At the Movies

Filmmakers keep returning to Jane Austen. A case in point is that an excellent 1995 screen adaptation of "Sense and Sensibility" has been joined by a new screen version of that Austen novel. In this podcast episode, HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano share their admiration for the 1995 version directed by Ang Lee and starring Emma Thompson (who won an Academy Award for her scree...

A plot summary of "Heart of the Beast" amounts to the entire plot: a military veteran played by Brad Pitt and his dog, itself a combat scout veteran, are on a survival trek through the Alaskan wilderness. In this episode, HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano talk about how well Pitt and the dog act amidst strikingly beautiful scenery. Although Mike has his usual share of quibbles,...

Director Ridley Scott is 88 years old and just keeps going strong. However, his latest film, "The Dog Stars," is not strong. HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano use this podcast episode to tabulate all of the ways in which it is disappointing. Set in the wake of a population-devastating pandemic, the film stars Jacob Elordi as a lonely widower who spends a lot of time flying an o...

Director Christopher Nolan is no slouch when it comes to making a cinematic spectacle, and "The Odyssey" has really delivered both critically and at the box office. HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano have a lot to discuss as this podcast episode analyzes Nolan's 172-minute epic. Although Mike believes the film owes more to Hollywood than to Homer, he agrees with Marie that the T...

Director Steven Spielberg has had a career-long interest in aliens, as witness "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977), "E.T." (1982) and "War of the Worlds" (2005). HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano discuss Spielberg's latest close encounter with alien life forms, "Disclosure Day," in this podcast episode. Josh O'Connor and Emily Blunt star in a paranoia-driven story about...

Ian McKellen gives one of his finest performances as a curmudgeonly famous artist in "The Christophers," and he's well-matched in terms of acting skill by Michaela Coel as the young assistant he hires. In this podcast episode, HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano agree that there's a terrific dynamic between these two actors, and they also like how director Steven Soderbergh handl...

"The Devil Wears Prada 2" certainly qualifies as a belated sequel considering the first movie was released in 2006. In this podcast episode, HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano compare notes on what has changed in the world of high-end fashion journalism during the intervening decades; and, of course, they talk about how Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt...