Tag Archives: Jamie Foxx

Robin Hood Trailer #1 (2018) *Look for the Hood*

While this looks nowhere near as egregious an error as last year’s King Arthur nightmare, I’m curious as to why Hollywood keeps feeling the need to “reinvent” stories like Robin Hood.  The character has been around for hundreds of years, has been interpreted dozens of times, and will be again, but there always seems to a need to rework a story that’s worked just fine: make it gritty and modern, give it attitude, whatever.  Those aren’t the things about the story or the character that have made it endure.  You CAN update a character and retain those qualities (BBC’s Sherlock did it and managed to produce the best adaptation of Holmes in my lifetime).  For more on the latest Robin Hood, read below and look for the Hood in November 2018.


In the film, a war-hardened Crusader and a Moorish commander mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown in a thrilling action-adventure. Packed with gritty battlefield exploits, mind-blowing fight choreography, and a timeless romance, Robin Hood is a never before seen story of how Robin Hood became the icon and legend as we know him today.

The cast for the new Robin Hood includes Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Eddie the Eagle) as the title hero, with Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained, Ray) as Little John, Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Grey) as Will Scarlet, Eve Hewson (Bridge of Spies) as Maid Marion, Tim Minchin (Californication) as Friar Tuck, and Paul Anderson (Peaky Blinders, The Revenant) as Guy of Gisborne.

Described as having a “gritty tone,” the film finds Robin Hood returning from The Crusades to discover a Sherwood Forest rife with corruption and evil. Teaming with a band of outlaws, he takes matters into his own hands to set things right, with very little merry-making along the way.

Otto Bathurst directs from a screenplay by Joby Harold. Robin Hood is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson Killoran, Basil Iwanyk, Tory Tunnell and Joby Harold. It will arrive in theaters on November 21, 2018.

Taron Egerton in Robin Hood

Robin Hood Teaser #1 (2018) *Look for the Hood*


While this looks nowhere near as egregious an error as last year’s King Arthur nightmare, I’m curious as to why Hollywood keeps feeling the need to “reinvent” stories like Robin Hood.  The character has been around for hundreds of years, has been interpreted dozens of times, and will be again, but there always seems to a need to rework a story that’s worked just fine: make it gritty and modern, give it attitude, whatever.  Those aren’t the things about the story or the character that have made it endure.  You CAN update a character and retain those qualities (BBC’s Sherlock did it and managed to produce the best adaptation of Holmes in my lifetime).  For more on the latest Robin Hood, read below and look for the Hood in November 2018.

In the film, a war-hardened Crusader and a Moorish commander mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown in a thrilling action-adventure. Packed with gritty battlefield exploits, mind-blowing fight choreography, and a timeless romance, Robin Hood is a never before seen story of how Robin Hood became the icon and legend as we know him today.

The cast for the new Robin Hood includes Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Eddie the Eagle) as the title hero, with Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained, Ray) as Little John, Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Grey) as Will Scarlet, Eve Hewson (Bridge of Spies) as Maid Marion, Tim Minchin (Californication) as Friar Tuck, and Paul Anderson (Peaky Blinders, The Revenant) as Guy of Gisborne.

Described as having a “gritty tone,” the film finds Robin Hood returning from The Crusades to discover a Sherwood Forest rife with corruption and evil. Teaming with a band of outlaws, he takes matters into his own hands to set things right, with very little merry-making along the way.

Otto Bathurst directs from a screenplay by Joby Harold. Robin Hood is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson Killoran, Basil Iwanyk, Tory Tunnell and Joby Harold. It will arrive in theaters on November 21, 2018.


Taron Egerton in Robin Hood

My Favorite Scene: Any Given Sunday (1999) “A Game of Inches”

Either you’re a huge fan of Oliver Stone, or you likely can’t stand anything about Oliver Stone: the man’s polarizing.  Personally, I’m not a fan.  Any Given Sunday is, to me, one of Stone’s best films.  It’s overlong and hackneyed at points, but it also was a prophetic and revealing portrait of the real culture of professional football and its consequences to those who play it long before the issues it raises became mainstream sports conversation.  The centerpiece of the film is, without a doubt, another great monologue from Al Pacino.


Is there another actor who has more memorable career monologues than Pacino?  The most iconic is, obviously, Scent of a Woman, but there’s Dog Day Afternoon, And Justice for All, a couple from the Godfather films, Heat, and on and on.  “A Game of Inches” has to be counted right up there.  As pre-game speeches go, they don’t come better.  As the best sports-related motivational speeches do, it also translates to life as a whole, and whatever else you may take away from Any Given Sunday.…this scene makes the career portfolio of one of the greatest actors of all-time.

Al Pacino and Jim Brown in Any Given Sunday

Amazing Spider-Man 2 DVD and Blu-Ray Date And Details

Amazing Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man, Peter Parker, Andrew Garfield, Electro, Max Dillon, Jamie Foxx

Though I am still trying to cleanse my mental palate of having one of the greatest comic scenes in comic history reduced to a throwaway and while Paul Giamatti’s MOOSE AND SQUIRREL-esque Russian accent still wakes me late at night screaming, I can see by box office numbers that some of you do not share my passionate hatred for Amazing Spider-Man 2.  For you, because I am a tolerant and compassionate man (though I do sort of want to punch Marc Webb), here are the details of what you’ll find on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Blu Ray, due to hit stores on August 19th…..I have to go punch my rage pillow now….. Continue reading Amazing Spider-Man 2 DVD and Blu-Ray Date And Details

Movie Review: Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) *MAJOR SPOILER WARNING*

hr_The_Amazing_Spider-Man_2_21
It’s hard to believe, given the run of quality that’s spoiled comic book fans over the last decade, that someone could make a film that so completely misses the target audience. I honestly thought films of the quality of Elektra and Batman & Robin were behind us. I was wrong. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is not just a misstep; it’s a mind-boggling disaster of a film. In reaching to create a universe around the character, Sony has instead taken the very foundations of what it should have used to build and destroyed them. It is, quite simply, one of the worst comic book adaptations in recent years, and I want to reiterate that there are MAJOR SPOILERS to follow. Continue reading Movie Review: Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) *MAJOR SPOILER WARNING*