Category Archives: Jack_Goes_Confidential
Jack Goes Confidential: Harry Potter Gets Down, Dark & Sexy!
Am I really truly qualified to review Part 1 of the final chapter in the most successful film series in motion picture history?
Probably not.
After all I haven’t read any of the books and have never really gotten into all that wizardry stuff.
However I do know a good movie from a bad one and HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS-PART 1 is definitely impressive!
And make no mistake about it this is the beginning of the end!
Jack Goes Confidential: Unstoppable Delivers Non-Stop Popcorn Thrills
UNSTOPPABLE is this fall season’s only certified, balls-to-the-wall, take no prisoners popcorn flick!
It’s SPEED on a train, SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT on rails and RUNAWAY TRAIN all rolled into one.
Come to think of it, it’s popcorn with plenty of real butter on it and worth every dollar you’ll spend at the boxoffice.
UNSTOPPABLE is an hour-and-a-half nailbiter from action maestro Tony Scott (DAYS OF THUNDER, CRIMSON TIDE and THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3), teaming veteran railroader Denzel Washington with new kid on the block, STAR TREK’s Chris Pine to stop an unmanned runaway freight train that’s racing through the Pennsylvania countryside.
Jack Goes Confidential: Morning Glory Anchorman Meets Mary Tyler Moore
You know MORNING GLORY is pure fiction when the lowest-rated network TV news show pairs a couple of has beens like Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford to try and breathe life back into the ratings.
Would never happen in real television.
But that’s what’s in store when perky 28 year old Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) is hired by news boss Jeff Goldblum to become IBS-TV’s lackluster Daybreak’s new executive producer.
Jack Goes Confidential: Due Date, Bizarre Road Trip Hits Speed Bumps
Despite what you may have heard or suspected, DUE DATE is not the sequel to THE HANGOVER-–the most successful R-rated comedy to have ever come out of Hollywood’s film factories.
For HANGOVER 2 you’ll have to wait ’til Memorial Day Weekend 2011.
But DUE DATE is HANGOVER director Todd Phillip’s follow-up to his 2009 smash-comedy in which he reunites with uncouth, un-everything Zach Galifianakis.
Question is: How to define this un-buddy, odd couple-like movie?
Guess you could call it a sentimental roadtrip with speed bumps.
Jack Goes Confidential: Hilary Swank Shines in ‘CONVICTION’!
CONVICTION reminds a lot in many ways of ERIN BROKOVICH…
It’s the inspirational, true story of a sister’s unwavering devotion to her brother—the story of Betty Anne Waters 18 year struggle to clear her rowdy, roughneck brother Kenny Waters who was arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: Eastwood Hits Supernatural Afterlife Target with ‘HEREAFTER’!
When executive producer Steven Spielberg chose Clint Eastwood to direct and produce the supernatural thriller, he knew exactly what to expect from Hollywood’s senior Wunderkind.
And Eastwood sure didn’t disappoint!
Let me say right upfront that HEREAFTER is not your typical tale of mortality and the afterlife.
Some of you will love it. Others will feel let down.
Count me amongst those really impressed by the picture. Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘RED’s’ Ex-C.I.A. Team Kicks Geriatric Butt!
You like your action big, loud and over the top? Then RED is your kind’a movie!
It’s actually an explosive action-comedy delivering an impressive AARP lineup to match Sly Stallone’s THE EXPENDABLES earlier this year.
RED stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous—as in retired C.I.A. operatives.
Bruce Willis is Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: Is Heigl Stuck in Chick-Flick Hell?
Actress Katherine Heigl is good enough that she shouldn’t Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: Everything You’ve Heard About THE SOCIAL NETWORK—Is True!
It was the fall of 2003 when Harvard undergrad Mark Zuckerberg sat down at his computer and began heatedly working out the kinks on a new idea.
Facebook.
What started in his dorm room would soon become the global social network and a revolution in communication.
A mere 6 years and 500 million ‘friends’ later, the arrogant Zuckerberg became the youngest billionaire in history.
But the story behind the birth of FACEBOOK is as fascinating as the enormous popularity this friend-sharing network enjoys.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK squarely targets computer savvy 18 to 34 year olds and is one of the best movie you’ll see this year.
How it all got started? Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: “Wall Street II” to Mainstreet—Something Lost in Translation
It took 23 years to come up with this sequel…
But Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: Violence, Language, Sexuality, Drug Use; ‘The Town’ Has it All
Kansas City’s Fall Film Season kicks off in style this weekend with a top-notch, action filled, very convincing crime drama starring Ben Affleck.
THE TOWN is set in Charlestown, Mass—a burg just outside Boston known for its high robbery rate, where washed up Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’ vs ‘Flipped”
If you’re wondering why I’m not focusing on RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE today—especially since it’s the first in the franchise to be presented in 3-D—it’s because the studio wouldn’t screen it for critics.
Which of course makes you wonder WHY?
I have my suspicions.
So instead let’s go with Rob Reiner’s new nostalgic, coming-of-age tale of teen angst and schmaltz called FLIPPED!
This is the story of a one-sided grade school crush eventually evolving into a full-blown Junior High School romance. Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: Rodriguez’s ‘Machete’ Brings Political Pinata to the Movies
You’ve got to love an action-thriller in which the underground network for illegal immigrants is headquartered in a taco truck!
MACHETE is a completely over-the top blast (literally) and is probably the only movie ever to be totally based on a fake movie trailer—one of several Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: With ‘The American’ You Don’t Get What You Think!
It has all the trappings Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: Robert Duvall Elevates ‘GET LOW’
GET LOW is a performance driven ‘high’ during this late summer at the movies.
It’s setting is the backwoods of Tennessee during the depression where the locals are terrified of an old recluse named Felix Bush, played to perfection by Robert Duvall.
People say he’s done all sorts of unspeakable things. That he’s killed in cold blood.
He supposedly wields strange powers and if you buy into the rumors, is in the league with the devil himself.
So when one day Duvall shows up in town with a shotgun at hand and carrying a wad of cash, localites were really bent out of shape. Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Lottery Ticket’ Sells Out To Stereotypical Portrayals
The trailer and TV spots for the movie Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: SCOTT PILGRIM Kicks Surreal Ass!
The stylized Universal logo at the beginning of the film should have been the tip-off…
This is not your typical summer action-adventure or romantic-comedy.
It’s both—and so much more!
No wonder it was such a hit at the recent COMIC-CON conclave in San Diego.
So how does one describe SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD?
I see it as this summer’s teen angst rock opera. Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ & ‘Expendables’ Rip Apart Relationships
JACK GOES CONFIDENTIAL: Weekend Movies Tear Apart Relationships!
This weekend Hollywood sets up Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: The Demise of the Dollar Houses
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a Dollar Movie House Squeeze going down…
Once a flourishing part of Greater Kansas City’s movie exhibition scene, our local so-called Continue reading
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘The Other Guys’ Serves Up Critic’s Proof Laffs!
Let’s be upfront about it. THE OTHER GUYS is definitely not a critic’s picture!
On the other hand if you’re looking for a night out of laugh-out-loud, nonsensical testosterone laden side gags, this is your movie.
The setting here is a NYC police precinct where its top cops—Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson—break all the rules. Yet they alsways Continue reading
