This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece of man vs. nature, ‘Jaws’, and with the 4th of July marking the unofficial middle of the summer blockbuster season, it is a perfect time to revisit this classic film. The movie was released in June of 1975, and basically took over… Continue reading ‘Jaws’ – The Perfect Summer Blockbuster?
Sequels to comedy classics are inherently hard to pull off – the successful ones (’22 Jump Street’, ‘Toy Story 2’) both build on what has come before and take the conceit in a new direction, while the middling ones (‘The Hangover II’, ‘Men in Black II’) directly repeat the same formula, providing decent laughs and evaporating. … Continue reading ‘Ted 2’ – Yet another DOA Comedy Sequel?
‘Kingsman: The Secret Service,’ the newest film by writer-director Matthew Vaughn, is available now for rental after a successful theatrical release earlier this year. It’s an overly violent, darkly comic send-up of the James Bond spy genre based on comic-book writer Mark Millar’s ‘The Secret Service,’ a decidedly adult comic book collaboration between the prolific… Continue reading ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ – Gratuitously Violent Bond Send-Up?
The CW’s vigilante series, ‘Arrow’ completed its’ 3rd season a few weeks ago, and it appears to have really found its’ stride after building on a very solid 2nd season. With the introduction of Barry Allen’s Flash as part of this emerging DC Comics television universe, Oliver Queen’s Arrow has become the reluctant mentor-figure /… Continue reading ‘Arrow’ – Can Stephen Amell continue to save the DC universe?
A new Pixar release is almost always a cause for celebration, and ‘Inside Out’ is no exception. It’s a perfectly balanced original creation – an animated entertainment about emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling), that elicits and completely earns these same emotional responses from an audience thoroughly… Continue reading ‘Inside Out’ – Pixar Perfection Continues?
‘Game of Thrones’ ended yet another masterful season with the culmination of a number of storylines perfectly positioned and executed by all facets of this brilliant HBO show’s talented creative forces. This has been the program’s operating principle – introduce characters and plot threads held together by perfectly written and acted scenes, intersperse some of… Continue reading ‘Game of Thrones’ Season Five – Controversial, but will it alienate fans?
The original ‘Jurassic Park,’ released in the summer of 1993, was a huge blockbuster hit for Steven Spielberg. Its’ now classic elements of wonder and awe quickly turning to fear and horror, still resonate in the collective movie-going psyche. The sequels could never live up to the original, upping the ante on fx and action,… Continue reading ‘Jurassic World’ – Reinvention of a Classic?
The first season of the CW’s, ‘The Flash’, finished last week with a mind-bending, paradox-laden season finale cliffhanger. It was an episode that put the cherry on top of a blast of a television entrance for this DC Comics superhero, and a truly welcome one at that. Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen/Flash is a likable hero,… Continue reading ‘The Flash’ – Bringing comic book fun to the small screen?
George Miller can’t be criticized for being derivative since he basically invented the gas/water-starved, post-apocalyptic, dust-bowl landscape so frequently used and abused since his 1981 masterpiece, “The Road Warrior.” After working on masterful family films like ‘Babe”, he now returns to the sci-fi action genre with another slice of original perfection, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, a… Continue reading ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ – What Happens When a Lunatic Visionary gets to Spend $100+ Million?
Going into this final season of ‘Mad Men,’ the only question remaining about this stellar program was whether or not creator Matthew Weiner would stick the landing and maintain its’ status as one of the best shows of all time. Overall, throughout its’ history, this show has been near perfect, but the last mini-season 7… Continue reading ‘Mad Men’ Series Finale – The End of an Era?
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