Movie Reviews

All the President Men

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(Courtesy: Warner Home Video)

Care to guess which major movie star has played the president of the United States in a movie not once, but twice?

Well, that would be Anthony Hopkins:  Richard Nixon in "Nixon" and John Quincy Adams in "Amistad."

 

For just over an hour, In this presentation enhanced with PowerPoint images and film clips, we'll take a close look at gifted actors portraying actual U.S. presidents and a couple of fictional ones as well.

 

The fictional ones include Harrison Ford in "Air Force One" and Kevin Kline in "Dave," one of my favorites of the genre.

For availability and speaking fees, call 214-364-7364 or email lrratliff@verizon.net.

Rockets' Red Glare: Space Race Classics

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(Courtesy: moma.org)

Remember the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.?  Remember Sputnik, the U.S. Mercury astronauts and "The Right Stuff?"

In "Rockets Red Glare:  Space Race Classics," a  presentation enhanced with PowerPoint images and film clips and lasting a little over an hour, we'll focus on movies that reflected a generation or two of movies dreaming big and looking skyward.

 

Expect us to explore films like "October Sky," "Apollo 13" and an oddball (but wonderful) entry titled "The Astronaut Farmer" among others.

 

For availability and speaking fees, call 214-364-7364 or email lrratliff@verizon.net.

Big Screen Dysfunctional Families

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Melvyn Douglas, left, and Paul Newman go at it in "Hud." (Paramount Pictures)

Dysfunctional families are nothing new on a movie screen on on the block many of us live on.

There have been some memorable classics on the subject matter throughout the 100 years or so movie-lovers have been transfixed by what lights up the screen in front of them. 

 

In this presentation enhanced with PowerPoint images and film clips lasting a little over an hour, we'll investigate why the father and son played to perfection by Melvyn Douglas and Paul Newman grew to hate each other's guts in "Hud."

 

And there's more.  We'll laugh about cinematic family dysfunction in the "Meet the Parents" franchise and find some heartfelt emotional moments amid the mayhem in "Little Miss Sunshine."

 

For availability and speaking fees, call 214-364-7364 or email lrratliff@verizon.net.

 

 

Movies Set in the Lone Star State

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(Courtesy: Warner Home Video)

We bet you already knew that ”The Alamo" is a movie set in Texas.  You should, it has happened twice.

But what about "Tender Mercies" and "Places in the Heart" and "The Trip to Bountiful," which won a Best Actress Academy Award for Geraldine Page?

 

In this presentation lasting just over an hour and enhanced with PowerPoint images and film clips, the focus is on films set in the Lone Star State.

 

The impressive list includes "Giant" and others, so join us, won't you?

 

For availability and speaking fees, call 214-364-7364 or email lrratliff@verizon.net.

Hollywood's Classic Movie Moms

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(Courtesy: Warner Home Video)

Do you have a favorite movie mom?

Sally Field as Forrest Gump's mama would be a great choice, as would Katharine Hepburn in "On Golden Pond."

The "Hollywood's Classic Movie Moms" presentation, enhanced with PowerPoint images and film clips and lasting a little over an hour, takes a loving and sometimes hard look at good moms and some bad mamas.

 

You could do a lot worse than Shirley MacLaine's screen mom in "Terms of Endearment" if you can handle some tough love.  But unless you're looking for a scathing tirade about wire hangers, you might want to stay away from "Mommie Dearest."

 

For availability and speaking fees, call 214-364-7364 or email lrratliff@verizon.net.

Get to Know Your Classic Foreign Films

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(Courtesy: The Criterion Collection)

I'll admit it right up front.  Some people cringe at the mere thought of movies from other countries that make audiences read subtitles.

This presentation, enhanced with PowerPoint images and film clips and lasting a little over an hour, is designed to show you what you've been missing if you suffer from the No Foreign Films stigma.

 

Open your minds a little and you'll be introduced to magnificent filmmaking and performances in classics like "Metropolis" and "The 400 Blows" and sentimental gems such as "Cinema Paradiso."

 

Take a chance, you might just discover something wonderful like "Wings of Desire," a personal favorite.

 

For availability and speaking fees, call 214-364-7364 or email lrratliff@verizon.net.

Hollywood's Hot Movie Scandals

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(Courtesy: deviantart.net)

Sometimes the glare of the spotlight, the pressure and the bevy of hangers-on who constantly praise movie stars convince some of Hollywood's biggest names that they can do no wrong.

Some of them, as you'll see in this presentation  enhanced with PowerPoint images and film clips and lasting a little over an hour, can.  And did.

Or did they?

Was Marilyn Monroe married to the mob?  Did screen goddess Lana Turner kill a guy?  What about silent film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle?  What really happened at a party in San Francisco where a young woman died?

 

And, perhaps you didn't know that the great Ingrid Bergman was once denounced on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

 

We'll cover that and more in "Hollywood's Hot Movie Scandals."

 

For availability and speaking fees, call 214-364-7364 or email lrratliff@verizon.net.

Marlon Brando: The Man Behind the Icon

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Marlon Brando in "The Wild One." (Columbia Pictures)

An enormously gifted stage actor-turned-film actor, Marlon Brando loomed large in Hollywood, both in accolades and on the scale.

He was the star of everything from "On the Waterfront" to "The Godfather." But what was the man behind the icon like?

 

In this presentation using PowerPoint images and film clips and lasting a little over an hour, we'll take a close look at the man who once said, "All I want to be is normally insane."

 

A rebel on screen and off, Brando uttered one of my favorite movie lines in the classic "The Wild One" of 1953.

 

His character was asked, "Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?" 

 

His answer:  "What have you got?"

 

For availability and speaking fees, call 214-364-7364 or email lrratliff@verizon.net.