After Warner Brothers’ Jack the Giant Slayer laid an egg on its opening weekend, Disney Pictures was probably a little worried about the fate another new version of an old story, namely Oz the Great and Powerful; with Disney studio heads possibly looking at the same fate which no doubt befell the Warner Brothers execs … Read more
Jack the Giant Slayer is the stirring and inspirational story about a poor underprivileged farm boy named Jack who grew up throwing rocks at birds in order to get food for his family. He is then discovered by a baseball scout in time to save the American League from losing another World Series to the … Read more
When the original James Bond film version of Thunderball was released in 1965, the super spy was known in many countries as Mr. Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang. The original soundtrack, with music by the late, great John Barry, had a track with the same title. The new Bruce Willis shoot-‘em-up leaves out the kissing but … Read more
For the few who don’t know…this is an opera. Which means it is sung from beginning to end. Only a few isolated words are spoken without singing and the speakers have a guilty look on their faces. The faces include Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter. … Read more
With the Oscar folks getting ready for their annual TV show awarding each other for their efforts, it’s time to take a look at the main Oscar contenders for Best Film and determine whether or not you should make an effort to see their slate of nominees. I can help. Argo presented a problem for … Read more
Nominated for eight Oscars, Silver Linings Playbook is a critical, if not yet financial, success. It garnered nominations in all the “big” categories including picture, director, writing, and acting. It may also turn big on Oscar night, since the Academy members love to snub big films and reward the little guy. In 1977 there were … Read more
I don’t know if you will like this film. What I do know is that the hard drive where my reviews are alphabetically stored will have this one at the bottom. ZDT shares with other 2012 Oscar-nominated films – Argo and Lincoln – a plotline problem; namely the ending is known by just about everybody, … Read more
Since its premiere, in January of 1966, Our Man Flint has always been one of my favorite films. It was written and filmed to be a James Bond spy spoof, but turned out to be a lot more. It was a breakout, starring role for James Coburn. JC was already a veteran actor but found … Read more
Parental Guidance opened Christmas Day opposite the blockbuster films (or so the studios hope) Django Unchained and Les Miserables. Both of these blockbusters run close to three hours, so I chose the small peanuts comedy, which runs just over 100 minutes and includes of lots of fun end titles. During the end titles each title … Read more
Let’s start with aging stars, not aging they way stars used to. Tom Cruise plays action hero and super sleuth Jack Reacher. Tom is now 50. Should he still be playing action heroes? Assisting him in a key scene is Robert Duvall, also playing an action hero. RD will be 82 this January 5th. Obviously, … Read more