Living for the Cinema

Marvel's First Family has returned to the big screen.....could the THIRD (or actually fourth if we're counting the Roger Corman version which never got a proper theatrical release) time be the charm?  Well it helps that they brought out the big guns: Matt Shankman (WandaVision) is directing and the all-star cast features Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) as Reed Richards otherwise known as Mr. Fantastic, Vaness Kirby (Mission Impossible Fallout, Napoleon) as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (A Quiet Place: Day One, Gladiator II) playing Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, and Emmy-winner Ebon M...

On paper, the set-up for this movie seems fairly conventional: a mild-mannered small-town diner owner named Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is living an idyllic life in the Indiana countryside with his wife Edie (Maria Bello) and two children when suddenly one night just before closing....two thugs enter his diner and start threatening everyone, start to get violent...and Tom channels the hero inside him to dispatch them and save everyone, then becoming a local hero known all around which starts to attract some attention from the wrong people who go after him and his family.

It...

WHO is Keyser Soze?

It was one of the more intriguing questions posted within cinemas in the Summer of 1995 and for good reason.  Identifying this mysterious spectral crime boss whom EVERY ONE else on screen was afaid of became the central mystery of this small indie crime thriller from a couple of relatively untested fimmakers with a very electic cast.  The director was Bryan Singer (X-Men Days of Future Past, Bohemian Rhapsody) and the Oscar-winning screenplay was by Christopher McQuarrie (Mission Impossible Fallout, Jack Reacher).  The stacked ensemble cast included Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Ste...

Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Point Break) joined forces with writer James Cameron (Titanic, Terminator 2, Avatar) to craft a dark vision of the future....this was released in '95 and the story takes place four years in the future on the eve of New Year's Eve '99.  This particular story takes place in a beleaguered Los Angeles beset with violence where the latest vice of choice are "squids" which are virtual reality discs that can deliver any number of visceral experiences for those who get "jacked" into experiencing them.  Lennny (Ralph Fiennes) is a pu...

During a peak era for Hollywood produced conspiracy thrillers, this was one of the most popular and for good reasons.  It was directed by the late, great Oscar-winner Sydney Pollack (Out of Africa, Tootsie, The Firm) and starred two of the most beautiful and enduring stars of this era.  Robert Redford (The Sting, Indecent Proposal) stars as Turner who is an mild-mannered analyst for the CIA who suddenly finds every one in his New York City research office brutally murdered while he went out of lunch....and now he's on the run to get answers, also before some one mu...

Look Up in the Sky.....

Superman is back and this time he's directed by James Gunn who also helmed the Guardians of the Galaxy Trilogy before switching sides in the superhero genre to now lead DC Studios and this is the FIRST official release now kicking off a brand new extended universe....hopefully.  There's a lot riding on this cinematic re-introduction to the Man of Steel (THAT film was the last time) and this time, he's played by David Corenswet (Twisters, We Own This City) in a story which takes place several years into this s...

What has Eight Legs, Two Fangs, and an Attitude?

It's your typical spider of course....only the villains of this creature feature offer much more than that: they swarm, they have high vertical leaps, AND they can kill you with just ONE bite! :o And they happen to reaching the same small-town destination of Canaima at the same time as one mild-mannered family moving from San Francisco out the country for the first time, the Jennings.  They are lead by Dr. Ross played by Jeff Daniels (Speed, Dumb & Dumber, The Newsroom) and his wife Molly p...

Forty years ago after half a decade of undeniable success (The Big Chill, Body Heat, Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark) four-time Oscar-nominated writer/directed Lawrence Kasdan cashed in that blank check to make his dream project....and old-fashioned Western.  And to do so, he assembled an All-Star cast lead by Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Kevin Costner, and Scott Glenn for this sprawling tale of corrupt sheriff's, reluctant heroes, land disputes, family vendettas, benevolent bar-matrons, small towns under siege,  dangerous posses, and of course lots of shootouts. :) Sadly it got lost in the shuffle of a summer do...

