Christopher Saunders

LATEST ARTICLES ( 659 )

• RIP Lauren Bacall

  

  More sad news: RIP to Lauren Bacall, the long-lived, classy star of The Big Sleep, Key Largo, North West Frontier and The Shootist, among many others.Back to... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• RIP Robin Williams

  

  Robin Williams, the legendary actor-comedian, died at age 63. Early sources are suggesting he committed suicide, which is a horrible shame. Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Kissinger and Nixon

  

  TNT produced Kissinger and Nixon (1995) to capitalize on Oliver Stone's Nixon. Drawing on Walter Isaacson's biography of Henry Kissinger, it focuses on the... Read more

  Posted on 09 August 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Secret Honor

  

  Richard Nixon's had some strange cinematic incarnations, but Robert Altman's Secret Honor (1984) takes the cake. Many consider this one-man show - 90 minutes... Read more

  Posted on 07 August 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• In Which Groggy Kicks Dick Nixon Around and Charges with Lord Cardigan

  

  Today, I've had two pieces published on two separate websites! Please forgive me a few paragraphs of self-promotion.First, to mark the upcoming 40th... Read more

  Posted on 06 August 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• King Rat

  

  (1965) provides a grisly antidote to prisoner-of-war films. Even sober POW flicks like Grand Illusion and Bridge on the River Kwai inject escape attempts or... Read more

  Posted on 03 August 2014 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• 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