Spirit Untamed is the next installment in the Spirit franchise, which also includes the Spirit Riding Free animated series on Netflix. The first Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron film, all the back in 2002, was a major shift in what we’re used to seeing in animated features. Instead of people voicing animals, Matt Damon provided Spirit’s internal thoughts. Not that there’s anything wrong with this but for a film focusing mostly on animals, it was such…
"Spirit Untamed Continues The Adventure"Author: Danielle Solzman
Danielle Solzman
The Pride of the Yankees, despite its flaws, makes for appropriate viewing on Lou Gehrig Day, which is now celebrated in baseball. Gehrig passed away on this date in 1941. He never did live to see the film, which earned 11 Oscar nominations and winning one for editing. The editing is certainly well deserved given that Gary Cooper never played baseball before signing onto the film. This is what the reports say. Many reports say…
"The Pride of the Yankees: Lou Gehrig Day"
The Shop Around The Corner, starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, features the traditional Lubitsch touch in their third team-up. When Ernst Lubitsch died, as William Wyler once remarked to Billy Wilder, it meant “no more Lubitsch movies.” The movies were personified by what we call The Lubitsch Touch. As explained on the back of the Blu-ray case, it’s the filmmaker’s trademark: “wit instead of buffoonery, sentiment instead of sentimentality, affection instead of attitude.” The…
"The Shop Around The Corner: The Lubitsch Touch"
Michael Barnett and Alex Schmider spoke with Solzy at the Movies about Changing the Game, the transgender sports documentary. The film is now available on Hulu. I first saw Changing the Game two years ago during the Tribeca Film Festival. A lot has and hasn’t happened when it comes to transgender rights. All across the nation, Republican state legislatures are using their platform to treat transgender people as if they aren’t even human. We’re here…
"Changing the Game: Michael Barnett & Alex Schmider"
Mister Roberts features a star-studded cast of actors while the Best Picture nominee beautifully translates from the stage to the screen. The film is based on the play, which in turn was based on the novel of the same name. In addition to Best Picture, the film would earn a Best Sound, Recording nomination and Jack Lemmon would win his first Oscar with a Best Supporting Actor win. Mister Roberts may be set during World…
"Mister Roberts: Best Picture Nominee Is On Blu-ray"
Oslo, the new film premiering on HBO and streaming on HBO Max, keeps close to its theatrical roots in revisiting the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. Listen, I’m not going to inject my opinion into this film. We all know how things have and haven’t changed since the accords. The timing is certainly a coincidence. Production was announced in November and dated on the schedule at the end of April. This is not a case of…
"Oslo: HBO Movie Keeps Close To Theatrical Roots"
The Mortal Storm, starring both Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, is the film that got MGM banned by Germany during WWII. Between 1936 and 1940, Sullavan and Stewart starred in Next Time We Love, The Shopworn Angel, The Shop Around the Corner, and The Mortal Storm. One could make the argument that Sullivan is also responsible for Stewart becoming a star. This is another story for another day. But anyway, this is their fourth and final team-up before…
"The Mortal Storm Got MGM Banned In Germany"
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers delivered on bringing the nostalgia in putting together a group of hockey-playing misfits. The following contains spoilers for the first season finale. I’ve been writing about the Ducks quite a bit over the past season. This is a series that has brought so much nostalgia. I have to admit that I had some pause when the series was first announced. At the time, we only knew that Lauren Graham and…
"The Mighty Ducks are BACK!"
Shepherd: The Story of a Jewish Dog is a heartbreaking film set during the 1930s when Jews were dealing with the onset of the Shoah. This film is about Kaleb, a handsome German Shepherd, and the bond that he shares with Joshua (August Maturo). The film runs an hour and a half and because it is more or less geared for families, the horrors aren’t really on display. That’s not to minimize what happened but…
"Shepherd: The Story of a Jewish Dog"
Cruella, a prequel that absolutely nobody asked for, is the Disney version of 2019’s stand-alone Joker as the film seeks to humanify the villain. This film runs 134 minutes. Ahead of the press screening, I decided to rewatch both 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians. These two films were among Disney’s first foray into live-action adaptations of their animated films. Maybe it was a sign of things to come but in this particular instance, neither film is…
"Cruella: Emma Stone-Led Prequel Is Disney’s Joker"