CLOSED CIRCUIT

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwybB2MXeuEe5aSEtHv3tZgcdyXFxvkBKVnkAEn9HV1HdwUxJ0Y0ls47c99ybZdOll_VJemZy3TS3KyEDU2wpGWTRvyc8rC4TVTBSGYON6zry-QoybLQ1hw0nndFwGGoSTcC88PLclsEUp/s1600/closed-circuit.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwybB2MXeuEe5aSEtHv3tZgcdyXFxvkBKVnkAEn9HV1HdwUxJ0Y0ls47c99ybZdOll_VJemZy3TS3KyEDU2wpGWTRvyc8rC4TVTBSGYON6zry-QoybLQ1hw0nndFwGGoSTcC88PLclsEUp/s640/closed-circuit.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year:</b> 2013 <b>cast:</b> Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Jim Broadbent, Kenneth Cranham, Julie Stiles <b>rating:</b> ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> Cable movies have gotten better throughout the years, but that can be a problem. Especially when a theatrical film plays out like one. Which isn’t so bad in the case of CLOSED CIRCUIT, a decent thriller centering on two British defense attorneys for a Middle Eastern man accused of masterminding a terrorist act: the bombing of an outdoor mall is witnessed in the first five minutes from a collage of monitors, a device continued sporadically through the rest of the film.<br /> <br /> Eric Bana’s Martin Rose has a reason to be paranoid. Not only is the same taxicab driving him around town, but he’s breaking rules by working with ex lover Claudia, played by Rebecca Hall, and their past heats up along with the case, inevitably resulting in both their lives being put in jeopardy.<br /> <br /> The best scenes are in the build-up: Martin checks up on his client’s background as outside elements move in. Meanwhile, the romance with Claudia is standard fare, adding little to this refreshingly short movie that plays the cliché card in every (somewhat predictable) twist and turn. But Eric Bana's intense truth-seeking determination makes CIRCUIT worthwhile.<br /> <br />

2013, eric bana, rebecca hall, thriller

CLOSED CIRCUIT

year:  2013  cast:  Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Jim Broadbent, Kenneth Cranham, Julie Stiles  rating:  *** Cable movies have ...

VIEWING SUPERDAD THROUGH ROSE-COLORED GLASSES

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQwuKlCWHDEYRh0g7cRXxoEomEfgTsdkguKBjydrfxIq79D_oKy4m1NHKUUioP3jhLj05DwtrUoT5y4fEkzlcsp5SUbPSLvTWd04G7dQmUsOFvVdQwVBAF1NCgtC9oXFEll8XdqbyZFl49/s1600/sd4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQwuKlCWHDEYRh0g7cRXxoEomEfgTsdkguKBjydrfxIq79D_oKy4m1NHKUUioP3jhLj05DwtrUoT5y4fEkzlcsp5SUbPSLvTWd04G7dQmUsOFvVdQwVBAF1NCgtC9oXFEll8XdqbyZFl49/s400/sd4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year: 1973</td></tr> </tbody></table> The sixth letter is “D”, not “B,” so don’t mistake this with the popular slacker comedy...<br /> <br /> A bizarre Disney film called SUPERDAD starring HOGAN’S HEROES star Bob Crane who, at this point, appeared more in clandestine sex videos than mainstream movies. Disney gave him a chance to upstart a fledging career and nothing came of it. DAD remains only on VHS, although there are ways to stream this to your computer (and now, since this was written, the movie is on DVD but rather cheap and dark toned). Either way it’s a lost/forgotten curio: All this would make you think SB was a really bad flick. Well it is and it isn't: The opening sequence is creepy and awkward. Bob Crane’s Charlie McCready doesn’t think his daughter deserves anyone else but Daddy... Thus the first five minutes plays out like a flu dream version of a condom ad with daughter Wendy and her lifelong boyfriend Bart, played by Disney stock actor Kurt Russell, walking on a dusky beach while Charlie’s ghostly voice-over reminds her of his omnipresence… And like all desperate fathers, he eventually loses touch with Daddy’s Little Girl. She grows up to have lots of beachy friends and just wants to have... you know... fun.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDlLRqpEGCNAllcDRfZr01iYqdHxFs5Q6EMyN3hWNbacYIz8xy3XNuhntuKP89njwHz_DzHEJVcbbkMTaDUD3GPnNVLLtrm77GcwAAEuGzcjoMW75sc_QGXfudNwkJ76Z07lt5Lz6m7YC/s1600/COVER-SD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDlLRqpEGCNAllcDRfZr01iYqdHxFs5Q6EMyN3hWNbacYIz8xy3XNuhntuKP89njwHz_DzHEJVcbbkMTaDUD3GPnNVLLtrm77GcwAAEuGzcjoMW75sc_QGXfudNwkJ76Z07lt5Lz6m7YC/s1600/COVER-SD.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gang includes Ed Begley and Bruno Kirby</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> Charlie works as a lawyer, lives in a nice house in the cozy suburbs, but wishes that the generation gap separating himself from his daughter would close up, completely. During perhaps the best and most memorable scenes, Charlie spends a day at the beach with her friends, trying to take part in volleyball and eventually waterskiing. Everything he touches turns to fool’s gold. The really strange thing is hearing Crane's high pitch screaming, like a sow being poked before slaughter, whenever things get too hairy.<br /> <br /> Made during the early seventies, it’s fun watching Disney kowtowing to young hip audiences. There aren’t drug or rock n’ roll references, but the kids are freespirited and of that independent mind-set that the conservative middle-age Charlie cannot relate to.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid5nzCbvc9UGSkCo_hEL1n9vKHlwt9_9EAYH2D00brszbsthoZbscnJs8IR13YkskLlbepe8Yie1rFuFDrSUZ_oUV9zwq1lFdIYueI_Ru7dVSd9RSSuzoKyXS2X6R9DM-84doS3ohE3EWl/s1600/sd12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid5nzCbvc9UGSkCo_hEL1n9vKHlwt9_9EAYH2D00brszbsthoZbscnJs8IR13YkskLlbepe8Yie1rFuFDrSUZ_oUV9zwq1lFdIYueI_Ru7dVSd9RSSuzoKyXS2X6R9DM-84doS3ohE3EWl/s640/sd12.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Crane tries to rescue his daughter from college life</td></tr> </tbody></table> A gist of the film takes place at college: Charlie wants Wendy to get away from Bart and his friends, including the great Bruno Kirby who's not so great with an annoyingly high voice and Ed Begley Jr., but things eventually backfire and she winds up with a nefarious beatnik artist in San Francisco.<br /> <br /> The final act makes an already lackluster film fall apart completely. Charlie has to rescue his daughter and, with the secret help of Russell’s Bart, he goes up against Joby Baker’s Klutch, a cross between Charles Manson and a cast member of THE ELECTRIC COMPANY. Klutch is perhaps the worst villain in Disney film history.<br /> <br /> Throughout the misadventure, we forget about our put-upon heroes’ quest to be SUPERDAD and yet, things work out perfectly. And it takes a bizarre, uneven, yet completely interesting movie to make that happen.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZuaSA0tjvlVV3S3N55HreTqdtjL-jki-MteRDMb6CCdgrmory_u3-ZvFo76fB7hG5cd1rgYEulfiDsjl-S0xhvEqWV0J0XQNqGDzY_R6yZj0S5nw8XRcevmEWjlbK1F9h3QYcfz3qF02U/s1600/sd23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="469" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZuaSA0tjvlVV3S3N55HreTqdtjL-jki-MteRDMb6CCdgrmory_u3-ZvFo76fB7hG5cd1rgYEulfiDsjl-S0xhvEqWV0J0XQNqGDzY_R6yZj0S5nw8XRcevmEWjlbK1F9h3QYcfz3qF02U/s640/sd23.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kathleen Cody looks at Bob Crane</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh91PGo3nCZvBqqK0vrKvGErvkUz41HTF2MIoU6og4MZcGlR_tlxyAx0DYktSI1cbQ3d8s8xsZBStRTB1HrIPNXXXUU97CR2NqPsqeDXfoluE9jbGXKYApLOEEzoaftdKT7LGVcsV8lplSG/s1600/sd14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh91PGo3nCZvBqqK0vrKvGErvkUz41HTF2MIoU6og4MZcGlR_tlxyAx0DYktSI1cbQ3d8s8xsZBStRTB1HrIPNXXXUU97CR2NqPsqeDXfoluE9jbGXKYApLOEEzoaftdKT7LGVcsV8lplSG/s640/sd14.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Crane and Bruno Kirby</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUX9s7roFVyu1c0cTBKZ8eY5mcnd67iWgdW_WU0DzU2uz29PTKDWj94cJM-GUnByjauwJSzQ2xRuHMBxT3qmUC1Gvu8ins1Er1v-_xCxZRgyCTp2mzmIMXftF8OHT4E9H3Y5WPbj39FMJL/s1600/sd11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUX9s7roFVyu1c0cTBKZ8eY5mcnd67iWgdW_WU0DzU2uz29PTKDWj94cJM-GUnByjauwJSzQ2xRuHMBxT3qmUC1Gvu8ins1Er1v-_xCxZRgyCTp2mzmIMXftF8OHT4E9H3Y5WPbj39FMJL/s640/sd11.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Driving dad on waterskis...</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMVtb5lawvvnR3B4QvGYkQuqfkQvbSrY0ZMaDQyLMY-2p_FvOlbYZiksxjh3cnkuCYHMaGdvg43hBw_otWpbtABdKyOR8a6bY7LT-9HVxtcNBN9cSnxCT637rgXeTj9UVfaiRUI6NofhIH/s1600/sd9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMVtb5lawvvnR3B4QvGYkQuqfkQvbSrY0ZMaDQyLMY-2p_FvOlbYZiksxjh3cnkuCYHMaGdvg43hBw_otWpbtABdKyOR8a6bY7LT-9HVxtcNBN9cSnxCT637rgXeTj9UVfaiRUI6NofhIH/s640/sd9.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Crane tries wooing his daughter's friends</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_2HDlJWR5-3QkiMz3rWnD-xJvaOZvvJBtnBa2SCTTD83nlMWG27-LxXv-KNo4nhQdF5ZNhlLEdXWAncrCcNXSzcLfJ4S1vFEaIKUp3TmbG55ZfpW9sDbOdZWZ2VwD4cG4hgL90RaToI0D/s1600/sd2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_2HDlJWR5-3QkiMz3rWnD-xJvaOZvvJBtnBa2SCTTD83nlMWG27-LxXv-KNo4nhQdF5ZNhlLEdXWAncrCcNXSzcLfJ4S1vFEaIKUp3TmbG55ZfpW9sDbOdZWZ2VwD4cG4hgL90RaToI0D/s640/sd2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kathleen Cody with Kurt Russell</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSbepVcmXrewl5vcZLrMtT4y0Qu2zoKSmRNj4j7k49IfWFmOKEncD6NiaPejSpkJH1HKJXHROEbJ8r_7IOt2gSC-lz7VSnHVmZZucStfqtgsVHvHBUMhawhD6WjMOuLhxDEOMJ8mDR4K4z/s1600/sd18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSbepVcmXrewl5vcZLrMtT4y0Qu2zoKSmRNj4j7k49IfWFmOKEncD6NiaPejSpkJH1HKJXHROEbJ8r_7IOt2gSC-lz7VSnHVmZZucStfqtgsVHvHBUMhawhD6WjMOuLhxDEOMJ8mDR4K4z/s640/sd18.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joby Baker as the villainous beatnik Klutch</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihjJPuvRAjaiZ2nfwwledBO8iKs4pS0cUiCkBY7GkYvVPucfddZHzvPO6_U5nXxzI3BgT3gMvjSZ93hw-Sx0ofZE-bxErjFFMuXm4pa8wUXLp2_V96E9FzRDbDdd0uq_0Fu2bEFj8u5s_U/s1600/sd22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihjJPuvRAjaiZ2nfwwledBO8iKs4pS0cUiCkBY7GkYvVPucfddZHzvPO6_U5nXxzI3BgT3gMvjSZ93hw-Sx0ofZE-bxErjFFMuXm4pa8wUXLp2_V96E9FzRDbDdd0uq_0Fu2bEFj8u5s_U/s640/sd22.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nicholas Hammond as dad's daughter's hopeful boyfriend</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEXxT2aBFBaiMSVhcBip7KG7LLQpuCZJUqpUpciVVhWlT8gswegwQ-HyH59WfUkODQZoOC8EVvu3JiCc-BL0yxZr2GTlxABT_OBdjb4HNgxFXAmWz4LPcBq-90sVNnomJ8rkF0FkJobqj/s1600/sd33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEXxT2aBFBaiMSVhcBip7KG7LLQpuCZJUqpUpciVVhWlT8gswegwQ-HyH59WfUkODQZoOC8EVvu3JiCc-BL0yxZr2GTlxABT_OBdjb4HNgxFXAmWz4LPcBq-90sVNnomJ8rkF0FkJobqj/s640/sd33.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Crane and Kathleen Cody in SUPERDAD</td></tr> </tbody></table>

