Living for the Cinema

Thirty years ago we saw the release of this mystery thriller featuring three promising stars (Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman), co-written by two promising screenwriters (Aaron Sorkin, Scott Frank), and helmed by one accomplished director (Harold Becker - Sea of Love, Taps).  And THE one scene which most people remember from it happens to feature one of the stars referring to himself/her...

NORTON WEEK continues!  This is of course referring to the legendary actor Edward Norton who broke out big-time with his first ever on-screen appearance in the '96 legal thriller Primal Fear which garnered him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  Two years later in '98, he delivered two VERY memorable performances in two VERY different movies which both left their marks on any...

The time has come for NORTON WEEK!  This is of course referring to the legendary actor Edward Norton who broke out big-time with his first ever on-screen appearance in the '96 legal thriller Primal Fear which garnered him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  Two years later in '98, he delivered two VERY memorable performances in two VERY different movies which both left their...

Just under forty years ago, we saw the theatrical release of what many would consider to be one of THE seminal concert movies.  It featured one of the more enduring rock/funk/New Wave bands from that era.....NYC's own Talking Heads lead by innovative front-man David Byrne.  He was also joined on stage by several supremely talented musicians including Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frant...

Back in the fall of '93 when this first came out, this movie felt like a big deal.  This was just a few years after star Macauley Culkin had become a household name after his 1990 starring vehicle Home Alone had taken over the world.  Culkin was the highest paid actor in Hollywood for a short time period, he was everywhere, and in typical fashion....there was already a growing backlash agains...

Back around the era when this came out in the late '80's/early '90's it felt like there was a new heroic teacher drama (Dead Poet's Society, Lean On Me) being released every six months.  This particular inspirational drama was directed by Ramon Menendez and might be one of the best of that group.  It's based upon the true story of Jaime Escalante and his advanced math...

What better way to kick off "Back to School" week than with this brand new raunchy teen comedy directed by Emma Seligman who recently gave us Shiva Baby?  The story focuses on two SEEMINGLY dorky (as the movie tells us) lesbian best friends who are both virgins but would prefer to  NOT stay that way as they each have their eyes on two cheerleaders for the school football team.  The two t...

Thirty years ago this month saw the release of the directorial debut of Robert DeNiro with this touching coming-of-age tale set in the violent world of organized crime in the Bronx in the 1960's.  The story focuses on the young Colagero (played at different points by Francis Capra and Lillo Brancato) who watch grow up from the ages of 9 to 17 as his parents struggle to raise him right.  His f...

Robert McCall is back....and this time, he has ventured to Italy after having spent most of the previous two films mostly around his hometown of Boston.  McCall is once again played by Denzel Washington in this third (and final) entry of the action film franchise which kicked off in 2014.  This is also the third entry in a row directed by Antoine Fuqua who had previously directed Washington to his...

Once Upon a Time back in the 1970’s, there was NO bigger star in the world than Burton Leon Reynolds from Lansing, MI.....known to most as Burt Reynolds.  The late great Burt stars as the eponymous Hooper who is considered by many to be "The Greatest Stuntman Alive!"  Hooper LOVES his job and is loving the work on his latest picture - only years of punishment on his body is starting to t...

Twenty years ago, the hype was building for the coming fall release of this, hyped up as "The 4th Film from Quentin Tarantino."  Only a strange thing happened on the way towards its release....the director and the studio (Miramax) realized that there was SO much story and so much movie, it had ballooned into an epic of more than four hours! :o So the decision was made to split the movie...

Oscar-winning director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Splash) helmed this racing drama based upon the real-life rivalry between two Formula One racers in the mid '70's....the Austrian Nikki Lauda (Daniel Bruehl) vs. the British James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth).  Lauda was cold and cerebral while Hunt was brash and impetuous - these styles came through in how they both raced and liv...