From the Producer of Days of Thunder (Jerry Bruckheimer) and the Director of Tom Gun Maverick (Joseph Kosinski) comes a new ORIGINAL summer epic combining elements of both films and even headlined by an major movie star comparable to Tom Cruise..  That would be Oscar-winner Brad Pitt who stars as Sonny, a veteran racer on the verge of retirement who returns to his original sport of passion, Formula One racing.  He has been courted back by his his old teammate (Javier Bardem) who now owns a racing team and is being paired with a hot shot rookie racer named Jo...

Welcome to the LIVING FOR THE BOYLE review series!  Daniel Francis Boyle originally hailed from Manchester, England and his filmmaking career took off thirty years ago in 1995 with the release of acclaimed cult thriller Shallow Grave.  And ever since then, Danny Boyle (as he’s officially known) has carved out a uniquely successful career not only achieving box office success several times but also winning a few Oscars along the way.  During this time period, he has also become one of MY personal favorite directors, having helmed excellent ORIGINAL stories spanning several genres including children’s fantasy, science...

This is the story of two cellmates in a Brazillian prison who form a unique bond despite coming form very different backgrounds - one is a political prisoner played by the late, great Raul Julia (The Addams Family, Presumed Innocent) and the other is a homosexual window dresser played by the late, great William Hurt (Broadcast News, Body Heat) in the role which won him his only Oscar.  Their story takes several unexpected turns as a poltiical thriller, prison drama, and even a tale of fantasy.  The titular Spider Woman (Sonia Braga) appears within the fantasy portion and what re...

Six years after the runaway phenomenon that was Gremlins, director Joe Dante (The Howling, Innerspace) finally delivered a sequel....only this time, he brought the action to New York City where Billy (Zach Galligan) and Kate (Phoebe Cates) now live.  They both have jobs working at the famous Clamp Tower for the Clamp Corporation which is run by famous billionaire Daniel Clamp (John Glover).....and life is pretty dull overall.  Until one day, they're sent an old friend at the tower.....more than an old friend, it's Gizmo the adorable Mogwai from the first film! :) Will they follow "The RU...

The Scariest Movie EVER Made? Well upon its initial release forty-five years ago, not many critics saw it that way INCLUDING the author of the original novel which this film was based on, Stephen King.  But over time, this psychological thriller directed by the late, great Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut) has garnerned not only a devoted following but a never-ending stream of speculation about what it meant.  Many love it for the memorable main lead performance by Oscar-winner Jack Nicholson (Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Batman)  as Jack Tor...

From Oscar-winning director Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Rushmore, The Royal Tannenbaums) comes his latest uniquely framed and acted adventure about a wealthy businessman (Oscar-Winner Benicio Del Toro) who's on a dangerous mission to not only preserve his wealth but also to possibly reconcile with his daughter played by newcomer Mia Threapleton.  Alongside his latest assistant (and insect expert) Bjorn (Michael Cera), they travel around the world encountering a genuinely unique assortment of rival businessmen and/or potential assassins played by an All-Star cast including Tom Hanks, Rupert Friend, Scarlett Johannsen, Riz Ahmed, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, and B...

From the World of John Wick....this is techically a spin-off which takes place between the events of John Wick Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, the focus here is on Eve who is played by Ana De Armas.  Eve is an assassin who was initially trainied as as a ballerina, hence the title!  The Director of her "academy" is Angelica Huston who was also featured as a character in Chapter 3.  Eve is seeking revenge against a rival organization which murdered her father when she was a young child - that organization is lead by The Chancellor played by Gabriel Byr...

Twenty years ago, this tragic romantic drama took the world by storm by becoming a suprise international box office hit along with garnering massive acclaim.  It even eventually won a few Academy awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Socre, and most importantly Best Director for Ang Lee who was coming off of directing two more action-oriented blockbusters before this, Hulk and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.  This film's story focuses on two ranchhands just trying to make a living as they embark on herding a massive flock of sheep around the titular Brokeback Mountain.  They are Ennis DelMar (Heath Led...

