Richard A. Blake

Syriana provides a valuable insight, one of those “Aha!” moments. Before sitting through this new film, brilliantly written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, I held the rather conventional belief that the news from the Middle East was relentlessly depressing because of the horrible events

Long, sweeping shots from the air reveal a sullen winter landscape. Frosty roads hint at a tentative incursion of humanity into this otherwise barren countryside, but otherwise the scene could be taken from a distant planet. The camera slides over the edge of a monstrous crater, fashioned by steel a

"Nattering nabobs of negativism” was the phrase Spiro T. Agnew used to describe the press when he addressed the convention of California Republicans on Sept. 11, 1970. The vice president had his own reasons for despising what he called “the effete corps of impudent snobs.” Loc

Broken Flowers needs no narrative. Bill Murray’s face says it all: unspeakably sad eyes that might once have had the twinkle of a comedian, pitted jowls and a mouth far too small and puffy for a face grown larger as his forehead nudges his hairline backwards. He stares intently at his huge pla

Can you find a connection between these three statements? 1. Hollywood complains that box-office is way down this summer. 2. When I was looking around for material for another film column that might interest America readers, I was driven to a month-old documentary about penguins. 3. Even with the ma

They don’t make movies the way they used to, and Cinderella Man shows why. Before it opened, Universal thought it had a certain hit on its hands. The film features two of the most bankable names on any marquee in the world: Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger. Its director, Ron Howard, had team

It’s hard. Reviews of Woody Allen’s new films generally break into two categories: The master hasn’t lost his touch, or the master is in decline. Those of us who have followed Allen’s career closely over the last 30 years and consider him the greatest American filmmaker of th

Most people drink in order to enjoy wine. Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti) enjoys wine in order to drink. Surely there are as many definitions of alcoholism as there are drinkers, or even as there are people who have ever thought about it, but Miles has enough classic symptoms to give friends reason to

In 1931, as the Depression tightened its grip on the American imagination, a very young Bing Crosby recorded a Harry Warren jazz ballad with the words, “I found a million dollar baby in a five-and-ten-cent store.” The song became a hit, and its singer went on to become one of the great i

The Catholicism in Martin Scorsese’s films involves much more than crucifixes on the walls of his Italian-American characters. It lies at the heart of the conflicts faced by his tragic heroes. These are men (sic) who because of their own actions find themselves separated from the community tha