cult film freak: April 2016

Written by James M. Tate / 4/30/2016 / No comments / bo hopkins , burt young , james caan , jerry fielding , robert duvall , sam peckinpah , seventies

CAAN & DUVALL UNDER PECKINPAH FOR 'THE KILLER ELITE'

bo hopkins, burt young, james caan, jerry fielding, robert duvall, sam peckinpah, seventies

CAAN & DUVALL UNDER PECKINPAH FOR 'THE KILLER ELITE'

Year of Release: 1975 It takes two GODFATHER actors: the already iconic and borderline legendary James Caan and Robert Duvall, to perfec...

JOHN WAYNE GETS DIRTY HARRY WITH A BULLITT IN 'MCQ'

action, al lettieri, clu gulager, david huddleston, eddie albert, john wayne, neo noir, roger e. mosley, seventies

JOHN WAYNE GETS DIRTY HARRY WITH A BULLITT IN 'MCQ'

year: 1974 cast: John Wayne, Diana Muldaur, Eddie Albert, Clu Gulager, Roger E. Mosely, Al Lettieri, Julie Adams Sounding like an upbeat...

MARSHALL MISDIRECTS THE ENSEMBLE MOTHER'S DAY

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pf2j8_pQnRg/VyL44s9jNrI/AAAAAAAAsKo/066_b73zjEUEqWKjiEcK1wLuXde_d-Y4gCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-28%2Bat%2B10.56.35%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="333" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pf2j8_pQnRg/VyL44s9jNrI/AAAAAAAAsKo/066_b73zjEUEqWKjiEcK1wLuXde_d-Y4gCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-28%2Bat%2B10.56.35%2BPM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year Released: 2016</td></tr>
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Before we begin and finish as quickly as possible, reviewing a movie that, following banal versions of Robert Altman style NASHVILLE, A WEDDING and SHORT CUTS ensemble pieces (but winding up closer to READY TO WEAR), it should be noted that Garry Marshall, the man who helped Generation X grow up with Fonzie, Lenny, Squiggy and... everyone from HAPPY DAYS and LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY... and entertained "The Greatest Generation" and their Baby Boomers with THE ODD COUPLE... As a television Executive Producer/Mogul, turned into an, at first, pretty good theatrical director: A great one, actually. Or perhaps THE FLAMINGO KID, starring Matt Dillon as a young Brooklyn card-shark spending the summer at a rich resort as a cabana boy, winding up boy-toy for Janet Jones and a wishbone for proud yet unapologetically stubborn blue collar plumber dad Hector Elizondo and crooked fancy car salesman Richard Crenna, was a great movie with a good director...<br>

comedy, ensemble, garry marshall, hector elizondo, julia roberts

MARSHALL MISDIRECTS THE ENSEMBLE MOTHER'S DAY

Year Released: 2016 Before we begin and finish as quickly as possible, reviewing a movie that, following banal versions of Robert Altman...

SHANNON & SPACEY IN ELVIS & NIXON

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BQ66MF1E5iw/VyA0PVUyuhI/AAAAAAAAsJ0/iMiH74uNf70dy2-5HbbZhK7Iy5DcNYk7ACLcB/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BQ66MF1E5iw/VyA0PVUyuhI/AAAAAAAAsJ0/iMiH74uNf70dy2-5HbbZhK7Iy5DcNYk7ACLcB/s320/1.jpg" width="187"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 2016</u></td></tr>
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Oh how much hope so many folks probably had for the potential of a political comedy/true life satire of epic proportions, but somehow, somewhere along the way, in a movie about a has-been legendary rocker, wanting to battle drug-taking hippies, planning and then having a secret meeting with one of the most hated Presidents ever, especially unforgotten in Hollywood, both Elvis Presley and Richard M. Nixon wind up looking... pretty damn cool, somehow...<br>
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Perhaps it's for the opposite reason that Eric Stoltz was fired from BACK TO THE FUTURE and replaced by Michael J. Fox...<br>
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The FUTURE makers needed a comic actor who could hit the right comic "marks." A mark is something not every actor can do in a comedic sense, and Michael Shannon, while speaking to Nixon about how the youths are really underground Communists; how television and drugs have made them hate the American flag; how he could actually disguise himself, like he did in a decade worth of films, to actually infiltrate the backstage touring with The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead and bust them right on the spot; and how he can use Kung Fu on lethal drug dealers...<br>

biopic, dark comedy, kevin spacey, michael shannon

SHANNON & SPACEY IN ELVIS & NIXON

Year: 2016 Oh how much hope so many folks probably had for the potential of a political comedy/true life satire of epic proportions, but...

CAROL REED 1940 PRE-WW2 THRILLER 'NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YTwMz3zOSqk/Vx6JRexr5VI/AAAAAAAAsJg/dY1qM9Fy7MsqqqZVv4R0sdTDwl7oJuEkQCLcB/s1600/91BDRfAUvKL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YTwMz3zOSqk/Vx6JRexr5VI/AAAAAAAAsJg/dY1qM9Fy7MsqqqZVv4R0sdTDwl7oJuEkQCLcB/s400/91BDRfAUvKL._SL1500_.jpg" width="277"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1940 Rating: ***</u></td></tr>
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<u>NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH</u>: By the time we're on that title train to the title location, the dialogue-driven espionage is pretty much done and, for the most part, all the confusing matter of whether our leading man Rex Harrison, as Dickie Randall a.k.a. Gus Bennett, is a Nazi, a British agent or a Nazi for the British or a Brit for the Nazis, is still in the dark, and that makes for a good performance since in any thriller genre, a touch of mystery is needed to keep things fresh, and the subtle chase, following said character, on a windswept pace, leads to more of an action/adventure at the end, though a bit too little, too late.<br>
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As for direction, Carol Reed moves his chess pieces around nicely, including lovely first-billed Margaret Lockwood, who has to trust this dashing, talky mystery man to help her and her scientist father escape from the world-dominating villains, and there's more than a touch of dark humor being that NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH was made before World War II, right on the verge, in fact, of America's involvement, making this a journey on the edge that never goes full-out where it needs to be, not quite sure whether to satirize or despise the overall enemy. Had the same plot and, for the time, decent special effects occurred, say, in 1946, this might have been a lot stronger for the characters and audience alike. But what's there to experience is a decent visual page-turner; although it goes in one ear and out the other... The best thing about this TRAIN is the Criterion DVD cover, perhaps the best ever, ever, in their series consisting of some of the best artwork ever, ever created for collectors of vintage motion pictures.<br>

carol reed, espionage, forties, rex harrison, thriller, war

CAROL REED 1940 PRE-WW2 THRILLER 'NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH'

year: 1940 Rating: *** NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH : By the time we're on that title train to the title location, the dialogue-driven espi...