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the rest of the IMF crew are back for ONE last mission....to save the world from The Entity, a massive artificial intelligence collective which has spread so far it is now on the verge of taking over every major nuclear weapons arsenal.  And the President (Angela Bassett) is running out of options as Ethan still has possession of ONE key item which our AI overlord still needs....a cruciform key.  As this is a direct continuation of the previous Mission: Impossible sequel (Dead Reckoning) from a couple of years ago, most of that fi...

Twenty-five years ago, director John Woo (Hard Boiled, Face/Off) joined this franchise to helm this long-awaited sequel to the first cinematic adaptation from '96.  And whereas the first film was a paranoid espionage thriller, he and star/producer/mastermind Tom Cruise decided to shift THIS entry in the direction of ramped up operatic action mixed with forbidden romance.  Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back for his next mission where he must prevent a now disavowwed former IMF-rival Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) from doing something nefarious with a mysterious bio-weapon/virus nicknamed "Chimera."  And to get closer to this new...

Based upon the comic strip created in 1931 by Chester Gould, this eye-popping live-action adaptation was long planned by Oscar-winning director Warren Beatty (Reds, Heaven Can Wait) who also elected to star as the titular square-jawwed crime fighter sporting a bright yellow jacket.  Finally green-lit and released by Disney in the wake of the breakout success the prior year of Tim Burton's Batman, the studio was hoping that it could duplicate the mega-blockbuster success of that comic book adaptation, backing its release with loads of marketing hype AND three different soundtrack albums including an assortment of original songs written by T...

During the waning days of World War II, a group of American soldiers find themselves without a leader nor a mission so they decide to sneak behind enemy lines to attempt to steal a hidden cache of gold which even most Nazi's are aware of.  Clint Eastwood (who plays the titular Private Kelly) leads an all-star cast including Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Donald Sutherland, Carol O'Connor, and Harry Dean Stanton.  Directed by Brian G. Hutton (Where Eagles Dare), this is as much of a comedic heist film as war movie, let's see how they pull off their mission. 

H...

Welcome to the LIVING FOR THE BOYLE review series!  Daniel Francis Boyle originally hailed from Manchester, England and his filmmaking career took off thirty years ago in 1995 with the release of acclaimed cult thriller Shallow Grave.  And ever since then, Danny Boyle (as he’s officially known) has carved out a uniquely successful career not only achieving box office success several times but also winning a few Oscars along the way.  During this time period, he has also become one of MY personal favorite directors, having helmed excellent ORIGINAL stories spanning several genres including children’s fantasy, science...

The beach town of Amity Island has been experiencing some mysterious attacks from a mysterious entity within the nearby ocean, resulting in some brutal deaths.  And the local police chief Brody (Roy Scheider) is concerned that it MIGHT be sharks....and he's not the only one, there's also the visiting marine biologist Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) who suspects that it MIGHT be a Great White Shark. :o And besides them, there's the local sea-dog Quint (Robert Shaw) who not only believes that it's a Great White Shark but that ONLY he can kill it. And we're off to the sea i...

From the director (Tobe Hooper) of The Texas Chainsaw Massacare and the writer (Dan O'Bannon) of Alien comes this crazy sci-fi horror thriller about a potential alien invasion which occurs around London after a race of space vampires (yes you read that right) come calling via Haley's Comet and an Earth-bound spaceship.  This ambitious Cannon Pictures release was a notable flop when it was first released in June of 1985 but has since garned a cult following due to several crazy setpieces, ample female nudity (from one alien in particular played by Matilda May), and.....some very inventive visual effects t...

How do you follow up a genuine once-in-a-lifetime pop culture phenomenon like the initial release of Star Wars in 1977?  Well if you're writer/director/producer George Lucas, you use your ownership of the franchise to continue the story but in a unique new direction with a new director (Irwin Kirsher) along with a new up-and-coming writer (Lawrence Kasdan) to take over most creative decisions.  You also decide to bring back most of the main cast (Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse/James Earl Jones, Peter Mayhew) while deciding to introduce some exciting new characters including Yo...

Adam (John Travolta) is an intrepid reporter for Rolling Stone magazine currently chasing the biggest story of his career while in LA....when he suddenly comes up with an intriguing back-up story: how healthclubs are becoming the singles bars of the 1980's. :P  And he zeroes in on one healthclub in particular which is called "The Sports Connection" and there he becomes immersed in their world, he is mostly drawn to Jessie (Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis) who is a very charismatic aerobics instructor drawing enthusiastic crowds, though also has a past.  He begins chasing a story about her while al...

Bud (John Travolta) is a young man from the country who moves to Houston to work at the local oil refinery and starts to spend a lot of time at the local country and western bar named Gilley's where he meets Sissy (Debra Winger).  Over much dancing and drinks, they start to fall in love and eventually get married.  Since they are young and impetuous, they start to have problems....and things just get more complicated from there, but can their love prevail?  Along the way, there's plenty of great music and dancing as director James Bridges (The China Syn...

HAPPY 400TH EPISODE - Thanks to all listeners and subscribers for your continued support!!! :)

Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) are twin brothers who also are both recent World War I veterans and Chicago gangsters.  It's 1932 and they have now returned to their home town in the MIssissippi Delta to start their own juke joint.  They find the right spot and recruiter plenty of friends and family to get involved including their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) who plays a mean guitar and Smoke's ex-wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) who cooks some great catfish.  The...

For the Memories of a Lifetime.....

In the Year 2084, Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a mild-mannered construction worker just living the simple life with his loving wife Lori (Sharon Stone).  All seems well and normal, except he's been having these dreams.....about going to Mars, where apparently his eyes can get sucked out of his head if he tries to breathe freely on the surface?? :o Maybe they're not dreams, maybe he has been to Mars....and when he visits a local travel agency (sort of) named Rekall to get memories implanted about a possible t...

Exactly one year after his historic comeback in the seminal Pulp Fiction (which he received an Oscar nomination for), John Travolta followed it up with this slick and crime caper/satire adapted from the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name.  Here he plays Chili Palmer, a mob enforcer from Miami who LOVES movies, is visiting Los Angeles for the first time, and finds himself very eager to get into the movie business.  Once there, he meets a schlock producer (Gene Hackman - RIP), a scream queen (Rene Russo), a pretentious movie star (Danny DeVito), and a menacing wanna-be pr...

Welcome to the LIVING FOR THE BOYLE review series!  Daniel Francis Boyle originally hailed from Manchester, England and his filmmaking career took off thirty years ago in 1995 with the release of acclaimed cult thriller Shallow Grave.  And ever since then, Danny Boyle (as he’s officially known) has carved out a uniquely successful career not only achieving box office success several times but also winning a few Oscars along the way.  During this time period, he has also become one of MY personal favorite directors, having helmed excellent ORIGINAL stories spanning several genres including children’s fantasy, science...

Master '80's auteur Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Silverado, Body Heat) kicked off the '90's with this dark comedy based upon the bizarre true story of a philandering husband whose wife conspired to murder him....and yet he wouldn't die. :o The husband is Joey played by Oscar-Winner Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda, Dave), the wife is Rosalie played by Emmy-Winner Tracey Ullman (Tracey Takes On) and the cast just gets more interesting from there including Oscar-nominee Joan Plowright as Rosalie's mother, Oscar-nominated River Phoenix as Rosalie's friend, PLUS Oscar-Winner William Hurt and Keanu Reeves playing...

It's 106 miles to Chicago, they've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and they're wearing sunglasses....

The brothers are Joliet Jake Blue (John Belushi) and Elmwood Blues (Dan Ackroyd)....and they're on a mission from God.  Well actually they're on a mission to save the Catholic home where they grew up and to get the band back together.  Seems simple enough but there are a LOT of obstacles in their way including US Marshalls, Chicago police, Illinois State Troopers, the Illinois Nazis, the Good Ol' Boys, and...the late, gr...

