ANJELINA JOLIE DIRECTS UNBROKEN

<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/AVvXsEiYXe6lxG7B4zboX0wrC0hvc_s4nBgIpRd_Mpx4A0JhLNFUBV84EtvZP0zT6_SXqySiTd8XL77XJ0RtFhiVYVuMhQgPfB8jOQfpaeENQlEsM4hEAMBg5HL1OSomdGEEJfxwGf2Talm3RSo/s1600/UNBROKEN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYXe6lxG7B4zboX0wrC0hvc_s4nBgIpRd_Mpx4A0JhLNFUBV84EtvZP0zT6_SXqySiTd8XL77XJ0RtFhiVYVuMhQgPfB8jOQfpaeENQlEsM4hEAMBg5HL1OSomdGEEJfxwGf2Talm3RSo/s320/UNBROKEN.jpg" width="187" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014 rating: *</td></tr> </tbody></table> A true life story about Olympic runner Louis Zamperini, who, during The Second World War after his plane goes down, survives on a raft and is ultimately captured by the Japanese.<br /> <br /> As director, Angelina Jolie plays her ace way too soon…<br /> <br /> Creative flashbacks show Zamperini's childhood as a rebellious kid, sneaking booze after church and the start of his running track reign, leading to the 1938 Olympics: all during scenes before the crash, resulting in the deep sea survival portion when those much-needed flashbacks had all run out. Meanwhile, his fellow soldiers, including a cigar-chomping maverick, were colorfully introduced but ultimately wasted.<br /> <br /> It’s a true story, but perhaps a few cliché War Movie aspects would have helped make UNBREAKABLE cross over onto the big screen with more dynamic... especially when Zamperini winds up as a POW in Japan with excessive scenes of beating after beating. Much like 12 YEARS A SLAVE we witness the brutality served upon the main character with hardly any story in-between.

2014, angelina jolie, bio, war

ANJELINA JOLIE DIRECTS UNBROKEN

2014 rating: * A true life story about Olympic runner Louis Zamperini, who, during The Second World War after his plane goes down, survi...

TIM BURTON DIRECTS BIG EYES

<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/AVvXsEiNlxbwKVCzI6pDhyphenhyphenGsX7x5gVPTxxpVWN0SAcWqBDRM1e8y5lVTSuzIC-Ud13ZWikEFchOz1-OLob1LELlLnU4fo9F6FLRlHwGoiSQdsBjFAEvKL11VTGKhbOV3yDaTUOfGPFQEaQEwcAQ/s1600/sq_big_eyes.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNlxbwKVCzI6pDhyphenhyphenGsX7x5gVPTxxpVWN0SAcWqBDRM1e8y5lVTSuzIC-Ud13ZWikEFchOz1-OLob1LELlLnU4fo9F6FLRlHwGoiSQdsBjFAEvKL11VTGKhbOV3yDaTUOfGPFQEaQEwcAQ/s1600/sq_big_eyes.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> What BIG EYES has in common with another Tim Burton film, BIG FISH, is that both are based on liars, but only one is a filthy, stinking liar. <br /> <br /> The 1950’s is never really shown in a positive light, and hasn't been since… well… the 1950’s. And here we’re reminded that men are the only people who had it good during that era… Especially if they marry well… The man, that is: For in the case of fast talking Walter Keane, played by fast talking two time Oscar winning Christoph Waltz, a strategic partnership earned him a career as a famous artist, "his" work going from galleries to posters to postcards...<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/AVvXsEiBEtXld-7WbaiSid2nvRmaZMx2UOO_xwf30hTPdR0rAZsBzPppYRsV-3JGiTL4bi-yukFEwaaAWKml28U_XntFBxidCvhUNAbpTNluG9HjP5B7OahuWNmmYxIRT4uLsiINUjHp5mZM0tI/s1600/Big-Eyes-new-poster1-e1417531566528.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBEtXld-7WbaiSid2nvRmaZMx2UOO_xwf30hTPdR0rAZsBzPppYRsV-3JGiTL4bi-yukFEwaaAWKml28U_XntFBxidCvhUNAbpTNluG9HjP5B7OahuWNmmYxIRT4uLsiINUjHp5mZM0tI/s1600/Big-Eyes-new-poster1-e1417531566528.jpg" width="121" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not A Bingo</td></tr> </tbody></table> And those Gothic looking waifs with huge sad eyes are about the only Tim Burton element of a film that, based on a true story, lives up to the chauvinistic time it's based: The woman, Margaret Keane, played by Amy Adams, not only lacks important pivotal screentime but hardly gets a word in edgewise... Which is intentional since she’s stuck with a con artist charlatan using her talent for his fame, and<i> their </i>money. The biggest downside is he’s a plagiarizing jerk and ultimately becomes borderline psychotic…<br /> <br /> Yet Christoph Waltz’s performance is so outrageously over-the-top right off the bat, there’s no progressive arc: Instead of going from A to B he starts on a frantic C and never slows down, waxing so much poetic there’s hardly a character visible at all... At least not a realistic one. Just another chance for Waltz to steal a movie that, unlike those paintings, is completely his to have and to hold, and never let go of.

2014, amy adams, biopic, christoph waltz, tim burton

TIM BURTON DIRECTS BIG EYES

year: 2014 rating: *1/2 What BIG EYES has in common with another Tim Burton film, BIG FISH, is that both are based on liars, but only on...

REMAKE OF 'THE GAMBLER' (2014)

<div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEjta0YTkpnWv8vIhkcn_aE2hZgNqo-rGxe9amoC1yFkAY5BZCXNcRykajwTFbZnS3YCAQw3F2KzbVS9A9rwUdGzkUVreMNansBpyj2cmfDFFv4pE6d1179GPeOE9d5aPbgaj5GhWCMckjA/s1600/1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjta0YTkpnWv8vIhkcn_aE2hZgNqo-rGxe9amoC1yFkAY5BZCXNcRykajwTFbZnS3YCAQw3F2KzbVS9A9rwUdGzkUVreMNansBpyj2cmfDFFv4pE6d1179GPeOE9d5aPbgaj5GhWCMckjA/s200/1.jpg" width="127" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> <u>THE GAMBLER 2014</u>: Certain iconic movies you just can’t remake. Others shouldn’t but it still happens. Yet there are some that could use a transformation... <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> Like James Toback's slowburn character-study starring James Caan. While not a bad film, it definitely lacked the spontaneous intrigue of Robert Altman’s poker flick CALIFORNIA SPLIT or John Cassavete's Shylock indie THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE and could have used more edge, like Martin Scorsese's MEAN STREETS: Ironically, this remake was initially optioned by Scorsese to star Leonardo DiCaprio, which fell through and subsequently went to director Rupert Wyatt and leading man Mark Wahlberg, and, in this NEW GAMBLER, Wahlberg’s Jim Bennett is a sort of grungy James Bond with a license to... gamble, and not always wisely. When he isn't laying down the Blackjack cards or betting black on roulette, he's got a day job as a professor of literature: Scenes in the classroom lead to a love interest side-story with a pretty and talented writing student. As a teacher and reluctant author, Wahlberg does a believable job but his intense diatribes don’t connect with the story. Ironically, we spend more time in the lecture hall than where we should be.<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/AVvXsEhuSVMvmsPqozOR2bWvhtAF9M4IwE4Cl0s2XuM8K_dG5tprPxlDcJbh2kmup3Ogz33pFEcxb1Ug2RUsczxYgcoHA2-tQSWceWM5gdiWxdjqzXYWcvlgGVNYX1PRA1gN5pl35h8rIL10M3M/s1600/2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuSVMvmsPqozOR2bWvhtAF9M4IwE4Cl0s2XuM8K_dG5tprPxlDcJbh2kmup3Ogz33pFEcxb1Ug2RUsczxYgcoHA2-tQSWceWM5gdiWxdjqzXYWcvlgGVNYX1PRA1gN5pl35h8rIL10M3M/s200/2.jpg" width="123" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Wahlberg</td></tr> </tbody></table> With a title like THE GAMBLER there needed more scenes of… gambling...<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/AVvXsEjta0YTkpnWv8vIhkcn_aE2hZgNqo-rGxe9amoC1yFkAY5BZCXNcRykajwTFbZnS3YCAQw3F2KzbVS9A9rwUdGzkUVreMNansBpyj2cmfDFFv4pE6d1179GPeOE9d5aPbgaj5GhWCMckjA/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjta0YTkpnWv8vIhkcn_aE2hZgNqo-rGxe9amoC1yFkAY5BZCXNcRykajwTFbZnS3YCAQw3F2KzbVS9A9rwUdGzkUVreMNansBpyj2cmfDFFv4pE6d1179GPeOE9d5aPbgaj5GhWCMckjA/s200/1.jpg" width="127" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> Although the few pivotal times he does play Blackjack, the direction is taut and suspenseful, allowing the audience to suffer the aahs and oohs of each card flipped – meanwhile, the title character calls the shots like he knows the score, even when he loses everything. <br /> <br /> Surrounded by three opposing bookies, none seem as dangerous to Bennett as he is to himself. Talking a big game about reckless abandon, we never catch even a glimpse of what’s ticking under the surface. In an ambiguous Neo Noir template, perhaps it's intentional that he keep more inside than we're allowed to perceive from his exterior: a cinematic poker face, as it were. But with so much potential insight into a gambler dead set on winning and losing everything in one shot, a few answers would have added flesh to a character that, for the most part, sleepwalks through disaster.<u> <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/05/caan-man.html">AND CLICK HERE FOR THE REVIEW OF THE ORIGINAL GAMBLER STARRING JAMES CAAN.</a></u><br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </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/AVvXsEgOCLOQ0bHarBJnpApZqmz7PNJNFdUDyzV2F8dqUFn9IJt6bTwL_K6hm28FL2I1kqmhktWKBQUmcgvOM8aKtmuZH2TzHQaiyyw55Bu_fNl0dVZP1w4wROEIoMOIE3oVSSbY8bd-5-lVLiD0/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOCLOQ0bHarBJnpApZqmz7PNJNFdUDyzV2F8dqUFn9IJt6bTwL_K6hm28FL2I1kqmhktWKBQUmcgvOM8aKtmuZH2TzHQaiyyw55Bu_fNl0dVZP1w4wROEIoMOIE3oVSSbY8bd-5-lVLiD0/s1600/1.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>James Woods as a weenie banker with James Caan in THE GAMBLER</u></td></tr> </tbody></table>

2014, drama, gambling, mark wahlberg, melodrama, remake

REMAKE OF 'THE GAMBLER' (2014)

year: 2014 rating: ** THE GAMBLER 2014 : Certain iconic movies you just can’t remake. Others shouldn’t but it still happens. Yet there...