RANT FOR BRANDO KAZAN THREE: ON THE WATERFRONT

classic, elia kazan, fifties, marlon brando, tcm

RANT FOR BRANDO KAZAN THREE: ON THE WATERFRONT

Marlon Brando turns in a performance of a lifetime, and many other lifetimes, in ON THE WATERFRONT Popular cinematic line about not bein...

LINKLATER 70'S/80'S DAZED CONFUSED DOUBLE-FEATURE

ben affleck, matthew mcconaughey

LINKLATER 70'S/80'S DAZED CONFUSED DOUBLE-FEATURE

DOUBLE FEATURE REVIEW OF DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993) & EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! (2016) DAZED AND CONFUSED : It might have been the 1980...

LIVE 2 SEE THE DAWN: PRINCE IN PURPLE RAIN

biopic, eighties, morris day, musical, prince

LIVE 2 SEE THE DAWN: PRINCE IN PURPLE RAIN

Price as The Kid with a spooky puppet looking like The Count and goading his poor bandmates into eerie submission "Dearly beloved.....

TOM HANKS STARRING IN HOLOGRAM FOR A KING

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3wrYKOBiLo/Vxm-__76y6I/AAAAAAAAsF4/Y-pIq6wwUT4pEo3_zufkiRbWcyMExbcKwCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-21%2Bat%2B11.02.23%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3wrYKOBiLo/Vxm-__76y6I/AAAAAAAAsF4/Y-pIq6wwUT4pEo3_zufkiRbWcyMExbcKwCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-21%2Bat%2B11.02.23%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Thomas of Arabia in Hologram for a King, Release Year: 2016</u></td></tr>
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There's a feeling of peace and tranquility when... no, not as yet another American film set in a Middle East/Arab country provides an optimistic, non-terrorist glimpse that Hollywood feels is a necessary means of diplomacy concerning a maligned religion when in fact it's another polar opposite belief-system that gets a perpetually awful rap, since the 1960's, in that place called Tinsel Town: But when a gentle, mellow film abruptly ends before you realize it's even really begun, despite having sat there for a swift ninety-minutes, there's something unique and satisfying as our main character Tom Hanks, whose world-weary company man Alan, along with a handful of employees, traveling from America to Saudi Arabia to sell a Holographic system to, you got it, The King, discovers a giant lump on his back and, eventually, like the trailers already spoiled, there's a romance between Alan and his pretty doctor (more of a "handsome" lady), Sarita Choudhury as Zahra, who has as genuine a chemistry with Hanks as comic relief driver Yousef, sans the romance. Thus, Alexander Black steals a movie that needs stealing since the beloved Tom, at this point, though still embodying that good old unique charm and a genuine ability to wield both an endearing smile and sincere pathos, resembles a cross between W.C. Fields and someone he's always been visually similar to, and who should've, at one point in his long, eclectic career, played his sister: that being GREASE starlet Stockard Channing.<br>

2016, romance, tom hanks

TOM HANKS STARRING IN HOLOGRAM FOR A KING

Thomas of Arabia in Hologram for a King, Release Year: 2016 There's a feeling of peace and tranquility when... no, not as yet anothe...

KEVIN COSTNER & RYAN REYNOLDS IN CRIMINAL

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wSjNJSwwIyo/VxcXOPe3nfI/AAAAAAAAsD4/xvo25mKdBz0EfBTZu3WqdjHqwSvXU6msACLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-19%2Bat%2B10.43.59%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="381" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wSjNJSwwIyo/VxcXOPe3nfI/AAAAAAAAsD4/xvo25mKdBz0EfBTZu3WqdjHqwSvXU6msACLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-19%2Bat%2B10.43.59%2BPM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Costner resembling an aged Travis Bickle <u>RELEASE YEAR</u>: 2016</td></tr>
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Lately, within private circles and treadmill conversations, Cult Film Freak has been accused of writing posts that are long. Not <i>too</i> long, mind you, just... long.<br>
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Well that doesn't concern reviews but "articles" about old classic films since it's downright ludicrous to, at this point where any "old school" motion picture has their own dedicated following with books and websites and just about everything else, making just another review about them, just another review: But we'll keep this one, like most of the new release write-ups, short and to the point even though the movie itself doesn't seem to have a point, followable plot, or purpose. Just a few otherwise talented old actors and one young A-list star who recently got his mojo back as the sarcastic superhero DEADPOOL (while ironically, MAN OF STEEL didn't hurt a fledgling Costner). And where Ryan Reynolds fits within the Kevin Costner vehicle is as mysterious as Kevin's own role as a really bad dude, sounding a cross between Kurt Russell's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK anti-hero Snake Plissken and the man Snake's based on, Clint Eastwood. And yet, by the plot summary alone it's clear that Ryan's an FBI agent whose memories are placed into Costner's CRIMINAL mind, and from this point he and the audience slowly learn that... prepare for a shock coming from Hollywood... the CIA is as crooked as a barrel of venomous rattlers: Seriously, at what point does a Revelation become a timeworn cliché?<br>

2016, gary oldman, kevin costner, ryan reynolds, thriller, tommy lee jones

KEVIN COSTNER & RYAN REYNOLDS IN CRIMINAL

Costner resembling an aged Travis Bickle RELEASE YEAR : 2016 Lately, within private circles and treadmill conversations, Cult Film Freak...

