Introducing in a narrative flashbacks, fragments of dreams, partially remembered scenes has always been part and parcel of cinema. Examples abound. Look at classic films. The childhood sled scenes in “Citizen Kane” are indispensable. As is the famous flashback explaining the Gregory Peck character’s trauma in “Spellbound." The process works, when it is used within reasonable limits. When repeated endlessly

Camille Brown recently achieved a distinction, one that has become a tradition. A female-directed film on Lifetime seems like a rite of passage for any woman behind the camera. Yet a Christmas movie makes it all the more special. “A Christmas Winter Song” aired throughout the month of December, is currently on-demand and will likely remain part of the network’s future holiday line-ups. I was fortunate enough to interview Brown.

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) earlier this week announced the lineup for the 35th edition, which will run January 15 to 25, 2020. The festival will feature forty-seven world premieres and seventy-one U.S. premieres from fifty countries.

During a press conference SBIFF’s executive director Roger Durling said, “for 35 years, SBIFF has been a reflection of the city

2019 started out as a bumpy road. By summer I worried that I wouldn’t be able to make a full top ten. By year’s end, however, some fine work started to shine.

1. (an absolute tie of the two most original and cinematically pleasing films of the year!): “The Irishman” (directed by Martin Scorsese) / “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood” (directed by Quentin Tarantino). Both films

The circle is now complete. Forty-two years after George Lucas forever changed Hollywood (and the lives of moviegoers around the world!) with the original “Star Wars,” director J.J. Abrams brings it all home with “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.”

I was there opening weekend in 1977. When the music blared and the opening crawl began to roll, I knew I was in for

This Israeli film by Sameh Zoabi, an Arab Israeli, comes to us boasting a number of awards but that doesn’t prepare us for the treat of this thoroughly enjoyable and unpretentious story. “Tel Aviv on Fire” is one of those gems––think “The Band’s Visit” or “Tony Erdmann”––that grab and delight from the opening scene to the very end, with nary a slackening of rhythm. Salam (Kais Nashif, a well-known Palestinian actor) works

Sue Lyon was born in Davenport, IA. When she was ten months-old the Lyon family moved to L.A., hoping that Sue could help them financially working as a model. She got jobs modeling for J.C. Penney and shot a commercial that featured her bleached-blonde hair. She also got small parts on "Dennis the Menace" (1959) and "The Loretta Young Show" (1953). Stanley Kubrick saw Sue on the show