By John H. Foote (*) Stephen King is now 72 years old, has written a staggering 58 books, and is worth over 400 million dollars. So wealthy is he, that when film students have asked for permission to shoot one of his short stories, he agrees to a fee of one dollar. He lives with…
By John H. Foote (**) The pairing of two-time Academy Award winner Marlon Brando and Oscar winner Jack Nicholson generated a great deal of excitement when previews and trailers began running for the film in the spring of 1976. On May 21, 1976 the film, a western, opened to disappointing reviews and weak box office.…
By Alan Hurst (**1/2) Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow – the real outlaws, not the idealized characters played by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) – drove into a planned ambush in Bienville Parish in Louisiana in 1934. They were gunned down by two Texas Rangers (Frank Hamer and Maney Gault)…
By Nick Maylor Although it is only my second most anticipated movie coming out this year, the forthcoming culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first massive story arc (known as the “Infinity Saga”) basically has me busting at the seams with anticipation. Unlike Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the forthcoming sequel has shown us basically no…
By John H. Foote (***) Very rarely do I cry at the movies. But I do. I still do. The first animated film that made me cry was Dumbo (1941) which I saw at a re-release around 1967 with my parents and brother and sister, and then of course years later, on The Wonderful World of Disney.…
By John H. Foote (****) They beat him without mercy, hammering him with fists and kicking him when he goes down. They take him out of the building and dump him on the sidewalk like a broken animal. Without missing a beat, he lays there as they walk into the building, then he stands, works…
By John H. Foote (***) Let me be clear, I did not understand or support the love in for Jordan Peele’s film Get Out (2017), the darling of the Oscars two years ago, winning Best Original Screenplay and earning nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. I felt the film had its moments,…
By John H. Foote (****) Eli Cross, as portrayed by the astonishing Peter O’Toole, never seems to touch the earth. The first time we encounter him he is shooting a scene for his film in a helicopter, his intense blue eyes locked on the escaped convict who has just ruined his shot. Even when walking…
By Alan Hurst Agatha and the Truth of Murder (2018) is currently streaming on Netflix. It’s an entertaining and speculative look at the real-life Christie’s 11-day disappearance in 1926 that sparked one of the largest manhunts in British history and became a tabloid sensation. When Christie was found she had no recollection of the previous…
By John H. Foote (**) Despite beautiful, lavish visual effects, the very presence of the sanctimonious #MeToo zealot Brie Larson made this a very difficult film to like. The hypocrisy of Larson taking on a super hero film, then making clear her disdain for the fanboys who will make her film a hit, was hard…