UNMASKING JOEL SCHUMACHER'S INFAMOUS BATMAN MOVIES

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ExnLf9WYz-A/VxKOHrofFvI/AAAAAAAAsBs/QZgao3KW6ZswDPKawU8ltwOhfZB59wQswCLcB/s1600/22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ExnLf9WYz-A/VxKOHrofFvI/AAAAAAAAsBs/QZgao3KW6ZswDPKawU8ltwOhfZB59wQswCLcB/s400/22.jpg" width="283" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year Released: 1995</u></td></tr>
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<u>BATMAN FOREVER</u>: At the very end of his first motion picture in which Jim Carrey got a gigantic boatload of money, that being LIAR LIAR following those god-awful yet extremely popular PET DETECTIVE films and of course his catapult in IN LIVING COLOR (following an underrated vampire romp, ONCE BITTEN) that paved the way for his ultra success in the 1990's, there was, if you stick around LIAR's end credits, a trick played on the rubbery madman when character-actress Swoozie Kurtz, as a defense lawyer, and Jim are arguing in a scene where both scream names at each other before she goes purposefully off script, shouting: "Over actor!"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7K0kt7xdZRA/XSsCDPQjcgI/AAAAAAABE38/RLzpUQTKLbgonZ3pOpxZczPHIT5rkwJAgCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-07-14%2Bat%2B3.16.11%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1460" data-original-width="656" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7K0kt7xdZRA/XSsCDPQjcgI/AAAAAAABE38/RLzpUQTKLbgonZ3pOpxZczPHIT5rkwJAgCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-07-14%2Bat%2B3.16.11%2BAM.jpeg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Ice Man with Maverick's wife</u></td></tr>
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And for the first time you can see Carrey unfold, melt his hyper countenance and become very real with a wide albeit embarrassed grin that, if able to capture this kind of vulnerable moment on screen, he could really be something (TRUMAN SHOW almost reached that kind of reality)... And yet, that accusation, meant as a joke by the director handed to the actress, just isn't true. For "Overacting" is when someone reaches to BECOME a character, not a character who is loud and crazy and insane while being that person, basically the reason why Jim got those immense paychecks: in a world of dry sarcasm, people needed a human cartoon, and he was it, in droves...<br />
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<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NwBEbsgkKWE/VxKOOHgJYMI/AAAAAAAAsB0/As82i3IM_bka-iyvHfuf_DaDjADjYCgqgCLcB/s1600/24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NwBEbsgkKWE/VxKOOHgJYMI/AAAAAAAAsB0/As82i3IM_bka-iyvHfuf_DaDjADjYCgqgCLcB/s400/24.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Lightweight Heavies</u></td></tr>
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Well this was the first time he could prove his worth as a, or what could have/should have been a, somewhat serious turn being the second-tier villain in the third Caped Crusader film, BATMAN FOREVER, the first directed by Joel Schumacher while produced by Tim Burton. Yet Carrey, as hammy as he gets as The Riddler, has nothing on an actor who, throughout his career, from THE EYES OF LAURA MARS to COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER to his shift from character-actor to leading man via THE FUGITIVE, landing him an Oscar for simply being his cool and collected self (a brilliantly evil Ray Fiennes was robbed), Jones is, surprisingly enough given his genuine talent to fit within just about any genre, the truly distracting overcooked ham on board, trying too hard to play Harvey "Two Face" Dent with prosthetics one one side when he turns his head the wrong way. While on the better side his annoying tirades are just as loud, and vapid...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h_UeI07JdQg/VxKOUiYDg_I/AAAAAAAAsB4/RVBBquExYVk9DrGpcooVISTw54nRFpggwCLcB/s1600/25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h_UeI07JdQg/VxKOUiYDg_I/AAAAAAAAsB4/RVBBquExYVk9DrGpcooVISTw54nRFpggwCLcB/s400/25.jpg" width="202" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>Kilmer looking serious</u></td></tr>
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Funny that Michael Keaton had quit because he felt the villains were more important than the person the movie's are named after. Too bad because here more than ever, Keaton could have subdued these guys better than first-timer Val Kilmer, seeming downright awkward and speaking in a sexy deep HISSSSS much like, dare it be said, the beloved Christian Bale in the Christopher Nolan films, which were very much needed to reboot a franchise that started out alright and ended up downright horrible, thanks or no thanks to director Schumacher who turned Burton's dark atmosphere into a Gotham resembling a surreal Variety Show.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_9TZuXnmD94/VxKOdzXYKuI/AAAAAAAAsB8/VDVCR-z4PC0KH0ZKZDq2yD6A9Ii5O6BTQCLcB/s1600/26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_9TZuXnmD94/VxKOdzXYKuI/AAAAAAAAsB8/VDVCR-z4PC0KH0ZKZDq2yD6A9Ii5O6BTQCLcB/s400/26.jpg" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Underground</u></td></tr>
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And while Tim Burton's first two and far superior ventures, especially the original with Jack Nicholson, weren't stranger to the Dutch Angle, where the camera is tilted to establish the scene a bit askew to intentionally put the audience off balance, there's nothing but Dutch going on here, followed by a shaky-cam, insane close-ups and editing liken to a music video aka the films of Tony Scott and on the other side of the mainstream "catered to opening night audiences" style of filmmaking, Michael Bay, making FOREVER flow like a locomotive chugging towards a cliff where lies the bottomless pit. If only it reached there a lot sooner...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mOvlzjBXKzw/VxKPUCmGe8I/AAAAAAAAsCI/Jm7t1POEp0kNv0Z0l4XXtAW0WTUf3I8WwCLcB/s1600/2222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mOvlzjBXKzw/VxKPUCmGe8I/AAAAAAAAsCI/Jm7t1POEp0kNv0Z0l4XXtAW0WTUf3I8WwCLcB/s400/2222.jpg" width="186" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Riddler and Batman</u></td></tr>
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On the prettier side, our stock ingenue is a shrink played by a sexy Nicole Kidman, who, despite trying really hard, and both being terrific actors otherwise, she shares zero chemistry with Kilmer, who, unlike Keaton's bedded-down lady's man always making the first move, she all but glues a mattress to the smug Bruce Wayne's back, deleting any sort of genuine romance these two could have had, had she been more subtle as the plot, dealing simultaneously with Two-Face's vengeful reign of terror and The Riddler's plan to control people's minds...<br />
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And in the next venture, the most maligned of the four covered here, BATMAN AND ROBIN, that second name was established in FOREVER: for we actually first meet Chris O'Donnell as the iconic sidekick to the Caped Crusader, Robin, who, having lost his entire family after a tightrope act interrupted by an act of terror, gives him the speed and agility and deep-rooted anger to keep up and compete with his new mentor. Only thing is, Val Kilmer, usually a "giving" sort of method actor and intriguing to watch, seems completely alone here... And word came out quickly that he never wanted to play the part in the first place, and it actually shows: He's as uncomfortable in that stiff suit as the plot is to logic, and the entire movie glides along like clips of a prolonged movie trailer that hadn't been edited into a linear structure, and, speaking of which, a lot of trimming was needed to make this overlong saga much less torturous.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LyogrTsrtlw/VxKPapQboPI/AAAAAAAAsCM/79OIt35pSBYQYnt8Hi2dLHx8m6Dep62yQCLcB/s1600/2223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LyogrTsrtlw/VxKPapQboPI/AAAAAAAAsCM/79OIt35pSBYQYnt8Hi2dLHx8m6Dep62yQCLcB/s400/2223.jpg" width="181" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Rushing to end things</u></td></tr>
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Although, on the brighter side, there is a certain camp value within the overall pandemonium: watching both villains trying so hard to outdo each other becomes as relaxing as one of those hyper kids given speed pills to wind down. There's simply nothing to do but try to catch everything the flamboyant director throws at us in his vivid comic book styling.<br />
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Yet the colors are more befitting a neon sign for an 80's Nightclub than a "graphic novel" page-turner, and it might be hard to get through the "first issue," much less two hours of a catastrophe that, if Kilmer only took the role with what he can do dramatically and comically instead of remaining in mannequin mode throughout, not only could he have saved Gotham City, but the motion picture as well...<br />
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How many superheroes plain give up less than halfway through? It's no wonder he never returned to the role...<br />
