Lights Camera Jackson

Reviews, News, and Views from Jackson Murphy

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Can Costner’s Winning Streak Continue?

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Kevin Costner returns to TV this week on Paramount Network’s new drama series “Yellowstone”. Costner’s career was monstrous in the 80s and 90s, with films such as “Bull Durham”, “Field of Dreams”, “Dances with Wolves” (for which he won 2 Oscars), “JFK” and “The Bodyguard”. But after a string of critical and box office disappointments, […]
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Who Should Win at MTV Awards

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Last year, to shake things up, the MTV Movie Awards became the MTV Movie & TV Awards, with non-gender or genre defining categories. Most of the nominees came from films that had recently opened in theaters (such as “Get Out”, “Logan” and “Beauty and the Beast”) instead of the entire prior 12 months. This year’s […]
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‘The Chew’ Goodbye Will Be Hard to Swallow

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When ABC cancelled two of their iconic soap operas in 2011, they decided to replace them with a duo of lifestyle talk shows. “The Revolution”, featuring Tim Gunn and Ty Pennington, was canceled after just six months (January – July 2012). [A summer stint of “Good Afternoon America” with Lara Spencer and Josh Elliott aired […]
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Tony… Meet SpongeBob, Olaf and The Boss

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Sunday night’s 72nd Tony Awards will have a much different vibe than last year. For starters, the host of the 2017 ceremony, Kevin Spacey, will not be on the premises. Instead, the emcees are singing/performing/Broadway vets Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles – safe choices who might do a fine job, but they’re not gonna bring-in […]
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And Now… Our Double Feature Presentation

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At the end of last year, I wrote a piece on a potential resurgence of nationwide advance screenings. I predicted there would be one more big one before 2017 was over, and I was right, as Amazon entered into the game with a successful advance screening launch around the country of “Jumanji: Welcome to the […]
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A Beautiful Episode in the ‘Neighborhood’

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To prep for the highly-anticipated documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, opening in select theaters next Friday, June 8th, I decided to watch an episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”. To be honest, this PBS program wasn’t one of my childhood TV staples, but over the past two decades, Fred Rogers has been a major cultural […]
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Oscar-Winning Game Show Host

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Last summer, FOX debuted a pair of new game shows. One was a revival of the classic “Love Connection”, with “Watch What Happens Live” host Andy Cohen taking over the hosting gig made famous by Chuck Woolery. Cohen has dealt with plenty of relationship drama through his “Real Housewives” shows and reunion specials on Bravo, […]
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The Buzz on Woody

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No matter where you turn, Woody Harrelson always seems to be right there – in some movie or TV show (like HBO’s “True Detective”). Harrelson is the only person to receive two nominations for The Roger Ebert Actor of the Year Award at my LCJ Movie Awards for his body of work (in 2014 and […]
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The End of ‘The Middle’

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“The Middle”, starring Patricia Heaton, premiered Wednesday September 30, 2009 at 8:30pmET on ABC, right in between the debut of Kelsey Grammer’s new comedy “Hank” and week 2 of “Modern Family”, featuring Ty Burrell. Interestingly, all three actors flocked to this network with new comedies following the cancellation of the brilliant, short-lived FOX sitcom they […]
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Potential Sleeper Hits of the Summer

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These are my picks for the 5 potential sleeper hits of the summer movie season: “BOOK CLUB” (Today) There haven’t been many films lately aimed at an older audience. This all-star rom-com looks to capture the 60+ demo with a light piece of escapism. Last year’s “Going in Style”, with Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin and […]
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Impeached Halfway Through the Term

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“Designated Survivor” was one of the most anticipated shows of the 2016 TV season, with Kiefer Sutherland in a role that could’ve earned the same status and recognition as Jack Bauer. Sutherland joined an elite category of actors with Presidential power, including Martin Sheen, Bill Pullman and Frank Langella. However, Sutherland’s Tom Kirkman didn’t become […]
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College Chaos

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With the release of Melissa McCarthy’s new comedy “Life of the Party”, let’s look at other recent films that give it the old college try: “PITCH PERFECT” & “PITCH PERFECT 2” The Bellas rose to a capella fame during their years at Barden University. I’d say “2” is slightly better than “1” simply because of […]
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Berkshire International Film Festival a Hot Ticket

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The 2018 Berkshire International Film Festival (May 31-June 3 in Great Barrington and Pittsfield, MA) will feature some of the year’s most anticipated and critically acclaimed films, including a group of high-profile documentaries. Here are some of the highlights: “AMERICAN ANIMALS” – a crime drama that earned rave reviews at Sundance “BAD REPUTATION” – a […]
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Ant-Man to the Rescue!

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Marvel Studios has begun their new marketing campaign strategy on “Ant-Man and the Wasp” (out July 6), the 20th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the follow-up to “Avengers: Infinity War”, which has definitely left fans shaken and stirred. “Infinity” includes a reference to Paul Rudd’s Scott (aka Ant-Man) character, providing a reason for […]
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Why We All Need ‘Ted 3’

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On Thursday, Seth MacFarlane tweeted out a picture of him and a Ted doll holding a paper-thin bottle of beer. MacFarlane captioned it with “Ted 3 will feature more 2-dimensional beer.” MacFarlane followed that up with a reply to a twitter user: “Well just be glad we eventually did away with our ‘Scrappy Ted’ premise. […]
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Get Ready for an ‘Incredible’ Summer

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Here are 6 reasons why “Incredibles 2” will be the highest-grossing movie of Summer 2018 at the U.S. Box Office: 1.) It’s The “Incredibles” Sequel for God’s Sake If you loved “The Incredibles” and have watched it numerous times, you’ve been waiting a staggering 13 and a half years, making it the longest time between […]
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Let’s Finally Get a Win

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Wayne Brady won an Emmy award for “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and two for his own daytime talk show. However, he’s been nominated eight times for hosting the CBS game show “Let’s Make a Deal” and has yet to win. Brady did win an Emmy in 2014 in the Original Song category for “30,000 […]
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TV REVIEW: ‘Genius: Picasso’

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Season One of the National Geographic Channel’s first-ever scripted series, “Genius”, focused on the life of Albert Einstein, with Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush playing the scientific mastermind in his later years and newcomer Johnny Flynn giving a breakthrough performance as Einstein in his younger days. The show averaged 2 million viewers per episode in Live […]
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Movie Titles Are Filled with Wonder

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Last year, it was a running joke: how many movies could be released with the word ‘Wonder’ in the title? First we had “Wonder Woman”, then “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women”, followed by “Wonderstruck”, then “Wonder” and finally “Wonder Wheel”. Add Paramount’s “Wonder Park” to this growing list when the all-star animated film opens […]
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MGM Distributing Their Own Movies Again

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MGM, once a Hollywood studio titan and king of the movie musical, has recently been seen as a companion distribution studio with other big names, like Sony and Warner Bros. But 2018 marks a re-vamp for MGM, which is back to sole distribution on major movies. MGM’s “Death Wish”, the action remake starring Bruce Willis, opened […]
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