A good rock song, like any piece of art, can make its mark in one of two ways: It could innovate and expand the parameters of a tried-and-true formula, or it could stick to the established conventions and attempt to find its synergy in the charisma of the artists and performers. If one were to…
“The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” was a television series that ran from 1964 to 1968. It was actually misnamed because it concerned TWO men — an American, Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn, Oscar-nominated for “The Young Philadelphians”) and a Soviet, Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum, “A Night to Remember”) — who worked for an espionage organization called “U.N.C.L.E.”…
With film franchises rebooting every few years, it’s surprising that this series took so long to take the plunge. The first version, “Fantastic Four,” was released by 20th Century Fox in the summer of 2005, when critics called it, “’Spider-Man’ times four,” although at the time, I described it as “Spider-Man” *divided* by four, since…
In 1933, Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward, “Blood Cells”) became the only Irish citizen ever to have been deported from Ireland when he was exiled to America without a trial. His crime seems to be that he was a Communist who incurred the ire of the Catholic Church and the landlords by daring to establish a…
Congratulations Christopher McQuarrie. Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams and Brad Bird each had their shot, but with Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation you are officially the director of the best installment in the “Mission: Impossible” series to date. That’s not so say number five is without imperfections (it still has its share of…
Critics (and others I suppose) have been gunning for this film, Pixels, long before it hit the big screen and not without good reason. First of all, anything with the name “Adam Sandler” attached to it pretty much means movie disaster. Recent examples include “Just Go With It,” “Bedtime Stories,” “Jack and Jill” and the…
The game has come to the end. I’m sure you can guess by now whether the winner will be President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and the Capital or the 13 Districts led by Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), but nonetheless, watching it finally unfold in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 will be a sight to see….