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And that's where the swarthy progressive Hollywood kingpin glided in, straight from mediocre melodrama on television's hit ER and two fantastic, timeless roles in both Quentin Tarantino's FROM DUSK TO DAWN (written and co-starring the former video rental clerk) and, bathed in the QT style, Elmore Leonard's adaptation of his own novel OUT OF SITE, by far Clooney's best (or at least, most natural) performance to date. So now, to close, let's discuss what could very well be his worst motion picture ever... Although not all blame goes to Georgie boy...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K4pwQCvmZ_I/VxKPtG3eLyI/AAAAAAAAsCU/C7TBdKFn7EUHWUGgTFMVBRyvaKthQLVrQCLcB/s1600/27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K4pwQCvmZ_I/VxKPtG3eLyI/AAAAAAAAsCU/C7TBdKFn7EUHWUGgTFMVBRyvaKthQLVrQCLcB/s400/27.jpg" width="155" /></a></b></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year Released: 1997</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>BATMAN AND ROBIN</u>: Well someone gave director Joel Schumacher the green light to do another BATMAN, just in case  no one was paying attention the first time around... It was quite easy to lose interest stuck in FOREVER and this final Tim Burton Production starring A-List preachy heartthrob George Clooney, now wearing the muscular-shaped tights and cape, living in a mansion and working underground and, with more colors than ever, Gotham City resembles a roller-rink CLOCKWORK ORANGE had it been set in a MY LITTLE PONY universe yet still with that touch of Dystopic BLADE RUNNER combined with a disco glow of XANADU that includes gangs of all shapes and sizes ala THE WARRIORS, only looking straight out of an eclectic Metrosexual discothèque...<br />
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<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SQx1Os-4tK8/VxKP0FTmvcI/AAAAAAAAsCY/CZAA1v-sOoEkGdrczXbO9CX_bW3IdGl0gCLcB/s1600/28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SQx1Os-4tK8/VxKP0FTmvcI/AAAAAAAAsCY/CZAA1v-sOoEkGdrczXbO9CX_bW3IdGl0gCLcB/s400/28.jpg" width="197" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Study in Blue Cheese</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And how we see this new light-bright Gotham is through the bedazzled yet surprisingly tough, resilient and experienced eyes of Alfred's niece, Barbara, soon to become Batgirl, which, by name, seems more important and linked to Batman than Robin himself. But CLUELESS starlet Alicia Silverstone, on the verge of her 15 minutes running out, is more Robin's type given her age and penchant for running away and trying to find an intriguing world beyond the mansion she's holed up in... All the while being shadowed by a concerned, and quickly lovestruck, Robin, played by a returning Chris O'Donnell in a bigger role than his entrance in FOREVER, not really a surprise since his famous sidekick's name is shared within the title...<br />
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<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qH_zjZpdvBQ/VxKRmu1OL0I/AAAAAAAAsC0/fBcYM2HwKiYalHA0trxDkOl_lJDtkr9OACKgB/s1600/888888.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qH_zjZpdvBQ/VxKRmu1OL0I/AAAAAAAAsC0/fBcYM2HwKiYalHA0trxDkOl_lJDtkr9OACKgB/s320/888888.png" width="129" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Clooney with COD</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And for the record, Clooney actually gets second-billed credit following Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dr. Freeze, giving his usual one-liners (like "Cool It" and "Chill Out") and, in order to save his almost-dead cryogenic wife, providing his character an ambiguous, sympathetic peripheral, he's a vengeful villain with no limitations, turning the colorful Gotham into a blue hue of endless winter. But there's green in there too, and plenty of it: For surprisingly, even worse than Arnold, acting-wise, like Jones stunk more than Carrey, is Uma Thurman as temptress Poison Ivy...<br />
<br />
With an endless array of boring lectures and stagy scenes where she struts around, hitting her hammy marks within a lab seeming straight from a Saturday Morning kid's show, she goes from a befuddled, environmental, virginal geek doctor into a sultry, sexy, slutty ingenue more easy than Pfeiffer morphed into Cat Woman... a quick "backstabbing" death followed by a transition that isn't fully explained while comic book favorite, Bane, the bald muscular heavy who would serve as the socialist, mouth-covered co-lead ala Tom Hardy in the last Chris Nolan Political Thriller-style venture. Here he's but a big bad bodyguard that does very little but resemble a WWF wrestler, destroying things that Mr. Freeze doesn't turn to ice.<br />
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<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7H7IUlUEz80/VxKR4U3o5gI/AAAAAAAAsC4/Dywyxb6yNdc6UWOG0nt80vBgLKo6s6naQCLcB/s1600/47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7H7IUlUEz80/VxKR4U3o5gI/AAAAAAAAsC4/Dywyxb6yNdc6UWOG0nt80vBgLKo6s6naQCLcB/s400/47.jpg" width="105" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Evil Tin Man</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Meanwhile, Clooney, like Ben Affleck in the (at this time) current <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/03/batVSsup.html">BATMAN VS SUPERMAN</a>, doesn't do a horrendous job at BAT, simply going through the motions, jiggling his head in the usual fashion and basically playing it mild and mellow... perhaps too much... an obvious attempt as a Steve McQueen type, not having to exert a lot of energy or dialogue despite given the superhero lead, seeming more lethargic than world-weary, and is perhaps why he's given the "worst Batman ever" status, not seeming to care about much with a one-note expression, whether he's perplexed by his young duo's romantic curiosity pointed to the dangerous Gotham City, or "snowboarding" with Robin, literally from the outskirts of outer-space itself, all the way back into town in one of the cheesiest scenes ever shot, and while viewing you might not be able to do anything but laugh, smile, or throw up endlessly...<br />
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<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m1t-_iUGQPE/VxKSATz7yGI/AAAAAAAAsC8/hthj0jrx-g8Wvt4QxbDunOAWqmlZawkngCKgB/s1600/48.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m1t-_iUGQPE/VxKSATz7yGI/AAAAAAAAsC8/hthj0jrx-g8Wvt4QxbDunOAWqmlZawkngCKgB/s320/48.jpg" width="84" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Uma T</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In that, BATMAN AND ROBIN is actually a much "better" time than the plodding FOREVER simply because all the room leftover to have fun poking at the glorious camp, wherein the Kilmer episode traps the audience within the pontificating villains (and to note, Arnold is far more entertaining than either Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey combined): Could it be this reviewer's penchant for the "so bad it's good" sub-genre or just the fact the plot is simplistic and never tries overriding what director Joel himself seemed to be attempting: a pure rollercoaster ride as opposed to a whirlwind of talky lectures attempting depth where it doesn't belong...<br />
<br />
For when it comes to stupidity, BATMAN AND ROBIN is THE GODFATHER and CITIZEN KANE combined while FOREVER is a hyperactive version of those first two Keaton ventures...<br />
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By the time right before BATMAN was handed over to the extremely serious and complicated MEMENTO filmmaker and an intense former child actor, the Keaton BATMAN duo were actually regarded as being, at the very least, flawed classics while Joel's double-mess is fitfully forgotten altogether. And check for the ratings for all four movies under the insignia picture directly below.<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DuzZXUh8PX8/XSsGlPjfPyI/AAAAAAABE4E/TBUIFJu6eYI6h03Az5VqlwuUBW9if04TQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-07-14%2Bat%2B3.37.19%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="1504" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DuzZXUh8PX8/XSsGlPjfPyI/AAAAAAABE4E/TBUIFJu6eYI6h03Az5VqlwuUBW9if04TQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-07-14%2Bat%2B3.37.19%2BAM.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>SCORES for BATMAN FOREVER: *1/2 for BATMAN AND ROBIN * FUN TO BAG ON CAMP VALUE SCORE: ***</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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vs_p1xVOLUA/VxKULS_lVGI/AAAAAAAAsDM/-W_UjxgpuD0pau45ZDrty1bpm4qjWBP7ACLcB/s1600/bram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vs_p1xVOLUA/VxKULS_lVGI/AAAAAAAAsDM/-W_UjxgpuD0pau45ZDrty1bpm4qjWBP7ACLcB/s1600/bram.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/04/burton-batman.html"><u>CLICK FOR THE REVIEW OF TIM BURTON'S ORIGINAL BATMAN MOVIE W/ JACK NICHOLSON</u></a></td></tr>
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comic book, eighties, franchise, jack nicholson, kim basinger, michael gough, michael keaton, tim burton

