Archives
One night in a small town, local ranch hands are visiting the local whorehouse. One of the ranch hands becomes enraged with the girl he is with and brutally attacks her, leaving her scarred. When the Sheriff, Little Bill, arrives, he sets the penalties for the ranch hand. The Madam, Strawberry Alice, finds his verdict horribly insufficient. They start to pool their money to hire a gunslinger to kill the man. Elsewhere,… Read More
It was becoming clear that Nolan was planning to form a trilogy. The Dark Knight ended with Batman on the run, taking the blame for Harvey Dent’s death. It suggested Batman would be hiding in the shadows in his fight against crime. There were no real casting controversies this time. Generally, people seemed okay with announcements of Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway. After the Dark Knight, people seemed to trust the team… Read More
The recasting of Rachel Dawes with Maggie Gyllenhaal might have been the biggest casting controversy if not for the announcement of Heath Ledger as the Joker. Oh, the internet exploded. And then the movie came out and made a lot of people eat crow. The late Heath Ledger gave one of the best takes on the Joker. An anarchist who just wants to watch the world burn, The Joker starts out appearing… Read More
It took until 2005 for Batman to return to the big screen. From the start, we knew this was going to be a more serious take on the character than the previous films. They were starting over and taking their inspiration from Batman: Year One. Warner Brothers brought in Christopher Nolan (director of Following and Memento) to craft a Batman for the modern movie age. They started to announce their cast and… Read More
So, last Sunday’s Oscars happened. There was much questioning in advance of how Chris Rock would address the #OscarsSoWhite controversies. Some felt he should drop out. Some felt he should use the the night to stick it to Hollywood racism. And, he did pretty good. Rock had some good jokes that called out the racism at play…Hollywood’s “Sorority style Racism” as Rock noted. But Rock’s bits could have been better. It started… Read More
Bruce Almighty was a hit, and the studio wanted a sequel. The most admirable thing Tom Shadyac and his crew did? They avoided doing a total retread. They told Bruce’s story, and they did not want to just make a total formula sequel. In some ways, this film owes more to the Oh God Franchise than the first film. This one has a focus set on Evan getting a mission from God. And… Read More
After lukewarm receptions to How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Carrey went back to where his bigger successes occured. High concept comedies. And you do not get more high concept than Bruce Almighty. A couple decades after the Oh God series, we see George Burns replaced by Morgan Freeman in the role of God. Carrey plays Bruce Nolan, a sad sack who does not appreciate what he has, rather wanting more, believing he… Read More
