Casablanca: You Must Remember This
Casablanca was just another movie meant to bolster the spirit of American audiences at a time when the nation had just entered an exceptionally bloody war against three nations. The director had plenty of experience, but he also had somewhat of an assembly-line approach to filmmaking and this wasn’t his only movie premiering that year. The two stars had not quite yet reached the top of stardom. But the film was nevertheless a hit and has become perhaps THE Hollywood classic over the years…
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Margot at the Wedding
Margot (Nicole Kidman) and her son (Zane Pais) go to Long Island where her sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is about to marry Malcolm (Jack Black), whom Margot finds unworthy. The Squid and the Whale director returns with another dysfunctional family drama. There’s a story somewhere in here about family members who love each other in spite of the nasty things they’re saying, but that disappears in all the bile. Black is amusing, but his presence only underlines…
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Six Trailers Worth Checking Out
Five Minutes of Heaven – Liam Neeson stars in this Northern Ireland drama, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who last made the disappointing The Invasion (2007). But he also made Downfall (2004), so this film should be up his alley…
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Karl Malden – The Archetypal Hollywood Actor
Karl Malden has passed away at the age of 97. I thought hard about what he meant to me as an actor, but I can’t find anything that I’ll miss specifically. Of course, he delivered plenty of meaningful performances, but he is still primarily remembered for The Streets of San Francisco, a show I never watched. When I read about him, it does hit me that he basically had an archetypal Hollywood career. He was never one of the greatest stars, but a lot of people only dream of what he accomplished…
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Bill O'Reilly Must Be Grinding His Teeth Now
It’s safe to say that Al Franken and Bill O’Reilly hate each other. They have for several years now. On his show, O’Reilly has often condescendingly referred to Franken as “Stuart Smalley”, a character the comedian invented on Saturday Night Live. In 2003, Franken published his book “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right” and was promptly sued by Fox News who foolishly considered the term “fair and balanced” to be owned by them. A court told them that is not the case and the whole experience turned into an embarrassment to both Fox News and their figurehead, O’Reilly…
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Spellbound
A straight-forward, lauded documentary that follows eight children as they prepare for the 1999 National Spelling Bee. They come from different circumstances and the filmmakers do their best to make us understand them and their motivations, thereby making us invest emotionally in them and root for them at the climactic contest. The parents play a large part in most cases, we realize, pinning their hopes for glory on their kids and maybe pushing them too hard for a competition…
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Reviews of movies, TV shows and TV movies... and a blog where I can't help but comment on politics. A little something for everyone then? Brought to you by Stefan Hedmark. 
