Friday, May 29, 2020

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (1999)



Directed By: Gil Junger 
 Written By: Karen McCullah & Kirsten Smith 
Cinematography: Mark Irwin 
Editor: O. Nicolas Brown 


Cast: Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Julia Stiles, Larisa Oleynik, Gabrille Union, David Krumholtz, Allison Janney, Andrew Keegan, Susan May Pratt, Daryl Mitchell, Larry Miller, David Leisure, Kyle Cease 


Adapted from William Shakespeare's play "The Taming of the Shrew," A pretty, popular teenager can't go out on a date until her ill-tempered older sister does.

SHE'S ALL THAT (1999)



Directed By: Robert Iscove 
Written By: R. Lee Flemming Jr. 
Cinematography: Francis Kenny 
Editor: Casey O. Rohrs 

Cast: Freddie Prinze Jr., Rachel Leigh Cook, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Paul Walker, Dule Hill, Tamara Mello, Gabrielle Union, Matthew Lillard, Kevin Pollak, Anna Paquin, Kieran Culkin, Elden Henson, Usher Raymond, Kimberly “Lil’ Kim” Jones, Clea Duvall, Debbi Morgan, Tim Matheson, Chris Owen, Ashlee Levitch, Vanessa Lee Chester, Carlos Jacott, Alexis Arquette, Katherine Towne, Brandon Mychel Smith, Milo Ventimiglia, Sara Rivas, Flex Alexander 


A high school jock makes a bet that he can turn an unattractive girl into the school's prom queen.

WHATEVER IT TAKES (2000)



Directed By: David Raynr 
Written By: Mark Schwahn 
Cinematography: Tim Suhrstedt 
Editor: Ronald Roose 

Cast: Shane West, James Franco, Marla Sokoloff, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Aaron Paul, Kip Pardue, Julia Sweeney, Colin Hanks, Richard Schiff, Vanessa Evigan, David Koechner, Nick Cannon, Christine Lakin, Manu Intiraymi, Scott Vickaryous
 

  A modern-day remake of the Cyrano DeBergerac tale.

Friday, May 22, 2020

BIG TIME ADOLESCENCE (2020)


Written & Directed By: Jason Orley 
Cinematography: Andre Huebscher 
Editor: Waldemar Centeno 


Cast: Pete Davidson, Griffin Gluck, Emily Arlook, Jon Cryer, Sydney Sweeney, Machine Gun Kelly, Thomas Barbusca, Oona Laurence, Omar Brunson 


A suburban teenager comes of age under the destructive guidance of his best friend, an aimless college dropout.

WELCOME TO ME (2014)



Directed By: Shira Piven 
Written By: Eliot Laurence 
Cinematography: Eric Alan Edwards 
Editor: Josh Salzberg & Kevin Tent 


Cast: Kristen Wiig, Wes Bentley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Linda Cardellini, James Marsden, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Loretta Devine, Thomas Mann, Alan Tudyk, Kulap Vilaysack 


Alice suffers from borderline personality disorder, but she has what she needs in life. She has an apartment, she has a best friend, and she has tapes of every Oprah Winfrey show. And now, after winning the lottery, she also has 83 million dollars. What she doesn't have is an outlet for the whole world to know who she really is. The TV station cut her off when she tried turning her lottery announcement into a frank discussion of her sexual experiences, but with her money in hand, she's off to LA to convince two struggling TV producer brothers to produce her own TV show. Whatever it costs, she's going to do it. From swan entrances to dog neutering, she is going to introduce the world to Alice. But is the world ready for Alice?

SPANGLISH (2004)



Written & Directed By: James L. Brooks 
Cinematography: John Seale 
Editor: Richard Marks & Tia Nolan 


Cast: Adam Sandler, Paz Vega, Tea Leoni, Cloris Leachman, Sarah Steele, Shelbie Bruce, Phil Rosenthal, Thomas Haden Church, Angela Gothelas, Freddy Soto, Nichole Hiltz, Eric Schaefer, Spencer Locke, Sarah Hyland 


Flor emigrates to Los Angeles from Mexico in hopes of finding a better life for her and her daughter, Cristina. Hired by the John and Deborah Clasky as their housekeeper, Flor contends with the language barrier, Cristina's budding femininity, and the eccentric Clasky's way of life. 



Friday, May 15, 2020

SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL (2020)



Directed By: Peter Berg 
Written By: Sean O’Keefe & Brian Helgeland 
Based On Characters Created By: Robert Parker 
Based On The Novel By: Ace Atkins 
Cinematography: Tobias A. Schliessler 
Editor: Michael L. Sale 


Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, Alan Arkin, Iliza Shlesinger, Michael Gaston, Marc Maron, Bokeem Woodbine, Colleen Camp, Post Malone, James Dumont 


When two Boston police officers are murdered, ex-cop Spenser teams up with his no-nonsense roommate, Hawk, to take down criminals.

THE GENTLEMEN (2019)



Written & Directed By: Guy Ritchie 
Story By: Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson & Marn Davies 
Cinematography: Alan Stewart 
Editor: James Herbert & Paul Machliss 


Cast: Matthew McConauhey, Charlie Hunnam, Hugh Grant, Eddie Marsan, Henry Golding, Colin Farell, Michelle Dockery, Tom Wu, Jeremy Strong, Chidi Ajufo, Lyne Renee 

A talented American graduate of Oxford, using his unique skills, audacity and penchant for violence, creates a marijuana empire using the estates of impoverished English aristocrats. However, when he tries to sell his empire to a fellow American billionaire, a chain of events unfolds, involving blackmail, deception, mayhem and murder between street thugs, Russian oligarchs, Triad gangsters and gutter journalists.

