Ok, so there’s one more summer film I’m pining to see– one that’s got some exceptional buzz but seems to be arriving quietly: Hurt Locker. If Hurt Locker has been flying under your radar, hopefully the newly released “Trailer B” puts an end to that travesty. Hurt Locker, the based-on-truth story of a combat bomb squad, is directed by the lovely Katherine Bigelow. If that name means nothing to you and you’re an action fan… for shame! Bigelow directed the …
Author: Dan
Right now, even as you read this, there’s a grundleload of highly anticipated movies lining up for their crack at your summer dollars. I’m all kinds of jazzed about seeing one in particular and can’t wait to toss my dollars in its face: Moon. Yes, Moon! I know, huh. Thing is, I love this stuff– the somewhat pessimistic and spooky stencil of human insignificance against the cold, black unknown of space. The spartan existence of the men and women who …
Way back in the high-flying days of 2005, a little indie film busted onto the scene like an object through a plate glass window. That film? Brick, naturally. A mature film noir based entirely in a High School’s underworld, the film played out with cracking dialogue and ultra-hip sensibility. Rian Johnson was the man responsible. A few years and some film festivals/shelf-sitting later, Rian’s second project, The Brothers Bloom, finally gets to see the wide light of day come May …
Happy weekend! Early. Three wide releases. One succinct, if not overcrowded, summary. Here we go. Observe and Report: Omnipresent Seth Rogan and cute but always subversive Anna Faris wield their hilarious ways in this not-so-feel-good comedy tribute to gratuitous male nudity. Mr. Rogan plays an overzealous mall cop with aspirations of real cop success. He’s also and overzealous mall cop with aspirations on winning the keys to a shallow beauty-counter girl’s heart and pants (Ferris). All his wildest dreams come …
Over at this one blog, I gushed profusely about the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. It went a little something like this <cut/paste>: I know I’ve already pontificated once today, but I couldn’t NOT post this. If you read Where The Wild Things Are as a kid, you’ll understand why I say it’s a childhood touchstone – the kind that morphs into a generational pass-along. Whether it was the dark and charming Caldecott …
So, I’m not a sucker for the singing/dancing genre. While I don’t discount it wholesale and appreciate the skill and craftsmanship behind a musical production of any kind, I’d rather spend movie time watching things get blowed up real good. Preferably in space. I’m sure I have my 3-year-old Star Wars viewing in 1977 to blame for that, which explains my fontanelle for the oft-punched Chronicles of Riddick, monster movies and an inability to totally discount most of the truly …
I missed out on the whole Fame fever thing when it debuted in 1980 and second-debuted in 1982 with a five-year run on TV . I just couldn’t get behind all that random singing and dancing and random toe-touching jump splits of joy. Lame. 28 years later, Fame’s done got itself a remake releasing too soon. Yes, Fame is going to live forever. Who knows if the toe-touching jump splits of joy are gone, but you can bet your booty …
11 years ago, Saving Private Ryan singlehandedly reignited interest in all things WW II and set the History Channel up with a sweet gig of nonstop WWII programming. The predictable Hollywood WW II glut ensued and things cooled off a bit– especially after middling returns on Clint Eastwood’s Flags of our Fathers duology. In the mean time, Red Tails*, a George Lucas-produced project based on the overshadowed story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the only group of African-American pilots who flew …
Disney may have the happiest slice of Anaheim real estate on earth (hear, hear!), a family-friendly empire always willing to shovel cash into its coffers and a surefire marketing machine that prints its own license to make money, but Disney’s also got some serious, swinging chutzpah. If they want you to take a permanent ride on their heavily subsidized bandwagon of Blu-Ray technology, by Walt’s ghost, you’re gonna do it. Take Snow White for example. Disney animation’s first feature length …
I’ll make no apologies. I’m an ardent defender of Michael Bay’s filmography. Yes he’s known as a cocky, volatile potty mouth who subsidizes the cochlear implant industry with big, dumb action movies– and all with the prettiest feathered hair you’ve ever seen this side of The Max. But when explosions and flying chunks of debris demand star treatment–when you need a sunset silhouetted money shot–Michael Bay refuses to disappoint. So put your Pearl Harbor hatred down and back away from …