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 Alan Hurst When Love Story was released in late 1970 it caused a sensation. It quickly became one of the biggest box office hits of all time, it made major stars of both Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal, and it’s gorgeous, overtly emotional score hit the top of charts. Even the film’s most famous…
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 Nick Maylor As I’ve stated before, I believe that Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in Prose: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas is the single greatest story ever told. Though there have been many great adaptations, I believe that this 1970 musical version starring Albert Finney is the best adaptation yet made. Finney was…
By John H. Foote Let me state before I venture into this revisit review, that my colleague Nick Maylor believes this story the greatest in the history of literature, created by the master storyteller Charles Dickens. It is a tough argument because I too think it is among the finest stories ever told. At its…
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 Nick Maylor “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” -Buddy the Elf (Will Ferrell) Will Ferrell has recalled filming b-roll footage for Elf (2003), wearing the green suit, frolicking about New York City, all the while thinking about how this little Christmas movie was going to be…