Two new cinnamon cereals are competing for the right to be the champion of the cereal aisle. Let's take a look at both, compare them, and see which one comes out on top, Thunderdome style!
Demi Moore earned her first Oscar nom for The Substance , and she deserves it. After all, she's a survivor of the Hollywood machine who delivers a brave and memorable performance. The film also serves as a showcase for Margaret Qualley, who blazes into courageous territory herself. But at some point, this potent cautionary tale from French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat turns into a bizarre splatter fest (not unlike Peter Jackson's Braindead , aka Dead Alive ) that diminishes its message and dilutes its themes in a tidal wave of gore and blood that is so relentless that it becomes desensitizing and, dare I say, uninteresting. A film that started as a scalpel ends as a sledgehammer, bashing us over the head so aggressively that I went numb to it a good thirty minutes before it finally ended. If the goal was to create an endurance test, mission accomplished. There's value in that, at least in the short term. I appreciate and support the important things this movie has to say abou...
Burt Reynolds spent a lot of the 1970s making movies that were set in the rural south and are sometimes called "hick flicks." With the two Gator McKlusky movies, we have one of his best and...another one.
You couldn't ask for a movie with a higher pedigree of talent in front of the camera and behind the scenes. 1963's The Great Escape is populated wall-to-wall with actors that I enjoy: Steve McQueen ( Bullit ), James Garner ( Support Your Local Sheriff ), Charles Bronson ( Mr. Majestyk ), Donald Pleasance ( Halloween ), James Coburn ( In Like Flint ) and Richard Attenborough ( Jurassic Park ) lead an all-star cast of current A-listers (and some that would be). Handling directing duties is John Sturges, a director who helmed more than his fair share of classics, including Last Train from Gun Hill (1959), The Magnificent Seven (1960), and The Eagle Has Landed (1976) . So it's with something close to guilt that I admit in this review that I don't love The Great Escape. I know I should. All the elements for success are there, from real-life heroism, underdogs that the audience can (and should) root for, even triumphs and tragedies as played out agains...
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