One of my favorite movies from the 1980s is the horror/comedy, Fright Night. It was released in theaters on August 2, 1985 and starred Chris Sarandon, i.e. Prince Humperdinck from The Princess Bride, William Ragsdale (who can be seen as Gary in the FX series Justified) and Roddy McDowall (best known for his role in the Planet of the Apes movies in the late 1960s an early 1970s). The movie was about a teenage boy who discovers the suave, single …
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It might be gloomy, cloudy weather and raining cats and dogs outside right now, we might be four days away from the end of the world, and my birthday certainly isn’t today (it’s July 12, if you want to get me a present!), but I’ll be damned if today isn’t looking up! Why? Because today fans of The Hunger Games get their first look at Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) as Katniss Everdeen, courtesy of the fine folks at Entertainment Weekly. …
Everybody was happy when they got to the casting of Haymitch and hadn’t screwed anything up. Well guess what? There will be no Madge in The Hunger Games movie. Madge is the mayor’s daughter and is one of Katniss’ friends. Madge visits Katniss after the reaping and gives her the iconic mockingjay pin. Well apparently that won’t happen. I am not crushed by this, but I am excited to see how Katniss gets the pin. So here is my question for …
I should, by all accounts, have a secret celebrity crush on Jessica Biel or Brooklyn Decker – you know, a blonde or brunette knockout with a drool-worthy body and the kind of smoldering face that magnetizes you in some kind of lustful tractor beam. But guess what? I don’t. In fact, other than a slight infatuation with Olivia Wilde (but only in her Tron: Legacy get-up), my secret celebrity crush is Kristen Wiig. There. I said it and I don’t …
Despite popular belief, I don’t review movies for a living. I’m not sure anyone outside of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York could, even with a full time critic position, could claim they were actually making a “living,” either. So, like the rest of America, I slog through a 40 hour work week with an eye to the horizon and the future, hoping the smell of money and tanning oil will someday replace the chaffing of suit pants, the putrid …
I read Suzanne Collins’ trio of dystopian young adult novels (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay) last summer and was instantly caught up in the craze. Not one to re-read books very often, my attention turned quickly to the thought of a film version. Now, some eight months later, The Hunger Games movie is in full swing (filming starts in North Carolina next week), with the last two tributes (Cato and Clove) cast a few days ago, and both Stanley Tucci …
I don’t know if it’s my advanced age or some desensitization to “chick flicks,” but I’m thinking One Day, a new romantic drama starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, looks promising. In fact, I probably should repent straightway for mentioning “chick flick” in the same breath as this movie, especially since it’s directed by Lone Scherfig, the brilliant woman behind 2009’s An Education. I guess this is my easy way of admitting that I enjoy a good romance, but I …
I don’t hate Robert Zemeckis. He directed Forest Gump and Back to The Future. And while one of those movies isn’t depressing as hell, I for one will be happy if ol’ Rob steps behind the camera to direct actual skin and bones actors again. Between my Jim Carrey overload in A Christmas Carol (and severe boredom) and the nude teabagging wrestling scene between Grendel and Beowulf in Beowulf, I’ll be tickeled pink if Zemeckis is stepping away from all …