Melissa McCarthy is America’s sweetheart. She’s also the go-to actress for playing smart-mouthed characters in R-rated comedies. When I met first McCarthy in 2014, she told me, “I’ll keep doing them until they kick me out!” I’ve been waiting a long time to see her take-on a pure dramatic role. A quiet scene in 2011’s […]
I’m a big fan of movies that allow an actor to step back into the role of an iconic character he/she played decades earlier. Recently “Creed” and “Blade Runner 2049” gave Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford the opportunities to reflect on Rocky Balboa and Rick Deckard, respectively, and provide new depth to those characters. Now, […]
“A Private War” is the “based on a true story” biopic of Marie Colvin, a war correspondent for Britain’s Sunday Times. At the screening I attended, the film’s Oscar nominated director Matthew Heineman (documentaries “Cartel Land” and “City of Ghosts”) told me that after meeting “Gone Girl” actress Rosamund Pike at a showing of “Ghosts” […]
“United 93” and “Captain Phillips” director Paul Greengrass tackles another perilous, true story with the Netflix drama “22 July”. The film centers on the July 22nd, 2011 attacks is Oslo, Norway in which a lone terrorist killed 77 people and wounded more than 200 others. The film is not only being streamed by the online […]
The Discovered Superstar. It’s a tale as old as time. And when it comes to the latest version of “A Star Is Born”, it’s re-told beautifully. For years Clint Eastwood was rumored to be directing this incarnation. But he ended-up choosing other projects. This paved the way for his “American Sniper” leading man, Bradley Cooper, to […]
It doesn’t happen often, but I love going into documentaries, especially bio docs, knowing little or nothing about the subject. Aside from a few iconic songs and a couple of other titles, I walked into the theater to see “Bad Reputation” a blank slate. I walked out with an encyclopedic knowledge and appreciation of the […]
The relationship drama “Life Itself” comes from writer/director Dan Fogelman, the creator of NBC’s emotionally-charged relationship drama “This Is Us”. That hit show focusses on a diverse, complex family and their even more diverse and complex storylines that all connect and intertwine in very particular ways. In promoting “Life Itself”, Fogelman has stated that this […]
It’s the kind of story you hear once or twice a year. Someone is plucked from their everyday life and, overnight, becomes a movie star. Richie Merritt was a 15-year-old Baltimore high school student with no resume – acting or otherwise. On a casting search, director Yann Demange chose Merritt to play the title character […]
These days I rarely go into a big-budget, franchise film knowing next to nothing about what I’m about to see. However, I was able to avoid all the trailers and promotion for “The Predator” and went into this reboot cold. And I’ve never watched any of the old installments – from the ’87 original with […]
2008’s “Taken” starred Liam Neeson as a father dealing with the “worst nightmare involving your child”. That film and subsequent franchise re-vamped Neeson’s career, elevating him to iconic action movie star status. Now, “Taken” director Pierre Morel presents the mother’s perspective of an even worse situation in “Peppermint”. The revenge thriller features the return to the […]