John Wells is rightly a television legend, having executive-produced and run the writers rooms for E.R., THE WEST WING and CHINA BEACH, all intelligent, articulate dramas that focus on people dealing with life and death issues.
Some times movies are bad because they don’t try hard enough to be good. Other times, movies are so bad, they’re amazingly good, which is the case of the long-lost 1979 Italian science-fiction cult flick STARCRASH. It’s badness comes from its earnestness and ambition. It has terrible dialogue, the occasional crappy special effect and a story that really doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Dancing can be dangerous, and not just physically. The canon of ballet narratives is full of tales of people (mostly women) who dance themselves to death. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s seminal 1948 THE RED SHOES famously turned a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale into a fable set in the world of ballet. Now director Darren Aronofsky uses the classic SWAN LAKE as the backdrop and catalyst for the potential implosion of his heroine.
If THE X-FILES had decided to do a Christmas episode for the R.L. Stine set, it might have been something like RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE. Made and set in Finland, general vicinity where the mythical Santa supposedly dwells, RARE is a horror movie pitched at kids, with bits of gore (dead animals, a bitten ear) but mostly a sense of menace and black comedy.
To clear up one possible area of confusion at the outset, I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS is not about someone who has fallen for the tobacco company of that name. Instead, it is the fact-based story of Steven Russell, a con artist who managed to non-violently escape from jail on four different occasions and for awhile pulled off a number of astonishing cons, many of them to assist the love of his life, Phillip Morris.
I’ve been getting on a 1980s movie kick as of late, not doubt aided by the constant influx of DVD and Blu-ray releases of classic (and no so classic) films from that era. The Blu-ray of William Lustig’s 1983 revenge fantasy flick VIGILANTE finally hits Blu-ray and it’s another forgotten cult classic. Starring Robert Forster and badass Fred Williamson, this is surprisingly one of those films I missed over the years (don’t remember it from cable, nor video stores).
Your time is short. We know this. So in order to expedite your buying and Netflix decision making, we provide you with a list of the cool and not-so-cool titles coming out for movies, television and everything in-between. So put your feet up, grab some popcorn and check out this week’s selections. Movies THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE – Obviously, this is the biggest title of the week. Regardless of what anyone thinks of the film itself or its legacy among vampire lore, the ravenous tweens and soccer moms are going to rush out and buy it or have you buy […]Read On »
A stressed-out man with a lifelong stammer goes to a speech therapist for help with public speaking. If this doesn’t sound like especially fertile ground for gripping drama, let’s add that the year at the start is 1934, the stammerer in question is the British Prince Albert (Colin Firth) and that his therapist is commoner Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian immigrant and family man with a passion for acting that is, alas, more enthusiastic than artistic.
For those jonesing for an animated Disney fairytale in the traditional style, or just a fun film that can be shared with the kids, TANGLED fills the bill. Quick, to the point and entirely enjoyable, TANGLED takes the traditional Grimm story, gives it some action and the title princess some gumption and takes off in beautiful style, looking much like the old enchanted films of yore, with 3D that brings up a couple of moving moments and is otherwise unobtrusive.
There’s a telling movie to be made about the pharmaceutical drug trade in the U.S. (and elsewhere), but LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS isn’t it. This wouldn’t be a problem if LOVE wasn’t aspiring to be that movie, while simultaneously putting romance front and center.
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