Kevin B. Lee Rates and Ranks Movie Explosions

Posted on May 7, 2014 at 8:00 am

Take a look at this exploration of movie explosions from Kevin B. Lee. I remember Sylvester Stallone on the “Expendables” panel at Comic-Con saying that they had to film in South America to evade US restictions on firepower. I like the way Lee looks at factors like who caused the explosion as well as quantity and quality.

Perhaps this is the explosion that had the greatest impact on me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOFgFAcGHQc

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Google Salutes Audrey Hepburn

Posted on May 4, 2014 at 9:42 am

Today Google pays tribute to Audrey Hepburn, a movie star of impeccable elegance and grace on what would have been the 85th birthday. It’s a great reason to watch these unmissable classics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sorbncQusuk

Roman Holiday Hepburn became a star and won her first Oscar for playing a runaway princess who meets up with a handsome reporter (Gregory Peck). Peck loved to tell the story about how he surprised her in this scene. He did not tell her what he was going to do with his hand and that reaction from her is pure Audrey, no acting involved.

My Fair Lady Hepburn plays Eliza Doolittle, the flower girl who wants to learn to speak English well enough to work in a flower shop and ends up enchanting royalty and, an even tougher task, the irascible Professor Higgins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr3h2_p2iyw

How to Steal a Million The most glamorous art thieves ever are Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole in this glossy romantic comedy.

Sabrina A chauffeur’s daughter dreams of marrying her employer’s handsome playboy son (William Holden) until his stern businessman brother (Humphrey Bogart) tries to distract her. This was Hepburn’s first film featuring gowns by the man who would become her signature designer, Givenchy. Their work together made her a fashion icon.

Breakfast At Tiffany’s Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, a party girl trying to take care of herself in New York, but fighting her feelings for the writer downstairs.

Funny Face Hepburn stars with Fred Astaire in a musical about a bookish girl who accepts a modeling job in Paris so she can meet her idol, a French philosopher, but finds herself falling for the urbane photographer to the music of George Gershwin.

Two for the Road One of the wisest, wittiest, and most romantic films of all time follows a young couple (Hepburn and Albert Finney) as they travel through Europe in different stages of their relationship, from meeting as young students to newlyweds, new parents, disappointed early middle-age, and the possibility of renewal.

Charade Hepburn stars with Cary Grant in the most romantic thriller ever made, a sophisticated crime caper to a swoony Henry Mancini score.

List: Airplane Movies

Posted on February 28, 2014 at 8:00 am

What movies will you never see on an airplane? Airplane movies! The last thing they want you to think about up in the sky is the risk of disaster. But airplanes are a perfect setting for movies, providing the unities of time and place that have been the foundation of drama from the ancient Greeks to the classics of “locked room” mysteries. A random group of people come together in a confined space and for the time of the flight no one can enter or leave. And being up in the sky is inherently scary. If anything goes wrong, it can be deadly.

The very first Best Picture Oscar winner was “Wings,” barely past the first days of commercial air travel. The early days of movies and the early days of manned flight were made for each other. There were more air battles in WWI movies than actually happened in WWI.

The first Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie, “Flying Down to Rio,” had dance numbers on the wings of planes.

Just recently, the Denzel Washington film Flight had one of the scariest plane crash sequences ever filmed, and the wild and very raunchy comedy I’m So Excited! took place on a plane, also with some musical numbers.

There are a lot of movies with airplane scenes, but these are some of the best films that take place almost entirely in a plane.

The High and the Mighty If there’s a problem with the plane, it’s good to have John Wayne in the cockpit.

Air Force One Harrison Ford is the President of the United States, flying back home from a meeting in Russia, when the plane is taken over by terrorist Gary Oldman.

Snakes on a Plane The reception for this film suffered from backlash to the hype, but it is actually a lot of fun.

Red Eye At first, the hotel manager played by Rachel McAdams thinks the cute guy in the next seat (Cillian Murphy) is flirting with her. But then it turns out that her father is being held by his henchmen so that he can pressure her to help him in an assassination plot.

Con Air This ridiculously entertaining film has Nicolas Cage on a prisoner transport plane taking high-risk, extra-dangerous criminals (played by an outstanding cast including John Malkovich and Steve Buscemi) to a new facility. When they say its security system is foolproof, you know things are going to go wrong.

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Movies for Black History Month

Posted on February 18, 2014 at 8:00 am

Every family should observe Black History Month and movies like these are a good way to begin discussions and further study.

