Category Archives: Jack_Poessiger
Jack Goes Confidential: Meryl Streep Makes Believer Out Of ‘IRON LADY’
Need more proof as to Meryl Streep‘s status as our finest working film actress?
Look no further than her riviting and flawless performance as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
In THE IRON LADY we flash back from her now dementia impaired living status to a career that had made her the most famous and influential woman of the 20th Century. An 11 year long political reign of running the British government that began in 1979 and ended in 1990.
And even further back to her humble origins as the daughter of a local grocer.
But there’s something quite unusual going on here…
New Jack City: KC Film Critics Lay Down Pre Oscar Picks, Descendents Best Picture
Sunday made for a festive evening just seven weeks ahead of February 26’s Oscar Night 2012.
The Kansas City’s Film Critics Circle voted for and unveiled its choices for best on film for 2011.
Women critics in the latest Paris fashions and tuxedo clad gents waved to excited crowds as they graced the red carpet leading to the festive Screenland Theatre in downtown KC, the site of this year’s main event.
And to think, once again I was part of it all.
Come to think of it, it was all just a dream.
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY’ Makes For Inglorious Spy Thriller
We’ve seen a ton of TV spots of late for the screen adaptation of John le Carre’s best-selling, Cold War spy thriller, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY.
The film is receiving a platform release pattern—meaning that it opened in major centers in mid-December then was gradually opened in additional markets in subsequent weeks.
It opens as a limited multiple in Kansas City today.
TV spots for the movie would have you believing that it’s a fast paced spy thriller along the line of James Bond.
Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s not!
New Jack City: What to See This Weekend? Jack to the Rescue!
It’s been a fantastic holiday week at the boxoffice thus far…
It kicked in midday on Christmas and is primed to continue strong through New Year’s weekend. If you’ve even driven past Kansas City’s theater parking lots the past few days you know what I’m talking about.
Still haven’t decided on what to see? Let me be of help. Here are MY BEST BETS AT BOXOFFICE—by catagory:
First for ALL-AGES (family friendly) FILMS:
New Jack City: For All That Was Bad at the Movies In 2011, Here’s What Made it Worthwhile
Last week was my lineup of movie stinkers..
Now here are the movies that made my twisted life as a critic all worth it.
My 10 favorite films to play in Kansas City during 2011:
# 1—THE HELP—Great ensemble film. Lots of kudos all around but for some reason Emma Stone isn’t getting enough of them for her superb performance as Skeeter.
# 2—THE IDES OF MARCH—Here’s the great American political story with dream casting of Gosling, Clooney, Hoffman, Tomei & Giamatti—not to mention superb direction by Mr. Clooney himself.
# 3—MONEYBALL—Pitt, Hill & Hoffman. This past year’s triple threat. And what a breakthrough for slimmed down Jonah Hill.
# 4—THE DESCENDANTS—Proof that George Clooney is rapidly becoming one of the our best all around actors,
Jack Goes Confidential: Steven Spielberg Dishes Up Top Notch Family Fare
The WAR HORSE is rated PG-13 because it contains battlefield sequences that may be too intense for young kids.
Having said that, let’s applaud director Steven Spielberg for delivering the type of epic adventure film here we just don’t see much anymore.
WAR HORSE is an odyssey-like story of a boy’s pursuit of his horse Joey which has been drafted by the British army by an England on the brink of joining the European conflict World War 1.
Jack Goes Confidential: Cameron Crowe’s ‘Zoo’ Delivers Exceptional Family-Fun
Typecasting a film as a ‘Family Movie’ can often backfire…
It’s such a broad term and can be a turnoff to adult moviegoers. Well we’ve got two such branded cinematic entries in Kansas City this holiday weekend and the good news is that both do the description justice.
The first is director Cameron (JERRY MAGUIRE) Crowe’s funny, inspirational true story about the magical power of family to persevere in the face of extraordinary challenges.
New Jack City:The Bottom 10 Films That Made ‘Going To The Movies’–WORK!
Who said that going to the movies is all fun?
Not when you had to suffer through these turkeys like I did. And to think they were all comedies.
Here then is the bottom of the 2011 barrel:
First runner up (# 11): LARRY CROWNE: At what point did director Tom Hanks realize that directing himself here–along with Julia Roberts —was a huge mistake?
# 10— NEW YEAR’S EVE : Director Garry Mashall’s low rent followup to Valentine’s Day
# 9—THE SITTER: This one’s obviously been around a while since Jonah Hill not only still looked porky here but had done much better with MONEYBALL.
# 8— ARTHUR: Was there any reason for Russell Brand to remake this classic? Must’ve looked good on paper but it didn’t translate onto the screen.
Jack Goes Confidential: Unsettling ‘GIRL WITH DRAGON TATTOO’ Evokes Intense Experience
For many, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is the most highly anticipated film of the holiday season…
Others—especially those who read the book or saw the original, subtitled foreign version—are worried that director David Fincher’s americanization of Stieg Larsson’s powerful thriller won’t translate well in Hollywood’s hands.
Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.
Come to think of it, it’s all good news. Finche’s version of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO delivers—and then some. And for the record I’ve never seen the original, but friends who’ve seen both Swedish and American versions tell me that Mr. Fincher’s new film has far exceeded their expectations.
Another plus: You’re not bothered with subtitles.
Jack Goes Confidential: Tom Cruise Delivers on ‘MISSION’
Paramount’s release pattern for MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE-GHOST PROTOCOL has been confusing at best to the average moviegoer.
Many fans hit their local megaplexes this past weekend only to find out it wasn’t playing there—YET!
It opened only on IMAX screens last Friday.
Regular theaters weren’t scheduled to open the blockbuster until today (12/21). But then with Columbia Pictures’ THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO moved its opening up from today to yesterday (12/20) at 7:00 p.m., so Paramount did one better. They also moved MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE 4’s regular engagements up one day and beat TATTOO’s first performances by 2 hours—starting shows at 5:00 p.m.
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘SHERLOCK HOMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS’-Game On!
The teaming of Robert Downey, Jr. with Jude Law and director Guy Ritchie worked extremely well in 2009’s SHERLOCK HOLMES.
The question being, could they repeat the magic two years later? The answer being, damn right.
Downey, Jr. as Sherlock reprises his role as the world’s most famous detective and Law returns as his formidable colleague, Dr. Watson.
And you guessed it, this 1891 cat and mouse game sports a new antagonist. He’s criminal mastermind at large Professor Moriarty, played devilishly by Jared (Mad Men) Harris who may prove to be Holme’s equal—or possibly even better!
New Jack City: It’s Time To Celebrate the TIME in Overland Park
THIS JUST IN!
Fellow Overland Parkers. Your pain, suffering and seemingly eternal shame is finally at an end. Your voice has been heard. You asked for it, you demanded it. You wanted to stay on time and keep up with the rest of the metroplex. And guess what?
Santa has brought the greatest gift ever—albeit a little early —to downtown O.P.
The world famous Overland Park clock tower has been transformed and is actually keeping time again. Kansas City time, no less.
Jack Goes Confidential: Star-Studded Vignettes Can’t Rescue ‘NEW YEAR’S EVE’
The formula is a simple one…
A.- Pick a major holiday—hopefully one that lends itself to ‘light’ love stories.
B.- Write a series of basically everyday Lifetime-like boy-girl episodes that can be tied together at the end.
C.- Hire a name cast with mucho chick appeal for a fast shoot.
D.- Release the finished film right around the time of its namesake holiday.
That’s what director Garry Marshall did not so long ago with VALENTINE’S DAY. And guess what? IT WORKED!
Matter of fact, it worked so well in terms of ticket sales he and his filmmaking team immediately sought out their next target: New Year’s Eve. Surely there’d be plenty of back stories to fill an overlong, 2 hour follow-up flick!
Jack Goes Confidential: George Clooney Shines In ‘DESCENDANTS’ – K.C. Engagements Expand
It’s been seven years since Omaha filmmeister Alexander Payne brought us his wine country mini-classic SIDEWAYS with Paul Giamatti…
Prior to that he made a director’s name for himself with 1999’s ELECTION starring Reese Witherspoon, followed by Jack Nicholson in ABOUT SCHMIDT.
Now Payne delivers what could well become his finest creation yet. One which is poised to pick up multiple Oscar nominations, not only in the catagories of Best Actor, Best Director and Best Screenplay, but Best Picture as well!
New Jack City: Jack Back from Europe Despite Getting Poisoned & Condom Scare
Plans for crisp roasted goose on Thanksgiving Day though went awry…
That’s because three days prior to my planned feast I came down with a severe case of food poisoning. Bad enough that my Frankfurt hotel had to change my room. I guess my Exorcist-like activities didn’t go well with housekeeping.
With prices sky high across the pond these days, they say that getting there is the cheapest part of a European vacation. Unless, of course, you treat yourself to a free first class roundtrip ticket as I did. More about that later.
As for today’s living costs in places like Germany, at an average exchange rate of $1.40 to the Euro plus inflation, costs are high in just about every imagineable catagory. For example:
A gallon of gasoline – make that a liter – goes for between 1.50 and 1.75 Euros. Now multiply that x 4 for dollars and you’re paying in the unbelievable neighborhood of $8.50 per gallon!
It doesn’t stop there.
New Jack City: Eastwood’s ‘J. EDGAR’ Pulls No Punches—Plays For Oscar Nominations
It’s got to be great to have the kind of power Clint Eastwood still possesses today in Hollywood…
Without his name attached to it, I doubt very much J. EDGAR would’ve ever seen the light of day.
J. EDGAR, of course, is Eastwood’s highly anticipated bio-eppic of legendary F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover.
It’s also a major player in the upcoming Oscar race where it’ll most likely compete in the Best Picture, Best Actor and Director catagories.
As J. Edgar Hoover, Leonardo DiCaprio serves up yet another memorable performance—starting as a spry 24 year-old and continuing on through his controversial career spanning some 53 years to the fading fast age of 77 as an often vindictive and paranoid creator of the nation’s federal police force.
For 2 hours and 20 minutes we experience Hoover serving under an unprecedented six U.S. presidents. Excercising his personal power over the likes of Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. Eastwood provides a fascinating insight into this larger-than-life man who however was incapable of coming to terms with his own shortcomings.
New Jack City: Producer, Eddie Murphy Bail in Major Oscars Shakeup After Stern Show Appearance
After being criticized for making offensive remarks while promoting TOWER HEIST last week, director Brett Ratner has stepped down as producer of the upcoming 84th annual Academy Awards show.
Making matters worse Eddie Murphy dropped out as host of the show as well. All that just 3 months prior to the big event!
According to industry news sources, it went down after Ratner had appeared on Monday’s HOWARD STERN SHOW where a graphic discussion of Ratner’s sex life went down.
New Jack City: Deck The Halls With Ticket Stubs & Holly; Holiday Movie Preview
It’s been a rough year for the movie industry…
On the studio and distribution front there were escalating costs of production, 3-D and dried up movie financing while exhibitors had to deal with increasing film rental terms and huge sums of money connected with digital conversions at their theaters.
The big question: will the all important upcoming holiday season make up for some of the slack the industry experienced earlier this year?
Now here are Hollywood’s major Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday offerings and their K.C. opening dates
Jack Goes Confidential: Stiller & Murphy Muddle Through ‘TOWER HEIST’ Script
Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy team with an all-star ensemble cast to serve up the new action comedy TOWER HEIST...
Stiller, plays the second in command at The Tower–filmed at Trump Tower—a luxury high rise in Manhattan where New York’s super rich reside and expect nothing short of excellence in every department.
Also residing in The Tower’s penthouse is wildly successful Wall Street trader and billionaire Alan Alda. He’s nice enough a guy. Very approachable by the staff, but as we soon learn, a Bernie Madoff kinda crook who swindled billions from investors.
Making matters even worse, Stiller had recently entrusted The Tower employees’ pension fund to Alda for management.
And it’s all gone!
But Stiller’s got a hunch that a fair reserve sum of money may still be hidden in the penthouse where Alda is being held under house arrest.
Time for Stiller to organize his troops to raid the place and hopefully get their money back.
Think of it as Robin Hood And His Merry Doormen.
New Jack City: Paul McCartney; ‘Got to Get Jew Into My Mind’—Oy Vey!
It’s not often that I find Jay Leno‘s tired schtick on THE TONIGHT SHOW funny.
But the other night, he had an infomercial like perody commercial that cracked me up. Here’s the premise.
Paul McCartney‘s recent marriage to Nancy Shevell is causing all kinds of speculation that he may soon be converting to Judaism. And as a token of his love for Nancy—and the faith— may soon release a special tribute re-mix album of past hits.
Here’s what to look for on the new ‘RABBI ROAD’ CD!
