remembering the films that the audience forgot
“I didn’t read reviews earlier in my career, but I read them now as I’m older. I read them all.”
— Steven Spielberg
Films get lost in the shuffle for a variety of reasons. Sometimes there just isn't any publicity so no one even knows it exists. Sometimes the initial critical reviews are negative (right or wrong), and then there are films like Observe and Report.
Read MoreWRITER/DIRECTOR: KURT WIMMER/BUDGET: $20 MILLION/GROSS (domestic): $1,203,974
Equilibrium is set in the future after world war III. Society has realized that mankind won't be able to survive a world war IV, so the fascist regime as moved to eliminate what makes us human: feelings/emotions, literature, music and art are all being eliminated and society is on a drug called Prozium which eliminates emotions. Christian Bale is cleric John Preston. a top ranking government agent responsible for destroying those who resist the rules. but when he misses a dose himself, he begins to see things differently.
Read MoreFew directors take full advantage of the medium in which they work like Jean-Pierre Jeunet. One of the premier directors of the last few decades, Jeunet is one of those film makers for me, whose name on a film is reason enough to go see it. And Micmacs was yet another example of him at the top of his game.
Read MoreChinatown, Rosemary's Baby, The Pianist. When people discuss Roman Polanski’s work it’s usually those films that come to mind. However, when I think Polanski, Death And The Maiden is often first and foremost in my head. The three aforementioned films are great - but for me, Death And The Maiden, is maybe my favorite of them all (which is saying a lot given how good Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby are).
Read MoreAhhhh, the title itself brings me back to my childhood and the VHS-era. Alright, so this is gonna date me a bit, but I remember when the first video store opened up in my town and my parents would have to rent a VHS machine (along with the VHS tapes) until we eventually bought one. And so began to grow - exponentially with each video I rented - my love of movies.
Read MoreIf, when you hear the name, Steve Martin, you think Bringing Down The House, Cheaper By The Dozen 1 and 2 and The Pink Panther remake then I feel sorry for you. Martin is one of the great comedic performers of the last few decades. The only problem is that most of his best work was produced a few decades ago. Which brings us to Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.
Read MoreHunger is the story of the last six weeks of Bobby Sands - an Irish republican who went on a hunger strike while in prison in 1981. What is so interesting about this film is that we don't really get introduced to bobby sands until maybe the second third of the the movie. The first third of the film is focused on one of the english guards in the prison and two other inmates. Actually, there are so many interesting things about this film, and that is but one of them.
Read MoreIf your only familiarity with director Joe Carnahan are the films Smokin’ Aces and The A-Team then I can understand how the mediocrity of those movies might have you less than excited to check out the film he made previous to those (and his second directorial effort), Narc. But it shouldn’t!
Read MoreWRITER/DIRECTOR: Peter Stebbings/BUDGET: $3.5 million (estimated)/GROSS: $44,462
The last decade has seen the the super hero/comic book movie take over Hollywood. Every year they are releasing and rebooting more super heroes and every company that can is delving into whatever comic vault they can find looking for a comic hero that they can turn into a movie (and hopefully a franchise of course).
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