Foster on Film

Brian Smith (Colin Firth), an angry writer, murders Cesar Valentine (Peter O’Toole), an egotistical actor, and then is killed by a falling light. Both end up in a hotel on a small island, filled with dead celebrities. As people become less famous on Earth, they are moved to smaller and smaller rooms, until they are

[This is not my picks for the best of the year—I’ll do the FOSCARs later—but just how I’d vote based on the options presented. And I will be skipping the animated shorts as I have not seen enough of them]   ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE CILLIAN MURPHY (Oppenheimer) [I’d have given it to Barry

Small-town cowboy-wannabe Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) picks up pixie-girl Mae (Jenny Wright) sometime late in the evening (it’s hard to say when as time doesn’t work in this film). That’s a problem as she’s a vampire (the “V” word is never used) who converts him. He’s now stuck with her vampire family: angry man in

I’ve always thought of the The Prisoner of Zenda as a “smart” Swashbuckler, and it is, in dialog, character, and structure, if not in story.  The action is first rate, but secondary to the film, for in this case, it is all about words—superbly crafted words—and the voices that pronounce them.  While fun to watch, the true joy

Things are just not right at the cemetery. Jody and Mike attend the funeral of their friend, only for Jody’s compulsively spying little brother, Mike, to spot the undertaker lifting the 500 lb coffin with ease. Soon, hooded dwarves are coming after Mike and a living amputated finger persuades Jody that there is evil that

Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward), in full ‘60s TV-era form must face off against Catwoman (Julie Newmar), The Joker, The Riddler, and The Penguin and their plot which involves a duplication ray. The daring duo follows them, even into space, to stop their dastardly scheme, but fails to take into account Catwoman’s plan

In 1926—in the pre-Harry, Harry Potter world—Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) comes to a terribly quaint New York with his suitcase full of magical creatures. That probably wasn’t a good move on his part as magical creatures are illegal there. An accidental run-in with Kowalski (Dan Fogler) a “no-mag” allows several of his beasts to escape.

Evil businessman Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn), standing in for Lex Luthor, forces a computer genius (Richard Pryor… Yes, I said Richard Pryor. That’s not a mistake.) to control the weather and help in the destruction of Superman (Christopher Reeve). Without Richard Donner to restrain the Salkind production team, and with director Richard Lester one-upping them

Thor, the arrogant and unworthy son of the Asgardian King is exiled to Earth, giving his troubled brother, Loki, a chance at the throne. Thor is two movies: A bold, beautiful, epic fantasy of gods and monsters, and a small scale relationship/self-improvement flick. One of these works. Everything in Asgard is bright and huge and

An older Wu Xie (Lu Han—a Chinese/Korean boy band idol) is approached by a writer to tell the story of what happened when he was a teen. Wu Xie had belonged to a traditional family of grave robbers. His family had tried to keep him out of the business, but his flair for tinkering and

In British-occupied Egypt, a band of archaeologists, lead by the loutish Quentin (George N. Neise), have gone on an expedition without permission. With rebellions rising up, the military sends Capt. Storm (Mark Dana), along with Syliva (Diana Brewster), the recently arrived lout’s wife, to find the team before the locals hear of it. On route,

A series of mysterious disappearances in the arctic leads the military to call in paleontologist Ned Jackson (William Hopper). His keen use of a magnifying glass allows him to work out that the culprit is a giant praying mantis, recently released from the ice. Ned teams up with Colonel Joe Parkman (Craig Stevens) and hot