Fifty years ago this month, most of the world was first introduced to a true legend of both cinema and martial arts with the release of this action thriller.  Of course that legend was the late, great Bruce Lee who tragically passed away just about a month before this movie was to hit theaters.  Needless to say, he left his mark playing Lee a Hong Kong spy/martial arts master who is tasked with in...

For the next couple of weeks, we will be taking a break to get our proverbial batteries recharged - we'll be back to releasing new episodes before the end of the month!  In the meantime, enjoy this special episode going back through our catalog of more than 220 episodes to rank THE TEN BEST ACTION SEQUENCES  so far! Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon  Producer: Marlene Gershon Link for full ver...

The Summer of 1988 was filled with BIG, seminal comedies (actually including the movie Big) which were sizeable hits and had long-lasting legacies including Bull Durham, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and previous episodes Midnight Run and A Fish Called Wanda.  Kind of lost in the shuffle was this small, quirky mob comedy directed by Jonathan Demme though it did feature a very promising cast including D...

Have you heard of Blade? He's the scourge of the vampire world and is what they refer to as a "Daywalker" - he has all of their strengths....NONE of their weaknesses. And he's played by Wesley Snipes, have you heard of him? He was one of the bigger action stars of the '90's back when action stars were actually a thing which would draw folks to go to the movies.  The l...

Concluding NOLAN WEEK, it seemed best to follow up his latest big release with a review of what might be Christopher Nolan's most underappreciated directorial effort.  This was his follow-up to the ground-breaking Memento which was released just the year before and this time around, he was working with a major studio with a decent budget, along with several top-flight actors.  This is basical...

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."  Those were the immortal words (quoting Hindu scripture) spoken by the late nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer on live television twenty years after he helped create the atomic bomb.  They have resonated for decades since and they are part of the focus of this large-scale biopic directed by Christopher Nolan.  Nolan directs an all-st...

After decades of false starts and several months of building hype, we finally have a live action feature film focusing on Barbie, Mattel's long-running line of popular dolls!   And it has QUITE the pedigree: it's directed by Greta Gerwig as a follow-up to her last two films (Lady Bird, Little Women) which both received Oscar nominations for Best Picture.   Gerwig also co-wrote the screen...

It’s summer, it’s disgustingly hot outside, and the local beaches and pools are overcrowded.  So what better way to beat the heat during Shark Week than to kick back at home with this shlocky underwater thriller?  Well besides the original Jaws of course…… Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, The Long Kiss Goodnight) directed this and it features an extensive cast including Thomas Jane, Saffron...

It has finally arrived!  Not the long-awaited latest entry in the long-running Mission Impossible franchise but the concluding episode of our ongoing series focusing on the filmography of Thomas Mapother III....otherwise known as Tom Cruise.   Cruise has returned once again playing IMF super-agent Ethan Hunt and returning alongside him are his fellow team-members played by Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg,...

With her directorial debut, long-time screenwriter Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians) has delivered a raunchy comedy focusing on four Chinese-American friends as they traverse across China.  They are played by Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, and Sabrina Wu - they are on quest to find the birth mother of Audrey played by Park and needless to say, not everything goes as planned.  What results is...

Indiana Jones is BACK....for the FIFTH time!  But did he need to be?  Well it has been fifteen years since the successful though disappointing (for fans) 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and for the first time, we have a new Indiana Jones sequel NOT directed by Steven Spielberg.  But the director this time is no slouch....James Mangold has taken the directorial reins after delivering several str...

Playwright Celine Song has made her directorial debut with this highly acclaimed romantic drama which she also wrote the screenplay for.  It's the story of Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) who grew up as very close friends in South Korea until Nora's parents moved her to the West at the age of 12.   Now as grown adults, they are about to reunite in person for the first time in 24...

Four years ago, the release of this film marked the directorial debut of Olivia Wilde who up until this time had mostly been well-known as an actress.  And she really does make quite a memorable debut with this raunchy "One Crazy Night" comedy about two soon-to-be-high-school graduates (Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein) who are the smartest students in their class and the best of friends....