Jeff Goldblum is an exceedingly unlikely movie star. The man looks like a human goose and speaks in a cadence that suggests that he could be, at any time, doing slam poetry. I have a fascination with Goldblum’s vocal stylings. My grand movie idea (and we all have one) is to put him, Christopher Walken, and William Shatner in a car and simply film whatever happens. It would be human jazz. Goldblum first appeared as “Unnamed Freak #1” in 1972’s Death Wish. As his career incredibly nears half a century you have to seriously admire what sheer nebbishness has accomplished onscreen. Goldblum has to be paired with the right role because, let’s be honest, we’re pretty much always watching JEFF GOLDBLUM IN (insert name of movie). But…if you have a quirky character who needs an actor who brings that in bushels, Jeff Goldblum can be the paprika in your casting stew. Continue reading Jeff Goldblum’s 10 Best Movies→
Will Smith is undeniably a wildly talented actor and musician. From his days on TV as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, he was launched into a movie career that skyrocketed so high so quickly, that there was a period of time in the late 1990s that summer didn’t seem complete without a Will Smith blockbuster. Unfortunately, when that run of hits ended, Smith has never quite regained his career equilibrium. Not merely a blockbuster or comedy actor, Smith has extremely powerful dramatic acting muscles as he’s shown in films like The Pursuit of Happyness, Ali, and Concussion. He also has an affinity for science fiction from the hits that made him: Independence Day and Men in Black (not the awful two sequels) to the underrated I, Robot and I Am Legend (which, yes, I do in fact think is a really good film). His project choice, though, is spotty, and the days when he was a bankable box office draw seem to be slipping away. Knowing his upcoming schedule, I’m not sure that’s going to change soon, but given his unlimited charisma and potential, it does have the potential to change given the right projects down the line. Continue reading Will Smith’s 10 Best Movies→
Ok. So I watched this. Within 5 seconds I was waiting to see “FROM THE X OF INDEPENDENCE DAY”. And sure enough, there came Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich’s partner in using huge things to blow up huge things over over 20 years. This is a tentpole fall release for WB, not an August dump. This releases in October, and basically the plot is we’re controlling the weather now with satellites and the satellites get angry and start throwing weather at the Earth. And ONLY GERARD BUTLER can stop it. Nothing can stop me seeing this lol.
Deleted scenes are pretty much the highlight of the DVD/Blu Ray era. Yes, occasionally you get a “making of” documentary that isn’t everyone sitting in a circle extolling the brilliance of every other single person on the film crew, but all Blu Rays can’t be the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions. Deleted scenes give you extra information on the film, its editing process, and can often leave you slackjawed and goggled as to why in the world something was cut from the film in the first place. For example, The Incredible Hulk is routinely at the bottom of pretty much everyone’s list of the MCU films, but if you watch all the deleted scenes, you quickly come to understand why Edward Norton threw the fit over the final cut of the film that got him replaced by Mark Ruffalo. Sometimes a deleted scene closes a gaping plot loophole, one you may not have even realized existed. What Culture has put together a brilliant little manic journey through nine films in which a big plot hole could have been fixed by the inclusion of a single cut scene.
Though the world of Independence Day has been waiting 20 years for the aliens to return; moviegoers have not. Things are very, very different from the cinematic world of 1996. Returning to this universe would have required doing what the original did: showing us F/X we simply had not seen before on that scale, while charming us with the human-level performances. Did Independence Day: Resurgence achieve that? Let’s just say you have no idea how much charisma Will Smith has until he goes from being the breakout star of your film to a portrait on the White House wall. Continue reading Movie Review: Independence Day – Resurgence (2016) *I Was Rooting for the Aliens*→
