The Way, Way, Back stars Liam James as Duncan, a young, quiet teen grappling with identity issues and lacking a strong sense of self. To his detriment, his mother Pam (Toni Collette) is in a semi-serious relationship with Trent (Steve Carell). Yes, this time around, Steve Carell basically plays a jerk. Trent lacks a strong sense of self, like Duncan, but as an adult, he uses his status to talk down to Duncan and pretty much everyone around him. Despite Duncan’s lack of enthusiasm on the matter, he, his mom, sister, and Trent head down to Trent’s beach house for a hopeful summer of relaxation and fun.
Mud is the latest film written and directed by Jeff Nichols. Nichols wrote and directed 2007’s Shotgun Stories and 2011’s Take Shelter (one of my favorite Sundance movies from that year). Nichols has proven that he understands character, and Mud, a true bildungsroman, is no exception. Two impressionable teenage boys living in the rural South discover a fugitive hiding out in marshland, and they agree to help reunite him with his true love.
The FFOW! series takes a look at that vast library created by the proud and the passionate: fan films. Whether the budget and talent is astronomical or amateur, FFOW! celebrates the filmmakers whose love of comics, books, movies, video games, and TV shows inspires them to join the great conversation with their own homemade masterpieces.
The Punisher movie released in 2004 was a guilty pleasure of mine in college. It wasn’t a masterpiece. It was a guys’ matinee action movie that cost two dollars in the mall quinta-plex outside of my Ohio town. That’s exactly how I first saw it, and I’m pretty sure the only way I ever saw it. In my memory, it’s a hard-as-nails revenge movie fronted by the grimmest visage to play the character of Frank Castle, Thomas Jane.
In 2012 Jane returned to the Castle, and this time Jane don’t got a gun.
The Lifeguard is written and directed by Liz W. Garcia. Garcia has a background in television where she co-produced for Cold Case and executive produced for Memphis Beat. The Lifeguard is her directorial debut. The film stars Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Veronica Mars) as Leigh, a former valedictorian who quits her reporter job in New York City and returns to Connecticut to live with her parents.
The FFOW! series takes a look at that vast library created by the proud and the passionate: fan films. Whether the budget and talent is astronomical or amateur, FFOW! celebrates the filmmakers whose love of comics, books, movies, video games, and TV shows inspires them to join the great conversation with their own homemade masterpieces.
If you want to, just go to Jurassic Park.
You’ll probably be eaten alive after daaaaaark
If you like food, then go to Jurassic Park
You’ll become food faster than you could get chewed by a shaaaaark . . .
Yes, it’s 3D IMAX time for Spielberg’s classic tale of man vs. lizard/bird/frog clones. Time, once again, to listen to the music written by John Williams and played on a constant loop at the Jurassic Park River Adventure Ride in Universal Studios Hollywood. Maybe I did once work in that section of the theme park, and maybe I did write lyrics for the music because it played on a constant loop . . .
A housewife stuck in a suburban rut seeks to spice up her life. Sound familiar? Perhaps. But, the 2013 Sundance film Afternoon Delight deserves a deeper examination. The film stars Kathryn Hahn (Crossing Jordan, Girls) as Rachel, a suburban housewife living in Los Angeles. She is a dutiful mother to her toddler daughter and a committed wife to husband Jeff (Josh Radnor, How I Met Your Mother). It’s clear, though, that restlessness is just under the surface as Rachel visits regularly with psychologist Lenore (Jane Lynch, GLEE) and finds little solace in Lenore’s guidance.
After viewing the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice and, specifically, the scene where Mr. Darcy, a.k.a. Colin Firth, dives into the pond outside his Pemberley estate in Derbyshire England, have you ever wished you could visit a fantasy Pemberley, complete with a fantasy Darcy and a fantasy pond scene?
It is unfair to compare this new take on L. Frank Baum’s wonderful wizard to the most iconic fantasy film from Hollywood’s Golden Age. Still, while this colorful and family-friendly prequel to Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz falls short of that classic, and even fails to measure up to Broadway’s Wicked, it thankfully avoids becoming an unnecessarily gritty reboot in the vein of Oz: Witch/Vampire/Zombie/Dwarf Hunter.
I mentioned in a previous post that Don Jon’s Addiction was acquired for $4 million with a whopping $25 million P&A (Prints & Advertising) commitment by Relativity Media for an expected summer release.
Here’s why I think that commitment could very well pay off for Relativity Media:
The FFOW! series takes a look at that vast library created by the proud and the passionate: fan films. Whether the budget and talent is astronomical or amateur, FFOW! celebrates the filmmakers whose love of comics, books, movies, video games, and TV shows inspires them to join the great conversation with their own homemade masterpieces.
Love is in the air, fellow FFOW! readers! Next week is Valentine’s Day, so in honor of the blessed saint we are going to watch --
(CRASH! The door breaks in. Jake spins around before a black satchel is thrown over his head. Three goons rope his hands and feet together, throw him in the back of a trunk, and drive him to the Los Angeles warehouse district.)