By John H. Foote It was the seventies and sequels were becoming the in thing in the film industry. Both a way to continue the story of beloved characters and make more money for the studios, sequels were a true oddity. Odd because they had existed since the beginnings of the sound era, the Universal…
By Alan Hurst Will the Aaron Sorkin scripted bio of Lucille Ball ever hit the big screens? Announced a while back with Cate Blanchett on board to play the famous redhead (and with the participation of both Lucy’s children), it seemed like the last century’s best comedienne was finally going to get the respect she…
By John H. Foote He was broke, he could not get work, his wife was pregnant, he was desperate, and he was scared. The idea came to him watching the Ali vs. Werner fight, when a virtually unknown boxer went fifteen rounds with the champion, Muhammad Ali. In three days he hammered out a screenplay and with…
By Alan Hurst (This is an updated version of an article originally posted in July 2017.) Doris Day – one of my favourites since I was a kid – turns 97 on April 3, as good a reason as any to look back at her film career. By all accounts still doing well in her…
By Nick Maylor We Canadians recently had our national holiday That means that today our neighbours below the 49th parallel are celebrating their Independence day. . Happy Fourth of July to our American friends and readers! I must admit that when I conceived the idea for this post, I had a much goofier list of…
By Alan Hurst It doesn’t happen often but it has happened often enough for it to be the stuff of dreams – hitting the big-time in films in a big way your first time at bat. The people below all had either terrific first years or a career defining film debut that assured considerable award…
By Nick Maylor We all know this is going to happen. The Michael Wolff book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump Whitehouse became an instant bestseller upon release. I read it in one night. Trump and his people have insisted that the entire book is fabricated, though the events described in it seem completely consistent…
By Nick Maylor So, it looks like we’re getting two, unrelated movies about DC’s Joker now. Wait…. What? With the disappointment of Justice League (2017), the lack of promotional material for Aquaman (2018), the un-certain nature of Ben Affleck’s status as Batman and rumours that suggest Warner Brothers plans for the Joker are either incredibly…
By Nick Maylor When someone says, “Tom Cruise”, an endless array of images can come to mind. Some think of Oprah’s couch or Scientology, others think of Tropic Thunder (2008), Jerry Maguire (1996) or A Few Good Men (1992). Regardless of how someone chooses to categorize this remarkable human being, five minutes into any of…
By Alan Hurst Turner Classic Movies was recently showing Key Largo (1948) and I sat down and started watching. Again. It’s one of my favorite stage to screen adaptations of the era – a great cast, suspenseful direction by John Huston, steamy locale, a strong script based on Maxwell Anderson’s play and Johnny Rocco is one…