Sometimes, you just can’t make this stuff up. Most Americans have heard of Jack Abramoff, if only because he wound up going to jail. Exactly what he did to land in prison is addressed in CASINO JACK, a pitch-black comedy of greed, crime, politics and the intersection of all three.
For those who take the pace, wit and generally immersive atmosphere of the HARRY POTTER films for granted, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER is the latest example of the fact that making family-friendly fantasy is not as easy as it looks. The third of the films based on C.S. Lewis’ CHRONICLES OF NARNIA follows characters introduced in THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE and its sequel, PRINCE CASPIAN. Siblings Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), now in their teens, are waiting out WWII at the home of their aunt and uncle; older siblings Peter and Susan are in America with their parents. Edmund and Lucy miss their days of adventure in Narnia and are coping with annoying, resentful younger cousin Eustace (Will Poulter), who can’t understand why they keep nattering on about an imaginary country. Then a painting on the wall comes to life and Edmund, Lucy and Eustace are all transported to a Narnian ocean, where they are rescued by a vessel captained by now-King Caspian (Ben Barnes). Caspian is happy to see his old friends again – he and his crew are off to find what became of seven missing lords. There’s an evil mist, a dark island, temptations and some deus ex machina up ahead.
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.
Loading ...
COPYRIGHT © 2010 - 2024, MIDNIGHT PRODUCTIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRIVACY POLICY & TERMS OF USE
