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There is sage wisdom within the story of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. Directed by John Wells and written by Tracy Letts based on his play of the same name, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is a tour de force in acting on all counts. There is not a weak character or performance in the mix. This film should be mandatory in all acting classes for the screen. What is most attractive with the performances is that while some characters have less screen time than others, the character never suffers and each actor adds a...
MOVIE REVIEW SPECIAL : Something for the “Mature” and the “Young” STRUCK BY LIGHTNING QUARTET Gone is the old rule of thumb that the “dog” movies of the year open in the first quarter and 2013 is living proof of that. With award winners and potential award winners going into wide release and some fantastic new films opening just in the first two weeks of the new year, 2013 is off to a great cinematic start and this week is no exception with STRUCK BY LIGHTNING and QUARTET. While STRUCK BY L...
What happens when you take a true, touching, heart-wrenching story more than 50 years in the making, have Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope adapt it into script form and then cast Judi Dench as the title character? You get PHILOMENA. A story that touches the heart with love, laughter and humanity. Based on the 2009 book by former BBC correspondent, Martin Sixsmith, "The Lost Child of Philomena Lee", PHILOMENA is a sympathetic and often humorous telling of Philomena Lee and her 50 year search for her so...
Everyone knows the extreme level of trepidation I have when it comes to remakes, reboots or reimaginations of movies, and given the exhaustive amount of sequels, remakes, tv interpretations, short films and even video games that have been done ad nauseam to the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE franchise since Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic, I held out little hope for TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D. Boy, was I wrong! What a film! I love it Forgetting everything that’s come between, TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D is designed as a fol...
Timely and topical, PROMISED LAND speaks to your heart; it speaks to your mind; it opens your eyes to “the big environmental picture”; and although honing in on the one issue of fracking as a means to obtain natural gas, it takes all the environmental and energy movies and economically themed movies and brings it all together on one page that connects the dots of life. PROMISED LAND is tacitly and thoughtfully powerful and a “Must See” for everyone. Right here in Culver City, “fracki...
As we head into the final days of the pre-Christmas week, the movie blockbusters we’ve been anticipating all year are hitting theatres nationwide. While the scope of each of the films reviewed here this week are larger than life on many levels, it is the intimacy of each story - two of which are based on world-shattering true events - that remind us of the importance of family, friends and freedom, the latter as both a nation and as individual expression. ZERO DARK THIRTY We know where it b...
HYDE PARK ON THE HUDSON DEADFALL THE MAN WHO SHOOK THE HAND OF VICENTE FERNANDEZ With the holiday season in full swing, and Awards season officially started, there are a plethora of last minute rushes of movies into theatres in order to qualify for Oscar consideration. And while there are plenty of hotly anticipated titles, the real delights are some indie gems that glisten and sparkle like starlight on freshly fallen snow. Filled with intensity, subtlety, nuance, allegory, poignancy and superb...
Knowing director Sacha Gervasi and his prior works, knowing the history of Psycho, and even having known several of the real-life players in the Psycho and Hitchcockian dynamic (among them, Alma Reville, Lew Wasserman, Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins), I had mixed feelings about HITCHCOCK even being made. With Hitchcock's penchant for perfection, could or would this telling of a single chapter of his storied life and career, live up to HIS standards? Well, the verdict is in - it does. Given my...
In 1984, the movie world was rocked by John Milius’ RED DAWN. Politically set in the Cold War era, WWIII had begun with Soviets invading the United States - and by Soviets, I mean from Cuba, the USSR and Nicaragua. In a small Colorado town, a group of teenagers calling themselves the Wolverines banded together to take a stand and save their homeland. Developing a cult following and beloved not only for the strength of character and confidence it gave to teens in a world gone mad, RED DAWN s...
For anyone who has braved a reading of the Tolstoy novel, at its core, the story of ANNA KARENINA is first and foremost about families and love; families and their lives set in the sociopolitical climate of 1870's Russia where aristocracy was still king and industrialization was encroaching upon the insular nature of the Russian world. Part and parcel to that theme is the issue of love as each of the characters is looking for love, needing love, craving love and each has his or her own...
When it comes to history and a Steven Spielberg film, there are several things you can always count on: (1) meticulous research, (2) picture and letter perfect execution of production design and particularly, historical battles, (3) stunning cinematography by Spielberg’s right-hand man Janusz Kaminski, (4) immersive editing, and (5) storytelling that goes beyond the traditional, tapping into biographical and historical minutiae that is not only fascinating but absorbing. Such is the case with L...
Who doesn’t love video games? Be you a full-blown gamer, a game obsessed ‘cause it’s better than homework kid, or someone who looks back fondly on days of yore and the birth of a booming industry with loving memories of games like Space Invaders, Pong, Pac Man or Mario, or even back to the precursor of video games, pinball, somewhere deep inside you, we’ll find a gaming girl or boy. And that’s exactly why even the closet-gamers out there will run with rolls of quarters in hand to the nearest t...
Mark O’Brien was - and through his writings, still is - a powerful voice not only within the “disabled” community, but for humanity as a whole. Contracting polio at a very young age, O’Brien thereafter spent his entire life, but for a few hours each day living in an iron lung. None of his muscles worked. His body was contorted into unspeakable disfigurement and although “immobile”, unlike many who may suffer paraplegia or quadriplegia due to spinal cord and nerve injuries, O’Brien’s n...
