Author Archives: admin

Hereafter (2010) Dir: Clint Eastwood Stars: Matt Damon, Cecile De France, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jay Mohr and The McLaren Twins I think my listing of the stars of Hereafter sounds like an old west gang.  Anyhow, as usual, Eastwood’s casting is … Continue reading →

  Tree of Life (2011) Dir: Terrence Malick “Stars” – Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain and some kids In my line of work, we’re often challenged with comparing a film to other similar titles.  The only film I could think … Continue reading →

  Casino Jack (2010) Director:  George Hickenlooper Stars: Kevin Spacey, Barry Pepper, Kelly Preston and Jon Lovitz If you like films that “take you into a world”, then Casino Jack will almost certainly be for you.  In this case, we … Continue reading →

Jackie Brown (1996)    *** Burke Favorite *** Director: Quentin Tarantino Stars: Pam Grier, Robert Forster, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert DeNiro, Bridget Fonda and Michael Keaton Lots of times you’ll hear industry types talk about the “pitch meeting”.  This is the … Continue reading →

Get Him to the Greek (2010) Dir: Nick Stoller Stars: Jonah Hill, Russell Brand (as himself), Rose Bryne, Elizabeth Moss and Sean Combs Talk about inserting a movie into the DVD player and having absolutely zero expectation: I started at exactly … Continue reading →

8 Mile (2002) Dir: Curtis Hanson Stars: Marshall Mathers (A.K.A. Eminem), Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer and Kim Basinger Imagine, if you will, yourself back in late January of 2003: it’s been a long afternoon, so you decide to duck into … Continue reading →

  The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005, France) Dir: Jacques Audiard Stars: Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Aure Atika and Melanie Laurent This title was recently recommended to me and I had a chance to see it earlier this week: it’s … Continue reading →

    To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) Dir: William Friedkin Stars: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow and John Turturro Let’s start with a quick question: what’s the difference between the Bond film “Casino Royale” (2006) and “Moonraker” … Continue reading →

  Brewster’s Millions Dir: Walter Hill Stars: Richard Pryor, John Candy, Jerry Orbach, Pat Hingle and Hume Cronyn I have owed a friend of mine, D.R., a post on this film for some time now: let me say up front, D.R., … Continue reading →

  Appaloosa (2008) Dir: Ed Harris Stars: Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger and Jeremy Irons I would expect most film critics and academics probably agree that the Western genre’s “rules” were created back in the early days of film up through the … Continue reading →