MCN Originals Archive for July, 2012
Wilmington on Movies: Red Lights
The first half of this movie is pretty good — which may be a case of digging yourself a beautiful hole and then getting trapped in it. Cortes mercifully doesn’t direct like a rock-video maker and he knows how to tighten knots and turns screws. But he’s not that good yet.
Read the full article »Friday Estimates, July 13, 2012
Ice Age 4 opens right in the middle of the series pack domestically. No Ice Age movie has ever grossed as much as $200m domestically and the big story of the series’ success is overseas, where it’s still early in its rollout. The Friday-to-Friday drop for Amazing Spider-Man is decent, though last Friday was the film’s 4th day in domestic release. Ted continues to hold strong.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Organizer (I Compagni)
The Italian title of The Organizer, I Compagni, means “The Comrades,” and Monicelli was in fact a lifelong socialist deeply committed to the Italian labor union movement, and if that seems strange — given the comical ways he portrays both Professor Sinigaglia and his great strike, we should recognize that it’s Monicelli’s blend of comedy and tragedy, realism and wit that’s responsible for this film’s remarkable depth and the complex emotions it arouses, the way it generates poignancy and humor and many shadings in between.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Twins of Evil, Black Limousine, Kassim, Quill, Making Plans for Lena, Cherry Bomb, Chariots of Fire … More
The gimmick attraction was the casting of identical Maltese twins, Mary and Madeleine Collinson, as the vampire-bait siblings, Maria and Frieda. Having recently posed for the centerfold pictorial of Playboy magazine and being cast in a short stag film, they were pretty marketable. After 40 years, however, “Twins of Evil” can stand on its own merits… not that Collinsons don’t retain their allure.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: Savages
These three lead a sort of idyllic hippie-outlaw-rich-druggie existence (like young, successful moviemakers maybe), with lots of money to spend, lots of ganja to smoke, and lots of sheets to get tangled in — in paradisiacal surroundings on Laguna Beach, drenched in the blazing colors and the lush foliage of beachside life on the Pacific, as shot by cinematographer Dan Mindel. Then their dream world begins to crumble.
Read the full article » 4 Comments »DVD Geek: The Artist
The black-and-white image is crisp and captivating. The quality of the BD presentation enhances, among other things, the film’s fabulous production design, so that the locations—such as the Bradbury Building stairwell, evocative of a Jerry Lewis production design, which shows Dujardin’s character on the way down meeting Bejo’s character on the way up, as extras breeze past them and around them in a mysteriously perfect rhythm—and costumes pelt the viewer continually with refreshing stimulation.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Friday Estimates: July 6, 2012
After opening big on Tuesday, Spider Man stays topside with another $20.3m on Friday. Ted will pass $100 today and Brave holds strong. Oliver Stone’s Savages debuted in fifth on the list with $5.6.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: The Amazing Spider-man
So Tobey Maguire, who apparently became obsolescent at 32 (or at least too old for playing angst-ridden teenagers), gets sent off to the Old Superheroes‘ home, to be replaced by 28-year-old brooding British cutie-pie and critic’s pet Andrew Garfield, who played Mark Zuckerberg‘s (Jesse Eisenberg’s) college chum/partner Eduardo in The Social Network — not my idea of an American teenager, but we‘ll let that pass.
Read the full article »Pride’s Friday 5 (July 6, 2012)
Where’s “Margaret”? “The Battle Of Algiers” is re-fought in Los Angeles and New York this week; Yang Chung’s “China Heavyweight” opens in New York City; The Overlook Hotel is constantly under construction; and Godard’s “Contempt” shows via Film Independent at LACMA.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Carol Channing — Larger Than Life
I never saw Carol Channing perform live, but the new documentary Carol Channing: Larger Than Life convinced me I missed something very, very special — a great talent and a great lady and a great good time.
Read the full article » 2 Comments »The DVD Wrapup: American Dream, Joe + Belle, Barbarella, Chesty Morgan, Kirk Douglas … More
If there’s anything that brings out the high-school sophomore in adult men, it’s a bust that measures 73 FF. That vital statistic, alone, made Chesty Morgan (a.k.a., Lillian Wilczkowsky) a name recognized in frat, fire and grind houses throughout North America from 1972 to 1991. And, yes, her breasts were – and continue to be, at 75 – 100 percent real.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: Andy Griffith (1926-2012)
Andy Griffith, who died at 86 on Tuesday, would have been celebrating his last Fourth of July today. I’m sad. But that makes me even sadder — the fact that he just missed it — because there are some people you always want to be around somewhere, somehow, and Andy Griffith was one of them: a real American guy on a real American holiday like the Fourth of July, with flags and barbecues and patriotic speeches and families gathered together in the sweltering heat — or together in the cool night air to watch the fireworks go pop-pop-pop-pop-Yaaaayyy!!!
Read the full article » 8 Comments »The Gronvall Files: Actress Elizabeth Banks on People Like Us
Looking at the roster of titles this year that star Elizabeth Banks, one of Hollywood’s hardest working actresses, it’s a mystery where she ever finds time to sleep.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »The Weekend Report, July 1, 2012
The pundits anticipated that audience hearts would once again be in the Highlands and Brave would be atop weekend box office.
They were wrong.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: Magic Mike
The Kid’s star rises. Things get darker. There’s a lot of sex and nudity, including an orgy with a pig wandering around. (You suspect something like this once happened somewhere.)
Read the full article » 1 Comment »The Gronvall Files: Lorene Scafaria on Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
“know what I would be like. I would go for love, I would go for a relationship, and I’d look for friends. Death is inevitable, and it is the great equalizer, so the idea that [when that moment comes] you could just be looking into the eyes of the person you love, that is a happy ending to me.”
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: Grand Illusion
Few films about war and the men who fight them have the resonance, beauty and power of Jean Renoir’s 1937 Grand Illusion — which Renoir based on his own experiences as a fighter pilot and a Prisoner of War in World War I.
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