“This actually happened,” says the opening credits of I Love You Phillip Morris. “It really did.” I call bullshit. Yes, I know that this film was based on the true story of Steven Jay Russell, but I find it very hard to believe that this tale wasn’t adapted with considerable liberties taken. There’s no way … Continue reading
From a purely technical standpoint, The Fighter was very well-made. Every single acting performance is phenomenal. The direction, sound design and cinematography are all solid. The fight scenes are engaging, immersive and thrilling to watch (they’re still not exactly Rocky or Raging Bull in terms of quality, but what is?). The problem here is that … Continue reading
Well, here we are. Three years of hyping and promotion, in addition to twenty years since the original film, have brought us to this point. For months, there have been hordes of movie geeks all hyped up for Tron: Legacy, and regular readers of this blog will know I count myself among them. But then, … Continue reading
The things I’d first heard about Rare Exports made it sound like a Christmas horror movie centered around Santa Claus as the killer. That made enough sense, as the “Santa slasher” subgenre has been a path well-tread by such movies as Silent Night Deadly Night and Black Christmas. But it turns out that this was … Continue reading
One of live theater’s greatest drawbacks is that it’s an intangible medium. After the actors have taken their last curtain call and the set has been struck, it’s all gone without a trace. It isn’t like a movie, a book or an album, which the creators can put on a shelf in commemoration of all … Continue reading
This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen a studio spend hundreds of millions to get a film made. This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen a studio spend just as much money to advertise a film. This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen a movie hyped to within an inch of its … Continue reading
It’s obvious that a lot of effort went into Love and Other Drugs. This is evident in the carefully maintained late-90s setting, but it’s most clearly seen in the acting talent involved. Jake Gyllenhaal is charming and funny, Anne Hathaway is absolutely radiant and their chemistry together is smoldering. The supporting cast is every bit … Continue reading
I get the feeling that Disney is growing tired of princesses. First, they made Enchanted, a movie that adhered to Disney princess norms while openly mocking them. Then they tried shaking up the formula a bit, trying some new things with The Princess and the Frog. Sadly, this experimental attitude and all that it yielded … Continue reading
For many years, Steve Irwin had amassed great fame and fortune by handling wild and dangerous beasts for his own passion and for the education of home viewers. All of that came to an end in early 2006, when he attempted to handle a stingray that fatally stung him. Only three years earlier, the famed … Continue reading
I have many fond memories of the Harry Potter books. I remember my overwhelming sense of curiosity while reading those opening chapters of the first book. I remember my sister waking me up in the middle of the night because she’d been reading Chamber of Secrets and wanted to know if Ginny would be all … Continue reading