UNMASKING JOEL SCHUMACHER'S INFAMOUS BATMAN MOVIES

Year Released: 1995 BATMAN FOREVER : At the very end of his first motion picture in which Jim Carrey got a gigantic boatload of money, t...

Written by James M. Tate / 4/14/2016 / No comments / 2016 , bill murray , disney , kids

DISNEY REBOOTS THE JUNGLE BOOK

2016, bill murray, disney, kids

DISNEY REBOOTS THE JUNGLE BOOK

Computers take place of hand-drawn animation in the reboot of the Disney classic THE JUNGLE BOOK circa 2016 Most people will remember th...

BAD LONGER VERSION OF MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD

<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bXh60gEZ6fM/VxXZKa_y4zI/AAAAAAAAsDc/3aPyMMt75FwmYfM3tLpz962vY5C5hbrggCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-19%2Bat%2B12.04.18%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bXh60gEZ6fM/VxXZKa_y4zI/AAAAAAAAsDc/3aPyMMt75FwmYfM3tLpz962vY5C5hbrggCLcB/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-19%2Bat%2B12.04.18%2BAM.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Review of the much too extended version of IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD before having seen the original</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
AN IMPORTANT NOTE before reading this review... IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD MAD WORLD was viewed, for the very first time, on the big screen in a retro theater, just last week, and it was the version that is reviewed below, which was written before even realizing there was a much. much. much, much better original version at all...<br>
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<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EWZX2HcOX1M/VxXZ7_ViVYI/AAAAAAAAsDk/rt6457nX3Yk1gUX96f2fDYhl8mYEGEbxwCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-19%2Bat%2B12.05.50%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EWZX2HcOX1M/VxXZ7_ViVYI/AAAAAAAAsDk/rt6457nX3Yk1gUX96f2fDYhl8mYEGEbxwCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-19%2Bat%2B12.05.50%2BAM.png" width="201"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"What's in the bawwwwwx?"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thus, the film is torn apart for an abundance of flaws, and yet now, after ordering the beautiful Criterion Blu Ray/DVD package, and watching the ORIGINAL THEATRICAL CUT, it's like experiencing an entirely different motion picture, one that actually has wonderful, flowing motion instead of sinking slowly into proverbial quicksand for nearly three overlong hours...<br>
<br>
Getting the plot and misadventure underway in five minutes instead of twenty is one of many changes... Again, like just mentioned, yours truly had no idea there was an extended edition, and why, if playing classic old movies in theaters, would the "Director's Cut" or "Extended Edition" be shown instead of the one originally viewed on the big screen to audiences seeing it for the first time? (Same thing happened with GOOD BAD UGLY... promoting the original but instead showing the one where scenes, like Tuco with the chickens, are added with a completely different film stock). In that, newcomers to MAD WORLD should see the original theatrical version just like people did in 1963, without the Director or Studio, or whoever is responsible for this catastrophe trying to improve upon a Classic: Being too close to the material at hand, there seems to be no realization that what's left out is, in fact, shown even more clearly by not having it there at all. For this is where the viewer's imagination comes in, which is what makes a film worth watching, again and again and again. And, so, before journeying through this writeup, note that the long, long, long, long version is downright horrible while the original is absolutely fantastic... Scenes that cut to lead to others are extended to the point that when you reach the next scene you forget about why there was a last scene... And so much time's spent talking there's simply no adventure or journey happening at all... So there you have it... Alas, since the Landmark Presentation Series decided to overindulge modern audiences with a piece much different than what made it truly shine and memorable and incredible way back when, that's what this somewhat negative review is centered on... Passing the buck, but with reason... Thus the...<br>
<br>
<u>REVIEW OF THE EXTENDED CUT BEGINS HERE</u>: Many films have followed the heels and back bumpers of IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD... That's four MAD's for four cars, at first, whose inhabitants witness another car drive off a cliff and a whispered, dying man's secret – like a few years later would happen to Clint Eastwood against poor Elli Wallach in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY – is heard by a couple of fellas: Yet soon enough their women and a few others catch wind of a race to find a bunch of loot buried underneath a mysterious, unknown "W"...<br>

buddy hackett, car, ensemble, jonathan winters, milton berle, race, sid caesar, sixties, stanley kramer

BAD LONGER VERSION OF MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD

Review of the much too extended version of IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD before having seen the original AN IMPORTANT NOTE before ...

