Christopher Saunders

LATEST ARTICLES ( 653 )

• Ghosts of Mississippi

  

  Rob Reiner's Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) probes a sensational real-life murder case with the wit and insight of an NBC movie-of-the-week. Stanley Kramer would... Read more

  Posted on 01 August 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Groggy's Latest Project: Twilight of the Clods

  

  "You will answer for everything you post on here. Remember that!"Over the past few months, I've started a few fiction projects which flamed out unceremoniously. Read more

  Posted on 30 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

  

  Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) was much better than expected. Admittedly it got more mileage from its awesome effects than the story, but it entertained... Read more

  Posted on 27 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Scalphunters

  

  Sydney Pollack's The Scalphunters (1968) is lightweight entertainment. At heart it's a counterfeit Spaghetti Western, retaining the double-crosses and coarse... Read more

  Posted on 26 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Groggy on Moviepilot: Western Ruminations

  

  Every few months Groggy gets enough stamina to sit down and write something for Moviepilot. Tonight's feature is Where Have All the Westerns Gone?, a brief... Read more

  Posted on 25 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

  

  I confess that The Mysteries of Pittsburgh's charms elude me: Michael Chabon's debut novel is a convoluted coming-of-age story crammed with snotty characters an... Read more

  Posted on 24 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Shoes of the Fisherman

  

  Michael Anderson's The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) was an instant fossil: terrible in its day, even worse forty-six years later. Long, sonorous and boring,... Read more

  Posted on 21 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• RIP James Garner

  

  We'll finish out this weekend acknowledging the death of screen legend James Garner. One of cinema's most affable leading men, Garner starred in innumerable... Read more

  Posted on 21 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Witness for the Prosecution

  

  Billy Wilder directed Witness for the Prosecution (1957) before turning to his late-career comedies. Working off an Agatha Christie play, Wilder delivers a soli... Read more

  Posted on 20 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Book Review: The Siege (1969, Russell Braddon)

  

  Braddon, Russell. The Siege: The Full, Horrifying Account of the Kut Disaster. New York: Viking Press, 1970. Originally published 1969. 352 pp. Read more

  Posted on 19 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Hud

  

  Martin Ritt's greatest work is Hud (1963), less modern Western than Texas chamber drama. Certainly it's one of Paul Newman's best roles, warping his charming... Read more

  Posted on 17 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Women in Love

  

  Ken Russell's Women in Love (1969) is an excellent adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's novel. Women's sexual content aroused controversy, though compared to... Read more

  Posted on 14 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Bofors Gun

  

  Largely ignored upon release, Jack Gold's The Bofors Gun (1968) is a serviceable service drama. John McGrath adapts his play about clashing personalities in... Read more

  Posted on 12 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Great Escape

  

  John Sturges built a career on macho ensemble pieces, with The Great Escape (1963) his finest achievement. Its mix of star power and improbable derring-do made... Read more

  Posted on 11 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Lady Caroline Lamb

  

  In her study of Robert Bolt's oeuvre, Sabine Prufer dismisses Lady Caroline Lamb (1972) as a "Regency version of Ryan's Daughter" - far kinder than... Read more

  Posted on 10 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Agony and the Ecstasy

  

  The Agony of the Ecstasy (1965) is curiously frustrating. Drawing on Irving Stone's novel, Carol Reed excels in showing the battle of wills between... Read more

  Posted on 05 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Howards of Virginia

  

  Hollywood's always struggled with the American Revolution. There aren't many films to begin with, and most of the extant ones stink. That includes The Howards o... Read more

  Posted on 04 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Edge of Tomorrow

  

  Another summer blockbuster season's upon us, cluttered with the usual franchise noise. Loosely based on a manga, Edge of Tomorrow (2014) provides a sci-fi riff... Read more

  Posted on 02 July 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Baby Doll

  

  Elia Kazan returned to Tennessee Williams with Baby Doll (1956), possibly his most controversial film. It sparked a major censorship debate, accompanied by... Read more

  Posted on 29 June 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Taxi Driver

  

  Even more than Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese's auteur status stands on Taxi Driver (1976). Bleak, violent and unsettling, it explores the thin line between hero... Read more

  Posted on 28 June 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES