Ann Silverthorn

Recently, I saw The Post, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. The film centers on a damning Vietnam War study and Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham’s most-difficult decision in 1971. At the beginning of the film, I was confused by a Katharine Graham who was unsure of herself and reluctant to ruffle the feathers of her editors, advisors, and cronies…

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Beetlejuice, the 1988 horror comedy starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, and Winona Ryder. Because it seemed that I was the only person on earth who hadn’t see it, last month, I added the movie to my DVD Netflix queue and gave it a watch. Here are seven things I liked…

Did young Tonya Harding ever imagine that a movie about her would earn multiple Oscar nominations? Perhaps—but during many periods of her life, this might have seemed like a laughable impossibility to her—and to many of us, for that matter. Well, it happened. Feature film I, Tonya earned three Oscar nominations, which are well deserved. The nominees are: Best…

The 2018 Oscar nominations for I, Tonya sent me to my ancient clipping file to excavate a March 1994 essay I wrote about the controversial figure skater. The piece appeared in a reader-participation series featured in our local newspaper, called “My Inspiration.” Would my attitude toward the subject would be different today? When I wrote the piece, Tonya…

Kate Winslet became a household name in 1997, when she starred in Titanic. Over the next 20 years, she often gravitated to independent films, turning down roles in Shakespeare in Love and Anna and the King. At just over forty years old, Kate Winslet owns roles in more than forty movies to date. Winslet’s name occupies several lists predicting best-actress nominations…

This post originally appeared on the DVD Netflix blog “Inside the Envelope.” That company folded in 2023, and the blog was shut down, but you might find some good stuff here. Ever since Rachel McAdams began starring in major motion pictures, she’s enjoyed rich adventures, in many locations playing, a wide spectrum of characters. She’s…

This post originally appeared on the DVD Netflix blog “Inside the Envelope.” That company folded in 2023, and the blog was shut down, but you might find some good stuff here. Kate Winslet became a household name in 1997, when she starred in Titanic, at the age of 22. Now in her early forties, she…

The other night, at our local Cinemark, we purchased the biggest tub of popcorn they had and scrambled up the steps past rows of stadium seating to our favorite spot in the center of the top row. The movie was Insidious: The Last Key, and due to my poorly controlled, disruptive reactions to scene after scene, the…

As a purist fan of the Broadway play, Annie, I never quite warmed up to the movie version that came out in 1982. After all, Punjab, who played a major role in the movie, wasn’t in the play and neither were some of the songs, like “Dumb Dog” and “Let’s Go to the Movies.” Now there’s…

So, I thought my Christmas shopping was done, and then I realized that I had forgotten to buy a present for our dog, Nutmeg. Wanting to stick close to home, I decided to take a “quick” trip to our local K-mart, whose parking lot has been woefully empty since the Giant Eagle moved out a few months…