Email Author Bill Gallo

2004 Stories by Bill Gallo

• Phantom Menace

  published December 30, 2004

  By all accounts, the only living creatures who've never taken in a stage production of The Phantom of the Opera are Osama bin Laden... More >>

• The Gospel According to Mel

  published December 23, 2004

  Who needs studio publicists when every fundamentalist pastor in the country is herding his flock to the multiplex? Why waste good money on TV... More >>

• Closing Credits: "Dutch"

  published December 23, 2004

  When Ronald Reagan died on June 5 at the age of 93, his political adherents hailed him as the president who "made America feel better about... More >>

• Closing Credits: "Bud"

  published December 23, 2004

  If Marlon Brando -- "Bud" to his family and intimates -- was not the finest movie actor who ever lived, he certainly had the greatest gift for... More >>

• Some Like it ... Not

  published December 23, 2004

  When My Big Fat Greek Wedding scored a surprise hit for comedienne Nia Vardalos, the former Second City star may have figured any old... More >>

• Closer to Fine

  published December 2, 2004

  Mike Nichols's new film Closer is a boiling pot of lust, mistrust, and double-dealing that might well be taken for outright soap... More >>

• Next Best Thing

  published December 2, 2004

  When shot with verve and skill, so that we can feel the heat and passion of the moment, a concert film is the next best thing to being there.... More >>

• Entertain Your Brain

  published October 21, 2004

  Brassbound skeptics may see the complex, provocative docudrama What the #$*! Do We Know!?, which poses the Big Questions of Life, as... More >>

• Finding a Way

  published October 21, 2004

  The Czech drama Zelary brings to mind Bertolt Brecht's pointed observation that "war is like love; it always finds a way." In this... More >>

• Like Moths to Flame

  published September 30, 2004

  It was only a matter of time before Hollywood capitalized on the sympathy and admiration that have enveloped the nation's firefighters since 9/11,... More >>

• Off the Rails

  published August 26, 2004

  The return to the screen of the ravishing Chinese actress Gong Li, who may have the most expressive face in film, should be cause for rejoicing... More >>

• Collateral Damaged

  published August 5, 2004

  Sheathed in a custom-tailored gray suit and sporting expensively barbered silver hair, Tom Cruise looks like an older, harder version of the... More >>

• Serenade in the Sand

  published July 8, 2004

  The dramatically useful accident that befell Davaa and Falorni happened in the spring of 2002. According to Mongol legend, if a mother camel... More >>

• Playing on Fear

  published June 17, 2004

  Getting stranded at snowbound O'Hare for the night is one thing. You call home, maybe knock down a couple of martinis, then grab a blanket. A... More >>

• Pitt and the Pabulum

  published May 20, 2004

  In the mood to launch a thousand ships? Fine, but it's gonna cost you. Feel like sacking the Temple of Apollo? Okay, but bring drachmas. Depending... More >>

• Fear Factors

  published May 6, 2004

  When a pleasant Italian comedy called Mediterraneo won the 1992 Academy Award for best foreign language film, a lot of observant American... More >>

• Missing Links

  published April 29, 2004

  Pour a couple of old-fashioneds into the average golf historian, and it won't be long until he gets misty-eyed over Robert Tyre Jones, Jr.... More >>

• Family Ties

  published April 22, 2004

  In Israeli writer-director Nir Bergman's Broken Wings, we never see an automatic weapon, a military roadblock or a horrific... More >>

• None Like It Lame

  published April 15, 2004

  When we first see the title characters of Connie and Carla, a penny-dreadful imitation of one of Hollywood's most inimitable... More >>

• Bush Comes to Shove

  published March 4, 2004

  At first glance Hidalgo seems to be nothing more than an old-fashioned, flat-footed adventure epic plunked down on a vast stretch of... More >>

• Ropes a Dope

  published February 19, 2004

  It is by now clear that Meg Ryan, the bubbling sweetheart of half a dozen romantic comedies, means to bring new substance and seriousness to the... More >>

• Score!

  published February 12, 2004

  When the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, consisting of twenty raw college men, beat the seemingly invincible, state-hardened Soviets and went on to... More >>

• Lucky in Love

  published January 8, 2004

  William H. Macy's plain-vanilla features and hangdog screen demeanor have served him well. Who could resist him as the clueless car dealer who... More >>

• The Full Mindy?

  published January 8, 2004

  This year's British assault on the Yank funnybone is a spirited, hard-trying farce called Calendar Girls, plucked straight from a... More >>