Kevin Costner – Spinning Platters

Film Review: Hidden Figures

Hidden figures brought to light in inspiring new film

Katherine (Taraji P. Henson) performs a calculation that will help NASA successfully launch manned capsules into space.

2016 hasn’t exactly been a stellar year in a lot of ways, but in terms of film, it’s been an exceptional year for girl power movies. This is a year in which we saw a brave 13-year-old stand strong against centuries of male-dominated tradition in The Eagle Huntress, a 14-year-old chess prodigy overcome tremendous odds in Queen of Katwe, and now, in Theodore Melfi’s new film Hidden Figures, we witness a trio of African-American women contribute to national success despite facing rampant and demoralizing sexism and racism in the segregated south of the early 1960s. There has never been a better time to be inspired at the movies.
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Film Review: Draft Day

Warning: This film may offend filmmakers, women, and football fans.

Kevin Costner contemplates his previous decision to be in this film. — Kevin Costner mulls over his decision to be in this film.

What’s wrong with the above image? That’s correct, those black and white photos on the wall behind Kevin Costner are photographs of football, not baseball. Kevin Costner has starred in some of the greatest baseball movies of all time. He’s well known for his love of our national pastime. So why take a crack at a football movie? It’s hard to blame the filmmakers for attempting to bring some entertainment value to the behind-the-scenes world of football, specifically the strategizing and efforts put into the bizarre tradition that is the NFL draft day. Such a behind-the-scenes attempt worked for Moneyball (2011). But Draft Day falls flat because the storyline is carried on the shoulders of contrived characters, a pathetic depiction of a female executive in the sports world, and very poor editing choices.

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The 2014 Super Bowl Movie Ads

Explosions, superheroes, Muppets, and the Bible…hooray, kinda!

Remember the good ole’ days of Super Bowl movie trailers (~15 years ago) when there were only 2-4 of them and they were completely jaw-dropping? Armageddon and The Mask of Zorro in 1998, The Mummy and The Matrix in 1999, Gladiator in 2000. Nowadays, the internet is set ablaze with news of movie trailers set to premiere during the big game (with some premiering online before the game). Super Bowl movie ads just don’t have the ‘wow’-factor they used to. This year, more than eight movies had their trailers broadcast during the commercial breaks. It was mostly a visual feast of action/adventure fare, and most were new, aside from a few including 3 Days to Kill and Monument’s Men (which has too many ads playing currently). So, here are the cream of the crop:

Transformers: Age of Extinction
No Shia? I’m game! No, seriously, we’re all fairly confident that this movie has little chance of being any better than the previous three crap-fests. That being said, Optimus Prime riding a robo-dinosaur? Again, I’m game!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNfOcV0eeg4

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Film Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

A hell of a ride: Branagh, Pine infuse Clancy franchise with new energy

Chris Pine is on the run as Jack Ryan in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

With Oscar nominations announced yesterday and the slate of Serious Award-Worthy films soon to be on their way out of theaters, it’s time to make way for some rousing old-fashioned movie-going fun. Kenneth Branagh has helped us on that front with the somewhat awkwardly titled Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, his inspired and highly entertaining reboot of the late author Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series. Branagh and screenwriters Adam Cozad and David Koepp have created an entirely new story for Clancy’s CIA agent character, the first not actually based on any of Clancy’s books. Koepp’s previous credits include 2012’s Premium Rush, the excellent Manhattan bicycle chase movie, and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit benefits tremendously from that same adrenaline-fueled, frenetic, thrill-a-minute aesthetic. Continue reading “Film Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit”

Film Review: Man of Steel

Amy Adams and Henry Cavill in Man of Steel

Superman turns 75 this year, and appears no worse for the wear in Man of Steel, director Zack Snyder’s serviceable, if somewhat dispassionate, reboot. Writers Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, who both penned recent Batman films, bring a similar dark, edgy, sensibility to the Kryptonian hero’s story, with mixed results. Continue reading “Film Review: Man of Steel”