Good 40s Films: Casablanca

1942 Drama
From Warner Bros.
Directed by Michael Curtiz

Starring
Humphrey Bogart
Ingrid Bergman
Paul Henreid
Claude Rains
Conrad Veidt
Sydney Greenstreet
Peter Lorre
S. Z. Sakall
Dooley Wilson
Joy Page
Leonid Kinskey

Untamed: Errol Flynn

He was a man of unbridled passions and he gathered some fame and notoriety because of a few of them.  Sailing, sex and drinking certainly headed the list and somewhere in there was living the high life, a profound sense of adventure, practical jokes and when he could manage it, a little debauchery. Hmmm, where does acting figure into all of this?  Well, Mate, except for the goodies the profession provided him, it didn't much register on his scale of desires.

REVIEW: Lion

Directed by Garth Davis
2016 Drama
1 hour 58 minutes
From The Weinstein Company

Starring
Dev Patel
Sunny Pawar
Rooney Mara
Nicole Kidman
David Wenham
Abhishek Bharate

Gay Critics Pick All-Time Best Actresses

It's that time of year that Hollywood and those who care about it start their lists.  Lists of what?  Oh, just about anything at all. The 10 best, the year's best, the best directors, the best black films, the best musicals, AFIs best, the best beat, the best from New York... really, it never ends.  It's a horse race.  Who made it?  Who finished?  Who didn't?  Oh my.  Well, the 160 members who make up The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association have foisted upon us the 10 best actresses ever.  Ever.  I don't know what special expertise my crowd has, but Honey, we have always loved our actresses.  See what you think.

Good 40s Films: The Lady Eve

1941 Comedy
From Paramount Pictures
Directed by Preston Sturges

Starring 
Barbara Stanwyck
Henry Fonda
Charles Coburn
William Demarest
Eugene Pallette
Eric Blore
Martha O'Driscoll
Janet Bleecher

REVIEW: Jackie

Directed by Pablo Larrain
2016 Biography
1 hour 40 minutes
From Fox Searchlight

Starring
Natalie Portman
Peter Sarsgaard
Billy Crudup
Greta Gerwig
Caspar Phillipson
Richard E. Grant
John Hurt

REVIEW: La La Land

Directed by Damien Chazelle
2016 Musical Drama
2 hours 8 minutes
From Lionsgate

Starring
Ryan Gosling
Emma Stone
John Legend
Rosemarie DeWitt
J.K. Simmons
Tom Everett Scott

20th Century Fox

One of my greatest childhood pleasures was sneaking into 20th Century Fox.  I admit it.  Again.  I had opportunity because not only did I live only a mile or so away, but there was a great makeshift entrance off a back lot on Little Santa Monica Blvd.  I didn't originate the cutting of the fence but I do recall enlarging it once through sheer brute force. After a couple of visits I got the feeling I would go undetected if I dressed in some sort of crazy getup and acted as though I knew what I was doing.  My plan produced the results I wanted for about 10 visits.

Happy 100th, Kirk

It is with pleasure that we wish another great star from Hollywood's Golden Age a happy, happy 100th birthday.  Most of us will never experience such a celebration and it is a thrill that we got to send good wishes to Olivia de Havilland on her 100th and now to Kirk Douglas on his.  I suspect he made it on sheer chutzpah.

Good 40s Films: Gentleman's Agreement

1947 Drama
From 20th Century Fox
Directed by Elia Kazan

Starring
Gregory Peck
Dorothy McGuire
John Garfield
Celeste Holm
Anne Revere
June Havoc
Albert Dekker
Dean Stockwell
Jane Wyatt
Sam Jaffe

REVIEW: Manchester by the Sea

Directed by Kenneth Lonergan
2016 Drama
2 hours 17 minutes
From Amazon Studios

Starring
Casey Affleck
Lucas Hedges
Michelle Williams
Kyle Chandler
C. J. Wilson
Tate Donovan
Anna Baryshnikov
Josh Hamilton
Gretchen Mol
Matthew Broderick