By John H. Foote (BOMB!) In 1967, 20th Century Fox produced a lavish big budget film musical entitled Dr. Dolittle based on the children’s books by Hugh Lofting. How bad this film was, is, I am not sure has ever fully been recognized. Director Richard Fleischer wrote about it in his autobiography, exploring in detail,…
By John H. Foote (****) Is it generational that Little Women seems to pop up as a new film version with such frequency? Whatever the reason, the topical issues explored in the fine book by Louisa May Alcott remain as timely today as they were back in the 1860s and in this film are given…
By John H. Foote (****) Academy Award winner Sam Mendes returns to greatness with his stunning World War One epic, 1917, a breathtaking work that ironically comes to us the same year as the superb Peter Jackson documentary They Shall Never Grow Old. More on that later. Mendes film, deceptively simplistic, yet undeniably compelling, is…
By John H. Foote (****) As a man, I will never know what it is to be sexually harassed. I suppose there is a slim chance of being so harassed by a woman or a man, but so far it has not happened and I doubt it will. My wife knew what it was to…
By John H. Foote (*) What the hell is a Jellicle cat? I have no clue. I am sure not even the director of this film knows., Tom Hooper directed the superb HBO miniseries John Adams (2008) which led to his being handpicked to direct The King’s Speech (2010) which won him an Academy Award…
By Nick Maylor (***1/2) In a certain respect, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) is a film 42 years in the making. It’s been over four decades since the release of George Lucas’ original film and now at the culmination of the third trilogy, lots of loose ends were expected to be tied up.…
By John H. Foote (****) Did I ever think I would discuss Adam Sandler in the same sentence as the Academy Award? Did I ever think I would be comparing Sandler’s jittery, electrifying performance to the great seventies work of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro? Straight up, no I did not. Understand it is…
By John H. Foote (***) To begin, in this film in which Eastwood once again explores an underdog railing against authority, the nearly ninety-year-old two-time Oscar-winning Best Director has made a very good film, but not one that will be ever thought of as being among his greatest. That is not a putdown, just a…
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…