Movies Archive

Snow Day Special: 10 ways to console yourself because you can’t go to work - Snow days. I remember being zipped into a snowsuit. A hat --- my mother insisted. And then it was outside for hours with my sled, a wooden Flexible Flyer. The

So I asked Michelle Pfeiffer a question…. - On Thursday night, the Tribeca Film Festival celebrated the 35th anniversary of “Scarface” with a screening at the Beacon Theatre, followed by a panel discussion featuring Al Pacino, Brian De

Soylent Green -

State of Play - The editor in “State of Play” --- I mean the original version, not the dumbed-down flop of a remake starring Russell Crowe --- is determined, principled and witty, just what

Sundays and Cybéle - Odds are excellent that you’ve never heard of this movie. But if you’ve seen it, there is no way you've forgotten how you felt about it. I saw “Sundays and

Susanne Bier: “After the Wedding” and “In a Better World” - If you know of Susanne Bier, it's probably because she directed Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant in “The Undoing,” which was pandemic candy on HBO, and “The Night Manager,” a

Swimming Upstream - Geoffrey Rush won Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for "The King's Speech." He's featured in yet another of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series. Last winter he starred in a play in

Tell No One - Alfred Hitchcock said the key to making movies that have the audience sitting on the edge of their seats and gnawing on their fingernails is to give them a fear

The Secret -

The Academy Awards: The White-out, ’45 Years’ and ‘Carol’ - Since the Academy Award nominations were announced, there’s been a lot of talk about the absence of African American nominees. The Times headline says it all: Another Oscar Year, Another

The Academy Awards: Who will win? And why do I think the likely winner is a tragic mistake? - There are 10 nominees for the Best Picture 0f 2022: "All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tár,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Triangle of

The Big Lebowski - Someone who has seen this movie a lot --- and there are quite a few people who have seen it more than a hundred times --- says it's a retelling

The Castle - Darryl Kerrigan and his family are good-hearted, if not overly bright, and we know this immediately because their house, which was built on toxic landfill, is just a chain-link fence

The Conformist - Timothy Snyder's first commandment in On Tyranny: “Do not obey in advance.” What happens if you do? "The Conformist" is that story. In his 77 years, Bernardo Bertolucci made several unforgettable

The Death of Stalin - It’s not the best time to be Russian. The war in Ukraine is not a success. As the Times reports, Moscow has been sending poorly trained recruits, including convicts, to

The Ghost Writer - This week's weather forecast is for heat and more heat. Butler's mission is thus to entertain you --- to suggest movies and music that will provide more refreshment than the

The Golden Globes vs. The Head Butler Favorites - You want “fake news?” Let’s talk about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, sponsors of the Golden Globes. How many “foreign press” journalists vote on these awards? 90. Because that's all

The Harder They Come - As I write, it's 38 degrees in New York. In Negril, where I spent the most joyous holidays of the last decade, I'd be finishing a beach walk, waving off

The Hunt - Last week, Dylan Farrow published an op-ed about being molested by her father, Woody Allen, when she was 7. This weekend, Woody Allen responded. I've read a lot of commentary.

The Letter - I have praised Dodsworth --- if you haven't watched it, put it high on your list --- in terms so effusive you could think I want to have children with