By John H. Foote A couple of years ago Alex Garland gave us his excellent science fiction thriller Ex Machina (2014), a thriller that was far better than perhaps it had any right to be. Confident, even brash behind the camera Garland has done it again, even more so, with his new film Annihilation, which…
By John H. Foote Like a well oiled roller coaster ride, by now the narrative for the Jurassic Park franchise is an entertainment machine Universal has down pat. Memories of the terrible The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) have faded, helped by the fact Jurassic World (2015) was a tight, taut film that worked on…
“Everybody’s talking at me, I don’t hear a word they’re sayin’, only in the echoes of my mind.” “Everybody’s Talking” (Harry Nilsson), 1969 It seems inconceivable to me that Midnight Cowboy (1969) celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The film is a time capsule film of what New York City was in the sixties, about…
Let me be clear…I hated this movie. Hated it. With the exception of a couple of fine performances it is an insane mess of a film from beginning to end. I hated it. Harrison Ford IS Han Solo. It is ridiculous to suggest anyone else could do the role, and do justice to what he…
By John H. Foote It was 8:30 am in June, 1998, when a small group of film critics, myself included were ushered into the old Uptown Theatre, one of Toronto’s greatest movie palaces. The cinema was cold, outside the sun already blazed in the stifling city heat. The publicist gravely, unsmiling handed us our press…
The Truth be told they should have expanded the category to seven nominee to permit The Godafather Part II (1974) to fully dominate the category. As it was the film placed three of its actors among the final film, three of its eleven leading nominations. Ayoung Robert De Niro would win the Academy Award for…
A few years ago Robert Redford gave a great, near silent performance in All is Lost (2013) as a man left near dead in the middle of the ocean after a violent storm destroys his vessel. The New York Film Critics awarded their actor Best Actor for his superb physical performance in what was one…