HOLD THE DARK (2018)


Directed By: Jeremy Saulnier 
Written By: Macon Blair 
Based On The Book By: William Giraldi 
Cinematography: Magnus Nordenhof Jonck 
Editor: Julia Bloch 


Cast: Jeffrey Wright, James Badge Dale, Alexander Skarsgard, Riley Keough, Beckham crawford, Anabel Kutay, Julian Black Antelope 


Retired naturalist and wolf expert Russell Core journeys to the edge of civilization in northern Alaska at the pleading of Medora Slone, a young mother whose son was killed by a pack of wolves. As Core attempts to help Medora track down the wolves who took her son, a strange and dangerous relationship develops between the two lonely souls. But when Medora's husband Vernon returns home from the Iraq War, the news of his child's death ignites a violent chain of events. As local cop Donald Marium races to stop Vernon's vengeful rampage, Core is forced on a perilous odyssey into the heart of darkness.

Friday, May 8, 2020

WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS (2020)



Directed By: Marc Meyers 
Written By: Alan Trezza 
Cinematography: Tarin Anderson 
Editor: Jamie Kirkpatrick & Joe Murphy 

Cast: Alexandra Daddario, Keean Johnson, Maddie Hasson, Amy Forsyth, Logan Miller, Austin Swift, Johnny Knoxville 

Set in the Midwest against a backdrop involving a killing spree thought to be orchestrated by a satanic cult. Three best friends embark on a road trip to a heavy-metal show, where they bond with three aspiring musicians and head off to one of the girls' country home for an after party. A night of fun and youthful debauchery takes a deadly turn as bodies begin to pile up, with each side thinking the other hides the killer.

TRUTH OR DARE (2018)



Directed By: Jeff Wadlow 
Written By: Michael Reisz, Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach & Jeff Wadlow 
Story By: Michael Reisz 
Cinematography: Jacques Jouffret 
Editor: Sean Albertson 


Cast: Lucy Hale, Tyler Posey, Sophia Ali, Violett Beane, Hayden Szeto, Nolan Gerard Funk, Aurora Perrineau, Sam Lerner, Thom Choi 

Olivia Barron, her best friend Markie Cameron, Markie's boyfriend Lucas Moreno, along with Penelope Amari and her boyfriend Tyson Curran, and Brad Chang go on a trip to Rosarito, Mexico. In Mexico, Olivia runs into fellow student Ronnie who proceeds to harass her until a man intervenes on her behalf. The man introduces himself as Carter and eventually convinces her and her friends to join him for drinks at the ruins of a mission. There, Carter initiates a game of Truth or Dare with Olivia and her friends, plus Ronnie, who followed the group. Eventually, the game ends when Carter reveals that he deceived Olivia as a means of tricking her and her friends to the mission to offer them in his place in the supernatural game of Truth or Dare. As Carter leaves, he explains to Olivia that the game will follow them and they must not refuse it.


BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964)


Directed By: Mario Bava 
Written By: Marcello Fondato 
Story By: Mario Bava & Giuseppe Barilla 
 Cinematography: Ubaldo Terzano 
 Editor: Mario Serandrei 


Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Thomas Reiner, Arianna Gorini, Mary Arden, Franco Ressel, Dante Dipaolo 


Isabella, a young model is murdered by a mysterious masked figure at a boarding house run by Max Morlan and his lover Countess Christina Como. When Isabella's boyfriend is suspected of the killing, her diary, which apparently has some incriminating evidence linking her to the killer, disappears, the masked killer begins killing off all the models in and around the house to find the diary.

Friday, May 1, 2020

LUCKY DAY (2019)



Written & Directed By: Roger Avary 
Cinematography By: Brendan Stacey 
Editor: Sylvie Landra 


Cast: Luke Bracey, Crispin Glover, Nina Dobrev, Clifton Collins Jr., Mark Dacascos, David Hewlett, Cle Bennett 


Red, a safe cracker who has just been released from prison, is trying to hold his family together as his past catches up with him in the form of Luc, a psychopathic contract killer who's seeking revenge for the death of his brother.

GANGSTER NO. 1 (2000)



Directed By: Paul McGuigan 
Written By: Louis Mellis & David Scinto 
Adaptation By: Johnny Ferguson 
Cinematography: Peter Sova 
 Editor: Andrew Hulme 


Cast: Paul Bettany, Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis, Saffron Burrows, Eddie Marsan, Andrew Lincoln, Jamie Foreman, Ken Granham 


A middle-aged crime boss smugly reflects back from 1999, narrating the brutality which made him triumphant - and feared. As an unnamed young hood in Swinging 60's London, he aped his mod boss Freddie Mays, and seemed to do anything for him. But his narration exposes all-consuming envy: of Freddie's supremacy, and especially his tall bird. The baby shark develops his viciousness and backstabbing, scheming to be Gangster No. 1.

JEFF OF THE CINEFILES & UNFINISHED BUSINESS: HALL OF FAME: FILE #0064:THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987)



Directed By: Brian DePalma 
Written By: David Mamet 
Suggested By A Book By: Elliot Ness & Oscar Fraley 
Cinematography: Stephen H Burum 
Editor: Jerry Greenberg & Bill Pankow 

Cast: Kevin Costner, Robert DeNiro, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Bradford, Billy Drago, Patricia Clarkson, Don Harvey, Jack Kehoe, Del Close 

During the era of Prohibition in the United States, Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone and, because of rampant corruption, assembles a small, hand-picked team to help him.