tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100494372009-11-12T12:24:46.360-08:00Interact! Post your comments, rants and raves.Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1166676257108885342006-12-20T20:43:00.000-08:002006-12-20T21:17:46.263-08:00

LINKS—Overview—Trailers, Photos—About this Film—Spiritual Connections Peter O’Toole has had many magnum opuses (opi?). And many a magnum. In Venus, as Maurice, he is simply out of this world. Always one of my favorite actors, he absolutely beams here. Vanessa Redgrave, as Valerie? Ditto for her. In this film, both of these stars shine as they have never shone before. Despite their advancing age

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1161359457427913592006-10-20T08:45:00.000-07:002006-10-20T08:50:57.696-07:00

Flicka tells the story of the independent spirit. Of course, what better prop could there be to illustrate the free and independent spirit than a wild horse? I have always liked horse movies, but the idea is becoming a little overused. I am beginning to walk away with the nagging thought that what it takes to train a wild horse is a sort of paradox, as getting your horse to become compliant

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1160709301745725172006-10-12T19:22:00.000-07:002006-10-15T15:50:10.150-07:00

Nearing Grace tells the story of what happens to the Nearing family after Mom’s death. Total anarchy and abject dysfunction are not always the effect—but boy does it hurt to lose your mom. The film is dripping with emotion throughout, from the screenplay (with its thoughtful and adult lines) to the exceedingly effective and innovative photo-storytelling technique employed by director Rick

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1159980782591518092006-10-04T09:06:00.000-07:002007-02-13T17:12:54.780-08:00

Documentary filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady follow a small group of children to Pastor Becky Fischer’s “Kids on Fire” summer camp where kids are taught a worldview quite different from the one most, and I do mean most, Americans are familiar with.Every subculture has its own pretense. We all come into this world with a self-centered worldview. We filter everything we see through that

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1157321742170229162006-09-03T15:14:00.000-07:002006-09-03T15:29:00.253-07:00

LINKS—Overview—Trailers, Photos—About this Film—Spiritual ConnectionsWriter Director Bart Freundlich’s ‘Trust the Man’ is a triumph!At the risk of sounding chauvinistic or sexist, I humbly submit the following observations: ‘Trust the Man’ is a movie that portrays men as sensitive, smart, occasional dopes who laugh at fart jokes, and look like real men. They are not sensitive and feminine but

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1154074101311594992006-07-28T01:07:00.000-07:002006-08-17T08:58:48.596-07:00

LINKS—Overview—Trailers, Photos—About this Film—Spiritual ConnectionsJohn Tucker Must Die……But he doesn’t. And neither does his movie. Kate (Brittany Snow) is a cute but sort of plain looking girl. She spends most of her life with the self opinion that she is invisible to others. Judging from the clever few opening minutes of the film, it appears so. Her family who consists of she and her mother

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1153512500161720712006-07-21T13:07:00.000-07:002006-07-23T18:13:09.913-07:00

LINKS—Overview—Trailers, Photos—About this Film—Spiritual ConnectionsLook up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Bad Mood Risin’! Here is one superhero who hates her job, resents those she saves and wishes they would stop imperiling themselves or victimizing others so she could have an evening out. Sounds reasonable. I imagine she hates any job that requires interaction of any kind.

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1151671246327888292006-06-30T05:36:00.000-07:002006-06-30T05:40:46.346-07:00

This film is a documentary about an historic tribute to Leonard Cohen, one of modern culture’s greatest poets and humanists. The tribute, organized by music producer Hal Willner, was performed at the Sydney Opera House. The performers who gathered to pay homage to Mr. Cohen are featured in behind-the-scenes interviews and in performance of their favorite Cohen songs.You’ll enjoy this mostly

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1150423957919228662006-06-15T18:57:00.000-07:002006-06-15T19:12:37.936-07:00

I’ve never seen a Fast and Furious movie. This one I couldn’t miss. I don’t mean because it is such an event that to miss it would be a travesty. (But it is visually stunning.) What I mean is, I couldn’t miss the action. It is very—ahem—fast and furious. Beauty fills the screen from the very outset: beautiful girls, beautiful cars, and beautiful colors. It is probably the brightest live-action

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1149824138250358862006-06-08T20:26:00.000-07:002006-06-08T20:36:29.286-07:00

Based on the National Public Radio drama of the same title, this well-done movie is an actual performance of the award-winning radio show, watermarked with backstage banter and drama. There is something wholesome and unapologetic about A Prairie Home Companion, particularly in its middle-American humor, morality, and spirituality. In Minneapolis you can stand on a public stage and sing songs

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1146843798453374242006-05-05T08:35:00.000-07:002006-05-16T09:23:33.196-07:00

I find it hard to review foreign movies. They are so… foreign.La Mujer de Mi Hermano (My Brother’s Woman) was filmed in Mexico. Interestingly enough, the house our hero and heroine live in has been featured in one of the architectural magazines I read. But that’s an interesting diversion. The film is like a lot of European films—slow and plodding but full of meaning and pathos. It was a long 93

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1146838391726066382006-05-05T07:04:00.000-07:002006-05-05T07:13:11.736-07:00

Hoot is a Hoot!I had the unexpected pleasure of previewing the new movie Hoot in its native Florida on March 31st. I will try to restrain myself from droning on and on about how beautiful Florida is. You can see for yourself on the World Wide Web. The weather is terrific (between hurricanes) and the lifestyle is simultaneously laid back and pretentious. And it’s important to understand the

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1146837837363752992006-05-05T06:56:00.000-07:002006-05-05T07:03:57.386-07:00

