By Nick Maylor As the end of the year approaches and Oscar nominations are right around the corner, I cannot help this unpleasant premonition I am having: Taron Egerton will likely be snubbed for a Best Actor Oscar nomination. As we’ve discussed, the competition for the Best Actor statue is some of the stiffest in…
By Nick Maylor It’s long been my contention that Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (1843) is the greatest story ever told. It has been adapted for the stage and screen countless times, often in musical form. Some carolers appear in the original novella and music has often…
By John H. Foote (****) The greatest films of divorce are often demanding, difficult films that have the courage to ask the audience not to take a side. Yet as great as An Unmarried Woman (1978), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Shoot the Moon (1982) are superb films, a side is usually taken, we are…
By John H. Foote (**) Adventure films are often dazzling visual treats for the audience. Consider the Indiana Jones tetralogy, beautiful films all, with splendid production design, exotic lavish locations, and constant motion driving the non stop narrative. Even if the film is more cerebral, such as John Houston’s soaring epic The Man Who Would…
By Nick Maylor This film was widely disliked. Henry Cavill was heavily criticized. Zack Snyder has gotten some truly undeserved hatred. I loved Man of Steel (2013). I think it is the best Superman film yet made. With all due respect to Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner, Superman (1978) has one of the dumbest, laziest,…
By John H. Foote (****) I loved every second of this magical film. No humbug here folks, this was pure enchantment. Though The Polar Express has its detractors, humbugs among us, I thought director Robert Zemeckis, his computer artists, his sound and sound engineers, editors, cinematographers, musicians and songwriters, designers, and his wonderful actors captured…
By Alan Hurst This month has been a full-on immersion into the life Julie Andrews with the release of her second autobiography “Home Work”. The book details Andrews’ experiences in Hollywood and abroad, from her arrival in 1963 to film Mary Poppins (1964) to That’s Life! 22 years later. It’s a continuation of her more…
By John H. Foote The unpredictable New York Film Critics Circle announced their awards today, once again surprising us with some of their choices. The Irishman won the Best Picture Award from the New York Film Critics, the most prestigious of the Critics groups passing out year-end awards. This marks the second consecutive year that…
By John H. Foote (***) Every once in a while a film slips by me, through the cracks as it will, and I end up catching up with it on Blu Ray to be very surprised. This is such a film. An original, striking, genuinely frightening horror film, the picture is anchored by a sensational…
By John H. Foote Martin Scorsese’s masterful crime epic The Irishman won Best Picture today from the National Board of Review. The film also won for its screenplay and the Icon Award for Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Adam Sandler won Best Actor for his feverish high wire act in Uncut Gems, while…