Movies have always been in my life. Music takes me back but movies from my childhood are also etched on my memory. I remember crying at King Kong and having hysterics (crying, not laughing!!) at the horse’s head scene in The G-dfather. I was mesmerised by David Niven’s performance in A Matter Of Life And Death ...
‘THE IRISHMAN’ (2019)
I watched Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ last night: in a word, ‘superb’. As soon as it finished, I posted a short tweet (@kobysstars), said that, for me, it’s up there with ‘Goodfellas’, I “wow”’d the acting and the soundtrack, lauded Scorsese as a genius and left it there… BUT I woke up this morning and ...
‘JOKER’ (2019): MOVIE REVIEW
Sometimes, you go to the cinema to see a movie (yeah, I know, when you go to the cinema, it is usually to see a movie), you go in the evening, you wake up the next morning and the movie weighs heavy on your mind, sometimes in your heart, sometimes in your soul. Sometimes, I’m ...
‘TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL’ (2015)
On 22 July 2018, I tweeted the following: @TabHunterDoc(blog to follow): tears of sadness & joy in my eyes, throughout! A beaut. #humanbeing! From his #soulrose up #love, #courage, #perseverance, #tolerance, #forgiveness, #gratitude, #understanding, #empathy. Telling my wife about the doc afterwards, I burst into tears. So here’s the blog: After I watched this brilliant documentary on the ...
‘THE SONG OF BERNADETTE’ (1943)
I watched, last night, 'The Song of Bernadette' (1943), a movie masterpiece from Director Henry King, a stupendous, Oscar-winning, 'divine' performance by Jennifer Jones, one of the most staggering, most powerful acting performances I've ever seen, Alfred Newman's celestial, pathetical, powerful score (Oscar) is so effective, art direction/interior design, B&W (Oscar), cinematography, B&W (Oscar), both ...
‘REAR WINDOW’ (1954)
On Sunday evening, I watched ‘Rear Window’ for the first time. So captured was I by the movie that I watched it again the next day! I got so much more out of it during the second viewing and as I’ve been thinking about it over the last 24 hours, I’ve got even more out ...
ROBERT OSBORNE, 1932-2017, RENOWNED, REVERED AND MUCH LOVED MOVIE HISTORIAN, EDUCATOR, EVANGELIST
"I think we have to have dreams...we need a little Carmen Miranda with all her tutti frutti hats. And we need some Fred and Ginger dancing. We need Gene Kelly hanging off that lamppost. We need to be taken into a fantasy world, and not be afraid to go there occasionally." Robert Osborne was - is ...
‘Psycho’ (1960)
I’m working my way through Hitchcock’s movies…. I watched ‘Rebecca’ a year or two ago, it’s a fav of mine, of course....Mrs. Danvers, horrifyingly played by Judith Anderson, Maxim, the legend Laurence Olivier, Jack Favell, portrayed by the wonderful George Sanders… I watched ‘North By Northwest’ last week, fantastic! Cary Grant is off-the-scale wonderful, Eva Marie Saint ...
‘NORTH BY NORTHWEST’ (1959)
(BEWARE, SPOILERS!) Last week, I watched, for the, yes, shock, horror, first time, ‘North By Northwest’ (1959), one of Hitchcock’s masterpieces. Of course, as is well known, Hitchcock not being awarded a ‘Best Director’ Oscar in relation to any of his movies is one of THE Academy Awards travesties (of which, we know, there are many!). Hitchcock was ...
‘THE CROWN’ (2016), NETFLIX TV-SERIES (1): OUTSTANDING!!
Last week, I finished watching Series 1 of The Netflix production, ‘The Crown’. Some days earlier, I was trawling through the Netflix website when I happened across ‘The Crown’ and casually pressed ‘Play’. As the name of the drama suggests, this is a show which throws a spotlight on the Windsors, the British and Commonwealth ...
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
So I thought I'd watch 'A Streetcar Named Desire' tonight - I was NOT expecting that!! I was prepared for some serious acting, I knew it was a classic, I knew it had some of the big Oscars and Oscar Nominations to its name, I wasn't expecting a light, easy-going movie but that intensity, the ...
LA LA LAND (2016) – A MASTERPIECE!
