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10 articles from 2008

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DVD release inspirations including Indiana Jones

10 November 2008 4:03 AM, PST | From Boxwish.com | See recent BoxWish news

Yuck! What a filthy day. Peering outside our windows here at Boxwish HQ, the weather in our part of the world is just horrible – wet, dark, cold – all in all weather to stay indoors for. Here’s hoping that the sun is shining on you Boxwishers, but if not – don’t despair – we’ve got just the thing to brighten even the murkiest of days: the latest DVD releases. Yes, sit back and let us give you the rundown on all the exciting new home entertainment choices heading your way today.

If you see… Harrison Ford don the fedora and bullwhip of cinema’s best-loved adventurer in his long-awaited fourth outing – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Why Not Learn how to recreate the sword-fight between Mutt (Shia LeBeouf) and soviet villain Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) with a crash course in fencing. Enjoy the bombastic soundtrack provided,

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Discuss: What Film Best Captures the American Spirit?

5 November 2008 11:03 AM, PST | From Cinematical.com | See recent Cinematical news

The madness of Election Day is over -- and I certainly hope you have your I Voted! sticker to prove you were there! No matter what your politics, you can't deny that we saw one of the most exciting and historic elections in history. And whether today finds you ecstatic or despondent in our next President, you have to appreciate what we saw happen in 2008, and what a fantastic country we live in. We have the right to vote our conscience! We have the right to speak our minds without fear of repercussions! We live in a country where anyone can become president, where men and women are created equal, and we all pursue happiness with the freedom and means to do so. We can agree on that whether we're Democrat or Republican. And you know what? At the end of the day, whatever way you vote, we're not that different.

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Elisabeth Rappe

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My Left Foot voted most inspirational film

4 November 2008 3:36 AM, PST | From Boxwish.com | See recent BoxWish news

Here’s what we’re talking about – being inspired by movies. Here at Boxwish HQ, we live and breathe films, constantly quoting our favourites and likening incidents in our own lives to those of our silver screen idols. It’s a reference source that never dries up or disappoints, as films continue to touch our lives in all manner of different ways. They can elevate our mood and make us laugh when we’re grumpy or can have us reaching for the Kleenex to mop up tears we didn’t know we had. They can educate, enlighten and provoke us to think about new things in new ways or inspire us to tackle life with a fresh vigour and positivity. And it’s this latter quality that has been celebrated by movie website Moviefone.com.

Editors at the site have compiled their list of the top 25 most inspirational movies, explaining:

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Actor/News Photographer Watson Dead At 82

29 October 2008 2:30 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Delmar Watson, one of eight siblings who appeared in more than 1,000 films as children in the 1920s, '30s and '40s, died Sunday of prostate cancer at age 82. He often was cast in films with one or more of his brothers. Delmar appeared with his brother Billy, for example, in Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in 1939. Like all five of his brothers, Watson became a news photographer after his career as a child actor ended, working first for newspapers, then as a newsreel and TV news cameraman.

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Oscar Returned To The Army

4 September 2008 6:28 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

The 1942 Oscar presented to the U.S. Army for Frank Capra documentary Prelude To War has been removed from the auction block and returned to the military.

The statuette, a duplicate Academy Award requested by and granted to the Department of Defense in 1958, was among items up for sale at an upcoming Christie's auction.

The unofficial Oscar went missing following the closure of the Army Pictorial Center, where it was housed, in 1970, and military officials only learned of its whereabouts when auction bosses came to them for authenticity.

A spokeswoman for the Academy says, "As Christie's auction house was offering the statuette for sale they notified the Army which asserted its claim on the Award. Christie's was pleased to see the statuette put back into the Army's care."

U.S. Army spokesman Brigadier General Jeffrey E. Phillips says, "We are very grateful that the Academy contacted us and has returned the Oscar to the U.S. Army. There is immense pride in our Special Services heritage and I cannot think of a better historical example of the importance of communicating with the public for our current generation of Soldiers than this statuette.

"The award will be proudly and prominently displayed at the Department of the Army Headquarters for Public Affairs Office at the Pentagon for all to see."

The Why We Fight film collection, which featured Prelude To War, is widely recognised as the most effective of the many films produced by the armed services to educate Americans in general, and new servicemen in particular, about the nation's objectives in entering World War Two.

The original Oscar for Prelude to War remains in the care of the Capra family.

