Sep
2
James J. Lee, someone who apparently despises reality television even more than I do, took some hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters yesterday and demanded the network pull crappy shows like “Kate Plus 8″ and “19 Kids and Counting” because they glorify breeders. A bit of a misanthrope, Lee was quoted as saying, “Humans are [...]
Continue reading...Sep
1
Why Don’t Film Students Watch Movies?
Filed Under Culture
Fall semester began last week, and I’m already learning new and interesting things about the cinematic arts. Like yesterday, for instance, one of my professors was about to talk about a Hero’s goal, motivation and need as it applies to the film, “Inception,” but one student hadn’t seen the movie. And so, we couldn’t go [...]
Continue reading...Aug
25
Forgotten Filmmakers | Edward L. Montoro
Filed Under Movies
Everyone knows who Roger Corman is. A legendary b-movie producer/director with an unmatched eye for talent, Corman not only made a killing off schlock and cheapies, but also launched the careers of James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian DePalma, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante, John Sayles and many other luminaries whose names [...]
Continue reading...Aug
24
Man Alive, “The Walking Dead” Looks Rotten
Filed Under TV
Against my better judgment, I’m still reading Robert Kirkman’s zombie snoozefest, “The Walking Dead.” Every six months, another trade hits stands, and I dutifully pick it up, wondering just how boring the apocalypse will get. The most recent volume has hero Rick Grimes and his son, as well as his ragtag group of interchangeable nobodies [...]
Continue reading...Aug
23
“Piranha 3D” Review
Filed Under Movies
I’m an easy mark when it comes to “Jaws” ripoffs. Last weekend, I watched “Great White” (aka “The Last Shark”), a 1980 “Jaws” pseudo-remake that Steven Spielberg had pulled from theaters because it has more than a passing resemblance to his 1975 blockbuster. Just yesterday I rented “Grizzly,” basically “Jaws” with a bear.
And so, “Piranha [...]
Aug
20
“Spider-Man” Reboot Ditches the Redhead
Filed Under Movies
A funny recurring gag in Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s run on “Amazing Spider-Man” is that Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker’s future wife-until-their-marriage-was-retconned-or-something, is never shown in full to the reader. The panels were framed with her face cropped out or obscured by a plant or another character. Neither the reader, nor Pete himself, is [...]
Continue reading...Aug
19
The Girl With the Lousy Movie Offers
Filed Under Movies
Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, the original “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and my Manic Pixie Dream Girl, has recently come to Hollywood, where she’s been inundated with offers to appear in a load of crappy films. Let’s look at the list, shall we? We’ve got “Sherlock Holmes 2,” “Mission: Impossible IV,” McG’s “This Means War,” [...]
Continue reading...Aug
18
RIP “At the Movies”
Filed Under Culture
I always made time to watch Siskel and Ebert when I was younger. Curious about how two curmudgeonly oldsters weighed in on movies I enjoyed, I tuned in to their show every Sunday afternoon during my adolescent years. I still remember how Gene Siskel said that “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the [...]
Continue reading...Aug
17
The Terrible Actress With the Dragon Tattoo
Filed Under Movies
Beating out Natalie Portman, Carey Mulligan and Kristen Stewart — all horrible choices to begin with — for the role of Lisbeth Salander in the remake of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is Rooney Mara, who you may already not know from the awful remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” What an astoundingly [...]
Continue reading...Aug
16
“The Expendables” Review
Filed Under Movies
Sylvester Stallone’s latest exercise in turning people inside-out, “The Expendables,” is a movie I went into with very low expectations. Reviews had generally been mixed-negative, and I was concerned that the considerable talents of the film’s cast would be wasted. Was this simply a DTV cheapie released theatrically, or was this the genuine article, a [...]
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