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Entries by John Farr from 07/2011

Larry Crowne: Finally, a Movie for Grown-Ups! Oops -- Maybe Not

| Posted 07.03.2011
Read More: Tom Hanks, Best Movies on DVD, Best Movies by Farr, Larry Crowne, Julia Roberts, Movie Reviews, News

When a wealthy, long-established and still influential mega-star like Hanks decides he can write as well as act, there will be all too many people in Tinseltown willing to agree with him.

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The Greatest Hollywood Director You May Never Have Heard Of

| Posted 07.11.2011
Read More: Preston Sturges, Kirk Douglas, Academy Awards, Mary Astor, Margaret Sullavan, Ralph Richardson, Fredric March, Best Movies on DVD, Olivia De Havilland, Walter Pidgeon, Greer Garson, Best Movies by Farr, Herbert Marshall, Eleanor Parker, Montgomery Clift, Walter Huston, John Ford, Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, William Wyler, George Cukor, Charlton Heston, Myrna Loy, Vivien Leigh, Dana Andrews, Gregory Peck, Bette Davis, News

Which Hollywood director actually made the most great movies? In the Alsace area of Germany, future director William Wyler was born. Here is a sampling of his best movies covering three full decades.

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Is Today's Film Comedy in the Toilet?

| Posted 07.17.2011
Read More: Bridesmaids Movie, Carole Lombard, Screwball Comedy, Horrible Bosses, Claudette Colbert, Billy Wilder, Best Movies on DVD, Best Movies by Farr, Best Movies, Rosalind Russell, Bridesmaids, Barbara Stanwyck, Kristen Wiig, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Jennifer Aniston, Bad Teacher, Transformers, Justin Timberlake, Manohla Dargis, A.O. Scott, Cameron Diaz, Jean Arthur, Comedy, Great Movies, News

I continue to be nostalgic for comedy that doesn't require constant profanity or a surfeit of fart gags to succeed, that relies instead on subtle, clever scripts and witty dialogue; movies that in the end give their audiences some credit for brains and taste.

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10 Black & White Movies for People Who Won't Watch Black & White Movies

| Posted 07.28.2011
Read More: Fred MacMurray, ?€œthe Best Years of Our Lives?, The Grapes of Wrath, Academy Awards, Harper Lee, All About Eve, Fredric March, The Apartment, Best Movies by Farr, Rod Steiger, Citizen Kane, Walter Huston, Robert Duvall, Pulitzer Prize, Marilyn Monroe, Black and White, Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin, Jack Lemmon, Duck Soup, Gregory Peck, On the Waterfront, Elia Kazan, American Film Institute, Humphrey Bogart, John Steinbeck, Movie Recommendations, Orson Welles, Movie Suggestions, Billy Wilder, Best Movies on DVD, Best Movies, Casablanca, Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda, John Huston, Schindler's List, Shirley MacLaine, Sidney Lumet, 12 Angry Men, William Wyler, The Marx Brothers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Myrna Loy, Marlon Brando, To Kill a Mockingbird, Bette Davis, News

If I could get all those black and white haters out there to watch just ten titles -- movies that constituted absolutely essential viewing -- which would they be?

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