I sit at a large round table with several other journalists. We are a willing audience for Wil Shriner, the brilliant director and writer of the new movie Hoot, produced by Jimmy Buffett. We sit around and talk about old TV shows, standup comedy, movies we’ve seen and movies we’d like to see. We joke we laugh and listen to some of what may end up being Wil Shriner’s next stand-up comedy

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1146189671846658852006-04-27T18:58:00.000-07:002006-04-27T19:41:40.513-07:00

LINKS:— Overview— Cast and Crew— Photo Pages I just returned from a screening of the newest Robin Williams film: R.V.It is an excellent movie, if lighthearted comic farces can be excellent. What did I like about it, you may ask? Well for starters, let’s look at the cast. The troupe includes Robin Williams as Bob Munro, and Cheryl Hines as Jamie Munro. The Munro kids are played by music prodigy

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1146189104069164462006-04-27T18:46:00.000-07:002006-04-27T19:39:44.956-07:00

I recently had the unusual chance to “talk to the stars” of Hard Candy: screenwriter Brian Nelson and Ellen Page, a brilliant young actress.I first found that there is much thought that goes into the writing of a screenplay. Nelson talked about the themes of the movie, the backstory, the history and the future of his characters as though they actually existed. And in one sense they do, in his

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1145628674859877952006-04-21T07:04:00.000-07:002006-10-22T06:58:53.800-07:00

Hard candy? Really hard!The inspiration for Hard Candy was a wave of real-life attacks that took place in Japan. Producer David Higgins read about cases of schoolgirls ambushing real pedophiles to pay them their just desserts for predatory dating tactics.Hard Candy starts out kind of slow, disarmingly so. Hayley (Ellen Page) and Jeff (Patrick Wilson) have been chatting over the Internet for some

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1143764246745814702006-03-30T16:15:00.000-08:002006-04-05T21:56:39.986-07:00

LINKS— Overview— Cast and Crew— Photo Pages "I've got these really great nude videos of Sharon Stone -- do you have a movie we can put them in?" I can almost imagine this pre-production dialogue between writers on Basic Instinct 2. Or perhaps this: "I have this really cool mystery thriller. Do you have any nude videos of Sharon Stone we could throw in?"With the current trend of filming comic

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1143254237711519712006-03-24T18:30:00.000-08:002006-04-26T22:12:17.856-07:00

Duck Season is a story about the fuzzy, seemingly undefined period from childhood to adulthood. It features 3 young actors about 15 years old, and one other who is supposed to be about 21. The film takes place almost entirely in the upper floor apartment of Flama. He lives there with his soon to be divorced mother and father. He is a red haired boy of 14. (There is a funny scene involving his red

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1143253262131081682006-03-24T18:17:00.000-08:002006-03-24T18:29:56.240-08:00

Author: Tim DownsHardbackPublisher: WestBow PressReleased: January 2006ISBN: 1595540229Four lives tragically intersect to stop a plot to exterminate 100 million people. The plot is the result of one man’s consuming passion; the other three are on an equally passionate mission to stop him.All four lives have been marred by personal tragedies—tragedies made more profound by the fact that they were

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1142602645338750452006-03-17T05:26:00.000-08:002006-03-17T05:48:01.480-08:00

Author: Harun YahyaPaperbackPublisher: Global Publishing (2001)ISBN: 9756426349I often wonder what science could teach us if it were intended to discover a creation by God rather than advance support for an accident. It seems like we waste a lot of brainpower and time supporting theories that become less viable every year.I’m not a scientist. Nor am I an attorney, a police officer, a judge, or a

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1142436344687006602006-03-14T07:08:00.000-08:002006-03-15T07:26:27.090-08:00

Based on the popular series by best-selling Christian author Janette Oke, the three episodes in this DVD series follow the family of a young woman named Missie from the time her biological father meets her adoptive mother. Love’s Long Journey, the third in this series, recounts the events surrounding Missie and her husband Willie as they start a family and a cattle business. The problems and

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1138417433269939852006-01-27T19:01:00.000-08:002006-01-28T08:07:42.503-08:00

LINKS—Overview—Cast and Crew—Photo Pages I saw Emma Thompson transformed from ugly to beautiful. That’s the story. The end.Seriously, that is more or less a summation. Seven beastly children are transformed into seven darling lovable children. One father, Colin Firth (who couldn’t be ugly), is transformed from an ugly beautiful person to a beautiful beautiful person. Everyone in this story is

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1137202547248891822006-01-13T17:34:00.000-08:002006-01-13T18:17:09.790-08:00

LINKS— Overview— Cast and Crew— Photo Pages It’s always interesting to imagine what you would do if you only had three weeks to live. Sometimes I do this and my imagination goes in a variety of different directions, most of which are dependent on my mood. I’ve gone from picturing myself jumping into life with both feet to ruminating on my misfortune to taking masochistic pleasure in whether

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1136852061555712932006-01-09T16:12:00.000-08:002006-01-13T18:21:09.196-08:00

This independent film by Miranda July is quirky and offbeat.So is Miranda July. Her blog is a hoot, highlighting her funny way of looking at the world. She possesses a very unique sense of humor, so it won’t come as a surprise that this is a very unique movie.MY and EWK is a story about relationships: weird relationships, quirky relationships, dangerous relationships and frustrating

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10049437.post-1136850217249756932006-01-09T15:42:00.000-08:002006-01-13T11:33:27.656-08:00

LINKS—1. Overview—2. Cast and Crew—3. Photo Pages This picture is a classic underdog-wins-it-all story. (And no, I'm not giving away the end, since this actually happened.) Yet despite knowing the outcome, Glory Road is a film well worth seeing—one that I will probably end up owning as it portrays the gritty self-assurance that can lead to winning more than basketball games.Jerry Bruckheimer’s

Michael Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973173804431532376noreply@blogger.com0