Showing Tag: " biographical" (Show all posts)

REVIEW: Playing the Orchestra But Not TIME's Man of the Year, Steve Jobs Is All About Clouds, Love & Life

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, October 17, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Steve Jobs





Directed By: Danny Boyle

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels

The adaptations keep on coming.  I obsess over the unusually large wave of films based on books, public figures, and other source materials as this fall movie season rolls onward.  As I look at the slate of films on hand this weekend, I've come to realize that there's a smaller trend in recent years as well, one focused on technology.  Recognizing the role technology plays in our lives, H...

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REVIEW: In The Imitation Game of Christopher Vs. Enigma at Bletchley, Alan Turing Solves the Biggest Crossword Puzzle of Them All

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, December 14, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
The Imitation Game





Directed By: Morten Tyldum


Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Charles Dance, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, and Rory Kinnear

"Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."
-Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley)

Some of the best movies are the ones  in which moviegoers learn something new about how someone did something amazing that changed the world.  I know that sounds like a cliché, but that's...

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REVIEW: Hiking A Thousand Miles Through the Pacific Crest Trail, Wild Queen of the PCTs Cheryl Strayed Chooses One Tough Form of Therapy

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, December 6, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Wild





Directed By: Jean-Marc Vallée

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Thomas Sadoski, and Gaby Hoffmann

This may sound completely random, but I do my best thinking in the shower.  My best ideas have come when the hot water is flowing, and there are no distractions chipping away at me.  For me, the only thing that comes close to this is taking a leisurely stroll.  When I'm out in nature getting some fresh air, great thoughts just come to me.  That's why I get Cheryl Strayed’s need to get...

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REVIEW: Despite Motor Neuron Disease, Intelligent Atheist Stephen Hawking Masters Time to Give Us The Physicist's Theory of Everything

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 15, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
The Theory of Everything





Directed By: James Marsh

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, and David Thewlis

Performances marked by darkness and conflict are the ones typically rewarded during awards season.  Just look at last year's Oscar winners for Best Actor and Best Actress in leading roles.  On one hand, we have a self-destructive homophobic AIDS patient with Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club.  On the other, we have a crazy widow who has ...

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REVIEW: In The Last of Robin Hood, Alcoholic Errol Flynn Is Too Old For Lover Beverly "Woodsy" Aadland, But She's Just Young Enough For Him

Posted by James Brown on Monday, September 8, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
The Last of Robin Hood





Directed By: Richard Glatzer

Starring: Kevin Kline, Dakota Fanning, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Kane, Max Casella, and Patrick St. Esprit

Biographical dramas are sometimes tricky beasts.  If the individual is particularly well known, directors must convince moviegoers that their vision is historically accurate.  The key is to have an actor who looks, walks, and talks like the main character.  Some of this is dependent upon the costume and make-up crew members on deck, but the ...

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REVIEW: In Born Dead Biopic Get On Up, James Brown Does Right by Himself & Pays the Cost to Be the Boss

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 2, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Get On Up





Directed By: Tate Taylor

Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Dan Aykroyd, Viola Davis, Keith Robinson, Octavia Spencer, Brandon Mychal Smith, Jill Scott, Tika Sumpter, and Craig Robinson

As you all know, I share a name with the subject of the recently released musical biopic Get On Up.  Having the name James Brown comes with a certain responsibility — to endure a lifetime of singing, shouting, and dancing at the most unexpected times in the most unexpected places.  For instance...

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REVIEW: From Prisoner to President, Mandela Wears Some Long Trousers on His Long Walk to Freedom

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, December 26, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom





Directed By: Justin Chadwick

Starring: Idris Elba and Naomie Harris


We lost a global icon this year.  With the passing of Nelson Mandela several weeks ago, we should celebrate this legendary leader's accomplishments and honor his legacy.  As it turns out, Hollywood is doing just that in their own way this awards season.  Though not the means to combat poverty or eradicate social injustice, the biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is the means by which another genera...

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REVIEW: When Ip Man's Wing Chun Meets Gong Er's 64 Hands in The Grandmaster, Everybody Wins the Chess Match

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, September 1, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
The Grandmaster





Directed By: Wong Kar-wai


Starring: Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Zhao Benshan, Song Hye-kyo, and Wang Qingxiang


I've been in need of a good martial arts flick for some time now.  2012 gave us such good films as The Raid: Redemption and The Man With the Iron Fists.  So far in 2013, we've had nothing to match these movies.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who's taken notice of this void throughout the year.  Well, things are finally looking up for those moviegoers who love the...

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REVIEW: Jobs – Steve Jobs As An Innovative Jerk

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, August 18, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Jobs
SoberFilmChick




Directed by: Joshua Michael Stern


Starring:  Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, J.K. Simmons, Lesley Ann Warren, Ron Eldard, Ahna O’Reilly, John Getz, James Woods, and Matthew Modine

Believe it or not, I did not have any interest in seeing a film about Steve Jobs.  While I respect his legacy and the impact he has had on my life, I was not exactly doing cartwheels when I was tasked with reviewing the film. Sure, I have seen Toy Story, used an iPod, an iPad...

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REVIEW: With Hot Dogs, Mistresses, and 1812 Cartoons, Hyde Park on Hudson Takes a Swing at History and Misses

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, December 15, 2012, In : 0.09% Cocktails 

Hyde Park on Hudson





Directed By: Roger Michell

Starring: Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Samuel West, Olivia Colman, Elizabeth Marvel, Olivia Williams, Elizabeth Wilson, Martin McDougall, and Andrew Havill

Hollywood has made one too many movies with the Great Depression and World War II as the historical backdrop.  Just look to movies like The Way Back, The Debt, and Red Tails for examples over the last couple of years alone.  It's time to make movies about some other era.  More specifically, we ...


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REVIEW: Hitchcock is a Fiendishly Entertaining Look at the Man Hiding in the Corner with a Camera Watching

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 24, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 

Hitchcock





Directed By: Sacha Gervasi

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Toni Collette, Danny Huston, Jessica Biel, and James D'Arcy

Last year, the awards season was dominated by movies about making movies. All the buzz was about films like The Artist, Hugo, and My Week with Marilyn.  Hollywood apparently missed one because they've decided to do a biopic on the legendary Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock and the making of Psycho, one of the defining films of his ca...


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REVIEW: With Steven Spielberg's Compass, Lincoln Finds Its True North

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 10, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 

Lincoln





Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones, Jackie Earle Haley, Jared Harris, John Hawkes, and David Oyelowo

"We must cure ourselves of slavery. This amendment is that cure. We’re stepped out upon the world stage now with the fate of human dignity in our hands. Blood's been spilled to afford us this moment.  Now!  Now!  Now!"
-President Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis)

...

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