Jun 11, 2026

This week, we’re spending time with Melvin James Kaminsky, better known to the universe as comedy icon and director Mel Brooks! After lampooning westerns, monster movies, and world history, Brooks turned his signature sense of humor to the cinematic sci-fi outings of Star Wars, Alien, 2001, and Planet of the Apes....

Jun 3, 2026

Aside from the release of Christopher Nolan’s period piece magician caper The Prestige, the year 2006 had one more trick up its sleeve in the form of Neil Burger’s adaptation of Steven Millhauser’s short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist.” Set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, Austria, the film stars Edward...

May 27, 2026

Nineteen Sixty-Four was a huge year for cinema, especially for movie musicals. Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady went one and two at the annual box office, with the French film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Beatles’ first film, A Hard Day's Night, becoming breakout hits. But for his birth year pick, Rum Daddy...

May 20, 2026

In 2011, director Tate Taylor adapted Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling novel into a feature film with an all-star cast including Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, Cicely Tyson, and Sissy Spacek all getting a piece of the pie. Set among upper-class white...

May 13, 2026

Around the same time that cinematic universes began to dominate every multiplex, one satire landed like a live grenade tossed directly into Hollywood’s lap. Co-written, directed by, and starring Ben Stiller, the movie follows the catastrophically doomed production of an over-budget Vietnam War epic whose cast...