"The Movie Brats" refers to young filmmakers from the 1970s who were supposed to usher in a new age of cinema. You know the names: Spielberg, Scorsese, Coppola, Lucas, Altman, De Palma, Bogdanovich...

Yes, that last one doesn't exactly resonate. But back in the day, Bogdanovich (surprisingly Jewish, despite the Serbian surname) was considered ahead of his peers. He earned his first Academy Award nomination at the age of 32, for "The Last Picture Show", and was heralded as the new Orson Welles. Another acclaimed film, "Paper Moon", soon followed.

And then? Flop after flop after flop: "Daisy Miller", "At Long Last Love", "Nickelodeon". Good luck picking out any of those movies out of the lineup. They all bombed and were hated by critics, and that was pretty much it for Bogdanovich the director. Oh, he kept making movies, but never came close to matching his early success. In fact, in his late career he was mostly known as an actor, including a turn on "The Sopranos" as Tony's therapist's therapist.

A sad conclusion? Perhaps, but consider where Bogdanovich started. His first movie, three years before the Oscar nomination, was called "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women". Feel free to use your imagination.

A new age of cinema, indeed.