August: Osage County is a dramatic movie version of a stage play about the women of a family in Oklahoma. It stars Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts (who both received Oscar nominations for their work), and other talented actors in a film that is heavy on dialogue and stress from family. Filmed primarily in Oklahoma, the movie showcases the south (for better or worse), differences in generations (Abigail Breslin is the youngest of the family), and not so gently deals…
Amy Adams was born in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy, raised in Castle Rock, Colorado, worked as a dancer in dinner theatre, and got her first acting credit for Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999 comedy with Kirsten Dunst). She may be best known for the Disney fantasy Enchanted (2007 with Susan Sarandon), or a number of dramatic performances, 5 of which earned her an Oscar nomination; Junebug (2005 with Embeth Davidtz set in Southern America), Doubt (2008 with Meryl Streep involving a Catholic…
Logan Lucky is a crime comedy about a heist during a NASCAR race starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig. The trailer sells the film accurately as a Steven Soderbergh directed, fun filled heist movie, with plenty of odd characters (similar enough to his Ocean’s 11/12/13 films, but also different enough to have been made). Taking his time to let the audience get to know the characters, Soderbergh sets up a well developed film by allowing his actors to…
The new releases in theatres for Friday August 18 include The Hitman’s Bodyguard (action comedy) and Logan Lucky (crime comedy). Currently in theatres, the top 5 films based on box office grosses are Annabelle: Creation (horror thriller), Dunkirk (action drama), The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (animated comedy), The Dark Tower (action adventure), and The Emoji Movie (animated comedy). The Hitman’s Bodyguard is an action comedy pairing Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson as bodyguard and hitman. The film…
Steve Carell was born in Concord, Massachusetts, was a hockey goalie and a disc jockey while in university, and got his first acting credit for Curly Sue (1991 comedy with James Belushi). He may be best known for playing Michael Scott in the American version of The Office (2005-2013), voicing Gru in the Despicable Me films and shorts (2010-2017), and was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for Foxcatcher (2014 drama with Channing Tatum). Though he normally plays over reacting…
Two birthdays on August 15th are Jennifer Lawrence (27) and Ben Affleck (45). Others include Emily Kinney (32, Conviction), Quinton Aaron (33, Halfway), Natasha Henstridge (43, Medinah), Anthony Anderson (47, Black-ish), Debra Messing (49, Will & Grace), Alejandro González Iñárritu (54, The Revenant), and David Zayas (55, Bloodline). Jennifer Lawrence was born in Louisville, Kentucky, got her first acting role in Monk (crime show with Tony Shalhoub) in 2006, won an Oscar for Best Actress in 2012 for Silver Linings…
Two birthdays on August 14th are Mila Kunis (34) and Halle Berry (51). Others include Brianna Hildebrand (21, Tragedy Girls), Catherine Bell (49, Good Witch), Marcia Gay Harden (58, Code Black), Steve Martin (72, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk), and James Horner (1953-2015, won 2 Oscars for composing Titanic in 1997). Mila Kunis was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, moved to Los Angeles at age 7, her first acting credit was for Days of Our Lives (long running soap opera), and…
The latest adaptation of author Stephen King’s works is The Dark Tower, an adventure fantasy film starring Idris Elba who is at war with Matthew McConaughey. I saw the film with a friend who has read all 8 of the books in The Dark Tower series (1982-2012), I am unfamiliar with the material, and we both liked it but wanted more. At only 95 minutes, The Dark Tower rushes along, odd when compared to the 3 films based on The…
Released into theatres one month ago, War for the Planet of the Apes is part 3 of the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise, this time featuring Woody Harrelson. It has lots of sci-fi action and dramatic tension between the species, but the star of this series continues to be the realistic animation of the apes, lead by Andy Serkis and his motion capture performance. Andy’s role as Caesar is the heart of the films, dealing with a new found…
I first saw Chris Hemsworth in the reboot of Star Trek (2009 sci-fi action) in a small but memorable role, looking and sounding like he belonged in a big budget action movie. He followed up with the thrillers A Perfect Getaway (2009 with Milla Jovovich) and Ca$h (2010 with Sean Bean) before headlining the Marvel comic book action Thor (2011 with Anthony Hopkins). Chris is a great compliment to the ensemble team of actors in superhero movies (both in The…