Despite great casting, there is so much potential for this to go horribly, horribly wrong. Already trying to do a remake of not only a great classic western, but the original film upon which even THAT was based, The Seven Samurai, by the legendary director, Akira Kurasawa. It’s one thing to take a Japanese film…
DetailsThe Girl On The Train is an effective, well-constructed and tightly wound adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ 2015 best-seller (which did not, contrary to the poster copy, “shock the world”, but which did give readers a juicy little post-Gone Girl misty mystery to read on, well, the train). Emily Blunt stars as an alcoholic divorcee who…
DetailsWelcome back to this week’s cavalcade of news stories form the world of film! We already start off with a doozy, so hold on tight! In this week’s “Most vexing remake” story, screenwriter Terence Winter has been hired to pen director Antoine Fuqua’s remake of Scarface. I know, that sentence gave me pause as well.…
DetailsMade by an Irish director with Irish funds based on an American Young Adult book series and set in the United States, this curious low-budget thriller, shot on 16mm, has a certain hand-sewn élan. Max Records (Where The Wild Things Are) plays a teenage loner – John Wayne Cleaver (!) – who, along with his shrink, thinks…
DetailsJoseph Gordan-Levitt atones for The Walk with his titular performance in Snowden, a film no-one else but Oliver Stone was going to make. I’m glad he did. It’s uneven, ramming brilliant scenes up against turgid ones, but ultimately it’s an overwhelmingly powerful experience. Like all Oliver Stone films, it gets you by the end. There are three distinct…
DetailsA busy week this time around, folks! (Yes, I used the word ‘folks’. Deal with it.) Friday is a packed day, so here’s your essential information a wee bit early. Wouldn’t want you to get impatient, right? Let’s go! In this week’s “At this rate, no problem!” story, Netflix would like to see 50 %…
DetailsBritish TV documentarian Louis Theroux is a very clever chap. He obviously realised that the Alex Gibney documentary Going Clear was going to be the Big Boy of Scientology feature docos for quite awhile. Hence the title My Scientology Movie, which is tongue in cheek, certainly, but also implies a different tack and a different take – both…
DetailsRon Howard’s documentary unfortunately contains little that was not done better in the epic television documentary The Beatles Anthology (1995) and nothing that will be revelatory to Beatles fans of any level. What’s being touted is new footage, and there is that. I’d never seen, for example, footage from concerts in Manilla and Tokyo, and that stuff…
DetailsThe original film, The Blair Witch Project, back in 1999, was quite the phenomenon. There was so much secrecy and seemingly well-timed leaks of info that it became mythological in scope before it ever hit theaters. I remember a friend of mine telling me about it, meeting me at a friends place, and telling me…
DetailsHere we are at another week of kooky new form the world of film! And maybe some other stuff if I deem it worthy! In this week’s “Speculate much?” story, will Blair Witch knock Sully from the top box office spot this weekend? I don’t fucking know. Why don’t you all decide to see one…
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