SHOWGIRLS IS THE GODFATHER COMPARED TO 'STRIPTEASE'

<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/AVvXsEglGggd1mYu1U_2EoeaDksbmmIl5NwTRNaJ2whqjWRpG1pqafw7CF8aDqtNra8gVhCBKGEIhXcICmm4uarzzIhOAXcFNtfF4FoxF7WFatECa8DmXA2O6oid4gqb7VtpNFkk3DAkhFEGK2Y/s1600/1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGggd1mYu1U_2EoeaDksbmmIl5NwTRNaJ2whqjWRpG1pqafw7CF8aDqtNra8gVhCBKGEIhXcICmm4uarzzIhOAXcFNtfF4FoxF7WFatECa8DmXA2O6oid4gqb7VtpNFkk3DAkhFEGK2Y/w168-h320/1.jpg" width="168" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1996 rating: *</td></tr> </tbody></table> "It will never happen again” is the last line in STRIPTEASE, a flimsy exploitation with a single promise – to feature the world’s then top actress a topless scene and beyond, with a record breaking payday attached… And Demi Moore’s character was right... No one asked for a sequel. <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> Making SHOWGIRLS seem like PULP FICTION, with so many flaws it’s difficult to know where to begin… So how about the beginning: Perhaps one of the worst pre opening credit sequences of all time, beating out Wilfred Brimley appearing on his grandson’s television set in COCOON 2...<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> In STRIPTEASE we kickstart inside a courtroom where Demi Moore’s single mom Erin Grant tells the judge everything we need to know, a case of exposition dialogue gone haywire: Her cheating loser husband got her fired as an FBI secretary, and she lost custody of her daughter... And following the credits we cut directly to our heroine stripping at a high-end dance club – no setup, no progression, nothing… Just the matter at hand, and what half the audience paid to see.  <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/AVvXsEic7nuwoU7nV9umKjDTHFmMS9R6cyS11kPWBWNEIwENXkWKoPGj2IbG9i4CX3Uo4IKty3F9k59rld1u1zkZ0ajXS5fFvrjJC_ZB3j8yaDMVe04Eo6TUDcOCevkusTlb-EVfHjXV8_SKjyU/s1600/2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic7nuwoU7nV9umKjDTHFmMS9R6cyS11kPWBWNEIwENXkWKoPGj2IbG9i4CX3Uo4IKty3F9k59rld1u1zkZ0ajXS5fFvrjJC_ZB3j8yaDMVe04Eo6TUDcOCevkusTlb-EVfHjXV8_SKjyU/s1600/2.jpg" width="113" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squirty Dancing</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> In the flesh, Demi looks fantastic, a bronze goddess making up for what was hardly distinguishable in BLAME IT ON RIO years earlier… Her strobe-lit numbers are reminiscent of FLASHDANCE choreography: Erin is not only head over heels above the other strippers, she's sought out by a Right Wing politician who loves naked ladies and Family Values, and could be involved with murder...<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/AVvXsEgj1iPOuql0oT2iN04tPwgY-XkqnZGvGEDZlYCyB0_ldB5wdHbweIFoBLLbyNo0r0hQO76yGogMJLRDwFSUG886l8lThqzyn2Bw-cbsk1RCwFQOzaVJxXOLMXPxG29ackE35uCHhZhGHfA/s1600/hqdefault.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1iPOuql0oT2iN04tPwgY-XkqnZGvGEDZlYCyB0_ldB5wdHbweIFoBLLbyNo0r0hQO76yGogMJLRDwFSUG886l8lThqzyn2Bw-cbsk1RCwFQOzaVJxXOLMXPxG29ackE35uCHhZhGHfA/s1600/hqdefault.jpg" width="113" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burt gone bad</td></tr> </tbody></table> Burt Reynolds, as Congressman David Dilbeck, trying for a comeback that he’d garner in his Oscar nominated BOOGIE NIGHTS performance a year later, plays someone so clownish he needed only makeup and a honking nose. Which would have made him a lot funnier. Attempting to do what a Charles Durning type character actor would pull off without going overboard, Burt fails at every possible turn. <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> And another wasted player plays it the most mellow and subtle, and still bombs out, in Ving Rhames as Shad, the dance club’s heart of gold bouncer who is a tough, awkward oddball – these same traits summing up the entire viewing experience: In attempting a commercialized mainstream setting within a risque subject, no genre benefits: STRIPTEASE is never quite sure to be a working class dramedy, a lightweight crime thriller, a political satire, a modern exploitation or romantic comedy...<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEhzJ6WE1T8qo1KZFWMr3Y7txfvENaG9nGIANxN15J-Srd-feP7EhvvjyN_del1EoNOFi0Z8LOIh1aBSdZs6ez4gHzvEPXov3MgfuLnTU8BKK1Hsu-YUBCXZ62AtV6hohhrExtcqmgW1-S8/s1600/renariffel.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJ6WE1T8qo1KZFWMr3Y7txfvENaG9nGIANxN15J-Srd-feP7EhvvjyN_del1EoNOFi0Z8LOIh1aBSdZs6ez4gHzvEPXov3MgfuLnTU8BKK1Hsu-YUBCXZ62AtV6hohhrExtcqmgW1-S8/s1600/renariffel.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rena Riffel in this and SHOWGIRLS</td></tr> </tbody></table> Enter investigating cop Armand Assante who, being a faithful husband, doesn't amount to a possible or even peripheral love interest while Demi Moore is simply collecting that paycheck, having zero chemistry with her main motivation serving as the plot's McGuffin: real life daughter Rumor Willis, with a one-note expression throughout, is excruciatingly out of place. <br /> <br /> Yet the grand prize for worst performance goes to another capable actor who, like Burt and everyone else, should have known and acted better: TERMINATOR 2 arch villain Robert Patrick, as Erin’s no-good white trash husband seeming part of a Happy Madison vehicle, takes the cake and eats it too. And you'll hear a lot about how awful SHOWGIRLS is. That's because it's unintentionally hilarious, timeless and memorable, and wonderfully classic, campy and perfect. But this uneven catastrophe, providing torture without tickles, has no camp value whatsoever. And any bad movie lacking cult status is a forgotten footnote in cinematic purgatory: a suitable place for STRIPTEASE to reside. 

burt reynolds, demi moore, exploitation, nineties, robert patrick, ving rhames

SHOWGIRLS IS THE GODFATHER COMPARED TO 'STRIPTEASE'

year: 1996 rating: * "It will never happen again” is the last line in STRIPTEASE, a flimsy exploitation with a single promise – to ...

REESE WITHERSPOON PRODUCES AND STARS IN WILD

<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/AVvXsEi7IBAc4L0Vyrf7pLxfTgnUM7i3pOBRn-RewldAQWEEDR08iJAb_BHjvcUc2g-rI_IlBv4r0JnWmndDubEfC326968Y-c57TUtInHjYOvZoK9HhHPvGSSUUQBTJY4i9YKSkvF9DFKuPC2M/s1600/wild.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7IBAc4L0Vyrf7pLxfTgnUM7i3pOBRn-RewldAQWEEDR08iJAb_BHjvcUc2g-rI_IlBv4r0JnWmndDubEfC326968Y-c57TUtInHjYOvZoK9HhHPvGSSUUQBTJY4i9YKSkvF9DFKuPC2M/s320/wild.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> WILD mirrors INTO THE WILD but with a happy ending. Not a spoiler since this is a completely documented true story, and a life-affirming one at that – perhaps too much so, taking away from what was probably a much more painstaking trek across the Pacific North Trail spanning from Mexico to Oregon.<br /> <br /> Carrying a backpack almost as big as she is, Reese Witherspoon plays Cheryl with intense determination and bouts of dry humor, surprising for a young woman kicking heroin and fighting other mental demons – these things we catch during flashbacks throughout the arduous hike.<br /> <br /> The non-linear backstory works and it doesn’t: while nicely edited, we don't really suffer through Cheryl’s pain beyond sporadic glimpses, making it hard to decipher which was more difficult: her tragic past or the present day (at that point, the mid-90’s) climb: While one is loaded with heartache, including the death of her mom, a divorce with a genuinely nice man and numerous sexcapades fueled by drug use, the other – what the movie is really about – has but a few obstacles that, while not altogether lacking tension and suspense, seems more like a breezy existential travelogue than a cathartic journey.<br /> <br />

2014, adventure, bio, reese witherspoon

REESE WITHERSPOON PRODUCES AND STARS IN WILD

year: 2014 rating: **1/2 WILD mirrors INTO THE WILD but with a happy ending. Not a spoiler since this is a completely documented true st...

