Ron Howard hit another home run with his 2008 adaptation of Peter Morgan’s play, Frost/Nixon, starring Frank Langella and Michael Sheen. Peter Morgan adapted his play for the screen and one gets a sense of the film playing out like a boxing match. David Frost (Michael Sheen) is on one side of the ring while former President Richard M. Nixon (Frank Langella) is on the other side. Anyway, the headlining interview does not come until…
"Frost/Nixon: A Delayed 15th Anniversary Review"Tag: Ron Howard
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years focuses on the years spent touring on the road during the height of Beatlemania. I’ve been in something of a Beatles kick of late–my flight to LA saw me listening to Pure McCartney while my return trip covered Please Please Me through Rubber Soul or Revolver. I’ll get through the rest of the albums when I fly to NY in December. My review of the…
"The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years"
Thirteen Lives is a gripping thriller about the incredible 2018 Thailand cave rescue of a soccer team trapped in Tham Luang cave network. Ron Howard is no stranger to making films about incredibly true rescues. He did it years ago with Apollo 13 and now he’s back again. Last year saw the premiere of The Rescue during the fall festival season. Where that film is a documentary, the narrative feature goes full thriller, capturing all…
"Thirteen Lives Is A Gripping Real-Life Thriller"
Light & Magic is a 6-part documentary series that goes back into the archives to give us the deep history of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). The history of ILM cannot be told without George Lucas, John Dykstra, Ken Ralston, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Robert Blalack, Joe Johnston, Phil Tippett, Steve Gawley, Lorne Peterson, and Paul Huston. It’s because of them that filmmaking would change as a result of a sci-fi film, Star Wars. Dennis Muren would also join the list of…
"Light & Magic Tells The Rich History of ILM"
Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man marks 60 years since the Oscar-winning film hit the big screen during the summer of 1962. When one looks back on 1962, it’s typically known as one of the greatest years in cinematic history. There’s no lie in this. In any other year, The Music Man might have won Best Picture. But when released up against the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, good luck with that. The film’s only Oscar…
"The Music Man, Librarian, and 76 Trombones at 60"
Hillbilly Elegy launches on Netflix this fall as an awards contender for Amy Adams and Glenn Close but their performances cannot save the film. I’m a Kentucky native so naturally, I like that there were scenes set in Jackson, Kentucky. Having a film directed by Ron Howard and starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close is enough to pique my interest. But there needs to be more here in order to elevate the film and take…
"Hillbilly Elegy: Oscar Bait Falls Short"
Apollo 13, the Oscar-winning* film about the NASA rescue mission, is just as inspiring of a film as it marks the 25th anniversary. This flight was supposed to be nothing more than a routine flight. America had just set foot on the moon in both July and November 1969. Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) were supposed to be the third group of Americans to land on the…
"Apollo 13 Celebrates 25th Anniversary"
Solo: A Star Wars Story is a film that gives us Han Solo’s cinematic origin story while staying true to the original Star Wars trilogy. WHILE I TRIED MY BEST TO AVOID THEM, THERE ARE POTENTIAL SPOILERS…SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. What is known about where the film sits within the Star Wars canon is that the events take place between that of Thrawn and Tarkin. It’s also set before the events of A New…
"Solo: A Star Wars Story – Road to IX"
Ron Howard’s newest documentary, Pavarotti, goes back into the past to celebrate the life of The People’s Tenor himself, Luciano Pavarotti. It’s very well possible that the singer might be the only person to give opera a form of entertainment value. I’ll be the first to admit that opera isn’t my cup of tea but there’s entertainment to be had here. A bulk of the video comes by way of home video. It just so…
"Pavarotti: Ron Howard profiles Opera legend" With the home video release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, fans can go behind the scenes with an expansion of bonus features. There’s a nice array of bonus content featured on the second disc. That’s right. The bonus content is too big for any single Blu-ray disc. Through such content, the filmmakers take us behind the scenes of some of the biggest moments in Star Wars history. The Kessel run isn’t without some discussion…
"Solo: A Star Wars Story Comes Home"