Like many others, I’ve always thought of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris as the Russian answer to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Completed in 1972 (but not released in the United States until 1976), this was an era when things done in the…
Universal City, May 24, 2011 – Bowling, nihilists, a stolen rug and the occasional acid flashback have never been funnier when one of the most popular cult classics in history, The Big Lebowski Limited Edition, debuts on Blu-ray™ August 16,…
The story of Romeo & Juliet has been told a lot, but never quite like this. Imagine Shakespeare’s classic told by a group of garden gnomes, scored to the music of Elton John. How about a voice cast that includes…
Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, Gettysburg tells the story of four hot days in the summer of 1863, that changed the tide of the Civil War. A densely packed 271-minutes, and featuring…
Based on a book by John O’Brien, Leaving Las Vegas isn’t typical Hollywood fare. Most love stories are relentless in their optimism, and happy ending is mandatory. Therefore, it’s very unusual when a romance develops and stays entangled in the…
1986’s Platoon is a semi-autobiographical film. Writer/director Oliver Stone, who served as an infantryman in Vietnam, integrated several of his own experiences into the film. The main characters are based on people Stone served with. The lead and narrator, Chris…
Renowned for his use of visual humor, Charlie Chaplin was slow to embrace sound in motion pictures. His early forays into sound like City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936) continued to be mostly devoid of dialogue. Instead, he relied…
I’ve seen a lot of films about auto racing in my time; to this day, 1966’s Grand Prix is still at the top of the list. Part race car movie, part soap opera, Grand Prix manages to place the viewer…
Loosely based on the 2007 young adult novel by Mark Peter Hughes, Lemonade Mouth begins with Mesa High School freshmen in detention: Olivia White (Bridgit Mendler), Mohini “Mo” Banjaree (Naomi Scott), Charlie Delgado (Blake Michael), Stella Yamada (Hayley Kiyoko), and…
Written by the playwright Arthur Miller for his wife Marilyn Monroe—whom he would divorce before the film was released, The Misfits has perhaps become more famous for what went on behind the scenes than what happened on it. Monroe delivers…