The new “Halloween” gets solid reviews
Posted by Staff (10/18/2018 @ 12:52 pm)

With the flood of reboots, it’s hard to get excited about yet another “Halloween” movie, but this one bringing back Jamie Lee Curtis is getting some very solid reviews.
Here’s a take from the Bullz-Eye.com review:
Those elements aside, “Halloween” is an engaging, brutal, creepy and occasionally hilarious horror film. All of the actors, including Will Patton as a local police officer and Toby Huss as Karen’s husband, deliver great work, covering the emotional gamut while feeling natural and very relatable. It’s a wonder to see Curtis inhabit the role again, stepping into Laurie’s shoes once more but in a different way. The character is written and performed beautifully; she’s a flawed person who is still broken in many ways but also contains a well of strength in the face of evil. The fact that her pain and anger have caused so many problems in her life and with her loved ones is a sad but recognizable facet of her traumatic experience. The filmmakers take great care not to paint Laurie as a misunderstood genius or a basket case but instead as someone whose life was forever altered in ways she may never understand due to her violent encounter.
Check it out.
Weekend box office: greed is still pretty good
Posted by Bob Westal (09/26/2010 @ 6:20 pm)
Things turned out at this weekend’s box office more or less as predicted on Thursday. “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” came in on top at an estimated $19 million for Fox, according to the Box Office Mojo chart, about a million or two shy of the figures being bandied about, but close enough for an adult skewing film expected to have decent legs. Nikki Finke thinks it may have missed it’s moment in terms of being a topical must-see and also avoiding some bad press provided by the mouthy Oliver Stone. Maybe. She also points out that Fox hasn’t exactly been on a hot streak this summer. Still, this is actually a career high, raw cash wise, for Stone and not too bad a showing for the longest break between an original and a sequel since Martin Scorsese and Paul Newman dared to follow-up the genuine classic, “The Hustler,” with his underrated non-classic, “The Color of Money,” a quarter century after the fact.
Following not so far behind, really, is Warners’ “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” which earned an estimated $16.3 million. Anthony D’Allesandro is calling the film a “bomb” along the lines of the recent “Cats and Dogs” sequel. That may be accurate compared to what family films like this usually make and in light an as yet unspecified large budget but it’s still within a couple of million of this weekend’s $50-70 million live-action hit.

While the books might have had an audience, something just seemed generally awry and the film lacked a clear premise for non-fans other than “owls fighting.” Whether or not Zack Snyder, whose early hits are receding in the memory of Hollywood, no doubt, gets to remain in the high end movie big leagues may now be largely dependent on what happens when his strange and zany looking action fantasy, “Sucker Punch,” comes out on 3/25/11.
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Posted in: Actors, Actresses, Animation, Documentaries, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies
Tags: Ben Affleck, Betty White, Buried, Cats and Dogs, Davis Guggenheim, Easy A, Fox, Headlines, Howl, James Franco, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristen Bell, Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Martin Scorese, Oliver Stone, Paul Newman, Restrepo, Sigourney Weaver, Sucker Punch, The Hustler, The Town, The Virginity Hit, Waiting for Superman, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Warner Brothers, Woody Allen, You Again, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Zack Snyder
A roundtable chat with Kevin Kline of “The Extra Man”
Posted by Bob Westal (08/01/2010 @ 1:00 pm)

A highly accomplished stage actor, trained at Julliard under the tutelage of such exacting instructors as the legendary John Houseman, Kevin Kline pretty much started his film career as one of the best of the best, a genuine “actor’s actor” and also something of an old fashioned movie star with the presence to match. His first movie role was opposite Meryl Streep in Alan Pakula’s 1982 Oscar-winning film version of “Sophie’s Choice.” That was followed by Lawrence Kasdan’s Oscar-nominated ensemble dramedy, “The Big Chill,” and a leading role opposite Denzel Washington in Richard Attenborough’s portentous 1987 apartheid drama, “Cry Freedom.”
Though that was followed up by a part in Kasdan’s lighthearted homage to classic westerns, “Silverado,” Kevin Kline’s comic gifts remained under-recognized until his utterly ingenious, deservedly Oscar-winning turn as the murderous and hilariously insecure and pretentious Otto in the farce classic, “A Fish Called Wanda.” After that Kline became one of the screen’s most reliable comic leading men with parts in such high-quality mainstream comedies as “Dave” and “In and Out,” was well as the occasional part in such hard-edged tragicomic dramas as “Grand Canyon,” again with Lawrence Kasdan, and Ang Lee’s “The Ice Storm.”
Kline, who recently completed a successful stage run in Edmund Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Jennifer Garner, has — like other outstanding actors of his generation — gracefully moved from the A-list to the art-house. Though once noted for turning down movie roles in favor of stage work — John Stewart reminded him of his “Kevin Decline” nickname on his recent “Daily Show” “Colbert Report” appearance — Kline has been a busy and hugely reliable film actor for decades. More recent roles include the screen’s first correctly gay Cole Porter in the 2004 musical biopic “De-Lovely,” Garrison Keillor’s radio detective Guy Noir in Robert Altman’s 2006 swan song, “A Prairie Home Companion,” Jacques in Kenneth Branagh’s version of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” and the 21st century’s version of Inspector Dreyfus opposite Steve Martin‘s Inspector Clouseau in the rebooted “Pink Panther” series.
Add to those the role of the suave but irascible platonic male escort Henry Harrison in Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s adaptation of the Jonathan Ames novel, “The Extra Man.” Taking in a confused and nervous younger protegee (Paul Dano of “There Will Be Blood”), Harrison is an utterly reactionary self-made throwback to another time and place, and an ideal role for an actor gifted with the finest of old fashioned acting virtues.

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Posted in: Action Movies, Actors, Celebrities, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News
Tags: 1974 Buick Electra, A Fish Called Wanda, A Prairie Home Companion, Alan Pakula, Ang Lee, As You Like It, Buick Electra, Daniel Day-Lewis, De-Lovely, Denzel Washington, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Frank Rich, Garrison Keillor, Grand Canyon, Guy Noir, Headlines, Henry Harrison, I Love You to Death, In and Out, Inspecter Dreyfus, Inspector Clouseau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jeremy Irons, John Barrymore, John C. Reilly, John Cleese, John Stewart, Jonathan Ames, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Kline, Kevin Kline interview, Lawrence Kasdan, Leonard Maltin, Meryl Streep, Michael Palin, Noah Baumbach, Otto, Owen Kline, Paul Dano, Phoebe Cates, Princess Caraboo, Richard Attenborough, Robert Altman, Robert Pulcini, Robert Redford, Shakespeare, Shari Springer Berman, Soapdish, Sophie's Choice, Steve Martin, Suttirat Anne Larlarb, the American Olivier, The Anniversary Party, The Big Chill, The Conspirator, The Emperor's Club, The Extra Man, The Ice Storm, The Squid and the Whale, There Will Be Blood, Tracey Ullman