West Side Story

dvr this Turner Classic Movies, Sunday, Aug. 18, 6 a.m. Arguably the greatest film musical ever made, West Side Story won 10 Oscars and is still an astonishing site to behold. Mostly this is because of Robert Wise’s and Jerome Robbins’ direction, which took a very stagey show and made it believable on the streets…

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Gaslight

dvr this Turner Classic Movies, Saturday, July 20, 5 p.m.   Among the worst holes in my film watching history is Gaslight, the movie that gave us the term “gaslighting,” which means creating an elaborate lie to fool someone, ultimately driving them mad. The film is considered one of the greatest ever made, with (gay)…

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Rebel Without A Cause

Turner Classic Movies, Sunday, July 7, 1 p.m. The movie that made James Dean a star is about a, yes, rebellious teenager in the 1950s whose charisma persuades a girl (Natalie Wood) and a boy (Sal Mineo) to question the stringency of post-war America. Wood and Mineo were both nominated for Oscars, while Dean became…

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Silver Linings Playbook

dvd of the week When I read that Silver Linings Playbook was about two psychologically troubled people, I was initially concerned. So many film depictions of crazy are just crazy awful. I wasn’t encouraged when the first few scenes of the film took place in a mental hospital. But shortly after Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper)…

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