ONE LIFE: An Anthony Hopkins WWII Drama That Will Get You In The End
Film Babble Blog
by Daniel Cook Johnson
1w ago
Opening wide today at a theater, multiplex, or likewise venue near you: ONE LIFE (Dir. James Hawes, 2024) The first half of this film, the feature film debut by television director James Hawes (Doctor Who, Inside Story), is well-made, and very watchable, but a fairly standard World War II story about fleeing the Nazis, and escaping the holocaust.   But, via the strong performances of Anthony Hopkins as the elder version of the British banker, Nicholas Winton, a humanitarian stockbroker who helped hundreds of Czechoslovakian children to escape from Prague; and Johnny Flynn, who portrays t ..read more
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2024 Oscar® Recap: “I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the academy”
Film Babble Blog
by Daniel Cook Johnson
2w ago
Last night’s 96th Academy Awards was one of the most well produced, entertaining, and incident-free (no violence!) Oscar ceremonies in recent memory. Jimmy Kimmel did a solid job as host, the past winners saluting the new nominees device was touching, and Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” big number from BARBIE brought the house down with the feeling of everyone in the room being blown away being gloriously palpable. I was happy to see the well predicted OPPENHEIMER sweep went down. Christopher Nolan’s epic is a movie’s movie that’s got old fashioned majesty with modern polish, and it wel ..read more
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Hey Kids! Funtime 2023 Oscar® Predictions!
Film Babble Blog
by Daniel Cook Johnson
2w ago
I haven’t been Film Babbling lately because I’ve been deep into working on a big book project (more on that later), but I felt like I just had to weigh in on the 96th Academy Awards®, which is going down this Sunday night at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles with Jimmy Kimmel returning to host for his fourth time.  As I said in my Favorite Films of 2023 post, this last year was a much better one for film than the last several so there are a number of nominations that I’m seriously rooting for, but as we know with these predictions, one shouldn’t play favorites. So here ar ..read more
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Finally, Film Babble Blog’s Movies of 2023!
Film Babble Blog
by Daniel Cook Johnson
2M ago
As s it’s almost February, and the Oscar noms have been announced (and I finally got around to watching PLEASE DON’T DESTROY: THE TREASURE OF FOGGY MOUNTAIN), I’m finally posting my 10 Top movies (and some spillover) from 2023. This has been a much better year for film than any of the last several, since before the Pandemic actually, so it was an easier time making these picks. Like a number of my choices, the first one was a movie that surprised me with how much I liked it.    1. DREAM SCENARIO (Dir. Kristoffer Borgli) Nicholas Cage’s 11,875th film is one of his best, fea ..read more
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Great Moments In Fourth Wall Breakage: SUPERMAN Edition
Film Babble Blog
by Daniel Cook Johnson
3M ago
In this latest entry in the ongoing series, Great Moments in Fourth Wall Breakage, that salutes those meta moments in movies when a character makes an aside to the audience, we’re going to look at the SUPERMAN series. That is, the one that began with SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, continued, with diminishing returns, through II, III, and IV in the ‘80s then reviving in the 2000s with SUPERMAN RETURNS. At the end of Richard Donner’s classic 1978 original (a personal vote for best superhero movie ever), Christopher Reeve’s Superman soars high above the earth, while John Williams’ triumphant score ..read more
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That Time Orson Welles Ended His Career (And Life) On An Episode of Moonlighting
Film Babble Blog
by Daniel Cook Johnson
3M ago
Last October, the ‘80s comedy detective series, Moonlighting, began streaming for the first time ever. The ABC show was a huge must-see TV hit in the mid ‘80s, but because of its absence, it has been largely forgotten until this event. Now viewers can see Bruce Willis - now non-verbal, and retired due to dementia - at his most verbal as the wise-cracking gumshoe David Addison, trading quips with Cybill Shepherd as former model Maddie Hayes in all their 67-episode run on Hulu, and all of our pop culture worlds are better for it. At least mine is, as I was a kid when it aired in the ‘80s, and ..read more
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When Nicholas Cage Dreams Become Nicholas Cage Nightmares
Film Babble Blog
by Daniel Cook Johnson
4M ago
Opening this evening, and tomorrow nationwide: DREAM SCENARIO (Dir. Kristoffer Borgli, 2023) In over 100 movies since he first hit the big screen in 1981, Nicholas Cage has forged an iconic, eclectic, and just plain crazy career to which no other actor’s filmography can possibly compare. The often-manic man’s many looks, which all still look like him, along with his all-over-the-place, yet strangely specific delivery has made him into a world-wide-recognized walking meme, and a genre onto himself. Admit, before you even know anything about a new movie – whether it’s good or bad – the fact th ..read more
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THE MARVELS: An Immaculate Mess of a Marvel Movie
Film Babble Blog
by Daniel Cook Johnson
5M ago
Opening at every multiplex in the multiverse: THE MARVELS (Dir. Nia DaCosta, 2023) A decade or so ago, the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe was a lot of fun. What with all the interlocking storylines from film to film, and the charisma and humor of leads like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson (all of whom can be seen shining in the Marvel logo banner than begins every movie), many movie-goers and myself enjoyed quite a few of the ongoing adventures of the AVENGERS, and off-shoots like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.    But now, after over 30 movies, the whole thing has ..read more
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THE KILLER Contains Fassbender & Fincher's Icy Execution In Neo Noir
Film Babble Blog
by Daniel Cook Johnson
5M ago
Opening tonight at a multiplex near us all:  THE KILLER (Dir. David Fincher, 2023) A neo noir thriller about an unnamed professional contract hitman may seem a curious choice for David Fincher as a follow-up to MANK, his ode to old Hollywood, but it makes sense as an attempt for the filmmaker to scale down, and get back to basics.    This globe-trotting series of chapters, each containing a different hit, is based on a 1998 French graphic novel by Alexis “Matz” Nolent, features a stoic Michael Fassbender in the title role, who we get to know through his constant monologuing (o ..read more
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KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: The Film Babble Blog Review
Film Babble Blog
by Daniel Cook Johnson
5M ago
Opening tonight at a multiplex near us all: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Dir. Martin Scorsese, 2023) Early on in Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated adaptation of David Grann’s 2017 nonfiction novel, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” one can sense that this will be a film full of a lot of intense talk. This is apparent in the sit-down meeting between Leonardo DiCaprio as WWI veteran Ernest Burkhart, and Robert De Niro, and his uncle, William King Hale, a rich, revered cattle rancher.   Their conversation contains nothing surprising – it’s large ..read more
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