It is the year 1191 and King Richard the Lionhearted has departed England to lead the Crusades and has placed the regency in the care of trusted friend Longchamps, instead of his treacherous brother Prince John (a wonderfully fey Claude Rains). When Richard is seized by the King of Austria, John uses the opportunity to unseat Longchamps and, backed by the loathsome Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) and fellow Normans, begins a program of oppression and cruelty against the poor Saxons. Sir Robin of Loxley (Errol Flynn), outraged by the oppression, unites the dispossessed and loyal Britons into a ragtag band. These Merrie Men live deep in Sherwood Forest and do whatever they can to upset Prince John’s treacherous plans and to defend the downtrodden Saxons. Warner’s lavish, exciting Technicolor delight, directed by both Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, is cinema’s slickest and most entertaining version of the oft-filmed legend. Errol Flynn is ...

  “The Polar Express” is likely to become a perennial Christmas movie. if it hasn’t already. It will be going to be shown again and again to kids as the calendar winds down to Christmas. The storytelling is simple and heartfelt, and the computer generated art is beautiful. Add to that a breath-taking pace that will allow even adults to watch a repeat performance almost back-to-back almost immediately to review their favorite parts. The story originally took shape as a 32-page book written and drawn by Chris Allsburg. Hollywood seems to be having a field day with 32-page kids’ books lately, because “Shrek” began the same way. To further enlighten you, Allsburg wrote and drew two other books that became movies, both of which were also 32-pagers: “Jumanji” and “Zathura”. At 32 pages with pictures, the book was no doubt a great visual aid in the pitch to get the movie made. Allsburg is ...

  When one sees a movie after it has cleaned up at the Academy Awards, one obviously has certain expectations. I had heard nothing but the highest of praise for Clint Eastwood's twenty-fifth film as a director, the female boxing drama based on a Paul Haggis screenplay of an F.X. Toole story called “Rope Burns.” “Million Dollar Baby” is a beautifully simple story of a girl who comes of age a little later in life than most and a hardened man who has been struggling with the emotional loss (not the death of) his own daughter. I went in expecting a knock-down, drag-out boxing movie in the vein of “Rocky,” but was surprised to find that, although everything in this movie is about boxing, the boxing itself plays second fiddle to the real heart of the story. Released as one of the ...

  When it was released back in 1966, “Grand Prix” was cutting-edge filmmaking expertise as far as shooting close-in action shots of high-speed Formula 1 racing. Of course, that was 40 years ago. We’ve come a long way, and the special effects of “Grand Prix” pale in comparison to the computer-generated look of “The Fast And The Furious”. The fact that the story lags and lacks, and that the film is almost three hours long, requires patience from the viewer as well. Yet, there’s a certain clarity of character and storyline that manages to keep an audience in front of the movie. For those not familiar with Grand Prix: Grand Prix (big prize) is a series of races that started in France. In the beginning, around the turn of the 20th century, motorists simply raced from one city to the next. (For a wackier look at the world of early auto racing, look ...

  In Los Angeles, trucks are being hijacked and their contents stolen by a gang of street-racers, all driving turbo-charged cars. Brian Spilner (Paul Walker), an undercover cop who drives a tricked out car, attempts to break into the inner circle of highly regarded street racer, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). After Brian loses a race and saves Toretto, he ends up on his good side and becomes part of his extended racing family. Brian becomes more involved with the world of street racing (his racing obsession is sincere) and is caught up in a relationship with Toretto’s sister. When Brian’s superior officers push him for results, it puts him on a risky journey to find out who the mysterious hijackers are and puts him at odds with his new friends. This is a 1960’s drive-in movie realized on a gigantic scale. Its story is moderately involving, and its characters likable but the focus ...