ROGEN & FRANCO STARRING IN THE INTERVIEW

<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/AVvXsEjas1Am7m6KZKR5gyLRvec5JzZQXj9ePcrq_KuoXDJ1njItspoHASUoBdIgvX3c3GrqrtqkL9P0gDZATZLY35qmukr_QGzgK8wQnWlcjcaapoGaM2aTcAE2dDRygeiZ24TcxmC30zb0xSg/s1600/The_Interview_2014_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjas1Am7m6KZKR5gyLRvec5JzZQXj9ePcrq_KuoXDJ1njItspoHASUoBdIgvX3c3GrqrtqkL9P0gDZATZLY35qmukr_QGzgK8wQnWlcjcaapoGaM2aTcAE2dDRygeiZ24TcxmC30zb0xSg/s1600/The_Interview_2014_poster.jpg" width="215" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> A combination of SPIES LIKE US, as two inept goofballs are sent overseas on a dangerous government mission, with the second half of Woody Allen’s LOVE AND DEATH dealing with the seemingly impossible task to assassinate an infamous tyrant, THE INTERVIEW sums up two completely opposite yet spontaneously connected buddies, James Franco’s Dave Skylark and Seth Rogen’s Aaron Rapaport, in one particular scene halfway through: when an observing Franco remarks that a tiger might be wearing night vision goggles while Rogen is trying to avoid being killed by the ferocious creature, one guy tells the jokes while the other takes the risks – but not entirely... <br /> <br /> Franco’s Dave is the host of a popular entertainment show and Rogen's Aaron is his producer. Dave is perfectly content with celebrity gossip while Aaron yearns for something better, deeper, and important… So when they get a job from the C.I.A. to “take out” North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, during a scripted interview on his own soil, there’s a fair amount of quick-witted wordplay until the mission is at hand.<br /> <br /> When THE INTERVIEW shifts from a decent buddy comedy to an ambitious (and as it turns out, risky) attempt at political satire with suspenseful hijinx thrown in, we lose touch of Rogen’s grounding dry wit, a whole lot funnier than Franco’s dementedly goofy airhead persona, highlighted during an entire day's bonding with Jong-un, initially shown in a weak and pathetic if sympathetic light: he’s a spoiled son with a lot to take on, has a metrosexual adoration for Katy Perry, and just wants to be understood: until his true colors are revealed… <br /> <br /> At which point, the final act/closure is so overlong and ponderous, you’ll forget all about the two main stars and that they’re supposed to be funny, as a team. 

2014, comedy, james franco, seth rogen

ROGEN & FRANCO STARRING IN THE INTERVIEW

year: 2014 rating: **1/2 A combination of SPIES LIKE US, as two inept goofballs are sent overseas on a dangerous government mission, wit...

REVIEW OF NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB

<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/AVvXsEhoJ6aEe4UQJ1iKjZTLrCKh650N30Czy27HeSPi854gJ7jSHEemPZ8nqampyseMqeZKGIHwKuqITdBItJXQOE7tIv59duqp9fNwcTGh7X_WkWod2u7I4gXB5OZrXrThBDkdrb2sSR7fBo8/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJ6aEe4UQJ1iKjZTLrCKh650N30Czy27HeSPi854gJ7jSHEemPZ8nqampyseMqeZKGIHwKuqITdBItJXQOE7tIv59duqp9fNwcTGh7X_WkWod2u7I4gXB5OZrXrThBDkdrb2sSR7fBo8/s320/2.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> Starting much like the middle of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK or the beginning of THE EXORCIST, we learn an Egypt archeology backstory of the device that brought everything to life in the first place: that place being the museum where Ben Stiller’s put-upon night-watchman Larry sees stuff happening no one else does, after hours…<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/AVvXsEhKmbZT-wAdbj_DPNVAAyPxo6ZAEV19fYXgDWMwTfathzdZss5KwiD0BA1UwZIVLVVjc44AFcPIb1Mta5zTd7003OKfHksdoKhnED8xfQdQtVgRXyOoFD7myc2Jt_7ZJhnv6Hv2R6arZpE/s1600/movies-night-at-the-museum.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKmbZT-wAdbj_DPNVAAyPxo6ZAEV19fYXgDWMwTfathzdZss5KwiD0BA1UwZIVLVVjc44AFcPIb1Mta5zTd7003OKfHksdoKhnED8xfQdQtVgRXyOoFD7myc2Jt_7ZJhnv6Hv2R6arZpE/s320/movies-night-at-the-museum.jpg" width="129" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robin Williams</td></tr> </tbody></table> This time, several problems arise: the insides get taken out when the public witness a barrage of the creatures and characters running rampant, and yet it’s all blamed on special effects… But it was that ancient artifact that caused the chaos, and eventually Larry and the whole gang, including Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt, Owen Wilson as a miniature cowboy with Steve Coogan's Gladiator and the urinating monkey wind up in a London museum to put the magic back in order before, according to the curse learned in the prologue, it all goes... blank.<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/AVvXsEgQakYZDyE9zSK_05mYozK0CML89kee7cJxKlq5cGHZa0_LKZdiBq1DbovUWyZqJV-BZOsmtxsE-cVTgTaH2FS2r-rhezlylvnljxjocOv7Ft8ZP8ikmEIEomklqBYpudXQedXGthjZmLs/s1600/1.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQakYZDyE9zSK_05mYozK0CML89kee7cJxKlq5cGHZa0_LKZdiBq1DbovUWyZqJV-BZOsmtxsE-cVTgTaH2FS2r-rhezlylvnljxjocOv7Ft8ZP8ikmEIEomklqBYpudXQedXGthjZmLs/s320/1.JPG" width="197" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan Stevens as Lancelot </td></tr> </tbody></table> The best element in this third MUSEUM is Dan Stevens as Sir Lancelot, starting out as a pontificating hero and winding up a desperate villain, of sorts, and pretty much stealing the show – or at least his own scenes, which are the most important.<br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> Despite the fact the movie doesn’t quite know how and when to end, the plot keeps having to be continuously explained, and Ben Stiller playing himself as a Neanderthal (creepily resembling Tom Cruise)  is more irritating than humorous, SECRET OF THE TOMB is a breezy and sometimes funny but never hilarious wild ride rollercoaster: either an end to the franchise or setting up the beginning of another installment. And with night guard Rebel Wilson now in charge, let’s hope it just… rests eternally. <br /> <br /> Dick Van Dyke makes a cameo as well as the late Mickey Rooney. Stick around to see the end credit dedication to Rooney and Robin Williams. And during Larry’s prolonged farewell to Teddy, it’s apparent he was the Scarecrow to be  missed "most of all.”

2014, adventure, ben stiller, dan stevens, owen wilson, rebel wilson, robin williams

REVIEW OF NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB

year: 2014 rating: *** Starting much like the middle of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK or the beginning of THE EXORCIST, we learn an Egypt ar...

THE COLOR OF MONEY

<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="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/03/TCOM.html" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdk-QInNrztQJtqo2yQBQPnZN32keLtYA8YRcFftIYD9AFv7MEOdZmao78ZJCbnuucb0gvMk-I3Dnvip9Y_bEJ27g3KY7FgkEkWaDSk1U3SDZ6e19BUZJCSm57fqdmRdNtq2zwEMvfNio/s400/colorofmoney.jpg" width="287" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/03/TCOM.html"><u>Foreign Posters Rule</u></a></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2020/03/TCOM.html">CLICK FOR THE NEW HOME OF THE COLOR OF MONEY REVIEW</a></span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEiddIh-fPsuTyogOcc8at_bKVRUY9gg_DNp_PWR8o0yLH-0pAZQN7hXS6w08fTjYkh1Loov71K_s2YyiWyqXrIj8UWchnLlsUWk8P5k-J8Jdz_sNK5GILETHk7KjLjPmZQO10UfXZ_exyI/s1600/1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiddIh-fPsuTyogOcc8at_bKVRUY9gg_DNp_PWR8o0yLH-0pAZQN7hXS6w08fTjYkh1Loov71K_s2YyiWyqXrIj8UWchnLlsUWk8P5k-J8Jdz_sNK5GILETHk7KjLjPmZQO10UfXZ_exyI/s400/1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1986 cast: Paul Newman, Tom Cruise rating: ****</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> </div>

eighties, martin scorsese, paul newman, sequel, sport, tom cruise

THE COLOR OF MONEY

Foreign Posters Rule CLICK FOR THE NEW HOME OF THE COLOR OF MONEY REVIEW year: 1986 cast: Paul Newman, Tom Cruise rating: **** ...

REVIEWS OF REBOOT ANNIE AND THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL

<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/AVvXsEhQO9hpSftEN3dh6TfLnVMMP9WKLhkFrtdCx09Z_kI6W9lF79o169RVvMdxIXUGyGsNVe_Lbqxz-BYd7msBdu6L82Rli1lAdJ-_kQwekBAIjp5gDxeeqBHPTgz0xI3n4JMb72aiENNtuVI/s1600/HARD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQO9hpSftEN3dh6TfLnVMMP9WKLhkFrtdCx09Z_kI6W9lF79o169RVvMdxIXUGyGsNVe_Lbqxz-BYd7msBdu6L82Rli1lAdJ-_kQwekBAIjp5gDxeeqBHPTgz0xI3n4JMb72aiENNtuVI/s320/HARD.JPG" width="208" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: *</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <b>ANNIE 2014:</b> To make people forget what you’re taking the place of, the most effective device is to mention that particular thing to get it… or in this case… to get <i>her</i> out of the way, quick.<br /> <br /> So begins the new ANNIE inside a classroom where a redheaded <i>white</i> girl wraps up an annoying presentation... and then it's time for the next student, also named ANNIE, played by last year’s Oscar nominated Quvenzhané Wallis, who not only trumps this movie’s pseudo Annie but the original, Aileen Quinn’s iconic orphan, is outdone in one aspect – compared to a <i>haves and have nots</i> opening number inspired by The New Deal, FDR never had such posthumous promotion.   <br /> <br /> ANNIE, a MR. DEEDS style mainstream comedy with pop culture references galore, introduces each character as if they were cameos in a parody instead of a genuine remake, or in this case... altering from the 1930's into modern day... a reboot.<br /> <br /> Wallis sleepwalks through the pains and joys of the title character, and replacing Carol Burnett as the mean orphanage… or rather… Foster Home den mother is Cameron Diaz. Almost letting her guard down right off the bat, Miss Hannigan seems more like a cranky Aunt than a villain with a hatred for little girls… Providing the orphans nothing to really fear. In fact they seem completely at home, and in control: The place ain't too shabby.  <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/AVvXsEjuZ2zCbMUXtYWB4wJ8Wb6rfGpXpuI0sLQrC6AXpF2T18SNgxijdZ9yXwq5iw2eHlbxs-RGaaxnk8_ajeEqCj7pwVmz1Eaz3v9lg67ySqW4dZn95SEmccwkyYS0e-xZX0MHK7k-a93-vdQ/s1600/onset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZ2zCbMUXtYWB4wJ8Wb6rfGpXpuI0sLQrC6AXpF2T18SNgxijdZ9yXwq5iw2eHlbxs-RGaaxnk8_ajeEqCj7pwVmz1Eaz3v9lg67ySqW4dZn95SEmccwkyYS0e-xZX0MHK7k-a93-vdQ/s320/onset.jpg" width="222" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warbucks Unnamed</td></tr> </tbody></table> The real heavy is Bobby Cannavale, stepping into the Tim Curry role as a nefarious climber seeking a big raise from his boss, the new Daddy Warbucks in the form of Jamie Foxx as Stacks, a cell phone magnate running for New York City Mayor and, losing in the polls, he takes in an orphan for a needed boost.  <br /> <br /> During their pivotal field trip bonding experience, Foxx and Wallis have the awkward non-chemistry of two actors who just started rehearsing lines. Stacks isn’t very uptight to begin with for his eventual heart-melting transition to matter, while Annie doesn't seem to really <i>need</i> anything, much less a new parent. Songs between the duo border banal and creepy. And as Rose Byrne attempts tying loose ends together, there’s just not anything between anyone – even the dog seems bored. <br /> <br /> The original hard knocking classics aside, the new tunes lend nothing to an actual story, which isn’t an entertaining rags to riches coming-of-age musical but a pointless attempt to bring a famous Comic Strip/Broadway/Cinema character back to life by throwing everything into the pot, hoping something will land. <br /> <br /> Not to jump on the breaking news bandwagon, but SONY PICTURES scrapped the wrong film!<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/AVvXsEi_dvSifrAsHwosVYKxOGO9u9V7PXlcdMm7vPWuGICjGUtN1VjrZK43n6zeOBIJoCgr5MOM7NFnqg33oMBKyDAjEDxasTEHL1_g6kWEJbtTd1lQy54kEN9QCzixSB6dLiuSy1XH9tCD2Ws/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_dvSifrAsHwosVYKxOGO9u9V7PXlcdMm7vPWuGICjGUtN1VjrZK43n6zeOBIJoCgr5MOM7NFnqg33oMBKyDAjEDxasTEHL1_g6kWEJbtTd1lQy54kEN9QCzixSB6dLiuSy1XH9tCD2Ws/s320/3.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1982 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>ANNIE 1982:</b> “Why a kid would want to be an orphan,” barks the villainous Miss Hannigan, “is beyond me!” Well who can blame the bitter lush: No matter how bad these poor little tykes are treated in that rundown dilapidated orphanage, they're having loads of fun singing and dancing like there’s no… tomorrow!<br /> <br /> Although this big budget extravaganza’s loaded with great actors like Albert Finney as bald millionaire Daddy Warbucks, Tim Curry as a con artist and Carol Burnett as the bearer of the quote above, Aileen Quinn’s ANNIE steals the show.<br /> <br /> Displaying an everygirl persona mixed with a dynamic musical talent, Quinn provides the essential energy for the iconic redhead without lacking pathos and vulnerability.<br /> <br /> Even when given a dream-week to stay with Daddy Warbucks for his publicity, her true aim is having a real family. Determined to find her original parents, Warbucks makes a radio campaign with a hefty reward – perking ears of the wrong people.<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/AVvXsEjGc1LJ7xIXjX9FnLqCWbEEgC_oA0eOHC3vHkLI3tUdQugRcd60CG0k0cy2W02qgnkhaHcwZiT6L4GEATa5Ibl_LOxHHyolhKs-IrxYmytJzH84Cd3b8-MyfQndHTXvFu8OjmUrVtCp-Zo/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGc1LJ7xIXjX9FnLqCWbEEgC_oA0eOHC3vHkLI3tUdQugRcd60CG0k0cy2W02qgnkhaHcwZiT6L4GEATa5Ibl_LOxHHyolhKs-IrxYmytJzH84Cd3b8-MyfQndHTXvFu8OjmUrVtCp-Zo/s200/2.jpg" width="143" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aileen Quinn</td></tr> </tbody></table> While Annie slowly warms the heart of the steely industrialist, songs break out in just about every other scene. The tunes are catchy, showcased with incredible dance numbers.<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/AVvXsEggt8C-phWyk6wEN1t_fZ4Jjuo9jyNdatEju9ksxMiAGHVe31CPTr7CC4FuaXFjtGvZpwM07_nUh77EFO5hyphenhyphenL_jDOJ0z6vbwFOs8O71ifVRop3ykRxCKtn9K3-KOcw91ojE0EeZJJrMNng/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggt8C-phWyk6wEN1t_fZ4Jjuo9jyNdatEju9ksxMiAGHVe31CPTr7CC4FuaXFjtGvZpwM07_nUh77EFO5hyphenhyphenL_jDOJ0z6vbwFOs8O71ifVRop3ykRxCKtn9K3-KOcw91ojE0EeZJJrMNng/s1600/1.png" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Albert Finney with Quinn</td></tr> </tbody></table> The time-period sets look and feel authentic; from poverty stricken streets and alleyways to the plush Warbucks mansion, veteran auteur John Huston takes us to a polarizing time of haves and have-nots in the Depression-era '30s with vibrant reality.<br /> <br /> Although one particular overlong scene, as Warbucks (constantly regarded as a greedy Capitalist) is talked into the New Deal by President Roosevelt, distracts from Annie’s personal adventure, we sporadically return to the orphanage where Miss Hannigan and her nefarious brother's plot to recover the reward: providing the audience – especially the younger ones – a constantly suspenseful edge, making ANNIE a kid's movie with just about everything: including a heroine with <i>everything</i> to gain or lose.

2014, aileen quinn, bobby cannavale, cameron diaz, eighties, jamie foxx, musical, remake, rose byrne

REVIEWS OF REBOOT ANNIE AND THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL

year: 2014 rating: * ANNIE 2014: To make people forget what you’re taking the place of, the most effective device is to mention that ...

REVIEW OF THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

<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/AVvXsEgQex4lpcdFSA1f3ZRw7txSiXa1YMa1Oi7AEbKxjz-Nf6LulJ-afLAyvI4AwZmuL4zdQ8ZkE_wnsuvSWNbJRQLqC2qpEe5sfKR9p1BU_VlpcUIk3v3Ne9t5xh8qNxvmoLy1IMADRkkrHSQ/s1600/The-Hobbit-the-battle-of-five-armies-poster-the-hobbit-37565139-1024-1453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQex4lpcdFSA1f3ZRw7txSiXa1YMa1Oi7AEbKxjz-Nf6LulJ-afLAyvI4AwZmuL4zdQ8ZkE_wnsuvSWNbJRQLqC2qpEe5sfKR9p1BU_VlpcUIk3v3Ne9t5xh8qNxvmoLy1IMADRkkrHSQ/s1600/The-Hobbit-the-battle-of-five-armies-poster-the-hobbit-37565139-1024-1453.jpg" width="140" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014 rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> The first post-production buzz concerning the third HOBBIT was that it had another name...<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEg6d73oLMu9Zo8s3SKGaNDMtIw8DC4rzwGxGOk4W4JP0LklPvzs8PcKq3MFsJD-a54RjUDLwQgAwMuAA4HZPL-D6bFoNGhGlD0yK_3aRzIVeoGYGteTLuHXzvlFX8mY-U1n6z9v4Em9l58/s1600/the_hobbit_the_battle_of_the_five_armies_2014_adventure_fantasy-t2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6d73oLMu9Zo8s3SKGaNDMtIw8DC4rzwGxGOk4W4JP0LklPvzs8PcKq3MFsJD-a54RjUDLwQgAwMuAA4HZPL-D6bFoNGhGlD0yK_3aRzIVeoGYGteTLuHXzvlFX8mY-U1n6z9v4Em9l58/s1600/the_hobbit_the_battle_of_the_five_armies_2014_adventure_fantasy-t2.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smaug Fully Loaded</td></tr> </tbody></table> No longer THERE AND BACK AGAIN, which is what Bilbo Baggins called his adventurous autobiography, the new title, BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES, is pretty self-explanatory. And on the visual end, the 3D is so clean and clear, losing the essential celluloid grain, the picture resembles a BBC Miniseries shot on video... But names and technology aside, there’s a good and a bad to this final installment of Peter Jackson’s nine-hour epic based on a relatively short novel, which at times felt like “butter stretched onto too much bread.” <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <br /> At the conclusion of THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, the vengeful flying beast, after being awakened and thoroughly ticked off, was ready to paint the town flamethrower red. But the full-on dragon attack isn’t much. And followed by an hour of ponderous melodrama, the movie should have been retitled DAYS OF OUR DWARVES… <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/AVvXsEicclZHJJa8A88zNPI7l3vFlIsOnnnIcacdgLw5xTqUS9zBOiPoCVVNQUYpHqKHoOaRDXG-8d_pTHRylvjk7z01Lz6emEGMTTp95AOQiem5K5Bl6dLcji5P_7U06Rb1FXhNVFmyy-lHOx0/s1600/Hobbit3.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicclZHJJa8A88zNPI7l3vFlIsOnnnIcacdgLw5xTqUS9zBOiPoCVVNQUYpHqKHoOaRDXG-8d_pTHRylvjk7z01Lz6emEGMTTp95AOQiem5K5Bl6dLcji5P_7U06Rb1FXhNVFmyy-lHOx0/s1600/Hobbit3.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nothing beats Tolkien Art</td></tr> </tbody></table> Either suffering along with Thorin Oakenshield and his greedy lust for gold, hearing tempting voices much like Bilbo and Frodo would for The Ring... or as bowman Bard incessantly whines about how his people are the Nots to Thorin’s Have… and the pointless romance between dashing Kili and love interest Tauriel: It’s both a blessing and a curse when the movie starts living up to the shiny new moniker: <br /> <br /> For the Elves and humans are ready to fight Thorin, while those grotesque Orcs have it in for everyone, including a last minute dwarf army. But how can we spend two long hours on a battlefield?<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/AVvXsEhpk4H9CXmpsROclOUo0b4qUzqbUW0kIqY4rTrkGnNQt9oMK-qVVaOGztg-vtZKAmXOqFmLNMmUG9RyYAJqbUjv9x_Os2d4rKrj0V9f3EYKw_WUMSxgkrRZGvOo83omkbA1ZOXJExnTgdc/s1600/thorin_a_study.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpk4H9CXmpsROclOUo0b4qUzqbUW0kIqY4rTrkGnNQt9oMK-qVVaOGztg-vtZKAmXOqFmLNMmUG9RyYAJqbUjv9x_Os2d4rKrj0V9f3EYKw_WUMSxgkrRZGvOo83omkbA1ZOXJExnTgdc/s1600/thorin_a_study.jpg" width="162" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"What about me?!?"</td></tr> </tbody></table> Veering off the rowdy front lines to take part in several personal bouts between key rivals are not only the best scenes, we finally get connected to the action and the characters – and the characters through their actions instead of endless expository dialogue (tying into LORD OF THE RINGS). Ironically enough, the most important player isn’t Bilbo, who seems peripheral at the end of his very own trilogy. <br /> <br /> Initially hired by Dwarves as a burglar to steal the dragon’s gold, other than his stint with Smaug we never get to know him the way we did Frodo… or Sam. Which doesn’t mean Martin Freeman didn’t do a good job in the role. But if this ambitiously flawed saga were called OAKENSHIELD, it would have been literary blasphemy against creator J.R.R. Tolkien, sure, but Thorin's the one Peter Jackson chose to dwell on throughout. Bilbo was merely an employee. 

