Thursday, July 31, 2025
Boogie Nights (1997)-Paramount Summer Classic Film Series
Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)
The Wild Bunch (1969)- Paramount Summer Classic Film Series
Superman (2025)
Comic book films continue to dominate the theatrical Marketplace in these times. We've already had two MCU films this year, Captain America Brave New World and the Thunderbolts / the New Avengers. This week it is the DCEU that gets an opportunity to reassert itself at the box office. The new phase of DCEU films, supervised by James Gunn, kicks off with a reboot of DC's Premier superhero Superman.
This newest version of Superman is different from both the 1978 Richard Donner film and the Zack Snyder films of a decade ago. The Christopher Reeve film was optimistic with a strong sense of humor based on characters, and the relationship between Superman and Lois Lane was at the center of the story. In the Zack Snyder version Superman and Lois finally get together, and it seems to make both of their lives miserable rather than fulfilled. There was almost no levity in these early DCEU stories.
This Superman is a true comic book version. There are heroes and villains from other worlds and dimensions. Lex Luthor continues to be the main antagonist, but he is operating in a world of science Foods the concept of a pocket universe, where you can store all kinds of things, like your enemy is for instance. There is a more typical story in the film, where Luther is going to benefit from a war that he is encouraging. To get to that objective however requires that his character utilize resources that seem far more valuable than any real estate he would acquire from his deal with one of the warring Nations.
Meanwhile, beast from other dimensions show up to threaten Metropolis, and give Superman and the other Heroes of the poorly named Justice gang, something to do when they are not fighting off Luther's plans. One of the Green Lanterns is part of this group, he's played by Nathan Fillion, and it appears to be an iteration that people who love comic books hate. I thought the character was repulsively Charming. Not someone you would want to spend time with, but someone who is perfectly capable of making good decisions and carrying them out. Two other Heroes appear in the Justice gang, Hawkgirl, has next to nothing to do in the film, so it's not quite clear why she has been made a part of the story. The super intelligent Mr. Terrific on the other hand, practically steals the movie with his clever approaches to problem solving, and sarcastically detached attitude.
Lois Lane, he's a big part of the story, in fact becoming an active player in attempting to Fort Luther and rescue Superman. Rachel Brosnahan," The Fabulous Mrs. Maisel", plays Louis as a resourceful reporter, who considers it her obligation to challenge Superman on his decisions, in spite of her relationship with him. Ma and Pa Kent also appear in the film, but unlike previous versions of the story, their presence is not meant to evoke Maudlin sympathy, but rather to illustrate the differences in nurturing parents and the role they play in creating the ethos of a person. So you can feel safe and watching the film, and being aware that there is no eminent death scene Superman's adopted father.
Frankly for me the main attraction in this film is a secondary character with no dialogue, who exists only in CGI, but still had more personality and humor than any of the human actors. Krypto, is Superman's dog, and he has powers very similar to the Man of Steel. Of course he is a dog and so his doggy personality largely dictates how those Powers get used. When Krypto gets the Zoomies, you can expect chaos to ensue. David Corn sweat who plays Superman / Clark Kent displays the perfectly correct attitude when his dog is taken. Is temper tantum is completely Justified, and Luther should know in the long run that he's going to pay for screwing around with someone's beloved pet.
There is a plot twist concerning Superman's Kryptonian parents, it really seems that odds with the mythology of the comic books and previous films. It Doesn't Kill the movie, but it does undermine our willingness to embrace this version of Superman the way we did when Christopher Reeves and Marlon Brando we're on the screen.
This is definitely a comic book movie, featuring cartoonish monsters, and science fiction premises that defy reality. The movie looks very good however, and I had fun for the 2 hours that I was watching it. I guess the easiest way to express my opinion about the movie is to say that I enjoyed it, but I was not enamored by it.
