy European family living in a tolerantly multicultural spirit stronger than any differences between them….

David Mamet’s remake of The Winslow Boy — which was first adapted for the screen from Terence Rattigan’s play by Anthony Asquith in 1948 — gets my universally-coveted double stars not so much because it is a wonderful movie as because it is a wonderful event — a poke in the eye to the Zeitgeist…