AWN Blogs

It's a classic children's film for good reason — it's a great film. Truly great family films break free from their "family" label, and WILLY WONKA's mischievous spirit makes it one of those films. Another thing WILLY WONKA has in common with other great children's films is a darkness that bubbles right under the surface. Willy Wonka smiles and runs a candy factory, but is he secretly a psychotic?

Gene Wilder plays eccentric candy maker Willy Wonka in a performance that is unmatched. Wonka puts five golden tickets in his candy bars allowing five winners and a guardian to participate in a guided tour of his mysterious chocolate factory. As spoiled kids from around the world win slots, the final ticket goes to Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum in his only film appearance), a poor boy who can only buy a chocolate bar after finding money in the gutter. His good fortune inspires his beloved Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson, POSEIDON ADVENTURE) to get out of bed and accompany him on what will turn out to be a wonderful adventure.

When I reviewed the theatrical version I said, "Like STAR WARS: EPISODE 1, I truly feel this film is just the first act of a much larger epic." I still feel that FELLOWSHIP is very plot heavy and that the real character development will come in the next two installments, however after seeing the EXTENDED EDITION I feel that the film is truly a fantasy classic and there is no point in ever watching the theatrical version again.

My chief comment about what was cut for the theaters is that it smells of executive tampering -- more action, more action. All the scenes or extra notes that were cut were all character development moments. Watching the theatrical version I felt it was just one long chase scene. I especially felt there was something missing from the beginning -- something in the set-up. The EXTENDED EDITION adds a small quiet moment after the opening narration were Bilbo writes about Hobbits in his book. That scene was what was missing. It's amazing what a small change can do to enhance the momentum of a film.

I really loved the original HARRY POTTER film -- enough so to put it on my top 25 for last year. Looking back on my review of it, I gave it 3 1/2 stars, which in our revisionist times I'm saying is now 4 stars. (If George Lucas can change STAR WARS and have Greedo shoot before Han Solo than I can change my rating of a movie.) I liked CHAMBER OF SECRETS quite a bit, even though it didn't blow me away like the first one did.

This may be due to the fact that the plot structure is basically the same. This time around the Hogwart's School is being plagued by a menace that is petrifying the students and it's up to Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) to figure out who's behind it. Harry, along with his friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint), tries to uncover more information about the mysterious Chamber of Secret, which the teachers are very hush-hush about. However, the danger seems to be following Harry especially and we believe the dire warnings of Dobby the House Elf (voiced by Toby Jones, EVER AFTER).

This film is a gritty crime drama, which pits a good guy against a bad guy. However, in 1920s Chicago the line between good guys and bad guys is quite blurred and the by-the-books Washington agent Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner, JFK) must learn that lesson real quick.

The story is based on the real life tale of Ness and his fight to put notorious gangster Al Capone (Robert DeNiro, RAGING BULL) behind bars. Ness puts together a close team of men, known as the Untouchables, to help him. Jim Malone (Sean Connery, DR. NO) is the veteran beat-cop who knows how business is done in Chi-town. I loved the scene when Malone plays bad cop and gets the mob messenger to confess. Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith, DEEP IMPACT, NEVER CRY WOLF) is a federal accountant, who is brought in to make a tax evasion case against Capone and gets quickly caught up in being a cowboy-like Untouchable. The final member is George Stone (Andy Garcia, GODFATHER III), a rookie cop who hides his Italian ethnicity. I really liked how Ness's character slowly comes to learn about the rough way things are done in Chicago.

I've been religiously watching this film every year around Christmas since my parents bought our first VCR. I've seen it dozens of times and have memorized many of the more famous sections. I still laugh out loud each time I see it.

For those who don't know this slice-of-life film follows Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley, DIRT BIKE KID) and his attempts to get a Red Ryder carbon axle 200-yard-range model air rifle for Christmas. His mother (Melinda Dillon, MAGNOLIA) insists that he'll shot his eye out. Each attempt he makes to gain support for his side only seems to build his belief that there is a conspiracy again Red Ryder and his peacemaker.

The film is full of classic scenes. The sticking your tongue to a frozen metal pole scene. The saying "fudge" scene. The visit to Santa scene. Ralphie and friends' dealings with bully Scut Farkus (Zack Ward, ALMOST FAMOUS). Ralphie's dad (Darren McGavin, THE NATURAL, BILLY MADISON) and his leg lamp, aka a major award. I could go on but I'd end up naming nearly every scene. How many movies can you name almost every scene as a classic?

This film is the latest rendition of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel of the same name. The story is pretty common and you know exactly where it's going, but this version makes this road well traveled a fun adventure.

Edmond (Jim Caviezel, FREQUENCY, ANGEL EYES) and Fernard (Guy Pearce, MEMENTO) have been friends since childhood, however, the noble Fernard has always been jealous of Edmond and his simple love of life. Fernard wants Edmond's fiance Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk, KEEPING THE FAITH) and he sets him up on treason and eventually murder charges. After 13 years in prison, Edmond escapes, finds a fortune and vows revenge. However, the priest (Richard Harris, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE), who Edmond meets in jail, tells him that he should make sure he does not turn into the man who he was wrongly convicted of being.

