John Nolte

When you come out to Hollywood hoping for any kind of career in filmdom one of the first and easiest groups to fall in with are the dreamers who never give up waiting for the big break that never comes.

Another Easter season comes and goes without a single offering from mainstream Hollywood to attract oh, say, a billion or so believers into theatres. We’re not political, they say. We’re not agenda-driven, they say. Our choices are based on profit,

Seth Rogen’s appeal baffles me, at least as a leading man in romantic comedies, albeit raunchy ones. There’s nothing warm about the guy and no matter how sincere he tries to be an undercurrent of sullen hostility never leaves his

That is one outstanding trailer and the first footage I’ve seen. This era’s always proved difficult for present-day filmmakers to credibly recreate. One major exception is “L.A. Confidential” (1997), but the rest, most notably Scorsese’s ridiculously over-praised “The Aviator” (2004),

“Holy Rollers” “Oh dear…” Elizabeth Snead over at the L.A. Times laments in her headline upon learning Miley Cyrus is, thanks to her boyfriend Justin Gaston, “closer to the Lord”: Miley Cyrus says she’s gotten much holier since she started

No matter how frustrated, disappointed, or outright disgusted Hollywood makes me, all is forgiven during that brief moment just after the trailers finish and just before the film begins. When those lights dim the chip dissolves from my shoulder and

Should the fourth installment live up to its promise, that promise being the casting of Christian Bale as John Connor, the Terminator franchise will be on the way to being the one of the best and most consistent action/adventure franchises

[youtube RuxHLzwlDY4 nolink] Tough choice between this and “Dr. Zhivago” (1965). Maurice Jarre won well-deserved Oscars for both (and “A Passage To India” in 1984). Other memorable, hummable, off-the-top-of-my-head favorites include “The Train” (1964), “The Professionals” (1966) and “Witness” (1985).

8pm PST – The 27th Day (1957) – Aliens give five people from different nations the power to destroy their enemies. Cast: Gene Barry, Valerie French, George Voskovec, Arnold Moss Dir: William Asher BW-76 mins, TV-PG What makes the “The

11pm PST – Bugsy (1991) The famed gangster running the mobs in Los Angeles tries to turn Las Vegas into a vacation paradise. Cast: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley Dir: Barry Levinson C-136 mins, TV-MA Warren Beatty

[youtube _TkHs0pVHFI nolink] The clip would be perfect had it ended at the 2:30 mark, but the scene still plays. The film is Raoul Walsh’s “Desperate Journey” (1942), a patriotic actioner, a sort of “Gunga Din” behind German lines with

[youtube ICxu7F7xPZQ nolink] 7pm PST – You’ll Never Get Rich (1941) A Broadway dancing team splits up when the male dancer is drafted. Cast: Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Robert Benchley, John Hubbard Dir: Sidney Lanfield BW-89 mins, TV-G Those 63

DreamWorks Animation has created a niche all their own; great looking, high-concept computer animated films with about as much thematic depth as an installment of “Josey and the Pussycats.” It’s as if Pixar created DreamWorks Animation just to make themselves

The American Film Institute went a little list-crazy a few years back. Most of their surveys were fun and about the pure pleasure of movie watching (top 100 chills, quotes, songs, laughs… ), but 1999’s “100 Years…100 Stars” definitely caught

Unless there’s a story beyond: “The repairman was surprised to discover Ms. Pershwipple’s telephone worked just fine…” I vote we keep porn out of it. Other than that, this could be an interesting and revealing exercise… Very simple, what are

9pm PST – Sunrise (1927) – In this silent film, a farmer’s affair with a city woman almost destroys his life. Cast: George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing Dir: F. W. Murnau BW-94 mins, TV-PG Set your TiVo

With a jazzy score, twisty-turny plot, split-screens and scads of romantic banter between two attractive, well-tailored leads who never quite know whether or not one is hustling the other, “Duplicity” wants very much to catch the vibe of those romantic

In yesterday’s post about the third most popular movie star in America today, I referenced 6 John Wayne masterpieces and 12 classics. A few emails resulted asking which films that referred to, so here are the masterpieces ranked in order

No, it’s not any of those celebrities we’re told are stars. DiCaprio and George Clooney didn’t even make the top 10. Neither did Ashton Kutcher, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Seth Rogen, Matt Damon, Will Farrell, or Tom Cruise. Every year

Last week, Jim Cramer had to be asking himself, “Why me? Why now? Why did Pop Culture’s King Jester choose this point and time to turn me into a national joke for doing what I’ve been doing forever?” It’s been

11:15am PST – Alamo, The (1960) – Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie join the fight for Texas’ independence from Mexico. Cast: John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey, Frankie Avalon Dir: John Wayne C-203 mins, TV-14 John Wayne felt it was

The remake of Wes Craven’s classic 1972 low-budget gut churner gets itself into trouble almost immediately in an early sequence. Krug (Garret Dillahunt) is on his way to jail when his very own Manson Family (a wild-child girlfriend and slithering

3:15pm PST – Hell is for Heroes (1962) – A small U.S. squadron holds off the Nazis in a desperate last stand. Cast: Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, Harry Guardino Dir: Don Siegel BW-90 mins, TV-PG No classic, but

There’s nothing better than a time travel flick that works, but it has to work – it has to hold together. The few months I spent doing script coverage some years ago, it felt like a time travel screenplay came