Perhaps only Wes Anderson would have the audacity to cast Bill Murray as God. He’s also among the few people who could pull it off — without seeming blasphemous or just plain silly. In fact, the latest from this idiosyncratic filmmaker — The Phoenician Scheme — winds up charting a similarly surprising spiritual journey: It
“I wanted to make the greatest rock record that I’d ever heard.” That’s Bruce Springsteen describing Born to Run — which seems to have fulfilled this hope, as it’s still going strong for its 50th anniversary. Released Aug. 25, 1975, the Boss’s third album became his breakout — a perfect suite of eight magnificently engineered
When Webb readers receive this issue on Aug. 26 or 27, I’ll be in the throes of my first-ever week teaching college. And yet I also officially retired more than six years ago. Here’s what happened: Regular followers of my movie pieces will recall that on July 31, I gave a talk at Brown Library
Though not exactly a household name, the comedy team of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker — colloquially shortened to ZAZ — seems to have perfected the spoof movie genre with their uproarious Airplane! (1980) and three successful Naked Gun movies (1988-94). Wikipedia points out that spoofs had been around since the days of silent film, generated
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … what?! Another Superman??? Yes, summer 2025 offers yet one further iteration of the beloved Big Blue Boy Scout; and it’s no surprise if viewers can’t keep count of actors who’ve played the Man of Steel — going all the way back to
Your Webb critic has two favorite actresses. One — though she’s really before my time — is Golden Age golden-girl Myrna Loy. For years America’s favorite wife, Loy starred in the marvelous Thin Man movies, and was partly responsible for the bullet-riddled end of John Dillinger’s criminal career. (Look it up!) My other fave is