Last year around this time I reviewed the sequel to this film, which is one of the worst films I've ever seen. But this film, for what it is, is one of the best horror films ever made. Why? It's scary. Even though the hand-held, first person camerawork does get a bit nauseating by the end, the cinematography adds to the realistic feel, which makes the film even scarier. The filmmakers understood what scares us, playing on those fears. The fear of the dark, strange noises, getting lost, the supernatural, the unexplained and insanity are all used. Anyone watching can relate.

Heather (Heather Donahue, BOYS & GIRLS) is a documentary film student, setting out to make a movie about the Blair witch, a Burkittsville, Maryland local legend. Along with her are cinematographer Josh (Joshua Leonard, MEN OF HONOR) and soundman Mike (Michael Williams). Leaving an unsettling mood, they find some strange symbols made out of twigs hung from trees. As it gets later, they find themselves going around in circles, and fear begins to set in as they realize they are lost. As tensions between the threesome rise, their nerves are rattled more when they are spooked by a presence, maybe real or maybe imagined, in the darkness of the woods.

Please don't mistake this film for the remake starring Liam Neeson, which was awful with its laugh-inducing special effects. After watching the original I have proof that Hollywood executives have no idea what makes a movie good. The original flick is not as scary, as it is eerie, while it weaves its intriguing psychological tale. We don't necessarily fear what lurks in the shadowy corners of the screen as much as we fear what lurks in the shadowy corners of the characters' minds.

Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson, 1970's JULIUS CAESAR), a parapsychologist, brings together three people to a haunted house for an experiment. His plan is to bring together psychically charged people into the house to make it come alive. All of his choices back away except for lonely spinster Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris, TV's KNOTS LANDING) and rich socialite lesbian Theodora (Claire Bloom, MIGHTY APHRODITE). Eleanor has cared for her aging mother for years and now that her mother has died she wants to free herself of her boring life. She hides a disturbing paranormal experience from her past deep in her mind. Theodora is snobby and uses her ESP to make harsh observations about people. Rounding out the group is Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn, WEST SIDE STORY), the young heir of the mansion, who really doesn't believe in ghosts at first.

Set in modern India, the story weaves several storylines together during the events that lead up to a big wedding. The film is listed as subtitled, but I'd say only a third of it is in a foreign language, because all the characters speak English, Punjabi and Hindi (sometimes all in the same sentence). Filled with melodrama, romance, music and vibrant color, this film can cross language barriers anyway.

The main story centers on an arranged marriage between Aditi Verma (Vasundhara Das), a native Indian, and Hemant (Parvin Dabas), an Indian who works in Houston. Aditi agrees to the arranged marriage because she wants a change in her life from her married lover, who keeps promising he will divorce his wife. Another love story is between the gorgeous Ayesha (Neha Dubey) and Rahul (Randeep Hooda), the young, very modern visitor from Australia. Probably the most charming love story is between dorky wedding planner P.K. Dube (Vijay Raaz) and Verma's maid, Alice (Tilotama Shome). Lalit (Naseeruddin Shah) and Pimmi (Lillete Dubey) are the parents of Aditi and worry so much about their children.

This film is one of the smartest and most wonderful animated films I've ever seen. The film is set in the 1950s and satirizes the Red Scare. The amazing attention for detail brings this era to life in a vibrant way. While it address the paranoia of its era and the issues of the Cold War, it does so under the surface. At its core, the film is simply about a boy and his giant pet robot.

The story (very similar to E.T.) follows that boy named Hogarth (Eli Marienthal), who discovers a 100-foot robot in the woods. Hogarth befriends a beat nick artist named Dean (Harry Connick Jr., INDEPENDENCE DAY), who helps him hide the giant in his junkyard. Sightings of the robot are heard around town and a paranoid government agent named Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM) comes to town to investigate. Because it quickly becomes too difficult to hide a mental munching 10-story-sized robot, Hogarth must especially use all his wits when his mother (Jennifer Aniston, TV's FRIENDS) takes Mansley in as a border.

Before there was Denzel and Halle, there was Sidney Poitier -- simply my favorite actor of all time. I'll watch anything that he's in and I haven't dislike anything I've seen. And I saw both sequels to IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. LILIES is the film that won Poitier his best actor Oscar and until last year he was the only non-white person, male or female, to have won the top acting Oscar. While it's not a defining character for his career, he brings charm, wit and depth to a character that wins our hearts.

In the film, Poitier plays traveling work-for-hire man Homer Smith. He stumbles onto a small nunnery in the desert comprised of five German nuns and gets roped into building them a chapel. The war of wills between him and Mother Superior Maria (Lilia Skala, FLASHDANCE, HOUSE OF GAMES) is classic. The film deals with pride, faith, community, humility and race, but not once do you ever feel like the film is preaching anything. The story is so simple, but ends up being greatly profound.