bob crane, bruno kirby, disney, kurt russell, seventies

VIEWING SUPERDAD THROUGH ROSE-COLORED GLASSES

Year: 1973 The sixth letter is “D”, not “B,” so don’t mistake this with the popular slacker comedy... A bizarre Disney film called SUP...

JUDY BROWN REVISITS THE BIG DOLL HOUSE

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQPj4jEf2MulmQq4EOlqWtQ_0DI99KyW3ikyGD5c-Ycg_2z1rPabyBbdcWHcRxweMCtf9TLtC7o5rlHLFZtRa7w9NAM4xn00vRXTMiJ3ffegQWB-_Wis4GMYZBXBBeYTaptTfGt29UvR81TgxXxYPYwgoa-TYWbh-NE16VIt2d-3DL3ta9w2qy1YiQhkf8/s854/title06_214645950.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="854" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQPj4jEf2MulmQq4EOlqWtQ_0DI99KyW3ikyGD5c-Ycg_2z1rPabyBbdcWHcRxweMCtf9TLtC7o5rlHLFZtRa7w9NAM4xn00vRXTMiJ3ffegQWB-_Wis4GMYZBXBBeYTaptTfGt29UvR81TgxXxYPYwgoa-TYWbh-NE16VIt2d-3DL3ta9w2qy1YiQhkf8/s16000/title06_214645950.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>JUDY BROWN INTERVIEW ON JACK HILL'S BIG DOLL HOUSE</u></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <i></i></div> <i>The lovely and talented JUDY BROWN, who began her career as a singer and then went on to television and film, is one of the three beautiful actresses that, along with Pam Grier and Roberta Collins, appeared in Roger Corman’s groundbreaking women-in-prison films THE BIG DOLL HOUSE followed by WOMEN IN CAGES...</i><br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ISDZj05HVCBGsSD9WBsbdt9fwMr4Q_KqDK5mh40Nz13SmtUk25LWCWiDskg3vinmkuNopGpsyFpBZZuAURpYcyWV_71f9dcfakocRRhTTLgC6M02P734h31n51Uki1Tkpd1VMEsZU1s/s1600/72769_151945074849781_106638979380391_268718_2690226_n.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539980946904611746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ISDZj05HVCBGsSD9WBsbdt9fwMr4Q_KqDK5mh40Nz13SmtUk25LWCWiDskg3vinmkuNopGpsyFpBZZuAURpYcyWV_71f9dcfakocRRhTTLgC6M02P734h31n51Uki1Tkpd1VMEsZU1s/s200/72769_151945074849781_106638979380391_268718_2690226_n.jpg" style="float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Judy getting checked</td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Your first Roger Corman produced prison flick was the iconic BIG DOLL HOUSE directed by Jack Hill…</span></span><br /> <br /> I met Jack, I believe, when we got to the Philippines… He was just great. And we had a terrific cast, and we were all new to this, and it was the early parts of all of our careers...<br /> <br /> We were in the Philippines, blazing the trail for Roger Corman, basically. We did two, back to back… THE BIG DOLL HOUSE and then he kept some of us on… and we did WOMEN IN CAGES.<br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcpgN5pLLkcDnhOxrhjFdwEojRck-h3vH4NKc5YQamaEpIcvHh2iNJQYD5rY20G3ZBKNO7fcQZP3IdkrI5y2uOjbO3EDjV7EkFtJ7p1JyBqsytR1XCKI6eOlNZcP3zLb31bGpxWjPf1g/s1600/75767_151253014918987_106638979380391_265476_8017638_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539981565561159378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcpgN5pLLkcDnhOxrhjFdwEojRck-h3vH4NKc5YQamaEpIcvHh2iNJQYD5rY20G3ZBKNO7fcQZP3IdkrI5y2uOjbO3EDjV7EkFtJ7p1JyBqsytR1XCKI6eOlNZcP3zLb31bGpxWjPf1g/s200/75767_151253014918987_106638979380391_265476_8017638_n.jpg" style="float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 188px;" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cool Poster Art</td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">In a film like this, your intensity level is always high, and for your character, anything could happen at any time… How did you get motivated for this kind of performance?</span></span><br /> <br /> It was during martial law, with Marcos… And so anything <span style="font-style: italic;">could</span> happen at any time, and we were all aware of it… And it did when Roberta [Collins] and I were almost kidnapped in the jungle by a group of mountain men there, for real… That was an interesting experience. We were swimming in a swimming hole, way up in the jungle and the rest of the cast and crew were filming just over a hillside… And before we knew it a whole bunch of what they called in those days, “mountain men," jumped into the water. We didn’t even know they were around… They had been, I guess, spying on us… And had we not started screaming… They were coming very close and literally tried to take us away. And a couple of the crew, from over the hill, just happened to hear us… Because we were sort of screaming and they came and got us out of there… And the mountain men ran away. And those kind of things, you know… We were very naïve to all of that… And not after that, mind you.<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>

chicks with guns, exploitation, interview, judy brown, roger corman, seventies, women in prison

JUDY BROWN REVISITS THE BIG DOLL HOUSE

JUDY BROWN INTERVIEW ON JACK HILL'S BIG DOLL HOUSE The lovely and talented JUDY BROWN, who began her career as a singer and then ...

EIGHT BY ELMORE LEONARD

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjfdEgVa09BKeZULgFjXJOVf1va5dxV3d81yfLvpFD7kAvuw1GbsyUVWuMVKXDEnyllVLBTrFSOL5AY4RzHsD7ogHPAr6pjT8bZdabMfzx6900i4_T7J8WFNpGjl9uFkZAhKqwaiYf3U1k/s1600/jackiebrown1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjfdEgVa09BKeZULgFjXJOVf1va5dxV3d81yfLvpFD7kAvuw1GbsyUVWuMVKXDEnyllVLBTrFSOL5AY4RzHsD7ogHPAr6pjT8bZdabMfzx6900i4_T7J8WFNpGjl9uFkZAhKqwaiYf3U1k/s640/jackiebrown1.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></div> </td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <i><b>1) JACKIE BROWN (PAM GRIER, ROBERT FORSTER... QUENTIN TARANTINO) BULLETS: *****</b></i></div> </td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>After RESERVOIR DOGS opened doors and PULP FICTION made him an A-list writer/director, Quentin Tarantino chose to go, as he puts it, “under” PULP FICTION with this mellow caper based on Elmore Leonard’s book RUM PUNCH… </i><br /> <i><br /></i> <i>Changing the film’s title, and the name and color of the leading lady, Tarantino made a celebration of the Blaxploitation genre that became, arguably, his best work to date… Not only that, but in using a story by Elmore Leonard, Tarantino showed off one of his biggest influences via collaboration... </i><br /> <i><br /></i> <i>Pam Grier is Jackie Brown, a forty-something stewardess busted for smuggling cocaine and then, reluctantly at first, working alongside two cops and nice guy bail bondsman Max Cherry, played by an Oscar nominated Robert Forster, to land lethal Ordell Robbie in jail before he puts her in the bone yard – and if you thought Sam Jackson was tough in PULP FICTION… </i><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_2EqbLaV0XSB4dEIHrVUjOxOG11miX0b-RiCtF6Kiqf6e-1I8aXxiOKzNX4piqlQp7Dz4aJGf82lFv040TQZXG6w6u8p9_HjuCFJ3LzP3s5apusAPQdRgV_ERgrUzsTs8uVcfyKc3oot/s1600/jackiebrown2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_2EqbLaV0XSB4dEIHrVUjOxOG11miX0b-RiCtF6Kiqf6e-1I8aXxiOKzNX4piqlQp7Dz4aJGf82lFv040TQZXG6w6u8p9_HjuCFJ3LzP3s5apusAPQdRgV_ERgrUzsTs8uVcfyKc3oot/s640/jackiebrown2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Robert Forster as Max Cherry in JACKIE BROWN</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI08MeqNPVr2lGQEE_Ua-kCNzHl_2l_n_JgQODeyeWJ5hVfCg065fV_OlQNYSDNMYm2xzxWrWiLhpz8MKHI8uSM0t4yawK42fmFKO7Jjkjts-MZivWrUEgpmLlG4GKMV3ORY0UKzncZlJo/s1600/MAJESTYK2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI08MeqNPVr2lGQEE_Ua-kCNzHl_2l_n_JgQODeyeWJ5hVfCg065fV_OlQNYSDNMYm2xzxWrWiLhpz8MKHI8uSM0t4yawK42fmFKO7Jjkjts-MZivWrUEgpmLlG4GKMV3ORY0UKzncZlJo/s640/MAJESTYK2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>2) MR. MAJESTYK (CHARLES BRONSON, AL LETTIERI... RICHARD FLEISCHER) BULLETS: ****1/2</b></i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>Charles Bronson with sarcasm, and his name is Vince Majestyk, and the strangest thing is he’s a watermelon farmer who, after being thrown in jail for protecting his business from instigative punk Bobby Koppas, played by Paul Koslo, he meets and clashes with Al Lettieri's famous hit man Frank Renda, who eventually comes after Majestyk in his own territory, the backwoods, and the chase is on…  </i><br /> <i><br /></i> <i>Although there are gun fights, fist fights and plenty of action, this is a different kind of Charles Bronson vehicle – given that he’s somewhat of a smartass and only gets tough when completely necessary. Much of the film has creative dialog and character-development, thanks to Leonard's writing... </i><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInyUInrCONiRMCfN_ZKSE4HaZyPqsEOcmWSwV9VAZlKYh-xWBrBH55IzZe543Ge4rOw1t42aEZdExOtWK62pm21ztTXRbvpY-YFLDW0dUjhYEAMVxjgzgGDFUAKyLIbWYScRD4XqzlRkb/s1600/majestyk3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInyUInrCONiRMCfN_ZKSE4HaZyPqsEOcmWSwV9VAZlKYh-xWBrBH55IzZe543Ge4rOw1t42aEZdExOtWK62pm21ztTXRbvpY-YFLDW0dUjhYEAMVxjgzgGDFUAKyLIbWYScRD4XqzlRkb/s640/majestyk3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Paul Koslo as Bobby Koppas in MR. MAJESTYK</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_IFNAzVhcqQ7dEDap8w_4_Ds3ZHrxkIHNQHURmPgILYnW9hLWF0ilU02Fb-cgT0lBHDkdUoVfRBZPN8Dfx7vvmICW5_3YU4O4vvylnpZ-fZnWM-zz2a3vigmL75ctkAF-zYjpARuxyK5y/s1600/outofsight1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_IFNAzVhcqQ7dEDap8w_4_Ds3ZHrxkIHNQHURmPgILYnW9hLWF0ilU02Fb-cgT0lBHDkdUoVfRBZPN8Dfx7vvmICW5_3YU4O4vvylnpZ-fZnWM-zz2a3vigmL75ctkAF-zYjpARuxyK5y/s640/outofsight1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>3) OUT OF SIGHT (GEORGE CLOONEY, JENNIFER LOPEZ... STEVEN SODERBERGH) BULLETS: ****</b></i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>Both George Clooney, fresh from TV stardom, and Jennifer Lopez, famous for her music and ass (not in the order), OUT OF SIGHT, based on Leonard’s novel, is a supercool vehicle for both actors to shine...</i><br /> <i><br /></i> <i>Although directed by Steven Soderbergh, there’s a lotta Tarantino inspiration as the story goes back and forth in time, showing Clooney’s Jack Foley inside and outside of prison and even breaking out of prison, partnered with a quiet-tough Ving Rhames and comic relief Steve Zahn, eventually joining the villainous Don Cheadle for a diamond heist… </i><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXVTTkzHBB_DkX4NPIbhs9D3hiO4bpwd7QvNvYJuhYfRpvRBz69gg4LHCk1RFS4XPJY7wnLmcvDalDpMKeJcYhE7fSoz6uI3IysLnAy2DD7RU08xKZY64S2XRydj97firzsUmeF_qKU85c/s1600/outofsight3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXVTTkzHBB_DkX4NPIbhs9D3hiO4bpwd7QvNvYJuhYfRpvRBz69gg4LHCk1RFS4XPJY7wnLmcvDalDpMKeJcYhE7fSoz6uI3IysLnAy2DD7RU08xKZY64S2XRydj97firzsUmeF_qKU85c/s640/outofsight3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>George Clooney quits his job right off the bat in OUT OF SIGHT</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiesV1t1oqH9jnJkgY8JcmeLteJCUehWIsmaT-hXx37WZqCAIHFlM9YYzlXxCvuhecyMc_DzmeDCNrFbNTbQQRQLqATB3VcCcWvKQfDur7z1MseWq3Z25WjpFbyo9Jp6GjJAcp_ZHNVPfBZ/s1600/getshorty1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiesV1t1oqH9jnJkgY8JcmeLteJCUehWIsmaT-hXx37WZqCAIHFlM9YYzlXxCvuhecyMc_DzmeDCNrFbNTbQQRQLqATB3VcCcWvKQfDur7z1MseWq3Z25WjpFbyo9Jp6GjJAcp_ZHNVPfBZ/s640/getshorty1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>4) GET SHORTY (JOHN TRAVOLTA, GENE HACKMAN... BARRY SONNENFELD) BULLETS: ****</b></i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>Fast-paced and clever, this was the first adaptation to, as Elmore Leonard himself put it, finally get it right, GET SHORTY provides John Travolta, fresh from his PULP FICTION comeback, a similar character but with much more depth and layers…</i><br /> <i><br /></i> <i>Florida mobster Chili Palmer travels to Hollywood where he gets mixed up with, and eventually influences, an ecclectic lot of movie folk including a quirky Gene Hackman (surprisingly wimpy), Danny DeVito (not surprisingly short aka SHORTY), sexy Rene Russo and a cut-throat villain (Delroy Lindo) in the Leonard tradition…</i><br /> <i><br /></i> <i>There’s archive footage of Orson Welle’s Noir masterpiece TOUCH OF EVIL, and James Gandolfini plays a hired-hand stuntman named Bear, who provides a great scene with Travolta beginning with a fistfight and ending with a meaningful conversation…  And a</i><i>nother great actor who recently departed, Dennis Farina, plays a Florida mob boss both funny and lethal, a combination not all actors could successfully pull off… </i><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioAMUcytdbtVXHGEswi8nJBNE8y5K9Sr9-rsc_4SlolgQmmHIvkioZ7Wb2s7ouoWQS8hdQZknSNj23nSKrYejcSPSENFW72zyBuMNqE6eLfPRt53z9lwkcpPr9InsfikcOQJWBKIFzmCoB/s1600/getshorty2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioAMUcytdbtVXHGEswi8nJBNE8y5K9Sr9-rsc_4SlolgQmmHIvkioZ7Wb2s7ouoWQS8hdQZknSNj23nSKrYejcSPSENFW72zyBuMNqE6eLfPRt53z9lwkcpPr9InsfikcOQJWBKIFzmCoB/s640/getshorty2.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The late James Gandolfini as Bear in GET SHORTY</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNHnYILuAH-NFAR7Jb6g7Ba8msCoxcLvv955JB5E6nCGw5Bb8XGdGbvjwYGxYxRFuxYR8u543bzxvfBGXObUvl8p3UeBmO2CzEYDop-VE2wh2QMxjyBWh0abYRteInawYr0OPaMZJkxF7/s1600/stick1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNHnYILuAH-NFAR7Jb6g7Ba8msCoxcLvv955JB5E6nCGw5Bb8XGdGbvjwYGxYxRFuxYR8u543bzxvfBGXObUvl8p3UeBmO2CzEYDop-VE2wh2QMxjyBWh0abYRteInawYr0OPaMZJkxF7/s640/stick1.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>5) STICK (BURT REYNOLDS, CHARLES DURNING, JOSE PEREZ... BURT REYNOLDS) BULLETS: ***1/2</b></i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>After the disastrous CANNONBALL RUN 2 and STROKER ACE, Burt Reynolds leading man status was in big trouble, but few people know his mid to late 1980’s action films are quite good, including HEAT, MALONE and this crime caper STICK, based on Elmore Leonard’s novel, about an ex convict who, after a drug deal gone very bad, goes inside the lair of a seedy millionaire for revenge…</i><br /> <i><br /></i> <i>But the vengeance here, like other Leonard tales, doesn’t merely involve guns blasting and bombs exploding, at least not right off the bat… </i><br /> <i><br /></i> <i>Famous for a stunt involving the villain falling from a super-high building, Reynolds, as director, probably had the initial cut more to the Leonard standard, but was told in post-production to add action scenes to make it more mainstream… Either way it’s a pretty good film, and underrated… </i><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxzpzYXGUlRKjXZzYQ_09gTU4hJE_Jz5S04QlBmh6uYptA9BqyqcoZqq988wJFABeYYhHInGw3E_FsbQ5Ytq2bb9UutNpps0Sk3Oge8OTGtrZLSZ1PLCrouQtMYLamQfOJJCgIyaP5kN9/s1600/stick2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxzpzYXGUlRKjXZzYQ_09gTU4hJE_Jz5S04QlBmh6uYptA9BqyqcoZqq988wJFABeYYhHInGw3E_FsbQ5Ytq2bb9UutNpps0Sk3Oge8OTGtrZLSZ1PLCrouQtMYLamQfOJJCgIyaP5kN9/s640/stick2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Burt Reynolds dons a pink Members Only Jacket but is still tough</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeq79zHJhRg9Xe7ryd6YTPH2MAcUXMonI_rz9MyDkar5y_mJL0duZYXKi2icM4RwehbAgh7GOWejia7Y8WXWYZvqNpuEHlXDIfnCebq8C0jWuPTtPRUt6In_1lf0gaZwz_2vmeyEBuoIj6/s1600/52pickup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeq79zHJhRg9Xe7ryd6YTPH2MAcUXMonI_rz9MyDkar5y_mJL0duZYXKi2icM4RwehbAgh7GOWejia7Y8WXWYZvqNpuEHlXDIfnCebq8C0jWuPTtPRUt6In_1lf0gaZwz_2vmeyEBuoIj6/s640/52pickup.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>6) 52 PICK-UP (ROY SCHEIDER, JOHN GLOVER... JOHN FRANKENHEIMER) BULLETS: ***</b></i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>Roy Scheider plays Harry Mitchell, who has just about everything until he’s blackmailed by gangsters and eventually tracks them down, and, in the Leonard fashion, plays them against each other…</i><br /> <i><br /></i> <i>Although Scheider, best known for chasing a big shark, provides a cool slow burn character, it’s John Glover’s over-the-top performance as the blabbering lead goon who really steals the show… </i><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4PsBPmYnLrHc7axmeG93ojF6JKk6IwIoLsYe2tUZeacYmQosIsdZC0brmONt5-x3U-G_mwOf6S6okF9cZB890w8cKN-5ByPclN_-VsoYtv8vgPwBdjryvZxQuJl4Dapbgy2LkiPAgCij7/s1600/52+pickup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4PsBPmYnLrHc7axmeG93ojF6JKk6IwIoLsYe2tUZeacYmQosIsdZC0brmONt5-x3U-G_mwOf6S6okF9cZB890w8cKN-5ByPclN_-VsoYtv8vgPwBdjryvZxQuJl4Dapbgy2LkiPAgCij7/s640/52+pickup.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>John Glover goes wonderfully overboard in 52 PICK-UP</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGQyXE_v5msNIUm-ioG69oTotRmkiU6VtT5kmvi_LDFz2iiVN6RvFu7zxSZRmmOdK_cwM8BP3bKbeSaqd-JZevpYTi6GAVHfaE0gfAXeDwcby1FZKlTFc-zsQBDUHOesZEK5B2Vd0DPCT/s1600/bigbounce1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGQyXE_v5msNIUm-ioG69oTotRmkiU6VtT5kmvi_LDFz2iiVN6RvFu7zxSZRmmOdK_cwM8BP3bKbeSaqd-JZevpYTi6GAVHfaE0gfAXeDwcby1FZKlTFc-zsQBDUHOesZEK5B2Vd0DPCT/s640/bigbounce1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>7) THE BIG BOUNCE (RYAN O'NEAL, LEIGH TAYLOR-YOUNG... ALEX MARCH) BULLETS: ***</b></i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>Having met and fallen in love during their nighttime TV soap opera PEYTON PLACE, the at-that-time real life married couple Ryan O’Neal and Leigh Taylor-Young starred in this balmy Neo Noir about a, like many Elmore Leonard stories, ex convict, also a Vietnam vet, who, in the typical Noir fashion, falls helplessly in love with a wicked double-crossing beauty…</i><br /> <i><br /></i> <i>O’Neal does an effective job in the lead role, but it’s Leigh’s femme fatalle who wields the real power, manipulating everyone around her... </i><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM42jlQpZ69tfyFbK03iCbF8aMM9IjpQS_H6eAbweWERYblw2qRwuAHaISlKqHGHKFeVaFFEQ2KVkqUJQTI5bQ6cQU_vtfBiBgmyxgmk3nmEbXR5559uidv4iw1TXRtk2IyLaabaTq3xFc/s1600/big+bounce2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM42jlQpZ69tfyFbK03iCbF8aMM9IjpQS_H6eAbweWERYblw2qRwuAHaISlKqHGHKFeVaFFEQ2KVkqUJQTI5bQ6cQU_vtfBiBgmyxgmk3nmEbXR5559uidv4iw1TXRtk2IyLaabaTq3xFc/s640/big+bounce2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ryan O'Neal hits a homey during the opening game of THE BIG BOUNCE</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdUFdt0bP-Cp3nW52DkV_1mBg_I_UdKMBASNOqV-TzKw_wK9-N0cZuqKyvUpHuZovDKT3NHAl9cK-GNCteLxuc6HLp2-x8Ko25OvWhDB543y1WbALaYfJzlHY7B8363lNYs2nKrXJ1-_C/s1600/joekidd1_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdUFdt0bP-Cp3nW52DkV_1mBg_I_UdKMBASNOqV-TzKw_wK9-N0cZuqKyvUpHuZovDKT3NHAl9cK-GNCteLxuc6HLp2-x8Ko25OvWhDB543y1WbALaYfJzlHY7B8363lNYs2nKrXJ1-_C/s640/joekidd1_2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>8) JOE KIDD (CLINT EASTWOOD, ROBERT DUVALL, DON STROUD... JOHN STURGES) BULLETS: **1/2</b></i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>Reading this post you’d think Elmore Leonard was a crime writer, but he started out writing dime novel Westerns during the 1950’s… And in the early ‘70’s he gave it another shot…</i><br /> <br /> <i>Although the movie itself is somewhat of a disappointment, Clint Eastwood's good in the title role, but it’s the group of rugged villains played by Robert Duvall, Don Stroud and soon to be MR. MAJESTYK co-star Paul Koslo providing the Leonard-touch as bad guys who talk up a storm, distinguishing KIDD from other Eastwood 1970’s Westerns… </i><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSip-1Wo5tvXC0j5vMuC13Us-FEYBqKtU-oK-SL-T5fuX4DxysqFimMo6zJsSlNR0dMLnVG9s0AS0ux-BJi5nFQWdcwbLnIgjhu1DtCPZbwox_D4K6BWQissx-Yckwb75Yq99HZ17EKvJO/s1600/joekidd2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSip-1Wo5tvXC0j5vMuC13Us-FEYBqKtU-oK-SL-T5fuX4DxysqFimMo6zJsSlNR0dMLnVG9s0AS0ux-BJi5nFQWdcwbLnIgjhu1DtCPZbwox_D4K6BWQissx-Yckwb75Yq99HZ17EKvJO/s640/joekidd2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Paul Koslo watches Don Stroud roust a local girl in JOE KIDD</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmjJr3p0nfSDkc24J0u_LYXAlvy07881wtRcTKa2hZyVqQRHrputRcneBN5zBIugwV3_6EoTj6etmy9msKJ1l9Zm9kbQmgndZ9hvJHFpSCk6G1fiirADiBFZ3PeAUspz2rUnr2RnHQQ4b1/s1600/outofsight2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmjJr3p0nfSDkc24J0u_LYXAlvy07881wtRcTKa2hZyVqQRHrputRcneBN5zBIugwV3_6EoTj6etmy9msKJ1l9Zm9kbQmgndZ9hvJHFpSCk6G1fiirADiBFZ3PeAUspz2rUnr2RnHQQ4b1/s640/outofsight2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>FAREWELL ELMORE LEONARD... OCTOBER 1925-AUGUST 2013</i></td></tr> </tbody></table>

crime, eighties, elmore leonard, quentin tarantino, seventies, sixties, tribute

EIGHT BY ELMORE LEONARD

1) JACKIE BROWN (PAM GRIER, ROBERT FORSTER... QUENTIN TARANTINO) BULLETS: ***** After RESERVOIR DOGS opened doors and PULP FICTION m...

PARANOIA

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9UvwowtXmyk5_dk8BoZB-YpVn0rckju46MX6v7XZRnJj-lIfr6UTr_lFxgVA5ymb-SHrAxR8wDNzoFTdSv7ytcLxX4HAm6TxkkpmeXlT4YIuMMWpWssKOQCWyjIV1JjuztxZOKjZqr2k/s1600/paranoia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9UvwowtXmyk5_dk8BoZB-YpVn0rckju46MX6v7XZRnJj-lIfr6UTr_lFxgVA5ymb-SHrAxR8wDNzoFTdSv7ytcLxX4HAm6TxkkpmeXlT4YIuMMWpWssKOQCWyjIV1JjuztxZOKjZqr2k/s640/paranoia.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Liam Hemsworth, Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Josh Holloway rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> During the opening narration, we learn that America is no longer to be trusted… Except for the "victims" on other side of the tracks, a safe enough place where you can see the bad guys coming. And by the time Liam Hemsworth, as tech climber Adam Cassidy, begins to feel someone’s out to get him… which is called PARANOIA… the film’s title makes little to no sense: he knows exactly who’s after him (and why he's being sought after) and so does the audience.<br /> <br /> The first half is WALL STREET meets… THE HANGOVER. The latter because Adam and his pals, after getting fired from a crooked cell phone corporation run by Gary Oldman’s Nicolas Wyatt, spend an insane amount of company money getting drunk at a nightclub, and the next day suffers the half-remembered consequences: He’s blackmailed into going undercover to seek out a groundbreaking new idea from Wyatt’s main competitor, Jock Goddard, played by Harrison Ford, with an awkward looking shaved head and the vulnerability of a lost puppy, counterbalancing Oldman’s sinister sleaze, wants to make the world a better place. And so our hero, who has fallen in love with one of Goddard’s employees, begins to question himself: Here’s where a few chase scenes occur leading to a rushed climax where the twist is not very surprising.<br /> <br /> For a thriller, PARANOIA has a decent setup but falls by the wayside once Adam gets in too deep. And that’s just the problem… No matter how much trouble he’s facing, the initial decision to max out a company credit card on booze remains his most risky endeavor. How’s that for thrilling?

2013, gary oldman, harrison ford, liam hemsworth, thriller

PARANOIA

year: 2013 cast: Liam Hemsworth, Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Josh Holloway rating: ** During the opening narration, we learn that Americ...

THE SPECTACULAR NOW

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl-J9cxaq1C8VhwV8realWrOeT2SuKalId-fEH77YVMSloWPPYa9GX5DBPWhT9X30ZytFr6WjzXjmKaFIS574tJ31RHdRD0uBpTncLkonPxiuUcQC4EIwaPzTT5WspBQfUfZoty4juink/s1600/spectacular-now.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl-J9cxaq1C8VhwV8realWrOeT2SuKalId-fEH77YVMSloWPPYa9GX5DBPWhT9X30ZytFr6WjzXjmKaFIS574tJ31RHdRD0uBpTncLkonPxiuUcQC4EIwaPzTT5WspBQfUfZoty4juink/s400/spectacular-now.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Kyle Chandler rating: ***1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> A cross between John Cusack’s pontificating good guy in SAY ANYTHING and Chris Penn’s boozing jock in THE WILD LIFE, a refreshingly average/realistic looking Miles Teller (who was Penn's character in the FOOTLOOSE remake) plays Sutter, the most popular kid in high school and a known campus party animal. It’s surprising to several people when he hooks up with smart girl Aimee, played by THE DESCENDANTS actress Shailene Woodley, and their romance blossoms.<br /> <br /> The nice thing about SPECTACULAR NOW is it’s not that spectacular, and never tries to be. In several scenes, awkward moments play out without intrusive cuts... like the couple’s first sexual experience or anytime Sutter's confidence trumps those around him... making the film seem more realistic than catered to mainstream audiences.<br /> <br /> Although Miles Teller plays the role a bit too grownup, often coming across more like a used car salesman than high schooler, and his routine drinking habit would better fit a thirty-five year old construction worker, he makes the part work, balancing vulnerability and wild card cockiness around ordinary people with their lives mapped out. Meanwhile, an intentionally plain looking Woodley remains a solid foundation, and their scenes together are never sappy or pretentious.<br /> <br /> The third act – as Sutter meets his estranged father – could have been the point where melodrama replaces the story’s casual pace, but thankfully even the most intense moments remain on an even-keel that, like the main character’s personality, will keep you involved from start to finish.<br /> <br />

2013, high school, jennifer jason leigh, kyle chandler, miles teller, romantic comedy, shailene woodley, teen

THE SPECTACULAR NOW

year: 2013 cast: Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Kyle Chandler rating: ***1/2 A cross between John Cusack’s pontificating good guy in SA...

JOBS VS PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtD2pNIFuK__mRf8KTJw3OLr6HINPyi4CtErnhdyZN1ljWJ9FEge2eD6y2EPFqXI5ES1m9vbh1_070j0ES7dyqva4GurOyXjHJoLxo5e663eemzGpXWrhDRKH3P2tQ6J11WfymR8qWjSsO/s1600/ws_Vintage_Apple_Logo_1280x800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtD2pNIFuK__mRf8KTJw3OLr6HINPyi4CtErnhdyZN1ljWJ9FEge2eD6y2EPFqXI5ES1m9vbh1_070j0ES7dyqva4GurOyXjHJoLxo5e663eemzGpXWrhDRKH3P2tQ6J11WfymR8qWjSsO/s640/ws_Vintage_Apple_Logo_1280x800.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, John Getz rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> During the first five minutes of JOBS, as Ashton Kutcher – playing Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs – heads a 2001 meeting introducing the iPod, judging by the grandiose soundtrack you’d think he invented the wheel (or created the universe) and not just a state-of-the-art Walkman…<br /> <br /> From this meeting we travel back to 1974, where Kutcher’s Jobs is a bearded loafer who doesn’t fit into college life, or anywhere for that matter. After taking LSD he realizes something unclear to the audience and his slacker buddies... But in the blink of an eye he’s working at Atari, screaming like a jerk boss even before becoming one. <br /> <br /> His sidekick is Steve Wozniak, the pioneering engineer who built the first Apple computer. Nicknamed Woz and played by short and tubby Josh Gad, he's the intentional audience favorite using witty sarcasm to alleviate the tension of his climbing, and often cutthroat, entrepreneurial partner. <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusTdye-G2K8n12JzEptDP7eIuuiLpCJw2akSlZ2xTE0i6hzsGL3yEvQKCsYb3LCuLqr4RI4wCOzyBuGxWvsgXeoSzRw4mEKfHprRVZ295z10PfsOafM7dERndOfr3Cbvf4nlgJvT_oO7Y/s1600/jobs1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusTdye-G2K8n12JzEptDP7eIuuiLpCJw2akSlZ2xTE0i6hzsGL3yEvQKCsYb3LCuLqr4RI4wCOzyBuGxWvsgXeoSzRw4mEKfHprRVZ295z10PfsOafM7dERndOfr3Cbvf4nlgJvT_oO7Y/s640/jobs1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The real life and at that time not-so-fat Steve Wozniak with Steve Jobs</td></tr> </tbody></table> Gad, in playing a goofy sidekick more than a real person, partially redeems himself during the first of two heartfelt pleas to Jobs, who, during the early 80’s when Apple got really big, turned more corporate-minded than artistic.<br /> <br /> And just as we jumped from college to Atari, there's an awkward cut from the initial team working out of Steve’s father's garage to the immense Apple building, where several characters are forgotten and Jobs doesn’t gel with the "stiff suits" including Dermot Mulroney’s backer Mike Markkula, his one time confidant and good friend. <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXLvEyWdg2uwU7j-FnRn4L_m0CMYiEmqbyFo5LmLBDoeoktX4poYukTdb9ZajGtaKptUSBBRdkYS3BdEw5WckdJ5WaZP154nl7Osc2ciYaL5bpxFTvFw_fIavT0LQfPurvnxflnzDs6ZpZ/s1600/jobs-garage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXLvEyWdg2uwU7j-FnRn4L_m0CMYiEmqbyFo5LmLBDoeoktX4poYukTdb9ZajGtaKptUSBBRdkYS3BdEw5WckdJ5WaZP154nl7Osc2ciYaL5bpxFTvFw_fIavT0LQfPurvnxflnzDs6ZpZ/s640/jobs-garage.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs and Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak</td></tr> </tbody></table> The best scenes occur in and out of that dusty garage, the rudimentary Apple compound: sadly we’re not in this pivotal era long enough. Much of the film has Jobs desperately battling the powers-that-be in chilly white-walled offices.<br /> <br /> Kutcher’s piercing eyes are narrowed intensely, and he's surprisingly effective but otherwise burdened by a contrived imitation of quirky physical mannerisms… Walking with a bent-forward T-Rex posture is distracting and downright unnecessary (the audience was giggling throughout).<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCsCukDWHQgVGdSIUr6lHvpN2qKAVfJ2Zo22ST-iwr5Ucy0TMptD1_wLYvb4aPuEkjPAc5157PrrESCx9DkN8JGG3KxjqZsu4WGaa2hKdim5gokHp2yq_Ms0BwFq7f4dAboBIiNVkXVuv/s1600/ashton-kutcher-as-steve-jobs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCsCukDWHQgVGdSIUr6lHvpN2qKAVfJ2Zo22ST-iwr5Ucy0TMptD1_wLYvb4aPuEkjPAc5157PrrESCx9DkN8JGG3KxjqZsu4WGaa2hKdim5gokHp2yq_Ms0BwFq7f4dAboBIiNVkXVuv/s640/ashton-kutcher-as-steve-jobs.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashton Kutcher's narrowed eyes do the best acting in JOBS</td></tr> </tbody></table> Although there are interesting moments, and we learn some important lessons in tech history, JOBS is hardly a biographical film: Overlong scenes with uncreative CEO’s demolishing each new idea are tedious, repetitive, and overwhelming.<br /> <br /> When the bigwigs aren’t around, and Jobs passionately lectures his minions on how to create usable products for the future, the film plays out like a melodramatic commercial for Apple products, which might have been intentional: If Steve Jobs wasn't so uncaring and temperamental, they'd probably have him walking on water... or creating the shoes to make it happen.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZeJnz95i5EO7KXGcd1e_NzxIeHAEZxj3lXhRMfRtQHjXrxLCwe49vrTMWE43o9Axbww6hoD0Pj3DVnod40QeSg0AUh36CiAijx27kGbvouyJqIcwhWFrLL94Phyf8Z-1H1OCx0lfcrnFw/s1600/pirates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZeJnz95i5EO7KXGcd1e_NzxIeHAEZxj3lXhRMfRtQHjXrxLCwe49vrTMWE43o9Axbww6hoD0Pj3DVnod40QeSg0AUh36CiAijx27kGbvouyJqIcwhWFrLL94Phyf8Z-1H1OCx0lfcrnFw/s640/pirates.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1999 cast: Noah Wyle, Anthony Michael Hall, John DiMaggio rating: ***1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> This thoroughly entertaining docudrama about Apple Computer guru Steve Jobs battling Microsoft mogul Bill Gates is quite good, thanks to a surprisingly effective Noah Wyle as Jobs, the iconic visionary who finds a worthy partner in Steve Wozniak, the reclusive genius who built the first home computer in a suburban garage.<br /> <br /> So why isn’t Wozniak more praised than Jobs in the home computer legacy? For one, the naive Wozniak aka Woz would have sold his idea to someone else if it weren’t for Job’s determination to develop it on their own, under Apple, a name inspired from an LSD trip.<br /> <br /> Following Jobs and Wozniak from college into big business is a terrific odyssey – but once the proverbial stone stops rolling, moss gathers with a gossipy subplot involving Job’s bad relationship and a child caught in-between.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJvchmlneQc_uEEce8r46DrgpBPiUXjyUwdVCGFmsBHR70o9XWTQ_82ySpXgh5huhizGBZdW4Ju0J4ctXk6OVmUMmg5n_QBbY8xZ36qWuNYHk41ZTQl4uHZq3cJ_KQBgR8TmqiCpcrEUdJ/s1600/microsoft-co-founder-hits-out-at-gates1_zps14be5344.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJvchmlneQc_uEEce8r46DrgpBPiUXjyUwdVCGFmsBHR70o9XWTQ_82ySpXgh5huhizGBZdW4Ju0J4ctXk6OVmUMmg5n_QBbY8xZ36qWuNYHk41ZTQl4uHZq3cJ_KQBgR8TmqiCpcrEUdJ/s640/microsoft-co-founder-hits-out-at-gates1_zps14be5344.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The original real life Microsoft team Bill Gates and Paul Allen</td></tr> </tbody></table> Flip the coin to Bill Gates, played by an over-the-top Anthony Michael Hall, doing a silly impersonation of the cliche everygeek as opposed to an actual person who, while cutting corners and not very honest, is a genius in his own right.<br /> <br /> But it’s the energetic performance of John DiMaggio as Steve Ballmer, Gate’s intense right-hand man whose devotion trumps even the soft spoken Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, that really makes the B-story shine: While Ballmer narrates, he’s standing within his own past and providing the audience with a virtual reality pie chart.<br /> <br /> Still, the best moments involve our main characters… As Jobs and Woz struggle to get their home computer on the market, Wyle proves he’s far more than a handsome TV actor, intensely portraying Jobs as a driven entrepreneur with severe mood swings – eventually becoming a tyrannical boss pitting Apple workers against Macintosh like Roman galley slaves.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj27t9oUIqh7mIoY8GXsVlEXexFJ5wxbmlkbKN5o3CtZPsWJUSPmMql_GpIZboYXpjy05rQJXftBBAQPNY6jN-2C303RsCx9pba_7YzqCQjRKZ-JI6GOivhaBQxWYvV1I26tXSl4CuyJTr2/s1600/198apple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj27t9oUIqh7mIoY8GXsVlEXexFJ5wxbmlkbKN5o3CtZPsWJUSPmMql_GpIZboYXpjy05rQJXftBBAQPNY6jN-2C303RsCx9pba_7YzqCQjRKZ-JI6GOivhaBQxWYvV1I26tXSl4CuyJTr2/s640/198apple.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orwell-inpsired 1984 Apple Commercial directed by Ridley Scott</td></tr> </tbody></table> But the oars kept moving, and during the crest of the 1980’s, Apple grew along with Microsoft (with a lot of idea stealing and/or swapping)… and while both were incredibly successful, there was one clear winner...<br /> <br /> So as the Ashton Kutcher film JOBS begins with the underwhelming introduction to the iPod, this more creative and colorful story starts with the screening of a 1984 Orwellian-inspired Apple commercial and ends with the megalomaniac loggerheads finally working together… sort of...<br /> <br /> And the rest is history: being typed on this home computer and read on your own.<br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh20G0vwAG0YSircpP7fd_XymtNIXWYRFeGLXvu4u8lJyX62hwHgZBErCxRNbgfVPhYyfEU7hTujxipLtIhWhDZd89xnwlMUbG01ij1AVe7HVwbByPyVyh2ME8PWPNNPPFSIuG5xoGO5Ar/s1600/pirates11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh20G0vwAG0YSircpP7fd_XymtNIXWYRFeGLXvu4u8lJyX62hwHgZBErCxRNbgfVPhYyfEU7hTujxipLtIhWhDZd89xnwlMUbG01ij1AVe7HVwbByPyVyh2ME8PWPNNPPFSIuG5xoGO5Ar/s640/pirates11.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs and Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tJTIVc70PYrmvidqVPr32h8ugssYxKhs28NsrCUjV1JLa09yWHgL5Ap9nHqLxu6n3Db4erwcuxajki6Ecq-WqLPvRZ71gpP06WHtG6qfJ0JE2DJsjvsVrimOygEieirCLiot899PDPca/s1600/original+apple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tJTIVc70PYrmvidqVPr32h8ugssYxKhs28NsrCUjV1JLa09yWHgL5Ap9nHqLxu6n3Db4erwcuxajki6Ecq-WqLPvRZ71gpP06WHtG6qfJ0JE2DJsjvsVrimOygEieirCLiot899PDPca/s640/original+apple.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fred Flintstone's computer was an Apple</td></tr> </tbody></table>

2013, anthony michael hall, ashton kutcher, biopic, dermot mulroney, john getz, matthew modine

JOBS VS PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY

year: 2013 cast: Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, John Getz rating: ** During the first five minutes of JOBS, as A...

SIX GUN SALUTE FOR CRIME NOVELIST ELMORE LEONARD

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPEcSGkj4Xqnh1_YPdrR4NVIuXyC5wHnILoP7MCXTNXpkjZdmO9PmvbBQS0ly_5kz8F0p0aTJ1VBnwl8KP_dVXYKEhBwdndiOAGg6ZDdZiDLFFEVk-uXkDRE_VqPjxuN2wtNyrMFL96pBO/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPEcSGkj4Xqnh1_YPdrR4NVIuXyC5wHnILoP7MCXTNXpkjZdmO9PmvbBQS0ly_5kz8F0p0aTJ1VBnwl8KP_dVXYKEhBwdndiOAGg6ZDdZiDLFFEVk-uXkDRE_VqPjxuN2wtNyrMFL96pBO/s640/Picture+1.png" width="582" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>REST IN PEACE CRIME AND WESTERN NOVELIST ELMORE LEONARD 1925-2013</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>ELMORE LEONARD, who wrote novels that became great films including MR MAJESTYK (Charles Bronson), JACKIE BROWN (Pam Grier), STICK (Burt Reynolds), GET SHORTY (John Travolta), and OUT OF SIGHT (Jennifer Lopez with George Clooney), has left the building... Let's send him out in a blaze of gunfire... And stay tuned for a much better tribute to Leonard this week... </i><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7UqEmyNy1FO01DEZlWJPZlewgLbD5Vbpp_c1JsZk5jRG2-uTbbsTdnFBwgg1AiGL8Qxte_Wy-D8h_0rDDytX_IN2gQmAx47nQmDBCqvvC43NycKiNskWiz_aYAelsDvAdnQ0cqrIrSk7-/s1600/photo-27.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7UqEmyNy1FO01DEZlWJPZlewgLbD5Vbpp_c1JsZk5jRG2-uTbbsTdnFBwgg1AiGL8Qxte_Wy-D8h_0rDDytX_IN2gQmAx47nQmDBCqvvC43NycKiNskWiz_aYAelsDvAdnQ0cqrIrSk7-/s640/photo-27.JPG" width="504" /></a></div>

SIX GUN SALUTE FOR CRIME NOVELIST ELMORE LEONARD

REST IN PEACE CRIME AND WESTERN NOVELIST ELMORE LEONARD 1925-2013 ELMORE LEONARD, who wrote novels that became great films including MR ...

LEE MAJORS IN 'KILLER FISH' AKA 'NAKED SUN' W/ KAREN BLACK

<div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/karen%20black%20interviews"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS-FRNl-IeB4JqvtFXcqMi7qtGAB2r3zNuXpHEsq1mUBi7jqY2HJOwPqUXD8dEPgkpB6AGW0JjVFzvBp-nwmUnljra1HK5mOE6BTr4h9IjPKcT82PBTO-TDp0kwtRhnP-62lGsJHRon-3GRw7TpBC63FSb9MvsivzFiuV0ECE6tcRYlAcklMDKAFpwGKL3/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202018-12-07%20at%206.40.16%20AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1025" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS-FRNl-IeB4JqvtFXcqMi7qtGAB2r3zNuXpHEsq1mUBi7jqY2HJOwPqUXD8dEPgkpB6AGW0JjVFzvBp-nwmUnljra1HK5mOE6BTr4h9IjPKcT82PBTO-TDp0kwtRhnP-62lGsJHRon-3GRw7TpBC63FSb9MvsivzFiuV0ECE6tcRYlAcklMDKAFpwGKL3/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202018-12-07%20at%206.40.16%20AM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>TAKEN FROM A PHONE INTERVIEW WITH KAREN BLACK</u></td></tr></tbody></table>KAREN BLACK INTERVIEWS HAVE MOVED HERE</a></span> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/karen%20black%20interviews">KAREN BLACK INTERVIEWS HAVE MOVED HERE</a></span><i><b><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> </span></b></i> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <i><b> </b></i><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>

disaster, frank pesce, heist, horror, interview, james francsiscus, karen black, lee majors, marisa berenson, neo noir, seventies

LEE MAJORS IN 'KILLER FISH' AKA 'NAKED SUN' W/ KAREN BLACK

TAKEN FROM A PHONE INTERVIEW WITH KAREN BLACK KAREN BLACK INTERVIEWS HAVE MOVED HERE KAREN BLACK INTERVIEWS HAVE MOVED HERE

PLANES

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTMBK2FuShuck6zudxt8F2twQJBQi2i4jQPTtntzAwxg9X5JwC1WH9BkLYOWo4irY9HkVQ2pE09-TOkEp-NjksXjutqlQQsDNRjl5xTHNAC4ILmdVF1Q1v4dh0vUenjEcYszXpkq3v5E32/s1600/planes-disney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTMBK2FuShuck6zudxt8F2twQJBQi2i4jQPTtntzAwxg9X5JwC1WH9BkLYOWo4irY9HkVQ2pE09-TOkEp-NjksXjutqlQQsDNRjl5xTHNAC4ILmdVF1Q1v4dh0vUenjEcYszXpkq3v5E32/s640/planes-disney.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 voices: Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, John Cleese, Teri Hatcher, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> In the world of underdog characters, a little crop-dusting plane named Dusty Crophopper stands, or rather, flies alone. Unlike other put-upon heroes, he is, right off the bat, utterly intrepid and gracefully confident and knows exactly what must be done. First he's gotta qualify against really fast jet planes and then compete in an around-the-world race. Sound easy? <br /> <br /> The way Disney tells this basic story, there are few problems for our little flying engine that could – expect he's afraid of heights, and one plane will do anything in the Tortoise/Hare dirty trick fashion to make him lose everything. After all, the longshot Dusty has taken all the media from his competitors including a Spanish romantic, a British snob, two sexy females and that one cocky villain. But it's really nothing stressful, no worries... he has his future all mapped out.<br /> <br /> The problem with PLANES, other than seeming like a bland straight-to-DVD semi-sequel to CARS, is the downtime between each leg of the race. Dusty and his two closest friends (a gas station truck and an old war jet serving as a tattered mentor) talk up a tedious storm during overlong pockets of downtime, making those high-flying scenes the only thing to look forward to… And while the colorfully rip-roaring aerial shots are pretty darn cool, especially in 3D, the action can  be easily matched by playing PLANES THE VIDEO GAME in the cozy confides of home.