MELISSA MCCARTHY & KRISTEN BELL IN THE BOSS

<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t458zDj6lwg/Vw3QfqaoBEI/AAAAAAAAr64/SdP7N4UBAnYrfSq3y-kMO3Yn3JJw47OjgCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-12%2Bat%2B9.50.25%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t458zDj6lwg/Vw3QfqaoBEI/AAAAAAAAr64/SdP7N4UBAnYrfSq3y-kMO3Yn3JJw47OjgCLcB/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-12%2Bat%2B9.50.25%2BPM.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here are the only two good things about THE BOSS... Bell's breasts...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A movie that works in reverse, and yet, doesn't really work at all, THE BOSS stars Melissa McCarthy as, you got it, an overweight (though not <i>as </i>overweight) bitch who doesn't take crap from anybody. Sound familiar?<br>
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And here, like most of her other ventures after hitting the A-list from BRIDESMAIDS, the overall punchline revolves around her title character who, in this case, after growing up in an orphanage (seen in a short prologue), McCarthy's Michelle Darnell becomes really, really rich... Something that's supposed to mean everything, and yet we only witness her reign of (abuse of) power in two relatively quick scenes, and during one she's giving a speech to a horde of fans who love her for... what exactly? Did we miss something? Is this a sequel?<br>

2016, comedy, kristen bell, melissa mccarthy, team-up

MELISSA MCCARTHY & KRISTEN BELL IN THE BOSS

Here are the only two good things about THE BOSS... Bell's breasts... A movie that works in reverse, and yet, doesn't really wor...

STRAND YOUR GROUND IN FEAR THE WALKING DEAD

2016, cable, colman domingo, horror, TV, zombies

STRAND YOUR GROUND IN FEAR THE WALKING DEAD

Victor Strand playing with an empty head in FEAR THE WALKING DEAD Season One, and he's progressed in Season 2.. Victor Strand played...

JOHN HUGHES PRESENTS 'SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL'

comedy, eighties, elias koteas, eric stoltz, high school, john ashton, john hughes, lea thompson, mary stuart masterson, teen

JOHN HUGHES PRESENTS 'SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL'

The beautiful Mary Stuart Masterson is the Master of the credit title sequence in SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL By the time SOME KIND OF WONDER...

CHRIS COLLET FIRSTBORN, PETER WELLER MOVING IN

<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpJkyAzEajg/VwriaXzsv7I/AAAAAAAAr4c/6xkPG6diciIMr1S73uS08u-onfbDTse6w/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpJkyAzEajg/VwriaXzsv7I/AAAAAAAAr4c/6xkPG6diciIMr1S73uS08u-onfbDTse6w/s400/1.jpg" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter Weller doesn't trust no one and holds all the cards in FIRSTBORN</td></tr>
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One of the best performances by an actor, soon be known as a metallic-robotic cop for the rest of his career after traveling the 8TH DIMENSION, Peter Weller downright nails it as Sam, who is MOVING IN, the original title or some kind of alternate for FIRSTBORN, with a family that has a mother, a youngest son and of course, the oldest, which the real title explains right up front: In the part of Jake, Christopher Collet seems, in a way, sort of related to his "poor me" mom's new nefarious yet at first just sneaky, "bullshit-artist" boyfriend in that both have facial expressions that don't take much dialogue to get across what becomes a similar (and perhaps overused) standoff scenario screaming "I don't like you and you don't like me!" This line, never spoken, could go either way. Both Collet and Weller are facially-intense, bubbling juicy pride and determination from the pours of their skin, with expressions that mount like ticking time bombs, again and again. And never in a film has there been so many people just kind of, standing around. Wherein, surprisingly enough, that's where much of the "action" occurs.<br>

christopher collet, corey haim, eighties, peter weller, robert downey jr., suspense, teri garr

CHRIS COLLET FIRSTBORN, PETER WELLER MOVING IN

Peter Weller doesn't trust no one and holds all the cards in FIRSTBORN One of the best performances by an actor, soon be known as a ...

CHEERS TO CLINT EASTWOOD & SONDRA LOCKE IN 'BRONCO BILLY'

adventure, bill mckinney, clint eastwood, eighties, geoffrey lewis, juliette lewis, sam bottoms, scatman crothers, sondra locke, tessa richarde, walter barnes

CHEERS TO CLINT EASTWOOD & SONDRA LOCKE IN 'BRONCO BILLY'

Sam Bottoms, Sondra Locke, Clint Eastwood and Bill McKinney in BRONCO BILLY Year: 1980 At one time this was Clint Eastwood's favorit...

SAUL AND WALKING DEAD RACE THEIR OWN DEVILS

2016, cable, TV

SAUL AND WALKING DEAD RACE THEIR OWN DEVILS

Robert Downey Bardeem has an idea, and it's probably that he's gonna be Rick's biggest WALKING DEAD foe It could have been o...

GREED RULES IN OLIVER STONE'S UNDERRATED 'WALL STREET'

