STAR TURNS: Movie reviews of Southpaw and Mr. Holmes by Howard Casner
Posted: August 6, 2015 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 50 Cent, Antoine Fuqua, Bill Condon, Forest Whitaker, Gods and Monsters, Ian McKellen, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jeffrey Hatcher, John Sessions, Kurt Sutter, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Mr. Holmes, Oona Lawrence, Rachel McAdams, Southpaw | 1,142 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00. For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you. I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one.
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Warning: SPOILERS
I’m not about to say that director Antoine Fuqua is a great filmmaker by any means. But he is a solid craftsman of pieces of entertainment, perhaps one of the best around today. His films are technically impressive, satisfactorily written and they deliver the goods.
And Southpaw is no exception. It’s a movie that doesn’t take you anyplace new (in fact, it takes you to a myriad of places you’ve been before). And when it comes to, say, boxing movies, I don’t think it’s an insult to say he’s no Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull) or John Huston (Fat City).
At the same time, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if all you want to do is spend a couple of hours being amused, diverted and distracted. And actually, if truth be told, Southpaw is probably a bit better than that.
I do think the main reason for this, as if I have to tell you, is the performance of Jake Gyllenhaal as the lead character Billy Hope (Hope?, really? Okay, sure why not). Striving very hard to be taken seriously as an actor since his Oscar nominated performance in Brokeback Mountain, he has pushed the boundaries of the types of character he plays in movies from Jarhead to Zodiac to his magnificent tour de force last year in the creepy, creepy Nightcrawler. Read the rest of this entry »
FANTASY ISLANDS: Movie Reviews of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and Into the Woods
Posted: December 30, 2014 | Author: Donald | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Anna Kendricks, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Dion Beebe, Emily Blunt, Fran Walsh, Guillermo del Toro, Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellen, Into the Woods, James Horton, James Lapine, Johnny Depp, Martin Freeman, Meryl Streep, Orlando Bloom, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, Rob Marshall, Stephen Soundheim, The Battle of the Five Armies, The Hobbit, Wyatt Smith | 6 Comments »First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r