- John Hansen
- June 9, 2025
Coogler, Jordan team up again for too-safe ‘Sinners’
“Sinners” builds up its portrayal of 1931 life for black folk in Mississippi so well that when a bigger cinematic threat comes along, it’s a
Coogler, Jordan team up again for too-safe ‘Sinners’
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- John Hansen
- May 19, 2025
Hitchcock stumbles into sound era with ‘Juno and the Paycock’ (1930)
“Juno and the Paycock” (1930) was, even early in his career, an unusual adaptation for Alfred Hitchcock, as the material is misery-laden and lacking in
- John Hansen
- April 30, 2025
‘Spirit of St. Louis’ (1957) shows the technical side of the spectacular
Charles Lindbergh’s biography is so fascinating that his 1927 New York-to-Paris flight is arguably not even the craziest event. That event is the entire purview
- John Hansen
- February 3, 2025
‘So Long at the Fair’ (1950) a delightful riff on ‘Lady Vanishes’
“So Long at the Fair” (1950) takes a streamlined, but nonetheless enveloping, approach to a premise so good it’s almost a genre itself – one
- John Hansen
- January 12, 2025
‘The Book Thief’ (2005) is a beautiful novel about death and Nazis
I’ve read enough books now to develop a personal taste and know what topics to avoid, but after reading “The Book Thief” (2005) for my
- John Hansen
- December 26, 2024
Preston & Child hop dimensions in ‘Angel of Vengeance’
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child let their interest in 1881 New York run wild in “Angel of Vengeance” (August, hardcover), the 22nd Pendergast novel and
- John Hansen
- December 4, 2024
‘Under Capricorn’ (1949) rightly buried under Hitchcock’s suspensers
Alfred Hitchcock was the Master of Suspense, but one thing he never mastered was a consistent sense of proper pacing and movie length. “Under Capricorn”
- John Hansen
- November 20, 2024
‘Waltzes from Vienna’ (1934) a light but important Hitchcock film
“Waltzes from Vienna” (1934) isn’t quite a musical – after all, it focuses entirely on the creation of a single song, Johann Strauss II’s “The
- John Hansen
- October 12, 2024
‘Beloved’ (1987) makes brutal U.S. history achingly personal
Even the horrible things of the past must not be forgotten, lest we repeat them. It’s like Toni Morrison was chosen as a vessel to
- John Hansen
- September 24, 2024
Fall movie preview 2024: 10 films I wouldn’t mind seeing
Depth might be returning to Hollywood’s offerings this fall. The season is short on mega-hyped movies, but a closer look reveals many projects whose taglines