<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L7mHnnZW87Q/VwB3Y3sAB0I/AAAAAAAAryo/Q9sb0KpY0xIb7VOjI6EBtyzcIYmcfMVag/s1600/0.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L7mHnnZW87Q/VwB3Y3sAB0I/AAAAAAAAryo/Q9sb0KpY0xIb7VOjI6EBtyzcIYmcfMVag/s1600/0.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">One of Gordon Gekko's paintings he won't take a bath on</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Oliver Stone didn't win an Academy Award for writing and/or directing WALL STREET. His Vietnam opus PLATOON, also about two mentors pulling at a vulnerable Charlie Sheen wishbone, was the anticipated Gold Statue followup to his Best Screenplay for MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, which got the ball rolling a decade earlier. And having been an American soldier in Vietnam, PLATOON was his canvas to paint...<br />
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<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eAUK5C9GSoA/VwB4B7zIn0I/AAAAAAAAry0/DejllulSuaEwu9FNpKoeJAy21aXWH2wPg/s1600/6.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eAUK5C9GSoA/VwB4B7zIn0I/AAAAAAAAry0/DejllulSuaEwu9FNpKoeJAy21aXWH2wPg/s400/6.jpg" width="131" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painting and Douglas</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And yet, accolades were and still are very few concerning WALL STREET, giving props to Best Actor Winning Michael Douglas as the iconic Gordon Gekko, a Corporate Raider whose "Greed" speech was as important to his victory as, in a few years, Joe Pesci's barroom clown lecture would be. It's often that <i>one scene</i> seems to usually nail it. But according to both Stone and Douglas, they weren't the best of friends: On the first day, the director asked the big-named actor (on a tremendous roll after ROMANCING THE STONE and FATAL ATTRACTION cleared memory of his STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO television status) if this were a motion picture or soap opera? And while it's never been disclosed exactly what scene in particular Stone referred to, it just might have had to do with playing a villain in a noticeably villainous fashion: The worst kind of cinematic bad guys (or girls) are the ones who seem like nothing else in the process, and with no pulse pumping in-between: as if instead of eating breakfast in the morning they meditate in perpetual darkness...<br />
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<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CFzVwOamf2A/VwB_22O8FnI/AAAAAAAAr0U/EkSpaxCHUIYGlQpJHELzE9kLf1Z1Xx4fA/s1600/2132.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CFzVwOamf2A/VwB_22O8FnI/AAAAAAAAr0U/EkSpaxCHUIYGlQpJHELzE9kLf1Z1Xx4fA/s400/2132.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Real life father/son Sheen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In fact, Douglas's best moments are bringing a sort of genuinely "twisted" humanity to this film's first-billed star, wonderfully playing the ultimate heavy against a lightweight climber in Stone's PLATOON leading young man, Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox, who sells his soul more convincingly by, in this case, using info on his father's union/airlines, than actual Faustian-inspired tales set in the modern world, like, for instance, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, which this is not only much better than but seems the cinematic origin/inspiration of... For Douglas, at first... instead of harboring the intensity of some demonic manipulator... he's more like a deer springing gleefully through a forest, as Fox's motivation isn't to equal that impossible stride but to follow the heels upon which is tragically predicted an unlucky outcome by dad Martin Sheen in a terrific father/son (mostly one shot) scene, beginning within a silent elevator going down as Martin plays better than he speaks, often spouting blue collar values as if Stone were kissing his typewriter with every punch of the keys. And yet, shocking for a writer/director with a heart usually soaking on his sleeves, and with all the "good greed" abounding during the Reagan era (that liberal baby boomers preferred to call Selfish instead of Prosperous... which would reverse in the Clinton Era), this movie is, surprisingly, far more ambiguous than one might think, and that, other than the actor, is what makes Gordon Gekko so timeless... beneath all his money that never runs out, he really is a climber that only knows to move forward, without looking back – traits embracing any intrepid motion picture hero as opposed to a villain.<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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7EXZp8ByU7A/VwB4Qgd3-EI/AAAAAAAAry8/L5WM51-uZd0AzDHIUDGnKVjgGHLLMrBow/s1600/2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7EXZp8ByU7A/VwB4Qgd3-EI/AAAAAAAAry8/L5WM51-uZd0AzDHIUDGnKVjgGHLLMrBow/s320/2.jpg" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bud Fox is born to be lectured/mentored</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And taking a glimpse into the director's personal history, this movie was to Oliver Stone's youth what PLATOON was to his slightly older (yet still young) years; his dad was a hard-working Right Wing stockbroker and, in that, is who Hal Holbrook's friendly yet lecturing, wisely anticipating office broker Lou Mannheim is inspired: on par with Martin Sheen's "work hard without taking shortcuts" virtues and, despite having backed Nixon in the early-1970's and cruising along on a nowhere road in the same office for decades, he sees through Fox even before dad does, and also, doesn't trust money or Bud's foreknowledge of it, one bit.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_mGBGR_OFsY/VwB_BVbfc3I/AAAAAAAAr0A/axd92VT-YnMxnJ9bsGyEs6GoopQwetESA/s1600/666.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_mGBGR_OFsY/VwB_BVbfc3I/AAAAAAAAr0A/axd92VT-YnMxnJ9bsGyEs6GoopQwetESA/s400/666.jpg" width="203" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James Karen pouncing Fox</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A film that never stops entertaining, the value is in the "action" of the first half as Sheen goes from put-upon cold-caller in a relatively mediocre firm, bringing you into the caged, hectic setting and, like Bud, wanting out despite the great actors and flowing dialogue; to being a crooked investigative underling, following his prime target (Terrence Stamp) on a motorcycle while thinking up ways to cut corners to bring info and money back to his boss; while the suspense lies with equal momentum the rest of the way through, as Fox rides the tail-wind of success to what could be his own "abyss"...<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, grooving throughout the good times and bad is a non-dated yet still completely discernible 1980's soundtrack, highlighted by several David Byrne Talking Head tunes that the techno main theme plays variations of: sounding as if one of those old black and green computer screens magically played music all by themselves, somehow, like a pianola for determined, workaholic yuppies in rhythmic repose. And there are corny moments, that Stone is often prone to in any of his projects, like an exhausted Fox looking out his million dollar penthouse window whispering to himself, "Who Am I?" as interior designing "trophy" girlfriend Daryl Hannah as Darien, equally vulnerable and desirable (who also butted heads with Stone), waits in a large bed, the set bathed in a sort of ominous glow, like Hell itself anticipates their every move... or maybe they're there already, but comfortably, for a little while...<br />
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<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IGEqn-G6GWY/VwCtCTbl-aI/AAAAAAAAr1Y/APEeV1tx89INtcn1zf3cozWYgCFsSjA1w/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-02%2Bat%2B10.39.30%2BPM.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IGEqn-G6GWY/VwCtCTbl-aI/AAAAAAAAr1Y/APEeV1tx89INtcn1zf3cozWYgCFsSjA1w/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-02%2Bat%2B10.39.30%2BPM.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picturing Wall Street Life</td></tr>
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And to cover some other... contrived moments: One scene shows a bum with a shopping cart, and a suited businessman, standing together in the rain, on a street corner, as limo-cruising Gekko makes a point, literally pointing-out to Bud about their contrast: both just happening to be standing there, like an earlier scene in a club locker room where, as Gekko tells Fox about the importance of acquiring information, a guy conveniently walks up and quietly asks Gordon for an illicit stock tip...<br />
