Directorial Debut: A FISTFUL OF FINGERS

Welcome to a new installment of DIRECTORIAL DEBUTS, where we look at some of the best, most interesting, and iconic directors and the films that started their careers. Just ahead of the release of Baby Driver, we’re going to take a look at the directorial debut of acclaimed director Edgar Wright…A FISTFUL OF FINGERS!

Decade of Best Pictures: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Welcome back to the first DECADE OF BEST PICTURES series of reviews where we will be taking a look at a decade of Best Picture winners over the course of 10 days. In this series we will be looking at the decade of Best Pictures from 2005-2015 in reverse chronological order! This ninth entry will be for the 2007 Best Picture winner NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN!

What's On Netflix?: JANE GOT A GUN

It is often customary to start a review off with a plot summary. However, when discussing this film, plot isn’t the first thing a viewer should know.

In 2011, a little screenplay called Jane Got A Gun by Brian Duffield appeared on The Blacklist, a yearly rundown of all the unseen, unmade, highly-desirable scripts in Hollywood. Natalie Portman was quickly attached to the product, accompanied by Lynne Ramsay, a polarizing but respected director. Michael Fassbender and Joel Edgerton joined the cast. Everything seemed to be going well for a time. Then Fassbender left, pointing to creative differences between himself and Ramsay. Thus began a relentless reshuffling of actors, directors, cinematographers, and writers as names like Jude Law and Bradley Cooper disappeared from top-billing as quickly as they appeared. The dust finally settled with Gavin O’Connor, hot off his successful film, Warrior, as director, Edgerton as co-writer and co-lead alongside Portman, and Ewan McGregor playing the film’s villain. Filming began in March of 2013. Nearly three years later, in January of 2016, the world finally saw Jane Got A Gun. Less than a year later, one of the most highly-praised scripts in existence ended up on the bottom of my “Suggestions for You” tab on Netflix.

Movie Review: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (2016) (Review #2)

The Magnificent Seven is director Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the classic tale first put to cinema in the Akira Kurosawa masterpiece Seven Samurai. This follows in a rich history of remakes of that film, including being a namesake remake of the John Sturges Magnificent Seven from 1960. In this story we follow Chisolm (Denzel Washington) as he sets up a team of various gunslingers and warriors after agreeing to protect a town that is being terrorized by Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) and his gang. This film is distinct from all those previous versions with largely new characters and an action packed conclusion that makes this one of the most fun westerns we’ve seen in years.