franchise, martin freeman, peter jackson, sequel

REVIEW OF THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

2014 rating: **1/2 The first post-production buzz concerning the third HOBBIT was that it had another name... Smaug Fully Loaded ...

TOMMY LEE JONES DIRECTS THE HOMESMAN

<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/AVvXsEijlTpLoqchlJedVC2zcxW6J4R04zIGgRW03Yoyg6-G-vhkqeptLRroPtK7E_L_Zl4oYTTJLIpk53MOf79zhwwr73E-x_o_4YgIAWO-nOf6cZ6BdEaCTB2WkoI6Geld_l6dciJ51ZQrJDY/s1600/the-homesman-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijlTpLoqchlJedVC2zcxW6J4R04zIGgRW03Yoyg6-G-vhkqeptLRroPtK7E_L_Zl4oYTTJLIpk53MOf79zhwwr73E-x_o_4YgIAWO-nOf6cZ6BdEaCTB2WkoI6Geld_l6dciJ51ZQrJDY/s320/the-homesman-poster.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> Right before the journey gets underway, a helpful blacksmith tells Hilary Swank’s Mary Bee Cuddy that the townsfolk like talking about death and taxes, but when “crazy” is brought up, everyone hushes…<br /> <br /> That hush occurs way too often as Cuddy and reluctant hired-hand George Briggs, played by veteran actor Tommy Lee Jones, take three demented women across the barren landscape with a few obstacles including Indians and narrow minded white folk: yet when Briggs is really needed to alleviate the hopeless melancholy, he doesn't always deliver. <br /> <br /> As director, Jones attempts a dark, brooding art house anti-Western, only there’s a mismatch of disturbing images and the odd couple relationship between the independent woman and the gruff rogue drifter: Clichés aside, the latter plays out a lot more natural. Too bad they weren't just hauling grain. While important catalysts, the human cargo distract from the two people we should have known much better. <br /> <br /> THE HOMESMAN is nicely bookended with an intriguing setup, first learning about our assertive Plain Jane heroine and concluding with a table-turning epilogue. Unfortunately, the hard trail in-between is but a tedious stretch of prolonged, awkward silence.

2014, hilary swank, meryl streep, tommy lee jones, western

TOMMY LEE JONES DIRECTS THE HOMESMAN

year: 2014 rating: ** Right before the journey gets underway, a helpful blacksmith tells Hilary Swank’s Mary Bee Cuddy that the townsfol...

QUICK GLIMPSE INTO THE STAR WARS ORIGINAL TRILOGY

<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/AVvXsEgPz6YY4832vsjYnKAljNMb820LoMjjCFhZGyJQFcljmee8yrwfKbfiisGXXd8rNidAR5UQ-1yMlFAlywYzp6ZUkC-kQPJTgiZsMrAmElC7c9XzvkCeXbk8c3nZXtBiCsAAeWpgTBndamQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-12-13+at+10.27.20+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPz6YY4832vsjYnKAljNMb820LoMjjCFhZGyJQFcljmee8yrwfKbfiisGXXd8rNidAR5UQ-1yMlFAlywYzp6ZUkC-kQPJTgiZsMrAmElC7c9XzvkCeXbk8c3nZXtBiCsAAeWpgTBndamQ/s400/Screen+Shot+2015-12-13+at+10.27.20+AM.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Short and Concise Reviews of the original STAR WARS Trilogy</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>A long time ago... in this galaxy, the STAR WARS franchise was a perfect thing... So let's return to the sublime past when George Lucas ruled the universe... Although, wedged between the first two films, there was one rotten holiday egg Lucas still can't believe he green-lighted... but let's start with the great stuff...  </i><br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEib9OSnzok5fv0eeid-c900a9gAVeVDezB9EfZyPkzhZKB9rwBuSHCRzwXtVg6IdiUlBg_d_vlnvrJfOSv8yiswaGLldgsmxfzPpAyWmBxNb5a_2YJ1POvc0E6jaJk9ZhNhaz5GYywfoj0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-12-13+at+10.31.07+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9OSnzok5fv0eeid-c900a9gAVeVDezB9EfZyPkzhZKB9rwBuSHCRzwXtVg6IdiUlBg_d_vlnvrJfOSv8yiswaGLldgsmxfzPpAyWmBxNb5a_2YJ1POvc0E6jaJk9ZhNhaz5GYywfoj0/s200/Screen+Shot+2015-12-13+at+10.31.07+AM.jpg" width="145" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1977 rating: *****</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>STAR WARS:</b> What makes this stand out from the others, including the progressed follow-up THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, is the introduction to the thoroughly addictive universe and those wonderfully involving characters, as well as writer/director George Lucas's sublime use of building suspense in every frame.<i> Almost there</i> is not only a line muttered by a pilot in the final battle, but an underline throughout a film that continually keeps the viewer entranced in what's <span style="font-style: italic;">about </span>to happen: From the doom-awaiting soldiers in a captured spaceship; to a frightened droid rolling along a shadowy canyon; to a distress call from a trash compactor; to those delicate moments as the Death Star aligns to blow up the Rebel base...<br /> <br /> A young George Lucas who, years later, would abandon precision and timing for billion dollar green-screen<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>computers, was a master at creating his own galaxy and keeping the audience completely enthralled within.<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEgA-qIdqzreuJ6tol-_oxc9p_WRYHOPuy7Mo_ZlIdRTvvzj-tPqQB78ZAm-ffEu9DTE-fXQi2rJFirASl66ZS9B7fUt4K_1Wzlvsu7D0640nUDcnDY1WHL2JGW9Clzh4F9RVxDVvfIfFYQ/s1600/MPW-38904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA-qIdqzreuJ6tol-_oxc9p_WRYHOPuy7Mo_ZlIdRTvvzj-tPqQB78ZAm-ffEu9DTE-fXQi2rJFirASl66ZS9B7fUt4K_1Wzlvsu7D0640nUDcnDY1WHL2JGW9Clzh4F9RVxDVvfIfFYQ/s200/MPW-38904.jpg" width="125" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1980 rating: *****</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK:</b> Perhaps the greatest science-fiction adventure ever made, this, the follow-up to STAR WARS, replaces introduction with non-stop action: pitting our heroes against a much stronger Empire, using, instead of the Death Star, a fleet of formidable Star Destroyers.<br /> <br /> This time the black-masked baddie has a personal agenda: to capture Luke <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Skywalker</span> who, after battling Imperial Walkers on the ice planet <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Hoth</span>, trains under a <span style="font-style: italic;">brand new </span>(and thereafter iconic) character, Yoda, brilliantly voiced and maneuvered by Frank Oz. <br /> <br /> The story, written by George Lucas, was, before Lawrence <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Kasdan</span> took the helm, scripted by Leigh <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Brackett</span>, author of classic Sci-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">fi</span> Pulp novels which this is a slick replica of: including masculine bravado, seemingly doomed characters fighting impossible odds, vile thugs, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">betrayal</span>, budding romance, and a cliffhanger ending while EMPIRE is not a film, it's a visual symphony... and then some.<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/AVvXsEiONq4LrPnwuCZPGWpDTtsmTQ9814ATR8SeFk4qB3rM6CAWFfN2Kd5ToCcuFMkN0Kw1INgcAUXrhe2wBWStLus1PnIaMrjIhDfCFIwpZbkc1me6PMZsE86iTntTUM5HmoOkSKCiU4hMQNs/s1600/return_of_the_jedi_ver1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiONq4LrPnwuCZPGWpDTtsmTQ9814ATR8SeFk4qB3rM6CAWFfN2Kd5ToCcuFMkN0Kw1INgcAUXrhe2wBWStLus1PnIaMrjIhDfCFIwpZbkc1me6PMZsE86iTntTUM5HmoOkSKCiU4hMQNs/s200/return_of_the_jedi_ver1.jpg" width="130" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1983 rating: ****1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>RETURN OF THE JEDI: </b>Don’t let the Ewoks<i> ruin</i> what’s an almost perfect science-fiction yarn... Mark Hamill, better than ever, along with Darth Vadar and Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor, are the real focus while Harrison "Han Solo" Ford and Carrie "Princess Leia" Fisher provide the essential B-story...<br /> <br /> Having landed on the Forest planet of Endor, they must shut down the Death Star's shields so that the rebels, led by Billy Dee Williams, returning as Lando, can blow up the new, under-construction Death Star in a dogfight like no other, even surpassing the original... While the light saber battle between Luke and Vader – Luke resisting the Emperor's temptation... is what really shines, capping the timeless series in an almost Biblical fashion. And the first act in Jabba the Hutt’s palace of goons... all created by Jim Henson... look better, and seem more real, than any computer animation.<br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <br /> <div> <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/AVvXsEjWadczpAKIrLOqtJdMGLw4W7-2Oyos7R7TFi2Q6gBFHURCuPF68kJtRLvcP2wNJepxlQlEawmz4Uaq6ccDdQttQTsK5cr8cHYdnbyqxzrIZ95JSw0hsgy2JccaZAUapNlpviQnkTXLQYY/s1600/Boba-Fett-Cartoon1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWadczpAKIrLOqtJdMGLw4W7-2Oyos7R7TFi2Q6gBFHURCuPF68kJtRLvcP2wNJepxlQlEawmz4Uaq6ccDdQttQTsK5cr8cHYdnbyqxzrIZ95JSw0hsgy2JccaZAUapNlpviQnkTXLQYY/s200/Boba-Fett-Cartoon1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1978 rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL:</b> Before the horrid prequels it seemed impossible for George Lucas to back a travesty. Yet despite the sought-after camp legacy, this TV special, aired only one time in 1978, is downright boring.<br /> <br /> Overlong "comedy" and/or musical skits featuring Harvey Korman as a robot, Bea Arthur as the Cantina bartender, Art Carney as a chummy mechanic, and Chewbacca's family: consisting of wife, son, and dad...the latter having a virtual reality "experience" with hologram Diahann Caroll... make for the longest ninety minutes ever filmed... And perhaps the worst skit has Bea Arthur as the owner of the Cantina, singing a melancholy song after closing time. Not forgetting a wimpy Jefferson Starship video and Carrie Fisher crooning to red-robbed Wookies about "Life Day": a Christmas type celebration the Empire wants to stop. Meanwhile, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and the faithful droids provide embarrassing cameos. But throughout the immense torture, a ten minute cartoon introducing Boba Fett is actually pretty cool. So <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4CtXcjib4o">click this link</a> to actually witness this infamous catastrophe that, before the Internet, was very difficult to find... Lucky us!<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/AVvXsEi34zZn2sZ1uKQW3MN8kFGhC873pydGxgtCl4fS33Kpxqd03sSdGhUeyzY-gzd7eHrStu8xo6TNlu6efFlXD54y0ITBKd2E47jrWFZ8ZBcfKlCobRl12hx3ttziAi3q7y_KwCgsBpVLIEU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-12-13+at+10.38.29+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi34zZn2sZ1uKQW3MN8kFGhC873pydGxgtCl4fS33Kpxqd03sSdGhUeyzY-gzd7eHrStu8xo6TNlu6efFlXD54y0ITBKd2E47jrWFZ8ZBcfKlCobRl12hx3ttziAi3q7y_KwCgsBpVLIEU/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-12-13+at+10.38.29+PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">May The FORCE AWAKEN us, with our fingers and lightsabers crossed, on December 18th, 2015.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> </div>

