Ben Affleck headlines in this solid actioner that co-stars Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal, J.K. Simmons, John Lithgow, Jean Smart and Cynthia Addai-Robinson. Intercutting with flashbacks to his childhood, we are introduced to Christian Wolff (Affleck) a forensic accountant who has no problem working for the underworld, and occasionally clashing violently with them as well. Wolff…
Tag: john lithgow
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017) – Trish Sie
There’s, arguably, a good film and story in Pitch Perfect 3, something about the family we’re from and the family we find, but from the opening sequence, which involves an exploding yacht, I knew this one was going to be a mess. There’s some wonderful ideas, casting John Lithgow in the role of Fat Amy’s…
TIFF24: Conclave dir. Edward Berger
Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front stunned TIFF audiences and now, he’s back, with a cinematic adaptation of Robert Harris’ novel, Conclave. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini, Berger delivers a visually arresting dramatic piece that takes viewers inside the Vatican as Cardinals gather from across the globe to…
Blow Out (1981) – Brian De Palma
With a film like Blow Out it is very easy to see why comparisons to Hitchcock were made throughout De Palma’s career. A fantastic thriller that makes unique use of camera angles, framing, shots and the all important sound aspect of film. John Travolta headlines as Jack a soundman for low-budget horror movies who is…
Footloose (1984) – 4k
There is no way this film is forty years old. I remember very well the summer of ’84, and the first time that I saw Footloose. I was completely swept up in the music, I just recently discovered pop music, having grown up in a predominantly country household, and the rhythms and beats really spoke…
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) – W.D. Richter
For many people Peter Weller will always be RoboCop. For me, Weller will always be the super-cool Buckaroo Banzai, the neurosurgeon, rock star, comic book hero who fights Red Lectroids from Planet Ten with help from his back-up band (of fellow awesomely named scientists) The Hong Kong Cavaliers, as well as his fan club, the…
Cliffhanger (1993) – Renny Harlin
Somehow I feel this actioner from the early 90s doesn’t get enough love. In fact I think it can honestly be looked at and said it has improved with age, while some 90s action flicks should be better left forgotten. Directed by Renny Harlin, who had two big successes already at the time, Nightmare on…
Pet Sematary (2019) – Blu-Ray Review
The most recent Stephen King adaptation, and remake of the 1989 film, comes home on DVD and blu-ray today from Paramount Pictures. Featuring some pretty significant departures from the source material, but arguably faithful to it at the same time, this variation of the classic monkey’s paw tale is a fairly solid tale, while not…
Shrek (2001) – Andrew Adamson, and Vicky Jenson
The final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Toy Story is Dreamworks’ Shrek. While funny, skewering fairy tales and Disney characters and motiffs with a sly eye, the film hasn’t aged well. Sure the cast is outstanding Mike Myers in the titular role, Eddie Murphy as…
The Twilight Zone (1963) – In Praise of Pip, Steel, and Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
It’s time to dive into the fifth and final season of The Twilight Zone. The Complete Series on blu-ray, available from Paramount Pictures unveils the first three episodes of the season this week, as the series returns to a twenty-five minute runtime per episode as opposed to the fifty minute episodes of the previous season….
The Mind Reels 