Unfiltered

An absolutely phenomenal movie. A breath-taking, story so epic that it’s been told many times before – but never this well. It’s the epic-sized version of Up! The obvious story comparisons are Pocahontas (colors of the wind and savages) and Dances With Wolves (haven’t seen it, I’ve just read the Wikipedia summation), but the futuristic [...]

A very enjoyable movie.  Lots of star power: Sean Bean as Zeus, Catherine Keener as Percy’s mom, Steve Coogan as Hades, Pierce Brosnan as the centaur Chiron, Uma Thurman as Medusa, and Joe Pantolioni as Percy’s drunken slob of a stepfather. I haven’t read the books, so I don’t know how it compares.  I was [...]

Phenomenal!!! I walked out of the theatre like. giddy fan boy! This musical is almost tied with Urinetown as the show I’ve seen the most (I’ve seen 5 different productions of Urinetown and now 4 of Sweeney – once with Norman Large (EEEE) at Riverside Community Theatre; once with John Massey Jr directing, musical directing [...]

Yay Seth MacFarlane as Ziggy the black market Tooth Fairy! The song Randy keeps practicing on his guitar is “Sunshine Of Your Love” and has been recorded by numerous artists (including Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton – whom Randy mentions while talking about being a great guitarist). Yay Julie Andrews!  She’s so adorable when she [...]

An absolutely fascinating analysis of Abraham Lincoln as a writer, which was undoubtedly his greatest strength. Thusly the title recalls the epic phrase – “the pen is mightier than the sword”, which was coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 (thanks Wikipedia!). Some of my favorite quotes and ideas from the book follow – [...]

Absolutely wonderful! I mean I already knew I would love it just for the talent (Guy Ritchie, Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, and Mark Strong!), but it turned out to be 100 times better than I could have possibly imagined. I may boycott movie theatres except for big, BIG, releases (thank God there’s [...]

Phenomenal! So much fun! The music, the casting, the performances…my God it’s beautiful! The new songs that original composer Maury Yeston wrote specifically for the adaptation perfectly complement his original tunes as well as uniquely honing Rob Marshall’s vision for exploring the pre-pubescent mind of 50 year old film director Guido Contini.

Down To Earth (1947) was a spiritual sequel to the film Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941, which in itself was remade twice – the 1978 Heaven Can Wait and the 2001 Down To Earth). The plot was recycled in 1980 to create the movie musical Xanadu as a vehicle for Olivia Newton-John that has now [...]

YES! That’s what sums up this movie at the end of the day for me – it was such a wonderful experience to watch that I can barely express it! I mean it’s New Orleans jazz! It’s Goliath the Gargoyle singing, dancing and casting voodoo spells! It’s got Jim Cummings as an adorable, endearing Cajun [...]

Video Intro/Announcement by Chip Davis saying due to recent neck surgery he can’t play for a while (and in which he stomps fake snow off of his pristine white sneakers) Act 1: Hallelujah Band Introductions by Ron Cooley Feliz Navidad Deck The Halls We Three Kings Catching Snowflakes On Your Tongue Messengers Of Christmas Away [...]