carrie fisher, david prowse, fantasy, franchise, george lucas, harrison ford, mark hamill, science-fiction, star wars

QUICK GLIMPSE INTO THE STAR WARS ORIGINAL TRILOGY

Short and Concise Reviews of the original STAR WARS Trilogy A long time ago... in this galaxy, the STAR WARS franchise was a perfect thi...

CHRISTIAN BALE IN EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS

<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/AVvXsEgDFHs720F_C1BNz6lWyinJPmjB5Zrtm6Y69PP2rmB7FJrLsnfkkGpChQeBUpJW3ESVbPlz4wThFcGAQSoIRBfUu6dwyXLngtUi8k2lClSlEri97fI9ImzvjkgJPX56rCWnVkGoQQMT_0A/s1600/exodus_gods_and_kings_ver7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDFHs720F_C1BNz6lWyinJPmjB5Zrtm6Y69PP2rmB7FJrLsnfkkGpChQeBUpJW3ESVbPlz4wThFcGAQSoIRBfUu6dwyXLngtUi8k2lClSlEri97fI9ImzvjkgJPX56rCWnVkGoQQMT_0A/s320/exodus_gods_and_kings_ver7.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> Right before the strategic waves crash down, when the Red Sea finally parts, it's really more... drained.<br /> <br /> That's what it feels like sitting through two-and-a-half hours of Moses and Ramses going back and forth: one holds a grudge, the other has conversations with God himself. Though not from a Burning Bush… that’s but a rudimentary apparition to get the ball rolling… Here the Creator takes form of a really tough child who gives the famously temperamental Moses a run for his money. <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/AVvXsEi5OFtxq29UmmNx-oBAnU6VfkHbVpeIdba3RBoip4fUiVGlm8pmuWyHEWrhmCzQPydnahhY1OmQVbUoMg4j04oViBw1dS5ekQP-9kMBFfEFfppOu1HLy176hJCeWMBqLDDtj1-6FEKnGBY/s1600/Exodus-Gods-and-Kings-Poster-Bale-and-Edgerton.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OFtxq29UmmNx-oBAnU6VfkHbVpeIdba3RBoip4fUiVGlm8pmuWyHEWrhmCzQPydnahhY1OmQVbUoMg4j04oViBw1dS5ekQP-9kMBFfEFfppOu1HLy176hJCeWMBqLDDtj1-6FEKnGBY/s200/Exodus-Gods-and-Kings-Poster-Bale-and-Edgerton.jpg" width="130" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bale & Edgerton</td></tr> </tbody></table> Directed by Ridley Scott and starring the always-intriguing method-acting Christian Bale, EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS is a different sort of Biblical epic – while visually immense, the geography mostly centers on two locations where each grouchy leader resides.  <br /> <br /> Bale does a passable job in the lead role, a sort of MOSES: FIRST CLASS budding superhero partaking in LORD OF THE RINGS style swordplay, while Joel Edgerton, as the antagonistic Ramses (looking more like Brando's Colonel Kurtz than a nostalgic Yul Brynner), can’t shed his omnipresent frown...<br /> <br /> Very understandable since Moses has more than a slight edge, including the ability to thwart a barrage of plagues: impressive scenes to watch but the searing melodrama had by each character is enough for the audience to pray for a conclusion.

2014, biblical, christian bale, joel edgerton, ridley scott, sigourney weaver

CHRISTIAN BALE IN EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS

year: 2014 rating: ** Right before the strategic waves crash down, when the Red Sea finally parts, it's really more... drained. ...

MOORE BOND SEVEN: A VIEW TO A KILL

<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/AVvXsEgbbcdr2skMs_qOL0bpkCBTN3CRmNFQqYvWPyGzGW95V7OulHVFBumNIUG7vHhkQq_ejk51Mq7BwdWsB3A_qcxgcs3In_il2ffH-GHhJJf1sUSPcqPqlEvS8HVgev4e-SC5nl9RHSZiYnU/s1600/a-view-to-a-kill-06.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="78" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbbcdr2skMs_qOL0bpkCBTN3CRmNFQqYvWPyGzGW95V7OulHVFBumNIUG7vHhkQq_ejk51Mq7BwdWsB3A_qcxgcs3In_il2ffH-GHhJJf1sUSPcqPqlEvS8HVgev4e-SC5nl9RHSZiYnU/s1600/a-view-to-a-kill-06.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The final Roger Moore performance as Secret Agent 007 James Bond</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEigwgjuCPbY_Hy3c8OACwVr28kCToO_0TnCC02msoLCk9IdBSm8DBPL0uy50RgC071ma7aWubklj5IFMkbT6y5xG_qUbSsybY5Uv9CnRkIXGyyKN5Bj8_H12ELAXM7Na7oQbJEDw2O79cg/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigwgjuCPbY_Hy3c8OACwVr28kCToO_0TnCC02msoLCk9IdBSm8DBPL0uy50RgC071ma7aWubklj5IFMkbT6y5xG_qUbSsybY5Uv9CnRkIXGyyKN5Bj8_H12ELAXM7Na7oQbJEDw2O79cg/s320/2.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1985 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> The first and only time a disclaimer appears before the movie begins, telling us the villain isn’t based on anyone actual… Perhaps since the computer race was just starting, nerves could have been touched... <br /> <br /> After all, Christopher Walken’s Zorin isn’t a bald cat lover yearning to take over the world with a simple little nuke… This guy has his sites set on Silicon Valley with microchips to – making a complicated plot point short – allow bad things to happen. <br /> <br /> Roger Moore, surprisingly older than Sean Connery, looked young for his age… His sly boots in the eyes of a smitten Moneypenny and an ever-lecturing M is now old shoe. In fact, during one scene where the three are hanging out at a horse track, they all seem like contemporaries. But Roger Moore still pulls off the super agent with ease… Perhaps too much so…<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> At one point he tells fellow agent Tibbett (a new Felix type played by Patrick Macnee, probably to make Roger look young) that pretending to be someone else has become second nature… Moore's Bond has been around the block six times and this adventure is a breezy piece of cake, although there are some snags in the icing.  <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/AVvXsEhWceL_qJiqanT7sUkldC04bqaWpbJYa9vHdIwlXowod1CRMEkTygjA-64GJc6l0FYUnLUHYth5llO7azmeGx1F6G8MNQ7R9hZ1N0YKosat2ltThRhGNqjVe32ADSoa3GJITu-iAo0bsPc/s1600/1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWceL_qJiqanT7sUkldC04bqaWpbJYa9vHdIwlXowod1CRMEkTygjA-64GJc6l0FYUnLUHYth5llO7azmeGx1F6G8MNQ7R9hZ1N0YKosat2ltThRhGNqjVe32ADSoa3GJITu-iAo0bsPc/s320/1.jpg" width="220" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster Artwork</td></tr> </tbody></table> The best parts take place at Zorin’s immense compound, a castle-like world onto itself, much like Drago’s lair in MOONRAKER…<br /> <br /> Here’s where Bond gets to dangle the ladies and have his usual sneaking-around/close calls… Eventually cozing up to Stacey, played by SHEENA starlet Tanya Roberts, the plot shifts to San Francisco with a seismic warning and a hazardous oil tanker, where we experience a few neat action sequences along the way – but where’s our main villain?<br /> <br /> In other films the heavy constantly reminds us of the danger Bond and the entire world faces… But a neglected Christopher Walken is out of the loop for so long that at one point, you might forget there’s any threat at all. This allows his wicked (and now extremely dated) henchwoman Grace Jones as May Day to do the dirty work.<br /> <br /> A VIEW TO A KILL, complete with a catchy Duran Duran opening song and the usual variation on that particular theme, is a whimper to Moore's finale to the sublime bang of his previous venture, OCTOPUSSY, feeling like a big budget TV Movie of the Week… Begging for the next 007, Timothy Dalton, to dirty things up once again.

