Christopher Saunders

LATEST ARTICLES ( 607 )

• A Majority of One

  

  Mervyn Leroy's A Majority of One (1961) offers an entertaining culture clash romance. Based on Leonard Spigelgass's successful play, it offers a sensitive,... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• History: Martin Luther King Jr., William F. Buckley and Civil Rights

  

  Martin Luther King, TroublemakerFew moments in the Civil Rights Movement - even more than the Birmingham Bus Protests or the March on Washington - encapsulate... Read more

  Posted on 17 October 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• History: A Brief History of the Madman Theory

  

  Thomas C. SchellingBesides mass shootings, hurricanes and ongoing investigations into election meddling, the United States is currently embroiled in gamesmanshi... Read more

  Posted on 02 October 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

  

  (1956) is an ambitious, overlong, mismatched package of ideas, characters and story lines. Adapting Sloan Wilson's novel, Nunnally Johnson tries too hard to... Read more

  Posted on 23 September 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Groggy Watches TV: BoJack Horseman

  

  "I don't believe in deep down. I kind of think all you are is just the things that you do."When BoJack Horseman first premiered in August 2014, critics wrote... Read more

  Posted on 19 September 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• RIP Harry Dean Stanton

  

  "Things ain't workin' out for me today!"Legendary character actor Harry Dean Stanton passed away yesterday. He is one of those amazing actors who made anything... Read more

  Posted on 16 September 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• History: In Which Smedley Butler and the United States Marine Corps Make Haiti...

  

  Battle of Fort Riviere (source)Woodrow Wilson took office pledging to curtail the gunboat diplomacy of his Republican predecessors. Read more

  Posted on 15 September 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Blog Moves On, Another Month, Another Drama-Drama

  

  It's been three weeks since my last post, so this is mainly to let everyone know that I'm still alive. I doubt readers care much what's going on with me... Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Young Cassidy

  

  "All the world's a stage, but some of us are desperately under-rehearsed." John Ford admired radical Irish playwright Sean O'Casey, even directing a fatally... Read more

  Posted on 21 August 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• State of the Union (1948)

  

  "The world needs honest men today more than it does presidents!"Frank Capra built his reputation on trans-ideological appeals to Man's better nature, arguing... Read more

  Posted on 20 August 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Blow-Up

  

  "Nothing like a little disaster for sorting things out."Blow-Up (1966) has been a seminal text for cineastes and filmmakers for 50 years. Read more

  Posted on 16 August 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Race

  

  Stephen Hopkins' Race (2016) is slightly better than you'd expect it to be. An inspirational sports drama focusing on Jesse Owens, the American track star who... Read more

  Posted on 16 August 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• American History X

  

  "Life's too short to be pissed off all the time."It seems timely to revisit American History X (1998) this weekend, a sad commentary on the state of America in... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Misfits

  

  "A man who's too afraid to die is too afraid to live."John Huston's The Misfits (1961) is a remarkably star-crossed film: between a difficult shoot in... Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Detroit

  

  Few directors handle white-knuckle intensity better than Kathryn Bigelow, and Detroit (2017) delivers that in spades. The movie's second act, an hour of brutal... Read more

  Posted on 08 August 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• August Preview! Some Movies, More History

  

  "What is all this nonsense about Groggy posting history instead of film reviews? I want him murdered!"Welcome to August for all of my readers! Read more

  Posted on 05 August 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Drowning Pool

  

  Nine years after Harper (1966), Paul Newman reprises his role as Ross Macdonald's snide, gum-chewing detective in The Drowning Pool (1975). Read more

  Posted on 31 July 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Dunkirk (2017)

  

  Over time, Christopher Nolan's career evolved from modest art films (Memento, Following) to bombastic blockbusters (The Dark Knight, Inception, etc.) evincing... Read more

  Posted on 29 July 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Live by Night

  

  After a string of critical successes (Gone Baby Gone, The Town, the Oscar-winning Argo), Ben Affleck found his first flop with Live By Night (2016). Read more

  Posted on 26 July 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Birth of a Nation (2016)

  

  Few films rose and fell as quickly as The Birth of a Nation (2016), Nate Parker's troubled Nat Turner biopic. After a rapturous Sundance reception and... Read more

  Posted on 25 July 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES