Will McKinley

Custom Cropped DVD Cover of Thanks A Million

Thanks a Million DVD Review: Dick Powell Croons, I Swoon

Confession: I have a man crush on 1930s crooner Dick Powell. Although he was pushing 30 when he made his ...
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The Meanest Man in the World DVD Review: Jack Benny and Rochester, Together Again

The title character in Sidney Lanfield's comedy The Meanest Man in the World (1943) is not particularly mean, nor is he ...
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Fraulein DVD Review: War is Hell, Particularly When It’s Pan-and-Scan

Classic film fans are, as a rule, a nostalgic bunch. But here's one retroism none of us pines for: “This ...
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Coney Island DVD Review: Musical Fun in the Technicolor Sun with Betty Grable

You've got to love a movie in which the opening titles are sung. But crooned credits are just one reason ...
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Born to Be Bad (1950) DVD Review: A Cinematic Mystery Solved

Part soapy potboiler, part society noir, Nicholas Ray's Born to Be Bad is, in the bowdlerized version released by RKO ...
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Celebrate Samuel Fuller’s Centenary with Verboten! (1959) from the Warner Archive Collection

“A mad generation!” the movie poster exclaims. “Spawned in lust…consumed by hate…where everything decent is Verboten!” As with all good ...
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Red Hook Summer Movie Review: A Trip You Don’t Want to Make

It's summer in Brooklyn and tensions flare between the old guard and the new, until one man shatters the silence ...
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Rings on Her Fingers DVD Review: A Perfect Fit for Screwball Comedy Fans

Classic Movie Trivia Quiz: In what 1940s screwball comedy does Henry Fonda play a vacationing millionaire seduced by a sexy ...
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Singin’ in the Rain from TCM and Fathom Events: Still Making ’em Laugh in Theaters 60 Years Later

On Thursday, Turner Classic Movies and Fathom Events presented Singin' in the Rain (1952) at nearly 500 venues nationwide. And ...
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Book Review: Cary Grant: A Life in Pictures, Edited by Yann-Brice Dherbier: Handsome Book, Handsome Man

Whether you're a classic film fan or not, you've probably heard of Cary Grant. Like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, or ...
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Dark Shadows: Fan Favorites DVD Review: Vampires, Witches, and Werewolves, Oh My!

The DVD for Dark Shadows: The Greatest Episodes Collection - Fan Favorites opens with original series star Kathryn Leigh Scott ...
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The Best of Barnabas DVD Review: A Perfect Primer for Dark Shadows Vampire Virgins

Dark Shadows is the show that will not die. Like its lead character, vampire Barnabas Collins, the so called “supernatural ...
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The War Room Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Men Behind the Man from Hope

It takes a lot to out-charisma Bill Clinton, but legendary political strategist James Carville does it in The War Room, ...
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2012 Oscar-Nominated Documentary Shorts Review: Bring Tissues, Because You’re Going to Cry

Stanislavsky once said, “There are no small parts, only small actors.” At least I think he was the one who ...
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God Is the Bigger Elvis Movie Review: Classic Film Star Dolores Hart Returns After 50 Years, and Oscar Notices

In the trailer for Michael Curtiz’s 1961 religious epic Francis of Assisi, actors Bradford Dillman and Dolores Hart are described ...
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The Woman in Black (2012) Movie Review: Harry Who?

Confession #1: I’ve never seen any of the Harry Potter movies. I’m aware they exist, of course, and vaguely familiar ...
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A Separation Movie Review: A Worthy Recipient of Academy Accolades

Here’s some unsolicited advice for presidential candidates: take a break from the campaign trail and go to see A Separation, ...
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Design For Living Criterion Collection DVD Review: The Pre-Codiest of the Pre-Codes

When I was a guest on the Turner Classic Movies podcast last fall, I engaged in a bit of premeditated ...
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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Lives Again, Thanks to Martin Scorsese and the Film Foundation

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo arrives in theaters on Wednesday in eye-popping 3-D. Before (and after) then, the Academy Award-winning director would ...
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William Castle is Back! And Deader Than Ever

Good news: William Castle, the master of cinematic suspense and inventor of the greatest audience-pleasing gimmicks in movie history, has ...
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New York Film Festival 2011 Review: The Artist: Evoking Memories of Buster Keaton

Sunday afternoon, on the final day of the New York Film Festival, I saw Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist. Sunday night ...
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New York Film Festival 2011 Review: Martha Marcy May Marlene: A Chilling Parable of Millennial Pessimism

"Do you ever have that feeling where you can't tell if something is a memory or something you dreamed?" twentysomething ...
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New York Film Festival 2011 Review: Martin Scorsese’s Hugo: A Valentine to Cinema

"This is really a special evening for us," said New York Film Festival selection committee chairman Richard Pena, as he ...
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New York Film Festival 2011 Review: Shame

Early in Shame, the hypersexual new film from British director Steve McQueen, the protagonist wordlessly flirts with a pretty passenger ...
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New York Film Festival 2011 Review: The Kid with a Bike: A Harrowing Tale of Troubled Tweenhood

In the theatrical release poster for Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's The Kid with a Bike, which had its New ...
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New York Film Festival 2011: Susan Orlean’s Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend

On Tuesday night the New York Film Festival brought together three of my favorite things: silent movies, books about film ...
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New York Film Festival 2011: Melancholia Cast Comments About Lars von Trier

If, like me, you think of getting married as something akin to the fiery destruction of Earth, you'll love Melancholia, ...
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New York Film Festival 2011 Review: Ben-Hur (1959)

The audience sat in rapt attention as a Roman centurion in scarlet cloak and gold chest plate marched onto the ...
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A Fistful of Dollars / For A Few Dollars More Blu-rays Review: The Man with No Name Looks Better Than Ever

One of the great things about middle age is that you forget stuff. This is problematic when it relates to ...
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Senna Movie Review: See It Now, Because Everyone Will Be Talking About It

One thing I learned early in life: it's okay for boys to cry, as long as the tears are shed ...
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Rise of the Planet of the Apes vs. Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes (2001): And the Winner is…

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is beating up on the competition like a band of angry gorillas. Director ...
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Bellflower Movie Review: Flamethrowing Its Way into Your Heart

Love is a battlefield, as Pat Benatar reminded us back in the '80s. Nowhere is that fact more evident than ...
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Battle for the Planet of the Apes Movie Review: Time to Sell More Coloring Books!

It’s human nature to overstay your welcome, especially when you’re having a good time. Apparently it’s simian nature too, as ...
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Escape from the Planet of the Apes Movie Review: A Cinematic Course Correction for the Franchise

”How do you carry on when you’ve blown up the world?” host Roddy McDowall asks in Behind the Planet of ...
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Whistle Down the Wind Movie Review: The Best Film You’ve Never Seen

It's April of 1962 and your kid wants to see the new Hayley Mills movie. "Please!" she begs. "She was ...
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Monte Hellman’s Road to Nowhere (2010) Movie Review: A Cinematic Dream

Midway through Monte Hellman's noirish head-scratcher Road to Nowhere, an actress asks a director a seemingly simple question:  "How many movies ...
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