christopher walken, eighties, james bond, roger moore, spy, tanya roberts

MOORE BOND SEVEN: A VIEW TO A KILL

The final Roger Moore performance as Secret Agent 007 James Bond year: 1985 rating: *** The first and only time a disclaimer a...

TWO LEFTOVER REVIEWS: PENGUINS & THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

<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/AVvXsEgnYwpFlN6M_-3bDinTs9trlbKA2KaSO1OhjKLEVRtS_uasTDdPa-ax6_LdOINDIgtfzElrTzMxKvzsM9tcyogXqXP8wKNeHrGj-JSQUXo1uxOw9c1qAJmAp6EeYBWtKM37HkFsg4u-_lQ/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnYwpFlN6M_-3bDinTs9trlbKA2KaSO1OhjKLEVRtS_uasTDdPa-ax6_LdOINDIgtfzElrTzMxKvzsM9tcyogXqXP8wKNeHrGj-JSQUXo1uxOw9c1qAJmAp6EeYBWtKM37HkFsg4u-_lQ/s1600/1.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR:</b> The coolest chase scene in the Roger Moore James Bond MOONRAKER has nothing to do with outer space but, taking place in Italy, the resilient spy darts through busy sidewalks and canals, including a getaway using one of those romantic canoes going from the water onto land back onto water, and pretty much that exact thing happens in PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR…<br /> <br /> And in keeping with the 1970’s Bond genre vibe, most of the film attempts the same freewheeling aura, on purpose…<br /> <br /> The main villain has an island lair ala Christopher Lee in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN and is able to live underwater much like the heavy in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME… Only Dave is a bitter Octopus with a rather pathetic backstory: throughout his career as a water park attraction geared for kids, penguins would always steal his thunder… And now he wants revenge. <br /> <br /> PENGUINS starts out pretty good, going back to when they were younger: three (and soon four) rogues wanting to split from the cookie-cutter pack… But ironically, right when their adventure gains momentum, our flightless heroes serve as mere patsies to an overblown, overlong and overcooked spy parody, which any character could have been stuck in. <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/AVvXsEieRUdx8yUk8hoFYMu3_g417FWgcY1EIqt3-vXqACHwdzf7efhCHn4gN7wkDDk6QySBWf498FbQGSI0cQ5CiFukhFxiRm2Vo32-_19yDg8w9W2C5udIqEw2C87hqc57cIlPeyIJ6AoehM8/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieRUdx8yUk8hoFYMu3_g417FWgcY1EIqt3-vXqACHwdzf7efhCHn4gN7wkDDk6QySBWf498FbQGSI0cQ5CiFukhFxiRm2Vo32-_19yDg8w9W2C5udIqEw2C87hqc57cIlPeyIJ6AoehM8/s320/2.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING:</b> Our subject, Stephen Hawking, was on the verge of discovering THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, but the director obviously didn’t realize before a montage sequence shows two people getting married, and then their babies growing into toddlers before our very eyes, we should know the characters just a bit. <br /> <br /> The romantic setup at Cambridge University, bathed in an opulent nostalgic glow of academia, does look wonderful. And yet the meeting of Stephen and his first wife Jean is so quick and easy, it’s not one bit interesting. <br /> <br /> As an actor and probably the next Oscar winner, Eddie Redmayne transforms from a quirky, ambitious student into the tortured, wheelchair-bound genius, but the performance shouldn’t be compared to Daniel Day Lewis in MY LEFT FOOT since this particular vehicle seems more like an actor’s workshop than a fleshed-out biopic with a genuine character arc. It’s as if the scriptwriter wanted Hawking’s controversial philosophies on Atheism, through the prism of discovering a powerful Black Hole, to have a cinematic soundboard – with an intellectual date movie buried within the stardust. (Hawking himself said the movie was "broadly true," and it sure is broad.) Yet after tedious bouts of soap opera diatribes we never really know the man behind the suffering and brilliance, and how he managed to bridge his personal life with his breakthrough in science, and beyond. <br /> <br /> Like an actual Black Hole, this particular THEORY has an intriguing design with absolutely nothing inside.

2014, animated, bio

TWO LEFTOVER REVIEWS: PENGUINS & THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

year: 2014 rating: ** PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR: The coolest chase scene in the Roger Moore James Bond MOONRAKER has nothing to do with ou...

WALTER MATTHAU IS 'KOTCH' W/ DEBORAH WINTERS INTERVIEW

<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/AVvXsEhRp5__GCgqXb7av64-jqDVgdo5pKUlWuc3V14GgFAtLA4fLGeim2R-u8M2Q5cUhxDhZc_bsRPXc7obUCUF72W1QcG0qrCM7CH5QOsGbr2RpNIcfIcKMezmygzbF-GnxQSYXnWqb5MmRph9/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-02-08+at+5.24.07+AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1265" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRp5__GCgqXb7av64-jqDVgdo5pKUlWuc3V14GgFAtLA4fLGeim2R-u8M2Q5cUhxDhZc_bsRPXc7obUCUF72W1QcG0qrCM7CH5QOsGbr2RpNIcfIcKMezmygzbF-GnxQSYXnWqb5MmRph9/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-02-08+at+5.24.07+AM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1971 cast: Walter Matthau, Deborah Winters, Felicia Farr, Charles Aidman, Ellen Geer, Larry Linville rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> One of the best Walter Matthau/Jack Lemmon collaborations, and they’re not even in the movie together. Instead, Lemmon’s behind the camera in his first and only directorial project: a quirky comedy-drama starring Matthau as an old man named Kotcher i.e. Kotch, who has little importance to the world. His son, a successful businessman, provides his dad one benefit greater than a place to sleep and listen to giant headphones.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <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/AVvXsEi33Bv8Ka7kEszYM1iVL1UJZ5IYiwc4q2bNJuGZlDV0G5Sdm5xFn93a3lrj55xy_ESn1bdhtUNmSur9TGNvQlEZxp6vHjgyyxflBtguapEtE8nTIjINpTPVB9u3OCzaOOVW0uBOasUj0WQ/s1600/matthu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi33Bv8Ka7kEszYM1iVL1UJZ5IYiwc4q2bNJuGZlDV0G5Sdm5xFn93a3lrj55xy_ESn1bdhtUNmSur9TGNvQlEZxp6vHjgyyxflBtguapEtE8nTIjINpTPVB9u3OCzaOOVW0uBOasUj0WQ/s1600/matthu.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Walter Matthau and Deborah Winters</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Kotch spends time babysitting his two-year old grandson, Duncan, but no longer alone. His son and irritated daughter-in-law hire a babysitter, Erica, a preoccupied teenager and Kotch isn’t pleased.<br /> <br /> Erica, played by the lovely and talented Deborah Winters (who stole scenes as Eli Wallach’s rebellious, drug-taking, loser-loving hippie daughter in the riveting counter-culture classic THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR, and would later be hired by the director of the cult classic BLUE SUNSHINE for having worked with Matthau so wonderfully) is really no different than most flaky teens. Fooling around with her boyfriend while babysitting Duncan, Kotch gets Erica fired. But he’s no longer wanted around the house and is sent to be "interviewed" for a retirement home.<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/AVvXsEgXAahJl5gYde2sW_8O-_q6E-1l12xcuesyCNqo8kTZObOD437CXyyE-j-hdtjn9FISpj9reqm2arcHWBawPm5ZaMIVHFeWDE7pYmAZIkpV3Vy4i90iBag2xlaVBjeEH67RrQq2nUdctNU/s1600/kotch_ver2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXAahJl5gYde2sW_8O-_q6E-1l12xcuesyCNqo8kTZObOD437CXyyE-j-hdtjn9FISpj9reqm2arcHWBawPm5ZaMIVHFeWDE7pYmAZIkpV3Vy4i90iBag2xlaVBjeEH67RrQq2nUdctNU/s1600/kotch_ver2.jpg" width="143" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kotch Poster Artwork</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> The film really begins after Kotch goes his own way – taking to the road after making amends with Erica who, now pregnant and living in Palm Springs, needs a place to stay.<br /> <br /> So while Matthau, hair dyed white as a man twenty years older with a delightfully rambling persona (he loves to talk and no one wants to listen), is the heart of the film, Deborah Winters provides the soul. Their friendship is natural and takes it’s time without being corny.<br /> <br /> Winters doesn’t play for the camera or try to tug emotions like in many feel-good flicks. She portrays a determined young person the way they really are: with a one-track mind to remain on her own path, right or wrong; and her character-arc isn’t forced or overwhelming.<br /> <br /> One line by Matthau is delivered in a world-weary yet charming, affable manner when Winters points out her friends have sex all the time and she only did once, and got pregnant, and he says, "That's baseball" in a labor-of-love that, by all means, is not perfect as a few scenes drag and some of the dialogue feel stagey. But whenever odd couple Matthau and Winters share the screen, learning through each other’s contrary personalities, KOTCH really works. <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/AVvXsEgNnmNmHyXaw9mKpKSzEJnwL8IBjtZA2jezs71PvjcHpZmxYChe6-bGWAcH37Uof97k0KVXxf_gEeBh9dkLrYEMjknRsNKhcZHQ6aCD1yKaTXjzOZAVhesGM717LyfR3RgglkeT_5bpspXJ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-02-08+at+5.24.15+AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1295" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnmNmHyXaw9mKpKSzEJnwL8IBjtZA2jezs71PvjcHpZmxYChe6-bGWAcH37Uof97k0KVXxf_gEeBh9dkLrYEMjknRsNKhcZHQ6aCD1yKaTXjzOZAVhesGM717LyfR3RgglkeT_5bpspXJ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-02-08+at+5.24.15+AM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jack Lemmon's labor-of-love KOTCH Interview with lovely and talented actress Deborah Winters</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <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="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-dwQ1PJKlyzvwZDpClYcXaqZUlS5-TXz3J7HmMVBBDaRrIaN_JsImmA8bL8ZscJR4qWtUQFz1pj0Uh3f6lM761xkIzauJxJvseBYvPlk06rpZv_cQdkE7fnyhqahV0d8LWbBFXQuYjU/s1600/74003_152261681484787_106638979380391_270638_2136869_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566732569353376450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-dwQ1PJKlyzvwZDpClYcXaqZUlS5-TXz3J7HmMVBBDaRrIaN_JsImmA8bL8ZscJR4qWtUQFz1pj0Uh3f6lM761xkIzauJxJvseBYvPlk06rpZv_cQdkE7fnyhqahV0d8LWbBFXQuYjU/s200/74003_152261681484787_106638979380391_270638_2136869_n.jpg" style="float: left; height: 184px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Deborah Winters Interview</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <i>In the early seventies, a young, beautiful, talented actress named DEBORAH WINTERS starred alongside Walter Matthau in KOTCH, directed by Jack Lemmon, after she had proved her worth as Eli Wallach's rebellious daughter in THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR... </i><br /> <br /> <i>KOTCH centers on an old man who, ostracized by his family, befriends a pregnant babysitter and helps her... while she helps him... cope with everyday life...</i><br /> <br /> <u>DEBORAH WINTERS</u>: I went in and read for Jack Lemmon: this is the only picture that Jack directed. You know, actors don’t usually end up liking to direct and the reason is it's extremely difficult to direct a picture. It’s very, very hard work and the work begins before you’re filming, and then of course during filming, and it’s long after filming: doing all the editing and post-production…<br /> <br /> <table align="center" 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/AVvXsEhbpj1d7zdp5_7EaKG_ZAigv_sVwV2lX1ee8cq084kwJUKPbDO4PLrPtI9mj5nkE2QWarZEbIuvDRtgktPh1tV4oVwhzaEdqm5N3rw_lDRilDXT_b135slfPC2b2ztkUFSlHmMe9Y2I3gI/s1600/2290144566_137a964613.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565193272673881746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbpj1d7zdp5_7EaKG_ZAigv_sVwV2lX1ee8cq084kwJUKPbDO4PLrPtI9mj5nkE2QWarZEbIuvDRtgktPh1tV4oVwhzaEdqm5N3rw_lDRilDXT_b135slfPC2b2ztkUFSlHmMe9Y2I3gI/s200/2290144566_137a964613.jpg" style="float: right; height: 151px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A Familiar Name as Director</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> It’s too much work. They like to go in and memorize some dialog for the day’s shoot… The make-up man and the hairdresser makes them up and makes them look good, and then they shoot for one day and they go home, and when the picture’s over they relax.<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/AVvXsEhoeaJLA4pQ0_ORtqWn_2GLxBphBHqIiQ_nM0fi-B6OrPArz0KAtuH9bT8ORyhyphenhyphenbUmIygD7YTgDFHYiQhal7wU2X27oQnsaEtSufNQbN-siMUiB4gVIKOT6evMa_5MlFIRJ6AErN-B8E3I/s1600/IMG_3531-2-1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566732511862816482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoeaJLA4pQ0_ORtqWn_2GLxBphBHqIiQ_nM0fi-B6OrPArz0KAtuH9bT8ORyhyphenhyphenbUmIygD7YTgDFHYiQhal7wU2X27oQnsaEtSufNQbN-siMUiB4gVIKOT6evMa_5MlFIRJ6AErN-B8E3I/s200/IMG_3531-2-1.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 195px;" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Deborah Winters</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> It took Jack six years to get this film finally made… And I came in, of course, more on the tail end of it. Nobody would give him the money and he really loved the story and thought it should be made. So he kept working on it and working on it...<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> And it was something where I went in to audition and Jack felt I really understood "Erica Herzenstiel," and I was the one he wanted from the very beginning... It was a great compliment and I loved working with both of them. They were fantastic men, and characters, and very funny together.<br /> <br /> <table align="center" 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/AVvXsEiiwJomJH_leROEEFbM1BZVdIdZAw1C3yyg3VMxlzd5k7wRzhYvRHKq6dzkhUQRux4VkeQS6Aw2YvKf2_wVJScE_mMSGbjis5hyDhyphenhyphentqIPJAzoNovDEQJ7x9CSjFUQl8jXs4Im_GTR6V_w/s1600/148863_152264011484554_106638979380391_270663_6307632_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565183262845189202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiwJomJH_leROEEFbM1BZVdIdZAw1C3yyg3VMxlzd5k7wRzhYvRHKq6dzkhUQRux4VkeQS6Aw2YvKf2_wVJScE_mMSGbjis5hyDhyphenhyphentqIPJAzoNovDEQJ7x9CSjFUQl8jXs4Im_GTR6V_w/s200/148863_152264011484554_106638979380391_270663_6307632_n.jpg" style="float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 187px;" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Deborah Winters</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Jack used to talk to me privately, and say, “You know I can’t tell Walt what to do. You know when he hasn't done the scene right. You make a mistake and I’ll have to yell cut and then it won’t be me, it’ll be you… You do that for me, okay?” He used to call me “Debs” and I’d say, “Okay, okay.” So then I would know when Walter got off track, or he would ad-lib too much… And I’d make a mistake and we’d have to start over.<br /> <br /> Walter told me one time after he was nominated for the Academy Award, and the song was nominated as well...<br /> <br /> And I met him one day and he said, “Deborah, you should have been nominated too.” And I said, “Oh no,” you know… And he said, “No, you really should have been. The reason you weren’t nominated was they thought you were that girl. They didn’t realize you were doing an acting job.”<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/AVvXsEjie9xkXBEHBsLyXCFEdChaqJFnFWLMl3lMDA01VtUgJNLmlQZzKZFFxbnJ4BofEUxkQI1Axb-pG_AOgdHcTxQuqLL_HeyOOlRexvjpuApynmbniRkQK6afGA83-Nnww9uE9qhhG8VAjm0e/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-02-08+at+5.24.22+AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1235" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjie9xkXBEHBsLyXCFEdChaqJFnFWLMl3lMDA01VtUgJNLmlQZzKZFFxbnJ4BofEUxkQI1Axb-pG_AOgdHcTxQuqLL_HeyOOlRexvjpuApynmbniRkQK6afGA83-Nnww9uE9qhhG8VAjm0e/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-02-08+at+5.24.22+AM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Walter Matthau and Deborah Winters in a KOTCH lobby card</u></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/AVvXsEikCDr-ChIkvAzfeP-ztRL6e9K66QHuocEZaD573KGxW0IHdMglu35C7UYCXZHb5ZKtKhKQdL7i1FqBB2MiYbX8S0plXTkm-IDr7uJRRz7tvChb8vHhAWx-LDjKEACXmxM6lP5eupz3H_u9/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-02-08+at+5.24.30+AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1272" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikCDr-ChIkvAzfeP-ztRL6e9K66QHuocEZaD573KGxW0IHdMglu35C7UYCXZHb5ZKtKhKQdL7i1FqBB2MiYbX8S0plXTkm-IDr7uJRRz7tvChb8vHhAWx-LDjKEACXmxM6lP5eupz3H_u9/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-02-08+at+5.24.30+AM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Walter Matthau and director Jack Lemmon in a lobby card for Lemmon's labor-of-love KOTCH</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> <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> <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>

comedy, deborah winters, drama, jack lemmon, larry linville, quirky, seventies, walter matthau

WALTER MATTHAU IS 'KOTCH' W/ DEBORAH WINTERS INTERVIEW

year: 1971 cast: Walter Matthau, Deborah Winters, Felicia Farr, Charles Aidman, Ellen Geer, Larry Linville rating: ***1/2 One of the bes...