Sorcerer (1977)-Paramount Summer Classic Film Series
One of the greatest films of the 1970s is also one that is largely forgotten. The reasons for this are complex but include the fact that this film came out in the wake of Star Wars, replaced that film on the Chinese Theater screen for only a week, and then was replaced itself by Star Wars. This was the film that no one knew what to do with, it's an action adventure film with protagonists who are all loathsome in some way. Their heroic actions are always mitigated by the fact that they are criminals, terrorists, fraudsters, and murderers. When your rooting interest is someone that you would avoid if you cross paths with them on the street, it's not hard to imagine that a film is going to struggle to find an audience.
“Sorcerer”, may be William Friedkin's best film, and he made “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection”. This sweat-laden, rain soaked, mud encrusted thriller, will not leave you with a warm feeling, but it will leave you with deep admiration for the director's skill at building tension and following characters through their true natures.
This was my first time seeing the film on the big screen. I only caught up with it on cable years later, and then finally when the remastered Blu-ray came out about a decade ago, I Revisited it andI appreciated the story. Seeing it in a theater however, is truly a great experience. There are sequences in this film that are so fraught with tension that I felt like sweating myself. Those of you not familiar, the main part of the story focuses on four displaced men, struggling in a poverty stricken Village in the nameless South American country, who take on the job of transporting volatile explosives 200 miles across the jungle.
The first half hour of the movie however, has nothing to do with the main adventure, it simply details what these four men were like before they came together in this anonymous part of the world. Each of their stories has a degree of vibrancy to it that makes their subsequent activities feel more important. Roy Scheider plays the displaced American, a gangster who is wanted by other gangsters for a crime back in the States. There is also a Palestinian terrorist, a French financier, guilty of a massive fraud, and a professional assassin as part of this team of drivers taking on this hellish task because they are desperate.
Perhaps the most amazing part of this film is that it was shot without CGI, or in a studio. The road that this group has to travel is filled with dangerous sinkholes, impossible to pass barriers, and a raging river with a rickety bridge that will give you nightmares. All of it is on screen and all of it is real to some degree. Of course some of the biggest threats come not from nature but from other men. There is revolution in the air, and there are criminal elements who take advantage of the Revolutionary impulses of others, to steal and kill.
Although we got backstories for all four of the drivers, Scheider remains our main protagonist, and our link to the civilization that seems largely out of reach In this jungle locale. As is typical in 1970s films, the ending of the story is downbeat, but not at all in a manner in which you expect. The inevitability of our guilt catching up with us is one of the main themes of the story. I'm not sure if that's a part of the original film this movie is based on. I have seen that movie, but it has been a long time and I didn't have the context of this film to compare it to at the time.
So if you want to feel your sphincter tighten, and have your sympathies be conflicted, then you should make it a point to see this film. And of course if you get a chance to see it on the big screen you need to put your money down and go.
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Deep Blue Sea (1999) Revisit -2025
Sometimes you just need shark movies to make your summer sing. I just saw “Deep Blue Sea" on the big screen a year ago and wrote about it then. I'm not sure that there's a lot to add. This Renny Harlan action film takes full advantage of an ocean location, and Genetically Enhanced sharks, to give us a few Frights, and suspense to sit through.
I can't wax poetically about the film the way my former co-host on the Lambcast can, but I can appreciate that this may be the second best Shark film ever put into theaters to make summer audiences happy that they paid their ticket price. The presence of Samuel L Jackson, makes the first half of the movie a lot more suspenseful than it really is. I do think that we could probably do with a prequel film that explores the Avalanche experience where Jackson's character survived. Spoiler alert: he doesn't have the same level of success with the sharks.
Thomas Jane as our hero Carter, does a great job looking well and acting frightened. When we get to the end of the film, it's a little bit more believable because this is the way he's been throughout the movie. LL Cool J makes a good impression as an actor, but they ran the rap song he did for the movie right before the film screened, I think moving into acting was the right choice. Maybe our favorite lines that we've quoted for years come from his advice that the perfect omelet is made with two eggs not three. I follow that advice whenever I'm making breakfast.
