Nominated for 3 Academy Awards and 3 Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, The Phantom Of The Opera is one of the most talked about movies of 2004. Taking the smash commercial success of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage production to the big screen is no easy task, but long-time Hollywood director Joel Schumacher is more than able to get the job done. He takes an otherwise poorly written screenplay (minus the awe of a live performance no less) and manag…
The Sting (DVD) Review
Recipient of ten Academy Award nominations and winner of seven, including Best Picture, The Sting is widely lauded as one of the best films ever produced. Written by David S. Ward, whose unorthodox genius has produced such Hollywood hits as Major League (1989), King Ralph (1991), and Sleepless In Seattle (1993), The Sting boasts a superbly well-written screenplay, ripe with perfectly constructed dialogue and a plotline riddled with suspense. Directed by George Roy Hill, who p…
Will & Grace (Season 2) DVD Review
First airing in Fall 1998, Will & Grace became one of the most talked about and celebrated sitcoms of its era. The recipient of 49 Emmy nominations, and winner of 12 including one win for Outstanding Comedy Series, the comedy follows the lives of two best friends from college who now live together. With widespread critical acclaim – 24 Golden Globes, 14 SAG Awards, and 6 People’s Choice Awards, Will & Grace was the darling of prime time network programming with its clever bra…
The Princess Bride (DVD) Review
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, The Princess Bride should’ve been awarded the designation of best comedy of the year. Having built a large cult following since its 1987 release, The Princess Bride continues to entertain whole new generations of fans. Its enduring tale and timeless humor are certain to cement its place among the hallowed halls of the movie classic elites. The Princess Bride is one of the few movies that every person absolutely should see – if yo…
The Waltons (Season 2) DVD Review
Recipient of 15 Golden Globe and 25 Emmy nominations, The Waltons enjoyed nine seasons of high ratings and widespread critical acclaim. Premiering in Fall 1972 on CBS, the drama series catalogued the life and times of a close-knit country family during the depths of the Great Depression. Supposedly, the series is based on the real life events of creator Earl Hamner Jr. and his family. The Waltons answered critics who believed such family shows were passe, and its family-frien…
Will & Grace (Season 3) DVD Review
Will & Grace premiered in late 1998 to widespread commercial success. Debra Messing plays the role of Grace Adler, a heterosexual interior designer who shares an apartment with her gay best friend Will (Eric McCormack). Friends since college, Will is a successful lawyer and Grace’s closet confidant. Having dated Will before he came out of the closet, Will and Grace maintain a more intimate relationship than most casual friends, and Grace often expresses her wish that Will wer…
The Shawshank Redemption, a Stephen King movie
The Shawshank Redemption is consistently voted as one of the best movies of all time. Originally a story in a Stephen King book, the Different Seasons, known as Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, the story was adapted and the movie created.
The West Wing (DVD) Review
Premiering in September 1999, the original NBC series The West Wing built an instant cult following with its seemingly realistic weekly excursions into the inner sanctums of the White House. The series became such a hit that some pollsters claimed that certain people actually believed Jed Bartlet was the real president (although, if true, this is more of a negative reflection on the intelligence of the electorate, and not necessarily an indication of West Wing’s realism). But…
Wonder Woman (DVD) Review
Nominated for a single Emmy in its short three season stint, Wonder Woman – which premiered in 1976 – was the third attempt by the major networks to bring the popular comic book character to TV. Created as the result of a collaboration between the multi-talented William M. Marston and DC Comics publisher Maxwell Gaines, Wonder Woman made her world premiere in a 1941 comic book. The final product of Gaines’ request for a female comic book hero, Marston never lived to see his c…
The Golden Girls (DVD) Review
Making its debut in the fall of 1985, The Golden Girls quickly established itself as a fixture of Saturday night prime time television. Following the lives of four older women living together as roommates in Miami, the show displayed a raw wit and a biting humor. The women live in the house of Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), a Southern belle who loves men of every kind and has dated every eligible bachelor in the Miami area. Her roommates are former high school teacher Do…
The Shawshank Redemption (DVD) Review
Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, The Shawshank Redemption amazingly failed to win a single Oscar. Its amazing because its probably one of the top ten best films ever produced. Based on Stephen Kings short story Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, the film transcends the typical intellectually and spiritually bankrupt Hollywood entertainment of the modern era with an onscreen artistry that is the closest well probably ever see to poetry …
The West Wing (Season 2) DVD Review
Since its September 1999 premiere, the NBC series The West Wing immediately established itself with viewers as one of the top programs on television. With its purportedly realistic weekly foray into the inner-depths of the White House, the drama series became so popular that some pollsters claimed its president Jed Bartlet was the most recognizable candidate going into the 2000 presidential campaign. Nevertheless, the point is that The West Wing strikes a chord with its core …