The writing team of John Cleese and his then-wife Connie Booth probably put more sweat and brain power into constructing each sublime, chaotic, farcical half hour of Fawlty Towers than many writers expend on a full-length feature film.  The manic …

There’s nothing like a tough-minded, film noir excursion into the bleaker side of the human soul to make the hottest days of summer seem even more unrelenting.  With that in mind, here’s the first of several noir picks to get …

So many heady concepts had finally worked their way into mainstream American culture when Charles Schulz hit his stride with the Peanuts comic strip.  Introspection was growing, and psychotherapy along with it.  A questioning of the meaning of existence began …

This is a very cool movie.  We normally associate a plot full of twists and turns with something in the Hitchcockian style, such as a man-on-the-run thriller starring Cary Grant or Harrison Ford.  So, being unable to guess what happens …

Here is the first silent film to be included in my roundup of movies to see before you die, and if this one doesn’t leave you wrung out like a sponge that’s been soaked in emotional overload, then you may …

Don’t you just love movies that defy description?  British director Nicolas Roeg sure was good at making movies like that for a while.  Some of them go off the rails and collapse under the weight of their own oddball vision …

This is going to be the shortest review that has yet been posted to this column.  To go too deeply into why a small French film, that came and went in its American theatrical release, is an absolute must-see would …

The man-child is a staple of movies.  Mostly dim-witted, often simply endearingly immature, he is the go-to character when regular films want to explore untrammeled honesty in the face of a cynical world or when comedy films want to explore …