All I can say is “applause, applause, applause” for Matthew Lillard as a director and for the film FAT KID RULES THE WORLD. An adaptation of the K.L. Going’s award-winning young adult novel, Lillard makes his directorial debut with this great coming of age story - with a twist. What could have been a blasé, cookie cutter film, steps out of the box thanks to solid performances by Jacob Wysocki, Matt O’Leary and veteran Billy Campbell and by placing the film’s principal teens, Troy and Marcus [Cu...
MOVIE REVIEW: 3, 2, 1...FRANKIE GO BOOM It’s been a long time since an honest-to-goodness, madcap screwball comedy hit the big screen, but thanks to writer/director Jordan Roberts the void is now filled. Demonstrating great flair for comedic panache with his zany, crazy and oh-so-fun, 3, 2, 1...FRANKIE GO BOOM (can we get an “amen”?), at its core a love story of eclectic proportions, FRANKIE GO BOOM is rooted in honesty, sincerity and heart, but spreads its wings with a sometimes raunchy charm...
A perfect blend of creativity, technology, artistry and heart, FRANKENWEENIE is a love story about a boy and his dog that began some 50 years ago. It’s also a love story about the magic of moviemaking and yes, even, a love story about Burbank, California. FRANKENWEENIE comes from Tim Burton’s heart and is brilliantly brought to the big screen thanks to the filmmaking tools in his creative arsenal. As a young boy, Burton had a dog to whom he was very attached. Sadly, he was told that the dog suf...
In true geekified graphic novel/comic book loving fashion, SOLOMON KANE is an E-ticket ride of fantasy and thrills that starts with a mesmerizing and striking visual palette carefully punctuated saturization of color, and then tosses in the hunky and hot James Purefoy as SOLOMON KANE himself. Opening in theatres this week, it’s mystifying how SOLOMON KANE could have been on a shelf for the past three years. I can only attribute the delay to some of the effects which at times appear slightly date...
Who doesn’t love a good mystery or a good thriller? Even better, who doesn’t love to watch and wonder about what’s going on in the house next door or down the street in your quiet suburban neighborhood? Is that lovely couple with 6 kids running around really as simple as they seem or are they FBI or CIA staking out the neighborhood, performing undercover surveillance on the house two doors down with the guy under house arrest who’s jack-hammering up the sidewalks and stripping the interio...
For millions across the country and the world, school is back in session. But what about for those who have long ago matriculated? Feeling a bit nostalgic? Longing to relive that campus experience? This week, movies fill that void as we look back at those fun-filled days of high school and college with 10 YEARS and LIBERAL ARTS. 10 YEARS Hopefully, you haven’t tired of Channing Tatum yet because he’s back, heading up his fifth film of the year. Just shy of racking up $500 million in box off...
I love THE WORDS. I love the look. I love the feel. I love the intrigue of the narrative construction and plot. I love that, much like a novel itself, it allows you to imagine, interpret and draw your own conclusions. Written and directed by my fellow Philadelphians, Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, and with a stellar cast that includes another member of the “City of Brotherly Love Club”, Bradley Cooper, as well as Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Ben Barnes, Michael McKean, Ron Rifkin and Zoe Sal...
This Labor Day weekend, it’s all about the family with family-themed movies and something for everyone. THE OOGIELOVES IN THE BIG BALLOON ADVENTURE With the same passion that he had with marketing and merchandising the universally beloved Thomas the Tank Engine and Teletubbies, Kenn Viselman brings us THE OOGIELOVES IN THE BIG BALLOON ADVENTURE. Jam-packed with heart, fun, adventure, childlike innocence and purity, OOGIELOVES fills a big screen void when it comes to family and children. R...
ACTION, ANIMATION, GHOSTS, WHITNEY & DISNEY MAGIC EXPENDABLES 2 Packing a one-two punch that’s unbeatable, EXPENDABLES 2 proves once again that nothing beats the classics and this jam-packed cast of legendary classic action stars - and their more than formidable skills - evidences just that. Card carrying AARP immortals Stallone, Willis, Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Lundgren, Li and Norris are joined by fellow veterans Couture, Crewes and Adkins along with action newcomer Liam Hemsworth, not to m...
For a no brainer of a raunchy and rowdy good time any time of the day or night, “Beerfest” is always a winner, although perhaps more so now that it’s on DVD. Given that, it stands to reason that the same Broken Lizard team delivering that frothy fun would have a uniquely entertaining take on a story about sperm banks and a hot topics in films of late, fertility and impending fatherhood. Sadly, what I am now writing pains me to no end as but for a few shining moments that give birth to some...
Before they were solid gold “action heroes”, both Jason Statham and Dolph Lundgren were bona fide Olympic superstars. Statham, once ranked 12th in the world in platform diving, competed in the 1992 Olympics for Great Britain while the strapping 6'5" Swedish born Lundgren was Team Leader of the 1996 US Pentathlon Team in the Atlanta Games. Naturally, with the Olympic in full swing, during the recent press day for EXPENDABLES 2, I couldn’t resist getting their thoughts on the games and athle...
MOVIE REVIEW SPECIAL: FILMS TO BRIGHTEN THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER Last week I brought you some “killer” movies for the adults in the crowd, so it’s only fair that this week I turn my attention to perhaps my favorite audience, the kids. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS For devotees young and old alike of Jeff Kinney’s best-selling WIMPY KID book series and subsequent film franchise, the wait for this summer’s next installment is finally over and I know one kid in particular who will be overjoyed...