Twenty years ago, Sir Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Napoleon, 1492, Black Hawk Down) directed yet another large-scale historical drama.....this time taking place during the Crusades as we watch war escalate between the Saracins and Christian armies sent over from Europe.  And apparently no one really cared. :( The film received middling reviews and box office upon release.  

However following in the tradition of another maligned, often misunderstood genre epic which he directed back in the 1980's - Blade Runner - Ridley Scott arranged to have HIS own personal extended director's cut released to DVD, including at least forty minutes of...

John McClane is Back!  After successfully defeating terrorists at Nakatomi Plaza in the first movie and Dulles Airport in the second movie, McClane (Bruce Willis) is once again working as a NYPD cop.  Hung over and once again on the outs with his wife, he has been called back into duty to track down a mysterious new threat who's not only planting explosives around the city but is specifically asking for HIM.  This threat is named Simon (Jeremy Irons) and he apparently wants to play games with McClaine while he terrorizes the public, even threatening to blow up a loc...

Out on her first night on the beat, rookie NYPD cop Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) comes upon a robbery in a grocery store and takes down the perpetrator.  However as soon as she takes him down, things take a strange turn as one witness flees the scene with that perp's weapon.  Soon after, Megan meets a mysterious commodies trader named Eugene played by Ron Silver (Timecop, Reversal of Fortune, The West Wing) and....things get even stranger from there. :o These events kick off a slick, violent action thriller directed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Point Br...

Welcome to the LIVING FOR THE BOYLE review series!  Daniel Francis Boyle originally hailed from Manchester, England and his filmmaking career took off thirty years ago in 1995 with the release of acclaimed cult thriller Shallow Grave.  And ever since then, Danny Boyle (as he’s officially known) has carved out a uniquely successful career not only achieving box office success several times but also winning a few Oscars along the way.  During this time period, he has also become one of MY personal favorite directors, having helmed excellent ORIGINAL stories spanning several genres including children’s fantasy, science...

What's this?  Yet ANOTHER movie/series about a married couple who are also spies?!? :o Yes this thriller is about a couple of British spies who both work for the same intelligence agency and apparently there's a dangerous leak which has occurred at this agency.  One of them has been tasked with finding out who the leaker is while the OTHER might actually be the prime suspect....uh-oh, could be silly! :P

Or maybe not as it's written by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Panic Room), directed by Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich, Ocean's 11), and features a...

Who doesn't love a movie focused on a party?? :) Well when they're done right at least....Animal House, Bachelor Party....and thirty-five years ago, director Reginald Hudlin (Boomerang) made his debut with one of the better ones.  It also starred a hip-hop duo no less, Kid & Play - Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin co-star as two high school friends who just want to rap, dance, and meet girls.  And that pretty much comprises the story of the movie......they just want to have fun along  the two young ladies they have their eyes on, Sydney (Tisha Campbell) and Sharane (AJ...

Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer, The Host) returns from his Oscar triumph five years ago with his first directorial effort since his worldwide smash Parasite, which remains the ONLY foreign language film to ever win the Oscar for Best Picture.  This time around, he's directing a high concept sci-fi comedy adventure taking place in the future focusing on Mickey (Robert Pattinson) who works as an "Expendable" for a growing organization looking to colonize a snowy desolate planet.  His job entails being used as a tester of various hostile environments, new viruses, potential vaccines, and any number of deadly situations which ca...

With only their third feature film (following Blood Simple & Raising Arizona), The Coen Brothers (Joel & Ethan) delivered one of the most unique crime dramas of its era...or any era.  This neo-noir takes place during the Prohibition Era in an unidentified American city which is currently enmeshed in an ongoing war between two rival criminal organizations, one lead by Leo (Albert Finney) and the other lead by Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito).  Leo's main advisor and most trusted lieutenant is Tom (Gabriel Byrne) whose fears and machinations are at the core of this story.  And through Tom, we get to enc...