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<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3wguF-LhiQA/VwB4nps2qJI/AAAAAAAArzM/nbajiB2hpJAVPUH6fMVfNBFWt1hB72rwA/s1600/12.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3wguF-LhiQA/VwB4nps2qJI/AAAAAAAArzM/nbajiB2hpJAVPUH6fMVfNBFWt1hB72rwA/s400/12.jpg" width="172" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Unfairly Unbalanced Fox</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These things seem straight out of a play, or perhaps a coloring book, but somehow it's an old-fashion, dime-novel or even Film Noir approach that works. And returning to Bud's "Who am I?" moment, occurring just when hitting his stride (and literally after peaking sexually following a fantastic meal with Hannah), would he realize he lost his soul so quickly and/or even care at all? Stone mentions this moment during a great commentary track on the DVD, discussing and often defending a movie that most critics saw as a potential yet pale followup to his "greatest motion picture achievement," PLATOON, which is, really, if you look closely at Charlie Sheen's duo mentors... both obvious in their agendas... is completely the reverse of within a far more subtle WALL STREET...<br />
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<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L9narJxgurI/VwB4vwjzqdI/AAAAAAAArzU/uGgZTQgvlH0YFSK36RMFAxmjvc2MK506w/s1600/99.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L9narJxgurI/VwB4vwjzqdI/AAAAAAAArzU/uGgZTQgvlH0YFSK36RMFAxmjvc2MK506w/s640/99.jpg" width="184" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Smoking of Winston Cigs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Gekko is what he is the whole way through, and the genuine acting triumph lies far beyond just one of those performances that exceeds the film itself, which WALL STREET, to many, is the epitome of, and yet is very far from being. Working backwards here, from the 1980's to the 1990's, using Quentin Tarantino as a comparison: while the sublime Vietnam flick was Stone's PULP FICTION, exploding with epic grandiose while putting him on both the Hollywood and Household-Name map, this is more of a grounded-in JACKIE BROWN, paying more laid-back attention to the details than the devil. For any fans of the John Landis comedy TRADING PLACES knows, the convoluted work going on with the actual Stock Market "Floor Traders" makes little to no sense to an uneducated-in-such-matters audience, no matter how many times viewed: You just have to go with it, and let the characters make more sense to the story – beyond what they're actually doing.<br />
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<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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-weo3A-erFR8/VwCqcs2q_bI/AAAAAAAAr1I/dUFkKaI1hvA8JD6RSVrqKuZ3e37gsSY3w/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-02%2Bat%2B10.26.32%2BPM.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-weo3A-erFR8/VwCqcs2q_bI/AAAAAAAAr1I/dUFkKaI1hvA8JD6RSVrqKuZ3e37gsSY3w/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-04-02%2Bat%2B10.26.32%2BPM.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">JCM Rules</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u><b>RATING</b></u>: ****1/2<br />
<b><u>TRIVIA</u></b>: Most of the information has been already mentioned, as you should see this movie on DVD or BLU RAY to hear the terrific director commentary that covers a whole lot of ground, but there are still things to take notice of: Like Oliver Stone himself in a cameo as a broker... His son, who played a young, plump, dead-Indian obsessed Jim Morrison later in THE DOORS, plays Gekko's son... While the usually villainous greedy yuppie type James Spader plays a nice cautious fella with no guts while the equally jerk-off casted Sal Rubinek, as Gekko's lawyer, is in his usual weenie form... And not only is Sheen returning from Vietnam in PLATOON, but scene-stealer (in both films) John C. McGinley also returns, playing Bud's best friend/partner in the cold-calling firm run by an always-watchable James Karen, the Murray Hamilton of POLTERGEIST... In another small role, this a cameo, THE SHOOTING starlet, and the first cinematic Anne Frank, that being, Millie Perkins, turns up as Bud's mom while Sean Young has an even more (or rather, less) wasted potential as Gekko's wife, and yet her scenes are intriguing and realistic, as usual with the controversial yet talented and beautiful actress... Martin Scorsese regular goon Frank Adonis plays one of the blue collar root-for characters... Franklin Cover, best known as "the white guy married to Lenny Kravitz's mom" on THE JEFFERSONS turns up in one of his few movie roles • And the eerie portrait at the very top of this article/review, that Bud says would only be worthwhile "If you're on mushrooms," is one of the many modern paintings that Hannah's character bought with either Gekko or Fox's dough.<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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ISYtEdp9a3o/VwCnoBItntI/AAAAAAAAr0w/kLlm8-eLjqQCLBauzOD77tx071WZ80EMw/s1600/111.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ISYtEdp9a3o/VwCnoBItntI/AAAAAAAAr0w/kLlm8-eLjqQCLBauzOD77tx071WZ80EMw/s1600/111.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wide Shot of Gekko's War Room including a painting of the GHOST demons and what look like pinball machines</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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nIXcNu5Z6k4/VwCnn9WsV6I/AAAAAAAAr0s/2hXrxcLPobQQjpVqzSAm8mTCpuq9PCbRA/s1600/112.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nIXcNu5Z6k4/VwCnn9WsV6I/AAAAAAAAr0s/2hXrxcLPobQQjpVqzSAm8mTCpuq9PCbRA/s1600/112.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"You're fired, but maybe you can talk the networks into a possible Jeffersons spin-off called... The Zebra Bunch."</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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FJxNuXnjd0g/VwCnn3pOkGI/AAAAAAAAr0o/xeAU76J6uyw254fEsZQX3ljYOAo5HbmJQ/s1600/113.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FJxNuXnjd0g/VwCnn3pOkGI/AAAAAAAAr0o/xeAU76J6uyw254fEsZQX3ljYOAo5HbmJQ/s1600/113.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's a shot of the famous, or infamous, GREED IS GOOD scene, and to Wall Street, and Hollywood, it's Truth.</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://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uUcDTsSXltc/VwCno4v4duI/AAAAAAAAr00/47fzrtrae-oaZiMyh-rGtdSKkXQvhhQgw/s1600/114.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uUcDTsSXltc/VwCno4v4duI/AAAAAAAAr00/47fzrtrae-oaZiMyh-rGtdSKkXQvhhQgw/s1600/114.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A very great scene between Martin & Charlie Sheen, both who <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/11/fifteen-main-characters-denied-top.html">starred in popular Vietnam Flicks</a></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://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qJ0K0ZRQ7dk/VwCnpD_bNfI/AAAAAAAAr04/jBzqxhS3PX4YA54Q1aGDaPmw-UAVeKvFg/s1600/115.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qJ0K0ZRQ7dk/VwCnpD_bNfI/AAAAAAAAr04/jBzqxhS3PX4YA54Q1aGDaPmw-UAVeKvFg/s1600/115.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daryl, it could be worse news, believe us, wait a few years, Charlie just couldn't stop... And he's not winning.</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://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_zb6aXyYjBs/VwB47JOzoII/AAAAAAAArzc/K80OlkrntwwHFkEcJCKNCL_wW2DE-eibw/s1600/1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_zb6aXyYjBs/VwB47JOzoII/AAAAAAAArzc/K80OlkrntwwHFkEcJCKNCL_wW2DE-eibw/s1600/1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice use of what was popular during the 1960's and 1970's, Split-Screen Cinematography featuring Sean Young</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://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tL2rOuyEZi4/VwB5AVkmQFI/AAAAAAAArzg/fNc64b4LduojD-rYD8lBJnSRCUSoRFJjw/s1600/77.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tL2rOuyEZi4/VwB5AVkmQFI/AAAAAAAArzg/fNc64b4LduojD-rYD8lBJnSRCUSoRFJjw/s1600/77.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canvas that provides THE END closing credits layout and father dedication for WALL STREET</td></tr>
</tbody></table>

charlie sheen, daryl hannah, eighties, james karen, michael douglas, oliver stone, oscars, stock market

GREED RULES IN OLIVER STONE'S UNDERRATED 'WALL STREET'

One of Gordon Gekko's paintings he won't take a bath on Oliver Stone didn't win an Academy Award for writing and/or directin...

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