Patrick Swayze died yesterday at age 57 from pancreatic cancer, something his family, fans and the public have kind of expected since he was diagnosed with the disease in March of 2008. I’m not going to sit her and mince words and say Swayze was a great actor. He wasn’t. But Swayze was talented and was a fantastic entertainer. He was a big fixture in cinema during my high school days and proved that dudes can kick ass and be …
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I’ve gone on record stating Band of Brothers is one of the best epic films never to have been shown at an art house or Megaplex. Since its debut way back in 2001 (yes, 8 years ago), there’s been a steady march toward a similar Spielberg/Hanks produced mini-series based on the conflict in the Pacific Theater– IE: where the US and Japan fought savage and nightmarish battles across specks of Pacific islands to, in many cases, Japan’s last man. The …
Apparently Michael Bay and everybody that worked on Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Some angry crew penned this letter in defense of Bay after Fox said Michael Bay’s directorial style is akin to that of Hitler. I won’t say anymore, but here’s the full text of the letter (thanks to www.thesuperficial.com): This is an open letter to all Michael Bay fans. We are three crew members that have worked with Michael for the past ten years. Last week …
For an issue that’s dominated U.S. foreign policy and the world stage for more than half a century and counting, the Israeli-Arab conflicts of the Middle East receive virtually no cinematic attention. Luckily, the last few years has seen an Israeli/Palestinian film renaissance in addressing various components of this conflict, ranging from Kippur‘s insight on the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Paradise Now‘s tense profile of a pair of suicide bombers and Waltz With Bashir‘s hazy pastiche of the Lebanon War. …
The MTV Video Music Awards were televised yesterday, and, as always, the ceremony was quite the self-congratulatory spectacle and bastion of controversy, with the douchebaggery highlight of the evening going to Kanye West, as he confirmed to the world that he is an egocentric, dim-witted, poor-mannered loser when he upstaged Taylor Swift’s Best Female Video winner’s speech. Thankfully, West was booed out of the auditorium and received a glut of negative Tweets about his unsportsmanlike behavior, the best of which …
Utah State has a bye this weekend and all three local high schools have away games. What better weekend to head out to the local cinema, your DVD rental store or the Redbox and indulge in the hearty, butt-widening pastime of savoring some good old fashioned couch potato shenanigans. In theaters: The Hurt Locker (R, The Logan Art Cinema): Go see this immediately. Easily one of, if not the, best movies of 2009. Inglourious Basterds (R, University Stadium 6): Best …
Director Shane Acker, heretofore unknown, aside from his short animated films, gets a chance to bask in the limelight this week as his best-known and award-winning animated short, 9, hits the big screen revved up and strung from top-to-bottom with big-name Hollywood voice talent. And you know what? It works. From start to finish, 9 is taught, simple, exciting, not to mention lavishly animated with elaborate texture and detail. Better yet, this is all wrapped nicely into an hour and …
I only have two things to say about the the Twilight-themed corn maze at Black Island Farms in Syracuse, Utah. One, mazing around Team Jacob and Team Edward corn might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen and a definite sign that Jesus is nanoseconds from torching the earth. Two, I tip my hat to the powers-that-be at Black Island Farms because this is one damn fine marketing idea. The Twihards are going to flock to this like the maze …