Even as I sat at my keyboard, watching this film, I felt nervous about putting this title online. I still do. “How To Blow Up a Pipeline” is a heavily provocative title, and anywhere in the world, it’s a dangerous six-word introduction to put on paper. I was quick to add “The Movie,” so that […]

I was taken, in my New York days, by a girl named Estella, who insisted that I read Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations,” because she was named after the character in the novel. I didn’t get very far with the book or Estella, and abandoned both. Make of that what you will. I just finished three […]

I remember this story because I’m old. If you’re older than 60, you will as well, but at the time, here in America, you probably didn’t care. It was 1963, and the assassination of JFK was enough to deal with, and no one here even knew the rest of the world existed or cared. But […]

Hollywood has always smelled money in teams, am I wrong? Who can blame them? The list of Gold Teams is endless. We remember Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Hope and Crosby, Judy and Mickey, Roy Rogers and Trigger, and then Jane came along and Tarzan dropped Cheeta, just when we kids loved them. The […]

As the grandson of Irish immigrants to America, I have always been drawn, even for a few moments, to any tale of Irish gloom, which is almost always the basement where such films begin. Most Irish films, like “Waking Ned Devine” are darlin’ comedies, and others like 2015’s “Brooklyn” starring Saoirse Ronan are laced with […]

I’ve got to start reading the small print when I choose a movie on the movie channels. Desperate for something funny to review, all I saw was Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper. Of course, I turned it on and ignored that it was made in 2009. Where has it been since 2009? “All About Steve,” […]

Remember when Richard Nixon won his first Presidential election in 1969, and appeared on the original “Laugh In” with the show’s comedy line “Sock it to me?” Right now on Netflix, you can see it all again because that famous comedy show that ran from 1968-73 on NBC with its hosts Dan Rowan and Dick […]

Dear viewers, I send you this week to the brand new Maine Film Center in Waterville to enjoy Francis O’Connor’s directorial debut film “Emily.” O’Connor, a former actor with a shiny resume (“Mansfield Park” 1999, “Bedazzled” 2000) steps out of the hot lights and into the impressive powerful dark world behind the camera where the […]

I came to like the young Jonah Hill when he was the “6 year kid” on Saturday Night Live. It was a hilarious bit and SNL repeated it, to my delight, many times. Then young Hill went sideways and off the Pacific Coast highway of showbiz. “21 Jump Street” and “22 Jump Street” and the […]