Steven Spielberg’s life and career is celebrated in Spielberg, a new documentary from HBO. From award-winning director Susan Lacy, Spielberg’s life is documented in 2.5 hours and that amount of time alone isn’t enough to cover everything in Spielberg’s career. Many films are allotted to just a glimpse in a montage that covers Spielberg’s filmmaking career and even then, there are a number of Spielberg films that manage to get left out. “I avoided therapy…
"Spielberg: HBO Documentary celebrates Steven Spielberg"Category: Movies
Another day, another Hollywood blames Rotten Tomatoes on their poor summer box office showings article shows up. I can think of some great films I saw this summer but they didn’t make much money being that they were independent movies and not the product of the Hollywood studio system. So it’s sad when I see Hollywood attacking us film critics yet again for their dismal summer when there were some great films released and they…
"Hollywood blames Rotten Tomatoes for Poor Summer Box Office"
Transgender actress Daniela Vega stars in A Fantastic Woman and could very well make history at the Oscars by becoming the first transgender actress nominated for an acting role in the foreign language film should Sony Pictures Classics play their cards right. Here’s the first US trailer for the film: Vegas stars as Marina, a young waitress and aspiring singer. Her boyfriend, Orlando, falls ill and dies before reaching the hospital. Instead of being able…
"TRAILER: Transgender Actress Daniela Vega stars in A Fantastic Woman"
The Chicago Comedy Film Festival unveiled their lineup on September 1st ahead of the long holiday weekend. Feature films: Everybody Has An Andy Dick Story (77 Min, USA) Special Unit (102 Min, USA) Room for Rent (89 Min, Canada) For the Love of George (89 Min, USA) Something Out of Nothing (45 Min, USA) Love in Moreno Valley (80 Min, USA) Shorts: Alyssa Needs Gay Friends (4 Min, USA) Bob and Vargus (Webisodes, USA) Breakdown…
"Lineup announced for 2017 Chicago Comedy Film Festival"
With an end to the 2017 summer movie season, it’s time to round up my favorite films of this summer. While I was credentialed for both the Chicago Critics Film Festival, the Fantasia International Film Festival, and remotely covered a few films selected for the Flyover Film Festival, I am not including any of those films unless they’ve been released in theaters, video on demand, or Digital HD. I’ll start with the documentaries. I’ve seen…
"My Favorite Films of Summer 2017"
Another winner this summer was original summer content that came in the form of Baby Driver, The Big Sick, Dunkirk, and Girls Trip. 47 Meters Down also makes the list given how much it made at the box office against its budget. Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver opened in late June to an opening of $20.5 million. Wright’s film used a musical soundtrack in ways that the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise may never reach. The…
"Summer Winner: Original Summer Content"
Yesterday examined the summer losers. Today, I’m looking at the summer winners at the box office. The first winner over the sumer movie season: Comic Book Movies. This summer saw quite a few comic book films: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man Homecoming. Where many studio films suffered over the summer with the critics, these three films were hits with both the critics and fans alike. Through Labor Day weekend, all…
"Summer Winner: Comic Book Movies"
The next summer loser was the entire month of August. In a month packed with so many independent films fighting for an audience, it was the studios that failed to offer a film that could appeal to the entire family or at least a few of the movie-going quadrants. The month started off with the release of The Dark Tower from Sony Pictures and Aviron’s Kidnap starring Halle Berry. Nevermind the fact that Sony had…
"Summer Loser: The Month of August"
The R-rated comedy is going to need to be revamped heading into next year because aside from Girls Trip, they landed with a dud. The best comedies this summer were all indie comedies and I’ll have more on that when I visit the summer winners on Monday. Snatched, starring Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn, opened against King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. But a front-loaded opening weekend of $19 million wasn’t enough to keep it…
"Summer Loser: The R-Rated Comedy" The summer movie box office was down this year and one of the reasons can be blamed on franchise fatigue. This summer saw the releases of Alien: Covenant, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and Transformers: The Last Knight. Unfortunately for the studios, audiences just really didn’t care to see them. It didn’t help that several movies in the franchise preceded them. Despite the box office appeal of Tom Cruise and Russell…
"Summer Loser: Franchise Fatigue"