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Opening This Week: A doc on beauty culture and an acclaimed Sundance drama

4 August 2008 7:13 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Neil Pedley

This week's offerings find twilight twenty-somethings longing for love in Los Angeles, "The Mummy" franchise heading East and a gruesome subway slasher trying very hard not to scare people clean out of the theater, at least not before the movie actually starts.

"America the Beautiful"

At 12, Gerren Taylor was a bright young model who strolled the catwalk of Fashion Week in Los Angeles. By 13, she was considered a has-been. Director Darryl Roberts traces Taylor's early entrance and exit from the runway to paint a far larger picture of the inner workings of the fashion industry, examining the class system of models and the advertisers and designers who relentlessly manufacture a feeling of negative self-image among consumers and then prey upon it to get us to dip into our wallets. Through interviews with fashion industry experts, the first-time documentarian learns that beauty isn't skin deep . it's retouched, glossed over and as a business,

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Neil Pedley

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Movie Reviews: Swing Vote

1 August 2008 10:39 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Reports have indicated that Kevin Costner invested $20 million of his own money in Swing Vote. Critics appear to agree that he's not likely to get it back. Lou Lumenick in the New York Post calls it a "brain-dead political satire/tear-jerker." Wesley Morris in the Boston Globe makes the point that "the movie has no teeth, no vision and no real insights," and then asks, "Why are we still microwaving Frank Capra's old casseroles?" And John DeFore in the Austin American Statesman writes, "Swing Vote is as hollow as the worst political discourse America has seen lately." But several critics suggest that, despite its faults, the movie's heart is in the right place. Manohla Dargis in the New York Times calls it "a pleasant muddle," while Claudia Puig in USA Today refers to as "this reasonably entertaining movie." And Glenn Whipp concludes in the Los Angeles Daily News, "For all its faults -- and they are numerous -- Swing Vote is a hard movie to dislike by the end simply because it nails the uplifting moment that it has spent two hours chasing."

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Movie Review - 'Swing Vote'

1 August 2008 12:05 AM, PDT | From GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news

Swing Vote

Starring Kevin Costner, Madeline Carroll, and Kelsey Grammer

Directed by Joshua Michael Stern

Rated PG-13

A good political satire is harder to find than you might think. When one makes the grade, however, whether it's Dr. Strangelove or Being There or Thank You For Smoking, it’s notable for not only expressing a basic distrust in the people who keep the political machine firing but also for finding a way to express that message in a clear, intelligent way.

Now you can count Swing Vote among their ranks.

It isn’t the best of the bunch, but it has a serious subject on its mind, which it jabs softly for a while before moving in with the knockout punch. Its premise is no more fantastical than Dave, in which a presidential impersonator becomes the leader of the free world. Bud (Kevin Costner) is an unemployed single father who

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Colin Boyd

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Electile Dysfunction

31 July 2008 9:37 PM, PDT | From NYPost.com | See recent New York Post news

'I am ashamed," says Bud, Kevin Costner's character in the brain-dead political satire/tear-jerker "Swing Vote." While we appreci ate your honesty, Kevin, please don't hog all the credit.

For starters, there are the screenwriters who filched the plot of the 1939 movie "The Great Man Votes" without credit and dumbed it down into their nonsensical commentary on the 2000 election - sort of Frank Capra by way of Larry the Cable Guy.

And then there are the endless celebrities playing themselves in dubious cameos - including Arianna Huffington announcing, "Something tells me Franklin and

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By LOU LUMENICK

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Red, White and Blues: Ten Bittersweet Patriotic Films

3 July 2008 9:11 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Michelle Orange

Samuel Johnson said it was the last refuge of scoundrels, and if that's true, then I predict a nation-wide crime wave and a week-long run on golden toothpicks and hairless cats, because at this time of year patriotism will not be denied. Refuse to partake of -- or at least acknowledge -- it at your political and gustatory peril. With that in mind, we offer a list of films that might satisfy those on the patriotic fence, those who prefer their patriotism (and their marshmallow salad) a little bittersweet. Like Mr. Johnson, I am not an American, and much of what I know about everything, including American patriotism, I learned at the movies; these films have taught me the most about the boons and the bummers involved in loving this country.

Glory (1989)

Many countries with historically subjugated populations have stories similar to that explored in 1989's "Glory

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Michelle Orange

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2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1997

10 articles from 2008

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