1. “Glory” The true story of the US Civil War’s first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of their own Union army and battling the Confederates, with brilliant performances by Denzel Washington (who won an Oscar), Morgan Freeman, and Matthew Broderick as the white officer who truly believed all men were equal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGt9Yr2bCw

2. “Something the Lord Made” The obstacles to education and professional advancement kept Vivien Thomas (Mos Def) from medical school, but he was a pioneer in heart surgery.

3. “Roots” Writer Alex Haley told the story of his own family going back to the capture of one of his ancestors from Africa to be sold into slavery in this historic miniseries.

4. “Amistad” A slave rebellion led to an historic Supreme Court case that addressed fundamental notions of personhood and inalienable rights.

5. “With All Deliberate Speed” This documentary about the Brown v. Board of Education case that transformed American schools and culture has interviews with lawyer Thurgood Marshall (who later became the first black Supreme Court justice) and others involved in the case.

6. “Malcolm X” Denzel Washington is mesmerizing in this story of the incendiary leader and his journey from complacency to activism to understanding.

7. “Eyes on the Prize” This PBS documentary covers the Civil Rights movement from the murder of Emmett Till to the march in Selma. There is also an excellent sequel.

8. “The Rosa Parks Story” Angela Bassett stars as the Civil Rights activist whose refusal to give up her seat on the bus electrified the nation.

9. “The Loving Story” The name of this history-making couple was really Loving. Their inter-racial marriage led the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the laws against miscegenation in 1967.

10. “A Great Day in Harlem” This documentary tells the story of photographer Art Kane’s 1958 iconic photograph of all of the great jazz musicians of the era.

President Movies

Posted on February 17, 2014 at 8:00 am

Why have there been no great films about George Washington?

And why are there so many films featuring Abraham Lincoln? From the John Ford classic Young Mr. Lincoln, starring Henry Fonda, to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, there is something about the tall man with the wry sense of humor that is very cinematic.

Then there are fictional movie Presidents like Polly Bergen as the first woman Chief Executive and Harrison Ford as an almost-superhero President in “Air Force One.” Be sure to check out Yahoo’s slideshow of real-life Presidents portrayed on screen.

Ten Presidential movies for President’s Day:

1. Young Mr. Lincoln Long before he ran for President, we see Abe Lincoln mourn his first love and defend his first clients.

2. Independence Day Bill Pullman is a former fighter pilot who leads America and the world after an alien attack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l31UUl5SyXk

3. Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb This cold-war farce has Peter Sellers in three roles, including President of the United States. His conversation with his counterpart in the USSR is a masterpiece. (Some mature material).

4. “Kisses for My President” This all-but forgotten 1964 film features Polly Bergen as the nation’s first female President, but in this pre-feminist era its focus is on the problems faced by her husband, played by Fred McMurray. It is every bit as silly as its title suggests and you will never believe how it all gets resolved. (Guesses welcome)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfTsMLxHb8g

5. Air Force One Harrison Ford is the President as action hero. When Air Force One is captured by terrorists, it’s a good thing that the man who played Han Solo and Indiana Jones is on hand.

6. Welcome To Mooseport Gene Hackman plays a former President who ends up competing with small town guy Ray Romano in a mayoral race and for Maura Tierney.

7. Guarding Tess Shirley MacLaine is a former first lady and Nicolas Cage is her bored Secret Service guard in this comedy-drama with some funny moments — and some touching ones, too.

8. Dave Kevin Kline plays a man hired to impersonate the President (also Kline) whose challenges include fooling the First Lady (Sigourney Weaver) in this charming comedy.

9. The American President Michael Douglas plays a President in love in this witty story from the man who would go on to create “The West Wing” with Martin Sheen, seen here as a Presidential aide.

10. The President’s Analyst The focus is on the psychiatrist who treats the President in this satire starring James Coburn.

And don’t forget Richard Nixon in “Nixon” (Anthony Hopkins), “Frost/Nixon” (Frank Langella), and “Dick” (Dan Hedaya), John F. Kennedy in “13 Days” (Bruce Greenwood) and “PT 109” (Cliff Robertson), George W. Bush in “W” (James Brolin, with James Cromwell as his father, President George H.W. Bush), and Franklin Roosevelt in “Hyde Park on Hudson” (Bill Murray), “Eleanor and Franklin” (Edward Hermann), and “Sunrise at Campobello” (Ralph Bellamy). In “The Remarkable Andrew,” the ghost of Andrew Jackson (Brian Donlevy) helps a teacher played by William Holden expose some corruption in his local government and Theodore Roosevelt appears in “The Wind and the Lion” and “My Girl Tisa.”