Deadpan and natural comedic situations infused with pathos is difficult to successfully pull off. Writer-director James L. Brooks proved himself to be quite the master at that style of filmmaking. After his massive success with 1983’s “Terms of Endearment,” many Hollywood dramedies tried to reach for that golden ring that Brooks made look so effortless on screen. Most failed or could never find the right balance of drama, tears, and laughter.

In 1970 Hunter S. Thompson began a bizarre run for sheriff of Pitkin County, Col., where he ran on the “Freak Power” ticket. The title of Thompson’s ticket is a pushback on the prejudice toward the local hippies from his opponent Carol Whitmire.

Coming on the heels of the good documentary “Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb,” which examined the same subject

"Spellbinding" is not a word I throw around lightly. Where South African filmmaker Jaco Bouwer’s latest film “Gaia” is concerned it is richly deserved. While this is a film with a few issues, what works overpowers flaws. Gaia is the goddess of the Earth in Greek mythology. In the seventies, scientist, environmentalist and futurist James Lovelock developed the “Gaia hypothesis,” one that envisages our planet as a super organism that remains alive

Rita Moreno. What spirit! What soul!

Such a long and successful career in a Hollywood that did not want her to be herself nor celebrate her Puerto Rican heritage.

The new documentary “Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided to Go For It” is an uplifting look at the EGOT [EGOT is what you call individuals who have won all four Emmy

Ellen Burstyn and James Caan are two of our finest actors and it is always nice to see them on screen. While their combined resumes contain some of the best films of the seventies (and a few of the eighties), today’s films are losing their adventurous spirit and, as the years go on, modern Hollywood gives actors of their caliber and age less and less to do.  These days when we see a cast that combines Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin

"The mysteries of life. The mystery of everyone who passes us on the street. What is happening in the lives of these people? Sometimes nothing. Perhaps something.”

Strangers walk by one another and might say “hello.” Other times, we glide by, silent and unaware, not knowing what plight others are experiencing. An acknowledgment, a smile, it has importance. It could save a life, even.

For some, redemption lies at the end of a long and difficult path. For many, that road is without a bend, to others a winding and treacherous journey of doubt awaits. To those who have done jail time all this can seem impossible.

Writer/director E.B. Hughes’’s New York City-set “The Long Way Back” follows one Max Lyons, a man who’s  just been released from prison after doing a year and a half stretch for theft.