Full House star and comedian Bob Saget has died in a Orlando, Fla. hotel room at the age of 65 to the shock of friends and family. I grew up watching Full House every week. When the series finale aired, I had tears falling down my face. Even though they weren’t related to me in real life, the Tanners were like family. It hurt when the series went off the air in the mid-1990s. The…
"Bob Saget Dead at 65"
Co-written with novelist Larry McMurtry, Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show is a coming-of-age tribute to a bygone era of time. “Nobody wants to come to shows no more. Kid baseball in the summer, television all the time.” — Miss Mosey (Jessie Lee Fulton) to Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges). Over fifty years later, these lines hit harder. Because of the pandemic, many theaters are fighting for their life. Movie palaces are especially fighting for their…
"The Last Picture Show: A Peter Bogdanovich Classic"
In the Heat of the Night, starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger as very different officers of the law, is one of the best movies ever made. “They call me Mister Tibbs!” – Officer Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) tells Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) when asked what he’s called in Philadelphia. Officer Tibbs is waiting at a train depot to make his journey back to Philadelphia when he’s suddenly accused of killing industrialist Phillip Colbert. Tibbs…
"In the Heat of the Night: The Best Picture of 1967"
Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner features a masterclass in acting from Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn. When the film first came out in late 1967, it couldn’t have been more controversial for the era. After all, so few films depicted an interracial marriage in a positive manner. A Black person and a white person couldn’t be married to each other in 17 states during the time of filming. It wasn’t until…
"Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner: A Masterclass"
In what is good news for families and another blow to the box office, Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red will launch March 11 on Disney+. The announcement was made this afternoon by Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. According to the press release, the film will be a Disney+ exclusive. It will receive the same treatment as Soul and Luca in that neither film will require an additional fee. The film will be included with the cost…
"Turning Red to Premiere on Disney+"
Amy Koppelman adapts her 2003 novel of the same name, A Mouthful of Air, into a feature film starring Amanda Seyfried and Finn Wittrock. In any other year, Amanda Seyfried would be in the conversation for Best Actress in a Leading Role. However, the studio didn’t really push the film ahead of its theatrical release in late October. Case in point: there were barely over twenty critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes as of the other…
"A Mouthful of Air Arrives on Home Video"
January is a month that studios typically use as a dumping ground for the not-good films and The 355 is no exception to the rule. The 355 is billed as a fast-paced espionage thriller but it didn’t feel fast-paced nor much of a thriller. This film takes us to the likes of Paris, Morocco, and Shanghai. There’s a star-studded cast but unfortunately, they can’t elevate the material no matter how much they try. The gist…
"The 355: The First Dud of 2022"
Four Hours at the Capitol is an in-depth chronicle of what took place during the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith The above quote is one that I kept going back to in the final two months of 2020 and early days of 2021. It’s sad that it’s even relevant but this is…
"Four Hours at the Capitol: The January 6 Insurrection"
The Sundance Institute announced this afternoon that they have cancelled the Park City portion of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. This announcement doesn’t come as a surprise given the high transmission of the new Omicron variant. As cases began to escalate, it was no longer a question of if but when. When Sundance moved their ticket sales from January 6 to January 13, I suspected that an announcement was coming. It was only a matter…
"Sundance 2022: Film Fest Cancels Park City Portion"
Antisemitism is not an easy watch but the Ilan Ziv documentary is essential viewing to understand why there is so much hatred towards Jews. The hatred towards Jews predates the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. It predates the Holocaust. Jew-hatred predates World War I. It even predates Henry Ford, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the writing of both Wilhelm Marr and Édouard Drumont’s books on Jews. The two were…
"Antisemitism: A Must-Watch Doc on Jew-Hatred"