Christopher Saunders

LATEST ARTICLES ( 659 )

• La Commune (Paris, 1871)

  

  "History is violence, all the time."As cinematic experiments go, Peter Watkins' La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2000) is truly impressive. Read more

  Posted on 08 March 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• RIP Robert Osborne

  

  For anyone who missed it, longtime Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne recently died at the age of 84. As a lifelong TCM addict, I always appreciated his... Read more

  Posted on 07 March 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Culloden

  

  Peter Watkins spent his career redefining "docudrama." While the phrase often describes any fictionalized version of real events, Watkins' movies restage... Read more

  Posted on 06 March 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Collateral Beauty

  

  Awhile back, Will Smith decided to shed his Fresh Prince/Men in Black persona and become a serious actor. It's an understandable impulse shared by many stars,... Read more

  Posted on 05 March 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Book Review: The Guns of August (1962, Barbara W. Tuchman)

  

  Tuchman, Barbara W. The Guns of August. New York: Macmillan, 1962. 511 pp.In October 1962, when the Cuban Missile Crisis poised the world on the cusp of... Read more

  Posted on 05 March 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Book Review: The Proud Tower (1966, Barbara W. Tuchman)

  

  Barbara W. Tuchman, The Proud Tower: A History of the World Before the War, 1890-1914. New York: Macmillan, 1966. 528 pp.The First World War's centennial... Read more

  Posted on 01 March 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Oscars So What?

  

  I didn't watch the Oscars last night, but like all sentient humans I'm aware of what happened: namely, that La La Land was mistakenly announced as Best... Read more

  Posted on 27 February 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Hearts and Minds and Oscars

  

  April 8th, 1975 in Los Angeles, California. A massive thunderstorm swamped the Academy Awards, inundating the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and its Hollywood... Read more

  Posted on 27 February 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Groggy Watches TV: OJ: Made in America and The People Vs. O.J. Simpson:...

  

  As someone six years old when the O.J. Simpson drama unfolded, I can't claim any particular attachment to the "Trial of the Century. Read more

  Posted on 26 February 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Groggy Watches TV: Gravity Falls

  

  What does Groggy do when not reviewing classic movies, charting the evolution of American conservatism and pondering life's purpose in a world of alternative... Read more

  Posted on 20 February 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Sweet Smell of Success

  

  "I'd hate to take a bite out of you. You're a cookie full of arsenic!"There's no shortage of movies depicting the press as irresponsible and sensationalist,... Read more

  Posted on 19 February 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• RIP John Hurt

  

  Looks like another awful year for celebrity deaths: not only Mary Tyler Moore and Barbara Hale, but the great John Hurt. The venerable star of so many classics ... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• History: The State Department and the Madman, 1969-1970

  

  Richard Nixon took office with a bold strategy to end the Vietnam War. "I call it the Madman Theory, Bob," he explained to Bob Haldeman, his White House Chief o... Read more

  Posted on 27 January 2017 HISTORY

• The Omega Man

  

  Richard Matheson's I Am Legend has inspired three films, none of them a classic. Last Man on Earth (1964) has atmosphere and Vincent Price, but it's let down... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Amarcord

  

  Federico Fellini's last masterwork, Amarcord (1973) provides an elaborate slice of Italian life. Drawing from Fellini's own childhood, it's funny, crude and... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Broken Blossoms

  

  "The Yellow Man's youthful dreams come to wreck against the sordid realities of life." After two colossal epics, D.W. Griffith turned to a simpler melodrama. Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

  

  History remembers The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) as a missed opportunity. Orson Welles' follow-up to Citizen Kane suffered from studio mangling and reshoots,... Read more

  Posted on 05 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Birth of a Nation (1915)

  

  "The former enemies of North and South are united again in common defense of their Aryan birthright." Modern cineastes regard The Birth of a Nation (1915) with... Read more

  Posted on 05 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Within Our Gates (1920)

  

  "I've sold my birthright. All for a miserable mess of pottage."The remarkable Oscar Micheaux went from Pullman porter, farmer and novelist to Hollywood's first... Read more

  Posted on 04 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Laura (1944)

  

  "When a dame gets killed, she doesn't worry about how she looks."Otto Preminger offers a high-class thriller with Laura (1944). Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2017 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES