Ettore Scola’s ‘Jealousy, Italian Style’ (1970) is a tragedy. We know this because it opens with a terrible murder being re-enacted by the main suspect. …

There’s something that always baffled me for the majority of my life, and it’s this — why did director Sydney Pollack keep using Dave Grusin to provide the soundtrack for all his thrillers? It’s not that I’m not partial to a bit of Grusin here or there and I’ll sometimes…

The cliché goes that there are several pitfalls a musical must overcome to really “work”: can it cram in both a compelling narrative plus a truck-load of songs into a reasonable running time; and do the musical numbers drive this story forward? …

It’s a moment of extraordinary cinematic power. He has returned home in a rage of sexual jealousy. She is waiting for him, letting her dressing gown fall open to reveal a body clad in lingerie. He rushes forward with a scowl. The camera simultaneously pushes in towards her with an…

‘The Pentaverate’ (2022) is typical Mike Myers in that it is one of the most god-awful, unfunny, infantile, badly written, derivative, brain-dead, grating, puerile pieces of crap there’s ever been. How do I know? Because I watched all of it… twice! (I needed a second viewing to corroborate if what…

“Eww! That’s crazy and HORRIBLE!!” I shouted out such a declaration last night because the opening to Mario Monicelli’s ‘L’armata Brancaleone’ (1966), or ‘For Love and Gold’, is completely nasty, gross and seemingly out of control! A village is attacked by some blood-thirsty raiders and it is utter chaos: limbs…

I have a somewhat low tolerance for fur-clad, muscular, violent masculinity which is absolutely none at all. This is partly down to the fact that the upper limits of my own muscular masculinity are somewhat lower than those of ‘Frasier’s Niles Crane but also because the men I’ve known (and…

‘You’ll Never Get Rich’ (1941) starts with quite a bit of promise as theatre owner Martin Cortland (Robert Benchley) is caught by his wife giving a diamond bracelet to one of his showgirls, Shelia (Rita Hayworth). Mrs. …

Bob Davis has just lost all his money on the horses down in Buenos Aires. Bob’s not too concerned though as Bob’s Fred Astaire and Bob’s pal Xavier Cugat and his band have a residency at the Sky Room so maybe good old Cugy could put in a good word…