City Lights is the greatest silent film ever made

It’s a film that took Charlie Chaplin three years to finish.ย  He replaced his leading actress midway through the film, then brought her back when he knew he couldn’t start the film over with a new actress. This film debuted four years after the release of the first successful talking picture, The Jazz Singer.ย  And…

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They Shall Not Grow Old: An incredible film restoration project

I am a huge fan of restored motion pictures and vintage films.ย  Back when AMC was “American Movie Classics,” they would host an annual weekend “Film Preservation Festival” on TV, with commercial-free broadcasts of restored and preserved films – such as the Todd-AO version of Oklahoma, the roadshow version of It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad,…

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“Kodachrome: The Movie” coming to Netflix

About seven years ago, I used the iconic slide film Kodachrome in its last year that the film could be developed.ย  I photographed bridges and trees and winter scenes and other cool images. Then, in December 2010, the last processing plant in the world – the only one capable of handling the various chemicals used…

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Spider-Man: Homecoming and that … er … um … smell…

Let’s get a few things straight.ย  I enjoyed the Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire as the webslinger.ย  I kinda was okay with the Amazing Spider-Man double feature with Andrew Garfield in the suit.ย  They both had their strengths and they both had their weaknesses, to be sure. And last night, I watched the reboot of…

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: Better than expected!

There was so much to expect from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, as the Star Wars movie universe added its first true standalone fixture in the series.ย  It’s almost as if the storytellers decided to rebuild the old “Star Wars Expanded Universe” that once populated the series’ books and videogames and TV specials, and…

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