I have always loved watching character actors do their work. While the stars are off playing ingénues and heroes, reacting to the events in the scene with multiple facial gestures, character actors move the plot forward, provide stability of purpose to the events, and whether they represent good or evil they are complete within their own world, within their code of morality or immorality – at... 

I’ve been promising Rafe I would pen a few words on classic films. A lot of folks call all early films “classics.” The word itself, however, implies the highest quality, enduring over time, and perfection, setting the standard to meet or exceed. For me, a film has to meet all three of those components in order to be called a classic, and it must have what I call a “kicker” – something... 

Foreign films and television series hold enormous interest to me. Partly because they are well produced, partly because they are written in a less-than-ordinary style, and partly because I reject the notion of foreign. I enjoy opera even when I can’t follow the libretto. I have seen Vietnamese water theatre and loved it. I have been thrilled by Mexican circus performances. Mimes, mystery plays, and... 

Okay, I left your favorite movies off the first list. That’s why it was called “KidVids I.” Perhaps adding a few more will help get you through the summer without blood pressure medication. You may have noticed that I am not including a whole raft of big studio films about juvenile delinquents. You surely have seen the old ones – films starring Bing Crosby as a priest, Gene Kelly as a... 

After much encouragement, I have decided I will occasionally contribute my opinions directly on this website, and where else should I start but at our beginning. So many films about children either present dark, illustratively bizarre and sad tales of childhood, or they are films that are created for children as the intended audience regardless whether children are the subject matter. So the question...