2013, anthony edwards, computer animated, disney, stacy keach, val kilmer

PLANES

year: 2013 voices: Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, John Cleese, Teri Hatcher, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer rating: ** In the world of underdog ch...

JACK NICHOLSON'S 'DRIVE, HE SAID' FEATURING JUNE FAIRCHILD

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2S-TLxMmQphl8KBhYxa1eswQTfRNS_CUlUO-AXSLmJTrh9y3gi1l_43mtFdzJOIiIrxZM3we5vJ93r2UA_RK2r9PC8RTzrql2eglxQzHCdRDE81P0mENBBnG8NTVmH6gBtBNjUs3uDL86/s1600/drive-june.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2S-TLxMmQphl8KBhYxa1eswQTfRNS_CUlUO-AXSLmJTrh9y3gi1l_43mtFdzJOIiIrxZM3we5vJ93r2UA_RK2r9PC8RTzrql2eglxQzHCdRDE81P0mENBBnG8NTVmH6gBtBNjUs3uDL86/s1600/drive-june.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1971 cast: William Tepper, Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Michael Margotta, June Fairchild rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://June Fairchild in Jack Nicholson's DRIVE, HE SAID">DRIVE HE SAID MOVED HERE</a></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>

JACK NICHOLSON'S 'DRIVE, HE SAID' FEATURING JUNE FAIRCHILD

year: 1971 cast: William Tepper, Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Michael Margotta, June Fairchild rating: **1/2 DRIVE HE SAID MOVED HERE ...

KAREN BLACK REFLECTS THE DAY OF THE LOCUST & EASY RIDER

<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/karen%20black%20interviews">KAREN BLACK INTERVIEWS HAVE MOVED HERE</a></span>

interview, karen black, seventies, sixties

KAREN BLACK REFLECTS THE DAY OF THE LOCUST & EASY RIDER

KAREN BLACK INTERVIEWS HAVE MOVED HERE

PERCY JACKSON AND THE SEA OF MONSTERS

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR7uvZTCnZShi6l5tEIv-kZoLBw3VkpxtEdNat7lFNf_0AtCt85dgndJAnHNmrkHk3E1KqEmGthz99xrcvBmgmuBymK4R-ykm4nqKjFsTXGNNeDuGn3AI3wmr2SpvaClIpAxEPjnYVWoN9/s1600/percy-jackson-sea-of-monsters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR7uvZTCnZShi6l5tEIv-kZoLBw3VkpxtEdNat7lFNf_0AtCt85dgndJAnHNmrkHk3E1KqEmGthz99xrcvBmgmuBymK4R-ykm4nqKjFsTXGNNeDuGn3AI3wmr2SpvaClIpAxEPjnYVWoN9/s640/percy-jackson-sea-of-monsters.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Logan Lerman, Douglas Smith, Alexandra Daddario rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> With the Harry Potter films behind us, and more Middle Earth Hobbit adventures on deck, the maligned PERCY JACKSON franchise has become a cinematic underdog. The first film, PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THEIF, centers on a group of young, misunderstood demi-gods… half human, half gods… at a wilderness camp protected from nefarious outside elements and, like Hogwarts in the Potter series, is a place to learn their trade… Although THIEF (according to rabid fans) strayed from its source material, the movie was, for conventional viewers, breezily entertaining.<br /> <div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Now we have a second adventure where the basic journey gets right under way… But not so fast… The best sequences occur in the first twenty minutes as a metallic bull invades camp and, after a terrific looking battle with sublime 3D special effects, we’re introduced to a new character, a young Cyclops claiming to be Percy’s brother, and a mission to find a Golden Fleece within an extremely dangerous ocean.  </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> The main problem with SEA OF MONSTERS is the modern terms and/or vocabulary invading the timeless element concerning Mythological characters. Certain phrases and jokes take the escapist factor away from the story, feeling more like a bad high school comedy than fantasy at times. And there are some really lame side-characters on board, like three blind witches straight from MACBETH driving a speeding taxi cab, trying way too hard to be fun and funky, or tiny smack-talking snakes loosely embedded on an ancient weapon, befitting a Nickelodeon kid’s show or a really bad cartoon.  </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> The core of the movie occurs at sea – the title will tell you that much. There are a few slick action scenes and intriguing oceanic creatures, but the story hits a wall once the collection of heroes face off on island harboring a closed down amusement park, pitting Percy and friends against the original Lightning Thief, who again wants to rule things his way, and an angry Cyclops and eventually, The Devil (Hades) himself.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> While non-stop action abounds within this final thirty minutes, at this point the characters mean very little compared to the desperate need for a prolonged big budget climax. Too bad more time wasn’t spent on the build-up, which seemed to rush right by... </div>

2013, adventure, fantasy, franchise, logan lerman, sequel

PERCY JACKSON AND THE SEA OF MONSTERS

year: 2013 cast: Logan Lerman, Douglas Smith, Alexandra Daddario rating: **1/2 With the Harry Potter films behind us, and more Middle Ea...

ELYSIUM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2t0dGpFo9XoIpz3Mf5RjKSE3BuTrU_XRy1DiwGw9hY8VIxpyk5SGt_wUDd9sJe-9F37qqC8QFghmB8mMIypcJsrrSdIFt0SMkeVijuKA1nX9rxufMr4q9t2NtRykBzd_VIEYM3OHgQbfN/s1600/Elysium-2013-Pics-White-Car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2t0dGpFo9XoIpz3Mf5RjKSE3BuTrU_XRy1DiwGw9hY8VIxpyk5SGt_wUDd9sJe-9F37qqC8QFghmB8mMIypcJsrrSdIFt0SMkeVijuKA1nX9rxufMr4q9t2NtRykBzd_VIEYM3OHgQbfN/s640/Elysium-2013-Pics-White-Car.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, William Fichtner, Sharlto Copley, Emma Tremblay rating: *</td></tr> </tbody></table> Science fiction films, especially from the last twenty to thirty years, will usually have a futuristic world with only two classes: the lower and the upper. Well in this case the upper class is really, really, really up there: A circular space station floating above Earth’s atmosphere and resembling the base ship from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a closer look reveals plush lawns, swimming pools and lazy rich people who seem to have won a Galactic lottery since there’s no work going on. They simply <i>have</i> while the <i>have-nots</i> dream of living in that slowly spinning utopia called ELYSIUM.<br /> <br /> Matt Damon plays Max, an ex-convict following strict parole orders on a scorched Earth liken to your typical post-Apocalyptic future, although not a result of nuclear war but a really bad environment. His sarcastically unmotivated slacker doesn’t want any part of a ragged team of overacting revolutionaries (Diego Luna, as the motley team captain, should win a Razzie), desperately wanting to set things straight by making illegal aliens legal on that idyllic haven “protected” by Jodie Foster’s tight-lipped Delacourt (speaking with a really bad British accent), head of what’s <i>still </i>called Homeland Security after two-hundred years. It’s when Max is exposed to radiation, and has only five days to live, that he decides to fight the good fight… After all, ELYSIUM provides not only luxury but harbors medical facilities that can heal any ailment.<br /> <br /> A few bone-crushing gun battles occur between our fully-loaded hero... first on a mission to retrieve important data and then protecting the woman he loves… verses an extremely sinister (and equally annoying) thug, providing shaky action sequences leading to a politically-driven agenda so obnoxiously blatant, you'll forget there was ever a movie playing at all. Meanwhile, Sci-fi classics such as SOYLENT GREEN and SILENT RUNNING had their social messages firmly intact, but when theme trumps plot and/or character-development, or in this case, theme-development with characters on the side, anything the story might have going for it gets blown to smithereens.

2013, matt damon, science-fiction

ELYSIUM

year: 2013 cast: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, William Fichtner, Sharlto Copley, Emma Tremblay rating: * Science fiction films, especially f...