There’s no question that the epic 1959 Ben-Hur deserved its cavalcade of Oscars. People remember the chariot race scene for a reason: even all these years later it’s a breathtaking achievement in first person action cinematography and it’s hard to imagine how they managed to bring such realism to a scene without the benefit of computers, green screen and models. The story’s about more than a Gladiator-like tale of a rich person who falls to…Read More
Review: Man Of Steel
A superhero that’s a product of his era, Superman showed up in the common culture back in 1938. It was World War II that highlighted the tension inherent in his super-human character, as Nazi Germany proclaimed the superiority of its own super-human race, Aryans. An über-patriotic American who even dressed in red, white and blue, Superman and his alter-ego Clark Kent was an idealized American in an era where it was becoming hard to identify…Read More