What further wisdom could I possibly impart about “It Happened One Night,” one of the most celebrated, imitated and adored pieces of classic cinema? All I can do is add my voice to the chorus of praises it’s deservedly earned over the past 80-plus years, and swoon at the sexy,...
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Christy by Request
Christy by Request — The Vanishing
It should have been a romantic escape — a chance to get away from the crowds and the heat of summer and ride bicycles through the French countryside. Instead, it ended before it even began, with the wife disappearing and the husband searching frantically for her, a quest that would...
Read moreChristy by Request — Razorback
“Razorback” had so much potential. It’s a grungy ’80s exploitation film about a ravenous boar rampaging across the Australian outback, devouring anyone who has the misfortune of being in its path. I’d never seen (or even heard of) this unabashed B-movie before it came up this past weekend as the...
Read moreChristy by Request — The Pagemaster
“The Pagemaster” is the kind of movie first-grade teachers would have popped into the VCR in the 1990s to kill time on a rainy afternoon. With its rudimentary animation and lame pop-culture puns, it’s simultaneously ghastly and inoffensive. It does what it aims to do for its (very young) target...
Read moreChristy by Request — The Lives of Others
“The Lives of Others” is about the transformative power of the human connection — its capacity for opening even the most calloused and closed-off hearts and minds. That may seem like a quaint concept in these contentious times, but it’s certainly a welcome one. I hadn’t seen writer-director Florian Henckel...
Read moreChristy by Request — Body Double
“Body Double” is Brian De Palma’s Alfred Hitchcock movie, with clearly affectionate references to “Rear Window,” “Vertigo” and other classics scattered liberally about. But it’s also every bit a De Palma film in the vein of the director’s “Carrie,” “Dressed to Kill” and “Scarface,” with all of its fascinating contradictions....
Read moreChristy by Request — Big Wednesday
My father moved to Los Angeles from the Bronx in 1965. He was 23, and enraptured by the romantic notion of surf culture his beloved Beach Boys personified at their early peak. He and my mom were living in a little apartment a block from the sand in the low-key...
Read moreChristy by Request — Who Framed Roger Rabbit
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” — probably since it came out 30 years ago. I fondly recall watching it with my dad at the now-defunct UA Warner Center in Woodland Hills, the location of so many of my Valley Girl movie memories. But...
Read moreChristy by Request — Cradle Will Rock
All art is political in some way. This is especially true of Tim Robbins’ theatrical drama “Cradle Will Rock,” itself inspired by a play that was so provocative in the late 1930s, the U.S. government shut it down before its first performance. I’d never seen Robbins’ film, the Christy by...
Read moreChristy by Request — Local Hero
Don’t let the title fool you: There’s nothing remotely heroic or even vaguely dramatic about “Local Hero.” And that’s what makes it so charming. Writer-director Bill Forsyth’s 1983 film sneaks up on you. It takes its time. It reveals its characters through snippets of conversation and casual interactions. It’s the...
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