Someone once said that the wealth of a man can be judged by the family and friends he leaves behind. If that’s true, then middle-aged, cantankerous former college professor Remy (Remy Girard) is the richest man in the world. Dying from a terminal illness, Remy spends his last days surrounded by friends, family, and former lovers. It wasn’t always that way. Read the rest of this entry »

Combining live action and animation has always been successful for Walt Disney Pictures. From “The Song of the South” to “Mary Poppins,” the studio has created some of film’s most memorable moments. They continued the tradition in 1989 with the release of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” a delirious concoction that marries a smart, funny script with wild animation to create a real crowd pleaser. Read the rest of this entry »

“Signs,” is an intense, thoughtful thriller about what happens to a Pennsylvania farmer and his family when they discover crop circles in their corn field. Widely believed to be a hoax, the circles have a fan base with people who deal in conspiracies, and attribute the patterns to aliens (sort of an intergalactic global tracking system). Read the rest of this entry »

While watching "A Bug’s Life," I kept marveling at how far computer animation has come since "Toy Story." I remember being impressed by the 64-bit graphics on my computer games, wondering how they could ever improve on the technology. Read the rest of this entry »

By the time he produced “Saturn 3,” Sir Lew Grade had become known as Sir Low Grade. What started off as great aspirations quickly became financial and critical embarrassments at the box office. “Saturn 3” was an attempt to duplicate the success of recent Sci-Fi efforts like “Alien,” “Logan’s Run” and “Star Wars.” Instead, “Saturn 3” emerged as a dubious biblical parable about the Garden of Eden. Read the rest of this entry »

The logistics of getting a whole baseball stadium to do the wave are staggering. Imagine trying to get the whole Eastern seaboard of the United States to do the wave simultaneously. That’s the task of director Mimi Leder, who capably brings the first of this season’s two comet movies to the big screen. “Deep Impact” takes a human look at an extinction level event, the threat of a comet the size of Manhattan colliding with Earth. Read the rest of this entry »

I was fortunate enough to see the rock musical “Hair” on stage (not the original production, but a touring company in the 1970s). With a popular rock soundtrack (which spawned five hit singles) and universal message of peace and love, “Hair” was indeed pop culture at its best. Read the rest of this entry »

As a member of the illustrious entertainment press, I have been fortunate during my 22 year tenure to be part of some exciting stories. One of those events even changed my life, and the way I live it. In August of 1976 I was invited by producer Peter Guber to a press junket for the film “The Deep. Read the rest of this entry »

As we have been reminded time and time again since September 11, the world as we know it has changed. Even in the way that Hollywood does business. Several high-profile films were pulled from release and locked up when it was determined that their subject matter might not be sensitive to the current climate. Read the rest of this entry »

“Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” almost didn’t get made. It’s existence was the result of a bad video deal. When the owners of MPI Video refused to pay a higher price on some wrestling video than they had previously negotiated, they found themselves sitting on a nice chunk of change. Read the rest of this entry »