Last year, I received The Invention of Hugo Cabret as a Christmas gift. This year, Martin Scorsese‘s film of it, Hugo (Gee, was the original title too “intellectual”?), is getting tons of high praise. I didn’t get around to reading…
Read more →Articles by: George D. Allen
Ask Movie Irv: How Do You Shop for a Movie Collector?
Got a question to Ask Movie Irv? Not of the “When is (title X) coming out on DVD/Blu-ray?” variety—he gets plenty of those queries via the Ask MovieFanFare, DVD Beat and TV Tip Sheet threads—and not of the “trivia quiz”…
Read more →Jesus Christ, Movie Star

I have a personal relationship with Jesus. To be more specific, lest the huffing and puffing get too heated right out of the gate: what I mean is that I have a personal experience related…
Read more →Surprise! 2012 Oscar Predictions
What’s that everybody always says about the Oscars being predictable? Well, maybe we’re just blowing that up this year. Who could have guessed that producer Brett Ratner (he of the Rush Hour films and the less-than-revered third X-Men movie) would…
Read more →A (R)ite of Passage With Your First R-Rated Movie

Remember your first R-rated movie? For young movie fans, it’s a major rite of passage whether you see your first “Restricted” title on the big or small screen. At least it used to be. Who knows what’s going on with those…
Read more →Jean Harlow 100th Anniversary Collection: Warner DVD Set

Review of the Jean Harlow 100th Anniversary Collection featuring the movies Riffraff (1935), “Suzy” (1936), “Personal Property” (1937), and “Saratoga”
Read more →The Future of Movies

They are defeating the meaning of the screen.—Charlie Chaplin, reacting to the development of “talkies” Now here’s a challenge that comes along in a big way every few decades, whenever the nature of cinema appears poised to undergo some sort…
Read more →Are You a Movie Lover?

Have you found yourself asking this question…of your friends…of your relatives…even, in a fleeting moment of self-doubt, of yourself? Some people think it’s all about liking Citizen Kane. Others believe that you can tell a lot about a person’s status by the…
Read more →Favorite Film Director Winning Streaks
This is not as easy as it sounds, but it is fun. Think of your favorite movie directors: How many of them would you say have helmed not one, not two or three…but five great films in a row? Sure,…
Read more →The Perfect Oscar Host(s)

By the time you read this, Billy Crystal fans everywhere (and I count myself among them) will have had a chance to decompress and begin re-inflating their hopes that one year in the future his price will finally be met…
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