There are many striking elements to George Stevens’ The Diary of Anne Frank. William C. Mellor’s stunning cinematography consistently captures the claustrophobia and mental/emotional degeneration of two and a half years in an attic. Unfortunately, Mellor does not employ his skills to shed light on the horrors of the Holocaust. Cynthia Ozick’s focus on Otto [...]

During his speech at St. Mary’s graduation service, Father O’Malley (Bing Crosby) tells the assembled, “St. Mary’s is founded on faith, hope, and charity.” He might as well have added lies to this list of building blocks. Throughout the course of the film, the major characters lie to one another and others they encounter. Father [...]

Having been a fan of Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man, I have always wanted to read John Krakauer’s Into the Wild, and I want to do so even more now that I have seen Sean Penn’s cinematic adaptation of it. Chris McCandless’ enigmatic existence makes for an epic film full of important questions concerning society, life, [...]

Thanks to Alex Carpenter for pointing out this video. Jeff Skoll made his fortune ($2 billion) as the first president of eBay. Now he’s spending it at the movies. His company, Participant Productions, makes entertaining, issues-driven films that inspire real change — Murderball, Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth … Here, he talks about the people who’ve [...]

The Colorado Rockies have certainly provided some exciting moments for this year’s MLB playoffs and continue to be the team to watch, leaving Philadelphia last night with a 2-0 lead over the Phillies. If their play on the field has been praiseworthy thus far, their off the field behavior is certainly the stuff of champions. [...]

Manohla Dargis, a film critic for the New York Times, has a review of an upcoming documentary about abortion called Lake of Fire. I have not seen the film yet, but her review is certainly compelling. The article also contains segments of an interview with the director, Tony Kaye. I appreciate both of their comments [...]

This year, two major films will examine the effects of the Iraq War on American soil. While we do not physically experience the daily bombings and violence of the war that takes place thousands of miles away, we are dealing with and will increasingly deal with the mental, emotional, and physical after effects of this [...]

NBC just keeps the hits rolling. Returning prime time successes include the aforementioned Friday Night Lights, The Office, and My Name is Earl. However, along with FNL, NBC’s Heroes turned out to be one of my favorite programs and a suprise hit last season. As the new fall TV lineup descends upon us with a [...]

One of my favorite television programs from last season is Friday Night Lights. Despite poor ratings, but thanks to much critical acclaim, NBC has decided to bring back this high school football drama, and I could not be more thankful. Bill Simmons, one of the more entertaining sports journalists of today, has a great article [...]