According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal Studios Hollywood has elected to cancel one of the attractions at its annual “Halloween Horror Nights” event. While most of the event is designed to scare the bejeebus out of visitors to the park, “Bill and Ted’s
The year 2000 was my first living full-time in Los Angeles, having arrived from Atlanta on December 30, 1999, Y2K hysteria be damned. I got a job working as a projectionist at a theatre while also working as a reader
Kregg Janke makes a very compelling case that the Showtime series “Homeland” is anti-American propaganda. After thoughtful consideration, I disagree. Not vehemently. But I disagree. Janke could turn out to be right, and I will look like a sucker. Which
For movie geeks, 1998 is still remembered as the year that Harvey Weinstein’s lobbying and schmoozing led to the underdog “Shakespeare in Love” beating “Saving Private Ryan.” In writing this series, I’ve realized how much Oscar snubs, wins, and losses
The year letdowns flowered and scenes were planted for future letdowns. 1999 Letdowns: The Biggest Letdown Ever! A Reclusive Genius Returns … for a Letdown! [youtube NgnS1fuNZCU nolink] The Internet Helps a Micro-Budget Movie Score Big and Unless You Saw
Lots of good movies were released in 1997, and hardly any great ones. On the other hand, Will Shortz celebrates 1997 for “Ulee’s Gold.” The Nominees: “Titanic” – This may mark the only time that I’ve ever completely agreed with
I’ve said before that liberals love to lose — be it elections or Oscars –because it “proves” they are enlightened victims living among the great unwashed. They never come right out and say they love to lose. Instead, when their
Ah, 1996. A year that movie stars were made. Will Smith in “ID4.” Billy Bob Thornton in “Sling Blade.” Matthew McConaughey in “A Time To Kill.” Edward Norton in “Primal Fear.” Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau in “Swingers.” And, of
The Nominees: “Braveheart” – Mel Gibson’s stirring epic would take home a slew of Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, perhaps deservedly. I know I’ll get crushed, but I don’t love it. Just my $.02; these types of historical
Okay, maybe not the best year ever, but easily my favorite of the years I’ve covered so far. They should change the award to: The Academy’s Favorite Movie of the Year. Either that, or they could give out the award
I’m too lazy to research it, so instead I’ll make an audacious unfounded proclamation: there has never been a one-two punch comeback like Steven Spielberg had in 1993. After the misfire of “Always” and the colossal misfire of “Hook,” he
I’m realizing how odd it is to complain about the Oscars or to pigeonhole the Academy’s tastes. They can get it astoundingly right (i.e., I can agree wholeheartedly) and wildly wrong (i.e., I disagree) all in the same year in
Something happened in 1991 that my daddy never believed possible: Tommy Lee Jones played a gay man. And the shrill and very vocal faction of the homosexual community cried foul at not only his portrayal, but of the portrayal of
A pretty good year with a few movies that I would classify as great. The most popular movies were “Home Alone” and “Ghost,” the first of which inspired three sequels and the latter of which inspired what I still contend
1989 remains a notable year for movies, one in which we learned that you couldn’t cure Mel Gibson’s case of the crazies, and that Kim Basinger weighed a little more than 108 pounds. The world was introduced to at least
I went to every movie in 1988. I swear. Bloodsport, check. Bad Dreams, check. Hero and the Terror, check, check, and check. I even braved the picket line and saw The Last Temptation of Christ. (Disappoint mom, checkity-check). Wasn’t the
Most of the movies I’ve seen from 1987 are not what I would call decent. It was feast or famine. I loved several. I hated many. The Academy’s nominees for best picture… The Last Emperor: Bertolucci’s beautiful portrait of China’s
1986 might be one of the most underrated years for movies. Or it might not. Maybe I’m just nuts, but, a year in which “Top Gun,” “Back to School,” “Ruthless People,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Rad,” and “Sid and Nancy” were
The 1985 Oscar race for Best Picture was relatively suspense-free. “Out of Africa” was the shoo-in, and, yawn, it won. Speaking of yawn, I check my watch when I look at the one-sheet for “Out of Africa.” —– The other
Well, I’m four chapters into this series and I’m ready to cheat. Why? The 1984 Nominees for Best Picture: Places in the Heart A Soldier’s Story A Passage to India The Killing Fields Amadeus At the risk of sounding like
Looking back at the Best Picture race year by year, it dawns on me that I became more cynical towards the awards year by year. Return of the Jedi, WarGames, Sudden Impact (which I had to sneak into) – how
Elite critics and the “I don’t watch TV except for [insert list of shows here]” crowd love-love-love Friday Night Lights, but they always say things like, “It’s not really about football.” I hate conceding that point because it assumes that
1982. Maybe, perhaps, one could go out on a limb and declare it, I dunno, the Best Year Ever for movies. If one were so inclined. There were obvious movies like Rocky III, Poltergeist, and Tron …there are too many
The Who Should Have Won/Been Nominated For the Oscar debate is a fun one, for participants and observers. It’s always funny to me how seriously critics take themselves, and they get even more prissier and more sanctimonious around Oscar time.
Okay, so as I looked over IMDB’s list of films released in 1994, struggling to look for a movie to write about this week, I realized my proclamation that 1994 is indeed the best year ever, was not mere hyperbole.
While Kevin Spacey’s TV work in the late 1980’s was certainly impressive, in movies he never seemed to connect with audiences. That is until 1992, when he began gathering steam with a great turn in James Foley’s screen adaptation of
It’s a miracle any movie gets made. If that sounds hyperbolic, fine. I’ll tweak it: it’s a flat-out water-to-wine-the-leper-is-cured-the-blind-can-see if a great movie gets made. A bad movie, that’s just a miracle, like my wife making it somewhere on time
With JFK, a dizzying collection of conflicting and oftentimes ridiculous ideas and conspiracy theories surrounding JFK’s assassination, Oliver Stone yanked on his trunks and took a nice swim in controversial waters. It was quite a high-wire act, a three hour
5. Ratatouille (2007): Nikki Finke severely underestimated the commercial possibilities of a movie with a rat named Remy as the main character, opining that it would be difficult for Disney to sell the accompanying barrage of toys. Rats aren’t cute.
Jan De Bont’s “Speed” is a movie that in many ways symbolizes why 1994 was such a great year for movies, if not the best year ever in the history of the world and all universes known and unknown in
The Best Picture Winner of 1994 brought Tom Hanks his second Oscar in a row, and held the top spot at the box office for a remarkable 10 weeks. “Run, Forrest! Run!” became an unlikely catchphrase. And the talking heads
There are movies that I have no business liking, which feature stories that I should not find compelling, given my, ahem, puerile tastes. Such is the case with Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show,” a movie I love despite the fact that
I wasn’t too sure what to make of Jim Carrey, but with “Dumb & Dumber,” I decided that he was awesome. On Sunday nights in 1990, my college dorm TV lounge would be packed with students watching “In Living Color,”
In “Hoop Dreams,” documentary filmmaker Steve James and his team follow two talented high school basketball players, William Gates and Arthur Agee, both of whom have dreams of one day playing for the NBA. An audience award winner at The
I know I was supposed to write about Hoop Dreams, but it’s been years since I have seen it and I wanted to give it a fair shot. Instead, please find my thoughts below on Clerks, a movie I should
At least as far as movies go, I believe the above headline to be accurate. The Best Picture nominees at the Oscars that year were Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Quiz Show, and The Shawshank Redemption.
Not my bag, baby. But this was a long gestating pet project. In Dan Leroy’s awesome book about the making of Paul’s Boutique, Tim Carr, formerly of Capitol Records, says that Ad-Rock spoke to him about an instrumental album as