Articles by Michael Sragow Page 2

HOLLYWOOD studios have become so desperate for material that they’ve begun remaking middling or just plain terrible movies – not only genre films like “The Amityville Horror” and “Assault on Precinct 13” but also odder ducks like the political comedy “Fun With Dick and Jane.” Read more

Autobiographical movies are the most personal of “personal movies,” and big U.S. studios rarely champion personal movies of any kind. Read more

No item struck greater fear into the hearts of movie reviewers everywhere than the recent announcement that Sylvester Stallone intends to return as that renowned Philadelphia pug Rocky Balboa in “Rocky VI.” Don’t get me wrong: I was a big fan of “Rocky.” Read more

Steve Kloves, the screenwriter for all three Harry Potter films, sounds a lot like mob boss Michael Corleone when Corleone declares in “The Godfather: Part III,” “Just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in!” Read more

In the U.S. Defense Department, Pentagon instructors recently have been screening “The Battle of Algiers” to demonstrate the dangers of urban warfare, the roots and strategies of terrorism, and the ugliness of interrogative torture. Read more

Baltimore Think of John Waters as a racy Wizard of Oz. Read more

When the World War II POW adventure “The Great Escape” opened 40 years ago this summer, the title was controversial among my schoolyard pals. Read more

So you wonder what film writer-director Lawrence Kasdan really thinks of George Lucas, creator of the “Star Wars” films? Read more

Beyond anything else, Marlon Brando is the towering original who came out of the Midwest 58 years ago and electrified Broadway and then Hollywood with the visceral excitement and veracity of his acting. Read more