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“The Turn Of The Screw” (British; 1992). Good acting, music and atmosphere. [Video; 1 hour, 35 minutes].

“Shane” (1953), starring Alan Ladd and Van Heflin. The cinematography alone makes this movie worth watching; it also has great characters; those huge, jagged mountains in the background are the Grand Tetons; at one time the mountains had the clearest and cleanest water on earth, you could drink from the streams and see trout swimming […]

“Red Dawn” (1984); starring Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen. The Soviets and the Cubans invade Colorado! Okay, this movie is sort of cheesy, and kind of Reagan-esque flag-waving, but you still gotta love it. [Movie; duration: 1 hour, 54 minutes].

Oklahoma (musical, 1955); starring Shirley Jones. This movie is sort of two movies in one: a Western musical, and, in the middle, a 20-minute surreal, Freudian psycho-nightmare (that must have really shocked audiences in 1955! They must have said “are we in the wrong theater?? I thought this was ‘Oklahoma’??” Freud was all the rage […]

“Fitzcarraldo” (1982; German); a film by Werner Herzog; starring Klaus Kinski. Adventure/historic. Herzog’s movies always contain spooky music and surreal situations (see also his movie “Nosferatu”). [Here]. “The Horseman on the Roof” (1995; French; starring Juliette Binoche). Adventure/historic. [Here]. Of the two movies, the second one is better, in my opinion.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937); [Movie; duration is 1 hour, 23 minutes]. The first, and arguably the best, Walt Disney movie. It’s based on the 1812 German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. Do you have any idea how long it took the artists at Disney (who were among the best in the […]

(Above: Herzog directing in 2005) Granted, “Renaissance man” is an overused term, but it’s true here. Herzog can do almost anything. He is a director of movies and documentaries, a screenwriter, an author of a dozen poetry books, a director of operas, an actor, and he speaks five languages. An overachiever. But of course, White […]

“They Live” (1988), starring “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. A classic horror movie from John Carpenter. Guess who the aliens are? [Here], and also [Here].

Halloween (1978); starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Atkins. The Fog (1980); starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Adrienne Barbeau. The Howling (1981); starring Dee Wallace and Christopher Stone. Race With the Devil (1975); starring Peter Fonda and Loretta Swit.

Mother Lode (1982); starring Charlton Heston and Kim Basinger. It’s about gold mining and murder. [Movie; duration is 2 hours].