The Magnificent Seven (1960) Paramount Summer Classic Film Series
To Catch a Thief (1955) Paramount Summer Classic Film Series
Another Hitchcock film for the Paramount classic summer film series 2025. I've seen To Catch a Thief before, but it has literally been decades since I last saw it and I remembered very little of it. I did remember a substantial amount of the Cary Grant Grace Kelly by play. And I did remember who the actual Thief was, but I'd forgotten the machinations that Grant's character had to go through to discover the truth.
The movie doesn't have the suspense of most of Hitchcock's films, but it does have a lot of romance and the spectacular location they probably made for a fantastic summer vacation for everybody involved. Just as a quick reminder Grant's character was a jewel thief before World War II, but became a resistance fighter for the French during the war, and was seemingly reformed. A new series of thefts from the resorts on the French Riviera point to him becoming active again as a criminal. He has to discover who is using his MO and try to vindicate himself.
It's easy to see how people in the 1950s, might not care very much about the plot of the film when they have these two exquisitely beautiful people to look at. Cary Grant and Grace Kelly may be the most magnetic couple on screen in that particular decade. The buy play between them is humorous, and if you've seen any of the Steven Soderberg oceans films, you'll have a good sense of where the humor in those films come from.
This was the first film of the double feature that we saw on a Sunday afternoon, and it was a delightful way to spend the late afternoon.
Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)
Monday, July 14, 2025
Materialists (2025)
Piranha (1978)
Friday, July 11, 2025
F1 : The Movie (2025)
Zodiac (2007) Paramount Summer Classic Film Series
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Sunday, June 29, 2025
28 Years Later (2025)
Friday, June 27, 2025
When Harry Met Sally (1989) Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-ReWatch
The conversation was filled with warm jokes and shared romantic experiences. It was billed as an evening of romance and I guess you could say that for the fans of the authors work, it was a success. Amanda has the book and when she is done with it I will attempt to read it as well. What really brought me to the event however was the chance to return to one of the perfect Romantic Comedies of the 1980s, and a pairing of actors that was magical.
ms by a director ever, with "The Princess Bride' right behind him, and "Misery" and "A Few Good Men" coming up next. The synergy of the actors and creatives make you want to order whatever they were all having for lunch.
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) -2025 Revisit
Highlander" and "The Untouchables". That is a very satisfying Father's Day. 12 years ago we did a different double feature of Sean Connery films, "Goldfinger" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. If you would enjoy a little piece of history, below is a vlog post I did for that event.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Father's Day Sean Connery Double Feature/Robert Rodriguez Paramount Summer Classic Film Series
Highlander (1986)
I saw this film with my wife when it first came out and we enjoyed it but frankly, I did not think it was a great film. It is a popcorn picture that looks a little cheaper than it should. They must have spent most of the budget on Sean Connery for his brief time in the story. I enjoyed Christopher Lambert in "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan" two years before. He was okay in this film, but it was clear that he was going to get by on physical charisma in his career and not acting chops. Clancy Brown on the other hand, understood the assignment and went full on nuts. He mugs and hams it up, just the way his character should.
Sean Connery, shows up for the second act and plays the part of a mentor to Lambert's Conner MacLeod. Much ridicule has been made over the years of his being cast as an Arab, from Spain, with a Scottish Accent. However, it may not be inconceivable that in the 1200 years he was alive, he picked up some traits from all the places that he's lived. Also, if that is the credibility stretcher for you, you have not been paying attention.The best element of the movie is the notion that immortality takes it's greatest toll on those that we love and must leave as they die. MacLeod suffers from his loss obviously, but the strain on his Scottish wife was pretty well drawn in the film. Another character from the 20th Century illustrates it as well. I don't want to give the movie too much credit, it is still a cheesy piece of pop fantasy, but it is completely watchable and I enjoyed the revisit.
Local Director and friend of the Paramount, Robert Rodriguez, hosted and scheduled this program. He does a nice job talking about the films and the film makers that he had connections with. He shared his story about this movie in the conversation you can listen to below.
Friday, June 20, 2025
Babe (1995) Paramount Classic Film Series
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Dangerous Animals (2025)