While I'm not a big fan of horror films, I've always had a place in my heart for action films. Action movies of the eighties were about muscle bound machismo; think Schwarzenegger and Stallone--blow a few things up. Save the world. When the credits rolled ninety minutes later, the audience went home pumped up and satisfied. With the dawn of the nineties came a new kind of action star--they were still pumped up but they brought some degree of martial arts/fighting skills to the table. Leading the pack of actors were men like Steven Segal, Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. There time at the top of the box office heap was short but memorable.
For years, I've been waiting for Disney-Pixar to disappoint me. I figured the studio that has brought us Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Cars and Finding Nemo among others was bound to put out a real stinker at some point. After watching Wall - E on Blu-ray, my stinker watch has ended and I'm about ready to declare Disney-Pixar the best movie studio in action today.
Director/writer Andrew Stanton, along with fellow screenwriter Jim Reardon, found a way to make us care about a trash-compacting robot whose attitude toward work and life might even provide a little inspiration for humans. The film obviously hopes to inspire people to take better care of the earth and consume less.
It is the holiday season friends. That means that the studios are trying to put forward their best stuff in hopes that their special editions and mega-sets will make it to your gift giving list this year; I've been receiving this stuff on a daily basis now for a couple of weeks. I'm on a first name basis with the delivery people who come to my door twice a day. I suppose the studios are hoping I'll be able to put together a gift guide for my readers as they try to find a gift for that hard to shop for relative, or the DVD collector who has every title available. Since there are so many great titles coming out around the holidays this year, I've decided it would be impossible to put together a gift guide. Instead, I'll just point out when a boxed set comes along that is perfectly designed for gift giving.
Written by Mart Crowley, The Boys in the Band opened off Broadway on April 14, 1968 at Theater Four. The show played to many standing room only crowds during its 1000 performance run. In 1970, Crowley adapted his play for into a film directed by a young William Friedkin and produced by future Vanity Fair diarist, Dominick Dunne. The ensemble cast, all of whom also played the roles in the play's initial stage run in New York City, includes Kenneth Nelson as Michael, Peter White as Alan, Leonard Frey as Harold, Cliff Gorman as Emory, Frederick Combs as Donald, Laurence Luckinbill as Hank, Keith Prentice as Larry, Robert La Tourneaux as Cowboy, and Reuben Greene as Bernard.
Directed by Patricia Rozema (Mansfield Park) and produced by Julia Roberts is the fourth film to be based on the popular line of American Girl dolls. As any fan of the dolls knows, each of them comes with their own backgrounds and histories. Of the four films produced based on the American Girl dolls, Kitt Kittredge - An American Girl was the first to receive a theatrical release. This is likely due in no small part, to the presence of Abigail Breslin in the title role. Just eleven when the movie was filmed, she has the charisma and charm that make her adorable to watch and her Oscar nominated performance in Little Miss Sunshine, proved she had acting chops as well.
Get Smart is a film adaption of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's 1960s spy parody television series of the same name. Warner Bros.' remake attempts to pay tribute to the old television series, which itself was a spoof of the then fairly new series of James Bond films. Doing a remake of a popular film or television series is always a tough sell. On one side of the argument, you have the fans of the original project, who argue that the original, with its stars, writers etc. can never be duplicated and on the other side, you have a group of moviegoers who are young enough not to care about the original a whole heck of a lot, they just want to see their favorite stars on screen.
Fresh off her success in William Wyler's Roman Holiday, Audrey Hepburn joined Humphrey Bogart, William Holden and director Billy Wilder for 1954's Sabrina. The film was adapted from the Samuel A. Taylor play Sabrina Fair. Taylor adapted his play for the screen, along with Ernest Lehman.
Paramount originally released Sabrina back in April of 2001, noticeably devoid of any real extras. The studio has corrected that oversight with its two disc Centennial Collection. Packed with featurettes, documentaries and a look at Paramount during the 1950's, this edition belongs in every movie lover's collection.
Released on August 27, 1953, Roman Holiday is probably best known as the film that introduced American audiences to Audrey Hepburn. Director/producer William Wyler (Ben-Hur) had originally wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role of Princess Ann ('Anya Smith') but Hepburn was cast after a screen test. After she had performed a dignified, subdued scene from the film, the director called "cut", but the cameraman left the camera rolling, showing the young actress suddenly becoming animated as she chatted with the director. The candid footage won her the role; some of it was later included in the original theatrical trailer for the film, along with additional screen test footage showing Hepburn trying on some of Anya's costumes and even cutting her own hair (referring to a scene in the film where Anya gets a haircut).
Created by Bill Lawrence (Spin City), Scrubs premiered in October of 2001. Lawrence has stated that he had two main reasons for calling the serfies Scrubs: The obvious being the attire worn by doctors, and the other being the fact that most of the main characters are fresh out of medical school, new and inexperienced (known in the medical field as "scrubs").
Scrubs focuses on the experiences of John "J.D." Dorian (Zach Braff) as he begins his career as doctor in a hospital crammed with unpredictable staffers and patients - where humor and tragedy can merge paths at any time. J.D. is joined by his college buddy, Chris Turk (Donald Faison), an intern with an elite surgical group, and J.D.'s fellow medical intern, the driven Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke). Keeping the new interns on their toes are: The chief of medicine, Dr. Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins); the tough, knowledgeable Dr. Perry Cox (John McGinley), and the caring but slightly jaded nurse Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes). The hospital janitor (Neil Flynn) also never seems to miss an opportunity to harass the interns.
Written by Milo Addica and Will Rokos, under the direction of Marc Forster, Monster's Ball is a film in which the characters seem to jump off the screen and draw us in to their difficult lives right from the start. Forster uses a slow, mournful tone that accentuates the sorrow in all the characters, without overplaying the emotions. In their first screenplay, writers Milo Addica and Will Rokos have crafted a small, character driven drama, filled with unforgettable moments through facial expression and dialogue. Every scene is intense, nearly every moment gripping.
Watching the film again seven years after its theatrical release, it is easy to see why Halle Berry won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Leticia Musgrove. In my mind, Monster's Ball stands as her finest big screen performance to date.
