Christopher Saunders

LATEST ARTICLES ( 667 )

• The Godfather Epic

  

  Tonight, HBO aired (uncut, commercial free and a staggering 434 minutes long) The Godfather Epic. The Godfather and its first sequel have seen numerous reedits... Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Carol

  

  Todd Haynes' Carol (2015) revisits ground his earlier Far from Heaven (2002) covered much better. Another tale of homosexual repression in the '50s, it scores... Read more

  Posted on 16 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Foreign Correspondent

  

  "This is a big story, and you're part of it."Alfred Hitchcock earned two Best Picture nominations in 1940, a feat unmatched until Francis Ford Coppola's The... Read more

  Posted on 16 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Oscars and Other News

  

  Well, it's that time of year. The Academy Award nominations were announced today. Complete list here.Of the eight Best Picture nominees, I've seen four:... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• To Catch a Thief

  

  "My only comment would be highly censorable!"It's easy to like To Catch a Thief (1955), harder to defend it. Alfred Hitchcock sends Cary Grant and Grace Kelly o... Read more

  Posted on 14 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Dial M for Murder

  

  "May the saints protect us from the gifted amateur." Dial M for Murder (1954) was my first Alfred Hitchcock film. Not sure how much I appreciated it at age 12,... Read more

  Posted on 13 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Stage Fright

  

  "If there's one thing I cannot bear, it's insincerity."Critics typically rank Stage Fright (1950) among Alfred Hitchcock's lesser works. It's amusing light... Read more

  Posted on 12 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Suspicion

  

  "If you're going to kill someone, do it simply." Alfred Hitchcock undertook Suspicion (1941) as a break from David O. Selznick's domineering supervision. Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Revenant

  

  "I ain't afraid to die anymore. I'd done it already." The Revenant (2015) is already notorious for its tortured production and polarized response. Alejandro G. Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Man in the Wilderness

  

  "I never much agreed with God's will."Man in the Wilderness (1971) fictionalizes the life of Hugh Glass, frontiersman, bear-fighter and adoptive Indian. His... Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• State of Play

  

  (2009) is an old-school thriller with a modern edge. Kevin Macdonald adapts a well-received BBC miniseries into a solid film, a topical exploration of and... Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Madigan

  

  Don Siegel directed two crime dramas in 1968. One, Coogan's Bluff (1968) is a crude prototype for Dirty Harry, with Clint Eastwood as a Western sheriff... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Girl (2012)

  

  Alfred Hitchcock had a rough 2012. Sacha Gervais's Hitchcock purports to celebrate the director but depicts him as a repressed, voyeuristic weirdo. Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Hitchcock (2012)

  

  Since Alfred Hitchcock is among the few classic directors still a household name, a biopic was inevitable. But did it have to be Hitchcock (2012)? Read more

  Posted on 06 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Red Eye

  

  (2005) is a nifty, efficient thriller. Wes Craven sells a paper-thin premise with commendable economy, helped by two effective stars.Lisa Reisert (Rachel... Read more

  Posted on 05 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Concussion

  

  In a movie season filled with cover-ups (Spotlight) and corporate malfeasance (The Big Short), Concussion seems amundane. Still, Peter Landesman's examination o... Read more

  Posted on 03 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Joy

  

  (2015) is a biopic of Joy Mangano, inventor of the Miracle Mop. That's likely why trailers promote the movie as vaguely as possible, showing Jennifer Lawrence... Read more

  Posted on 03 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Hateful Eight

  

  Credit Quentin Tarantino with this: it was cool seeing a modern movie in 70mm with Overture and Intermission, especially when coupled with an original Ennio... Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Best and Worst Film Viewings of 2015

  

  2015! What a shitty year, cinematically and otherwise - I'm glad it's over. I didn't watch as many films as usual, but I managed enough to scrape together our... Read more

  Posted on 01 January 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Big Short

  

  In adapting Michael Lewis's The Big Short into a movie, Adam McKay faced an insurmountable obstacle: relating financial misdeeds and investment schemes to... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2015 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES