Tag Archives: films

Kenneth Branagh is the Old Shakespeare

All Is True Well, this is a bit awkward: the film came out in the UK in February, but there doesn’t seem to be a release date for the U.S. or Canada. Even the UK DVD release will be later … Continue reading

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Do the Dead Come Back to Life Again?

Dead Again (1991) This is a Kenneth Branagh film with a twist in the tale: the two lovers return to new lives, but they switch roles. I’m not sure that ever happens in ‘real’ life, but as this story is … Continue reading

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Kenneth Branagh is the New Olivier

One Face, Many Roles I caught the last few minutes of Thor the other night on TV and was startled to see that the director of the movie was Kenneth Branagh. I wasn’t startled that he was the director, just … Continue reading

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Is This the Real Thing or Just a Fantasy?

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai… (1984) I never saw this one during its initial cinema run. I suspect a lot of other people didn’t, as well. It had a budget of US$14M, but recouped only about half that at the … Continue reading

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80’s, 90’s and 00’s Workout Videos

Maniac (1983) This song was intended as a horror picture soundtrack entry. But it got ‘accidentally’ sent to the music director of the film Flashdance instead. After the lyrics were rewritten, a classic workout video was born. (Jennifer Beals didn’t … Continue reading

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Memory: Interrupted/Erased

Girl, Interrupted/Boy Erased No, I’m not going to write about these two films. They are here to reference the title of today’s post. In fact, I have not seen either of them. This post is about memory and how it … Continue reading

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Question: What’s the MacGuffin?

Answer: The Maltese Falcon Alfred Hitchcock is the master of the MacGuffin. It’s a plot device that carries the story along, but really is of no interest to the viewer. From Wikipedia: “It might be a Scottish name, taken from … Continue reading

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A (New) Star is Born

Lady Gaga could win an Oscar Bradley Cooper is a very smart man. Most directors would be wary of yet another remake of this story. In fact, after Barbra Streisand’s last joke of film, the idea should have been dead … Continue reading

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How to Solve an Enigma

Alan Turing: The Enigma There are two versions of this same cover: the one shown above and the one where Benedict Cumberbatch turns and faces the camera, revealing his character. (Side note: Benedict Cumberbatch is a relative of Alan Turing.) … Continue reading

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Ready Player One: Film or Movie?

  Less than a week to go now I was reading a interview that Steven Spielberg gave about this upcoming extravaganza. He used the terms ‘film’ and ‘movie’ in a way that I hadn’t thought about before. His point was … Continue reading

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