The Reel World

With the exception of Blazing Saddles and City Slickers, it’s not easy to come up with a successful western/comedy.  But leave to Seth MacFarlane to venture into this territory with his irreverent humor in tow as he looks to beat the odds and make a successful western with his new film A Million Ways to Die in the West.  Following the success of Ted, I was looking forward to seeing what MacFarlane would do next; after all, I feel he’s the comedian who speaks to my generation better than anyone else out there.  As one of the comedy greats of the time, I had little doubt about his ability to write and direct another hit, but where my concern mainly fell is on how he would fare as the leading man.

If Christopher Nolan’s take on The Joker isn’t the very best example of modern cinematic villainy, then it’s near the top of the list. Obviously, a tremendous amount of credit goes to Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance in The Dark Knight, but I’d argue the real thrill comes from the character’s arbitrary, inexplicable approach to evil. By having its Joker invent tragic (fake) backstories on the spot, the film made a mockery out of the notion of having to explain a movie monster’s past. Disney’s Maleficent, on the other hand, is the latest misguided attempt to redeem a character who was better off being unredeemable.

Vampires have been popular since Bram Stoker and Sheridan Le Fanu started writing about them nearly 200 years ago, but vampires have been around much longer than that. That seems to be how the story goes. That's part of the problem. In Only Lovers Left Alive, it's difficult for a vampire to overcome  his boredom and disappointment with “zombies”, as he calls the human mortals. These vampires try to subsist on blood banks. Not only is it more humane, but that way they know the blood is tested. They don't like blood-borne pathogens

Chef has a fantastic cast having fun, being sexy and making us happy. It must have been a blast for everyone involved. Everyone is probably involved because they love writer/director/star, Jon Favreau. Favreau's directorial efforts are varied and include Iron Man I, Iron Man II, Cowboys and Aliens, Zathura, Elf and Made. He made an early impact in 1996 by writing and starring in Swingers. He is also familiar to audiences as Happy Hogan, Robert Downey Jr.'s security chief, in the Iron Man series

There is a famous painting from 1779 of Dido Elizabeth Belle with her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray which is owned by the present Earl of Mansfield and rests in Perth Palace. It is the inspiration for the movie Belle. The history of events that swirled around Belle are pertinent to this day. The film doesn't always hold to historical accuracy, but mostly in matters that do not aid the excellent story being told. The historical inaccuracies are minor and mostly irrelevant. Here is what is true. Belle is the daughter of Admiral Sir John Lindsay and an enslaved African, Maria Belle. Lindsay had his uncle, William Murray, take care of her at his estate

"You and I have a lot of catching up to do. What's the last thing you remember?"

In 2006 director Bryan Singer appeared to have turned his back on the film franchise he had brought to life. After two successful runs at the X-Men universe Singer was primed and ready for a third when a certain Man Of Steel caught his eye. At seemingly, the last minute Singer dropped out of the third X-Men film to direct the dubious return of Superman. I actually like Superman Returns better than most. I wonder how much of the film's hatred might have been directed at its director, considered a traitor by many fans. I never really looked at it quite that way. It's a business, after all, and people come and go.

“It’s not the end of the world.”

I still remember the night I walked out of the screening of the Roland Emmerich version of Godzilla.  I can’t remember a time I had ever been so angry at a film.  It was a film that was an insult to the monster that I had held in such high regard right alongside King Kong.  Sure I had seen the trailers, but when I saw that first reveal of their “Godzilla” I cringed; I hated it.  Had the film been called anything else perhaps my loathing towards it would have been different, but it was a film that was foolish enough to hold the name of Godzilla.

Baseball is huge, and Bollywood is huge, so imagine if you put them together. In many ways, Million Dollar Arm is about Indian culture and what a separate world it is from ours. The film starts out in Los Angeles where J.B. Bernstein (Jon Hamm from Mad Men) is a sports agent who has broken off from a big agency to start his own firm. His partner, Aash (Aasif Mandvi of The Daily Show), is very nervous about where their next client is coming from since they lost a big one right at the start of the film.

Walking out of Neighbors one thought struck me, and I haven’t been able to shake it since seeing the film.  I’m getting old.  It’s the revelation we all deal with at some point or another, and it seemed to be the overall theme of Neighbors.  Since Judd Apatow came along I think he has firmly created a new sub-genre the coming of middle-age film.  Seth Rogan seems to be the poster child of this new genre, and with his characters he is somewhat the ambassador of all man-children out there. 

“War leaves a mark.”

Even the people who manage to escape war with all their limbs intact feel its impact for the rest of their lives. Of course, it’s much trickier to spot the emotional and psychological wounds veterans like Eric Lomax carry with them. The Railway Man is based on Lomax’s harrowing World War II experiences and the day of reckoning, decades later, with one of his tormentors. In turning Lomax’s real-life story into a dramatic movie, the film doesn’t so much ask if revenge is good for the soul; it argues that it might be necessary.