i luv cinema

By Leave a Comment

William Holden Appreciation Post

No way would I let this day pass (4/17/18) without dropping a line to acknowledge the 100th birthday of one of my favorite actors – William Holden.

In the ten plus years I have been working on this blog, I have had occasion to write about some of my favorite Holden films:

At the risk of being repetitive, I am going to go ahead and mention films which are essential viewing featuring the Golden Boy.

Our Town (1940): Here Holden is in true cinnamon roll form. Made a year after his first screen credit (Golden Boy), this adaptation of the Thornton Wilder portrays Holden as the wide-eyed small town fella I imagine him to be if he remained in his birthplace of O’Fallon, Illinois (he was raised in Pasadena, California from the age of three).

Title: OUR TOWN ¥ Pers: SCOTT, MARTHA / HOLDEN, WILLIAM ¥ Year: 1940 ¥ Dir: WOOD, SAM ¥ Ref: OUR020AA ¥ Credit: [ UNITED ARTISTS / THE KOBAL COLLECTION ]
[Read more…]

By Leave a Comment

Lady Bird (2017): Hometown Glory*

Lady Bird above all else is proof that sometimes the best stories are told on a minimalist scale. Now you may be asking – what the heck do I mean by saying that?

Well, it is my hot take that Lady Bird has resonated with viewers because it is such an intimate, personal story. It may not be a story that you can relate to on all levels, but it is a story told in a manner which lets you in and connect with what is portrayed on screen. Of course this is down to the talents in front of and behind the camera.

Full disclosure – I have a bit of a soft spot for the film’s writer/director Greta Gerwig. In her directorial debut, Gerwig acquits herself quite well in composing a love song with multiple notes, all centered around the tumult of high school senior Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan) and her somewhat predictably fraught relationship with her mother (Laurie Metcalf). She is a teenager after all …

[Read more…]

By 3 Comments

Black Panther (2018)

Well, here it goes … some summary thoughts on Black Panther. Be assured, there are no spoilers here.

Simply stated, Black Panther is a visual feast for the eyes*. It is produced on a scale I have rarely (if ever) seen projected on the big screen. In a word, the world of Wakanda is MAGNIFICENT and must be seen at the cinema to be fully appreciated (IMAX > 3D in my opinion).

Power in a Picture: He might be the King, but there is a lot of matriarchal power on display in the film Black Panther. Pictured (l. to r. Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Okoye (Danai Gurira) (Photo Credit: Marvel Studios).

As it relates to the story itself – after a somewhat deliberate start, once the action of the story kicks off (and boy does it), I found myself fully immersed and engaged in this world and its players. So focused was my attention, I did not feel the passage of time.

The construction of Black Panther makes it a solid standalone movie, independent of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In other words, never did I feel like any foreknowledge of any previous Marvel film was required to understand or enjoy this film – it stands on its own. That said, director Ryan Coogler was able to weave tidbits from prior films in a way that served both novice and MCU devotees well.

[Read more…]

totalfilm600movieblogs