Posts Tagged ‘John Hurt’

Criterion Commentaries – “The Hit”

24, May 2011
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What if there was a Tarantinoesque film made before Quentin Tarantino burst on the scene with Reservoir Dogs? Specifically: a film where the killers are amusing, ostentatiously violent, and converse about existential concerns; a cast that features a character actor at the top of his game, another actor making a comeback, and Tim Roth. Stephen Frears directed that film, 1984’s The Hit.

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The Guilty Pleasures: Dragon Edition

27, Apr 2011
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Dragons. Are there any cooler creatures in all of mythology? Unfortunately, in the world of celluloid, these great creatures of imagination have not really gotten their due. (At least, not in live-action cinema; why I have not yet seen How to Train Your Dragon is still beyond me.)

Is there any live-action film in which dragons have truly come off as cool as they deserve? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire wasn’t too bad, but the dragons aren’t the stars. As I impatiently await the day when Peter Jackson brings his vision of the ultimate dragon, Smaug, to life in The Hobbit, I think about other dragon-themed movies that I have enjoyed in the past. None of them are deserving enough to be called “great”, but I’m very forgiving of movies I want to like. In one of these cases, I was the perfect age to see a dragon with real presence brought to life on the big screen – even if the movie he inhabited was far from perfect. Without further adieu, I present, in ascending order on my Flickchart, my picks for Guilty Pleasures starring dragons.

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New Movies in Theaters: August 6, 2010

6, Aug 2010
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New Movies in Theaters this Week:

The Other Guys – Trailer

Any movie from the team behind Anchorman will eventually get my money.

Now that you’ve seen it, do you need help ranking it? Click the links below to directly rank it against these similar movies of varying quality to see where it ranks amongst the best comedies of all time:

Step Up 3D – Trailer

Both wide releases this week are 107 minutes long and rated PG-13, which is about the most interesting thing I could possibly ever say about his flick.

Now that you’ve seen it, do you need help ranking it? Click the links below to directly rank it against these similar movies of varying quality to see where it ranks amongst the best dance movies of all time:

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Reel Rumbles #1: “Alien” vs. “Aliens”

19, Sep 2009
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Alien vs. Aliens - Flickchart_1253365152869

In This Corner…

The year is 1979, and film audiences are about to discover that in space, no one can hear you scream. Seven years later, the terror returns, and this time – it’s war.

The two films – Alien and Aliens – were unlike anything audiences had seen before, or were likely to again. Each was groundbreaking to its specific genres – the first to horror, and second to action. While most have been able to agree the two are terrific, the real conflict comes when asked to pick the superior film.

Now in this, the inaugural edition of Flickchart’s newest blog feature, Reel Rumbles, it’s time these titans stepped into the ring and finally decided, once and for all, which is the better film.

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