By John H. Foote Tom Hanks is often hailed as America’s most beloved actor. Despite this, the ever-fickle Academy seems to take every opportunity it can to bring him down a notch. The Academy has a long history of ignoring talent once they have received a few nominations. Case in point, Mr. Hanks. Yes, he…
By John H. Foote Throughout my 40-plus years as a film student, actor, director and film critic, I have heard countless arguments about who is the greatest of all actors? Understand the word actor is gender neutral, making the decision all the more difficult. Watching acting in early cinema can be trying, as the actors…
By John H. Foote In the manner Heath Ledger turned a comic book character, the Joker, into an Academy Award winning performance, so could Emma Stone for her delicious performance in the title role of Cruella, the Disney film that beautifully explores the early days of Cruella de Ville. An Oscar winner for Best Actress for…
By Geoff Wertheim (**) In theatres A team of immortal beings were specifically created to protect Earth from monsters called Deviants; a job that began 7,000 years ago and finished about 7,000 years ago. Since then they’ve just pretty much hung out, witnessing the events of human history, giving nudges in our evolution to improve…
By Craig Leask The Last of Sheila is a brilliantly clever thriller which tries (and succeeds) beautifully in combining the best of a bitchy Hollywood self-satire, mixed with a traditional whodunit. Ultimately the film is tongue in cheek homage to both the murder mystery genre and the cutthroat world of movie making. It’s about playing…
By Alan Hurst I don’t like using the descriptor “muse” to describe the inspired partnerships between a film director (for the purposes of this article all men) and his female lead when they’ve enjoyed a series of films together. Each of the directors on this list have enjoyed spectacular success with other leading actresses and…
By John H. Foote Usually by this time of year the races for the major Academy Awards are shaping up and this year is no different. Best Actor is a crowded race already, while Best Actress, not so much, at least not yet. The race for the coveted little gold man is becoming a tight…
By Alan Hurst Our own John H. Foote has written the cover story for the latest edition of “Cinema of the ‘70s”, a terrific magazine out of Britain that focuses on one of the greatest decades for movies since their inception. “Cinema of the 70’s” is fast becoming one of the hottest selling magazines in…
By John H. Foote He made us believe a man could fly in his 1978 epic Superman, giving the film the perfect sense that Superman was a God sent from another planet. The entire year had seen previews with a booming voice announcing, “You’ll believe a man can fly” and then finally the film opened.…
By Craig Leask What started as an ego driven concept to market a camera system, developed into a very successful series of star laden road films, all of which are over the top travel films loaded with scenery, locations, and movie stars. What makes these films so entertaining is not necessarily the plot, but rather…