John Nolte

Last week I posted an article from the Washington Post asking… “Hollywood Gets More Religious?” When the author of that piece used the planet-worshipping “Avatar” and Christian-ridiculing “Invention of Lying” to back his point that Hollywood’s suddenly jumped on the

The crowing we’re seeing from leftists over the belief that the roaring success of the anti-American, military-bashing, feast of political correctness that is Avatar represents some sort of validation of their worldview or a comeback for liberal film-making only begs

Spoilerific means there are spoilers. I hope that’s clear, because now that these films have been out for a while it seems safer to give away more information regarding plot and go into greater detail as to what’s so terribly

Even bad or marginal films can offer stand-alone scenes that stand out. Here are my ten favorites from last year: [youtube pYmGt7RnTlI nolink] 1. Up — Married Life Montage: Four of the most memorable and moving minutes you’ll ever see.

Top 10 Favorites of 2009: I know of no objective way to judge a film. So these are simply the ten I enjoyed and/or admired most this year that moved me in the exact way the filmmaker intended. Some of

In a year end list of the “25 Lamest of 2009,” what the left-wing film site Cinematical obviously sees as the persecution of Roman Polanski ranks at #2, with this mind-boggling rationalization: Though he’s already spent time in jail, as

“I apologize for being less than what you probably expected me to be.” In director Scott Cooper’s “Crazy Heart,” Jeff Bridges plays Bad Blake, a creatively-stifled, self-destructive former country music star drowning himself in whiskey and self-pity before finding a

Jeff Norman’s HuffPo article officially allows us to add to a growing list we like to call: Think How Much Better the World Be If the Left Was… …as outraged by communism as they are by anti-communists. …as outraged by

A few solid performances are not enough to overcome a story that can only be described as porn for people who confuse wallowing in depravity with some kind of important existential statement about life, or worse, art. There’s no point

What makes Turner Classic Movies uniquely special? In order of importance, here are the three main reasons: 1. TCM is a politics-free zone; 2. The presentation; 3. The films. You would think the films would rank number one, but that’s

Do you ever wish you would die? No. It would be foolish to ask for luxuries during times like these. Times like these represent a post-apocalyptic world where, for reasons never explained, civilization and most of every living creature has

For those of you expecting what the trailer promised: a bloated, confusing, noisy, headache-inducing Christmas blockbuster weighed down with CGI and barely made watchable by the presence of He Who Makes Everything Better – star Robert Downey Jr. – you’re

There aren’t many films that transcend their art and time and generations. A box-office disappointment when released, It’s A Wonderful Life was so forgotten its copyright lapsed causing it to be looped endlessly on small independent television stations everywhere desperate

Besides pure heart-warming entertainment value and some of the biggest laughs of any Christmas film, what makes A Christmas Story exceptional is that never before or since has there been another film like it. The offbeat, nostalgic, just shy of

So Disney spends $200 million on the production of screenwriter/director Robert Zemeckis’ computer-animated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” a story of redemption, reconciliation and forgiveness proven to have strong universal appeal. And what do they let Zemeckis go

This British production was titled Scrooge. To add further confusion, my DVD case is titled A Christmas Carol but the disc itself is titled Scrooge. As with most things Hollywood, this is due to a cost-saving measure. The 1951 American

In this household, the Christmas season can’t officially begin until we hear those two magic words… “Shitter’s full.” Once again screenwriter/producer John Hughes delivers the Christmas goods, this time with Christmas Vacation, a masterpiece of a family holiday comedy (and

Both films are listed together because they belong together, one fitting snugly against the other, offering a seamless double-feature capable of brightening your whole world for a few hours, and maybe a little longer if you can avoid leaving the

Inevitably, as the Top 25 Greatest Christmas Movie list rolls on, some start to wonder when specials like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” will get their due. Well, they won’t on a list exclusive to feature films, but they will here.

Holiday Inn isn’t just one of the all-time great Christmas films, it’s also one of the all-time great movie musicals. With an astonishingly good score, even for Irving Berlin, and the perfect star combination of the affable Bing Crosby and

I was in grade school when The Gathering first aired in 1977 — right in the middle of that second Golden Era of television that within a few years produced Rich Man Poor Man, Roots, The Night Stalker, Holocaust, Jesus

A few years ago I ranked my top-five all-time greatest performances by an actress and Jennifer Jones’ Oscar-winning work in “The Song of Bernadette” was a no brainer. She’s a marvel in a role begging for cloying sentiment. Her performance

His remake might have proved they can’t make ’em like Miracle on 34th Street anymore, but nearly twenty years later, Home Alone proves they can’t make ’em like John Hughes anymore. The Hughes canon increases in stature with each passing

There are two television movies in my top ten, here’s the first of them. Best known as George C. Scott’s A Christmas Carol, this is, thus far, the most emotionally satisfying adaptation of the Dickens’ classic yet, thanks to an