ne of the biggest boosts to an acting career is to play against type. That’s how perennial gangster James Cagney won an Oscar as song-and-dance man George M. Cohan, how Tom Hanks broke out of the light-comedy mold with Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, and how Leslie Nielsen got a late-in-life second wind from the lowest-common-denominator
like the Super Bowl as much as any guy, but as a film buff, the biggest annual TV event for me is another mid-winter tradition – the Academy Awards. Long before I ever knew I’d make a livelihood out of watching and writing about film, I loved the glamour and drama of Oscar night. I’m
he name “Eleanor Rigby” recalls the Beatles’ same-titled iconic song of haunting loneliness, but writer-director Ned Benson uses a character of that name as a basis for one of the more thought-provoking romantic dramas of the past cinematic year. Benson’s film, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby – which plays at the Flint Institute of
this time of year, people ask me what my favorite Christmas movie is, and I offer the same answer I’ve given since I was 16 or so: It’s a Wonderful Life, the Frank Capra-directed 1946 fable about a man who wonders one Christmas Eve what life would’ve been like if he hadn’t been born. In
Twenty-five years ago this fall, as a scribe for The Flint Journal, I was immersed in the unlikely rise of Michael Moore’s documentary about Flint, Roger & Me, to national prominence. The film made for great copy, especially as our readers were so polarized over it. (Much of their hatred for Moore seemed to subside
Hollywood be damned – France can rightly claim its title as the birthplace of cinema, and the films from its shores – or made elsewhere by sons and daughters of the Republic – continue to be relevant everywhere. Recent cases in point: The Artist, the 2011 Academy Award winner for Best Picture; La Vie en
September hastens the end of summer vacations, brings on the first football tailgate weekends … and marks the start of the movie season at the Flint Institute of Arts. Which to choose, football or movies? Hmmm… Here’s my vote for movies: The museum launches the 2014-15 Friends of Modern Art film series on September 5-7
When I reviewed movies for The Flint Journal, the summer season was my busiest time of year. But of late, as I’ve been overseeing the nine-months-a-year film program at the Flint Institute of Arts, the warm-weather season has become a hiatus of sorts from the flickers. Given the lack of diversity in Hollywood summer fare
For audiences at the Flint Institute of Arts, films about fine art are a special draw – no surprise there! Coming to the museum May 16-18 is one that promises to be of great interest: The Best Offer, an artistic and romantic mystery from Italian master Giuseppe Tornatore. Writer-director Tornatore sets his darkly elegant film
There’s a subtle play on words in the title of The Act of Killing. In this unusual Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature soon to play at the Flint Institute of Arts, former leaders of 1960s Indonesian death squads are challenged to recall their memories of murder – by re-creating classic cinematic genres. We
March is Oscar month? As Gary Cooper would say… “Yup.” This year’s March 2 ceremony marks only the second time in eight years that the biggest night in Hollywood isn’t in February, so it’s no accident that the Flint Institute of Arts movie menu for the month has an Academy-quality look. This prestigious air is