Not since 'The Artist' have a seen a movie that has moved me, blown me away, like La La Land did tonight - SO MANY superlatives come to mind. I acknowledge that I am an emotional sort, easily brought to tears, and this masterpiece of a movie had me in full flow... I don't want ...
‘CASABLANCA’ (1942) AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE SILVER SCREEN
I finally got round to watching "Casablanca" last night. Exquisite! Love it! I knew that Ingrid Bergman was beautiful but I didn't realise HOW beautiful....stunning!! Her eyes and that GORGEOUS smile!! The cinematography, the lighting, the atmosphere...and her clothes!! In that outfit she wears when, with Victor Laszlo, she walks into Capitaine Renault's office, white ...
‘THE KING OF COMEDY’ (1982): MOVIE REVIEW
A movie review - how have I got through the last 33 or 34 years without watching ‘The King of Comedy’? What a delight…that might be the wrong adjective as this is a dark, a black, comedy and it is, at times, excruciating to watch….ok, in the context of masochistic entertainment, MOVIE entertainment, it was an ...
‘TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD’ (1962)
Another classic movie which, unbelievably, I had not watched before Tuesday night (a day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as it happens). In 1995, this movie was listed in the National Film Registry and it was listed at number 25 on the American Film Insitute’s 10th anniversary list of the Greatest American Movies of ...
‘FROM HERE TO ETERNITY’: ONE OF THE GREAT MOVIES!!
Well, finally, in my 50th year, I got round to watching 'From Here To Eternity'. I'm in love with Frank Sinatra's music but, for some reason, it had never occured to me to watch the movies. James Kaplan's superb two-volume Sinatra biography ('Frank: The Voice' [aka, in the UK, 'Frank: The Making Of A Legend'] ...
‘THE IMITATION GAME’ (2014).
I've just watched 'The Imitation Game' again - what a great film! Superb performance from/by Benedict Cumberbatch! I can't get my head around how shamefully the British State crap*ed on a man who was an absolute hero, a man who saved millions of lives, one of THE greatest war heroes in history, how and why he ...
‘Victim’ (1961)
I watched Basil Dearden’s great, powerful movie, ‘Victim’, again last night - it must be 25 years since I last watched it. ‘Victim’ was not a vehicle to showcase and build the ‘matinee idol’ Dirk Bogarde. Dirk had left the Rank Organisation (Film Studios) by the time he starred in 'Victim' and although he had starred ...
‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ (1962): A Movie Masterpiece
I am not steeped in the 'Western' genre but, as a layman, I think this movie is a masterpiece. This is not just a piece of entertainment - this is social commentary and US history portrayed on celluloid, glued together with great characters, an 'edge-of-the-seat' story line, comedy and romance. One only needs to look at the ...
“It Happened One Night” (1934)
Another magical movie, a Frank Capra triumph - quite literally: the first movie to grab the 'Big Five' Oscars. 1935 (though a 1934 movie) Academy Awards: 'Best Picture', 'Best Director', 'Best Actor', 'Best Actress' and 'Best Writing, Adaptation' for Robert Riskin. An inauspicious start, legend has it that Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert were NOT the ...
“Sunset Boulevard” (1950): A Magical Movie!!!
Shame on me, I know, 49 years old and I've just watched 'Sunset Boulevard' for the first time. I know the word 'genius' is bandied about too much but it seems so right to attach it to Billy Wilder - what a director! One of my favourite films of all time is Wilder's 1954 'Sabrina' but ...
Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961)
'Sabrina' (1954) is one of my favourite movies and I thought it high time that I watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's" - well, shame on me for getting to 48 years old and only watching it last night for the first time. Better late than never. I'll cut to the chase, yes, George Peppard is terrific but ...
True Grit
Well, there's another movie that can be crossed off the 'must see' list: True Grit. I really don't know the 'Western' genre and I sat down to watch True Grit with an open mind. Verdict: I loved it. It had everything I thought it would have...plus more. I didn't expect comedy but John Wayne provided it. John Wayne's ...
All About Eve
I recently watched the classic film, All About Eve: I was in shock, aghast...Bette Davis was off the scale, a staggering performance and, ahhhhhh, George Sanders, that voice!! Anne Baxter as Eve, captivating, as deliciously poisonous as JR but more dangerous, more hungry, more manipulative, Marilyn Monroe, beautiful, those quivering lips, the pout, and the ...
