Tag Archives: Jack Poessiger
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: Anybody Up for a Christmas Goose?
My wished for Christmas present this year probably won’t show up under the tree…
Come to think of it, what tree? Bah, humbug!
Were it to, however, It would come from a kitchen instead of a chimney, accompanied by the most incredibly, wonderful aroma.
I’m wishing, of course, for a great, crisp Christmas Goose dinner complete with potato dumplings, gravy and red cabbage.
OK, so I’m German already.
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.
New Jack City: It’s Time to Lay Off the Bogus Hyatt Criticism
I hadn’t paid much attention to the many stories about Hyatt’s refusal to financially involve itself in the proposed SKYWALKS MEMORIAL…
That all changed Sunday when I came across an absurd letter to the STAR.
Under the heading of "Hyatt Moral Debt" an Olathe woman wrote, "I am disgusted to learn that Hyatt Hotels Corp. will not be contributing to the Skywalk Memorial. They took money from Kansas Citians for 30 years, but when it came time to remember the 114 people killed and countless others injured or affected, they skip town."
Hold it right there.
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!
JACK GOES CONFIDENTIAL: Johnny Depp’s Hunter S. Thompson Adventure Underwhelms
Honest to God, I was really looking forward to this one…
After all, having Johnny Depp tied to a autobiographical Hunter S. Thompson project as both its star and producer should make for an extraordinary night out at the movies.
In THE RUM DIARY Depp dumps the madness of 1960 New York, escaping to tropical Puerto Rico and a rum soaked lifestyle as an island reporter for The San Juan Star—shady dealings and all.
Industry rumors that this movie’s been sitting on the shelf for almost 2 years now should’ve been my first clue that I’d be in for disappointment. This thing is incoherent, unfocused and its editing leaves a lot to be desired.
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Puss’ Goes At It Alone. Unveils New Family Franchise
Look what the cat dragged in…
Ooops, that IS the cat. PUSS IN BOOTS, one of the most popular characters from the SHREK franchise, gets the spotlight here alongside an equally loveable cast of characters. While taking us back to Puss’ origins—his orphanage upbringing and early days of mischief with running buddy Humpty Alexander Dumpty – today still chasing his childhood dreams. Going for the magic beans. Climbing the bean stalk. Jack and Jill. The Golden Popper (a.k.a. The Golden Goose)…and so much more.
Antonio Banderes leads a strutting, star-stutted voice tracks cast of Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris.
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘MARGIN CALL’; Greed Is Good—Until It Implodes
Fans of American business classics like GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS and WALL STREET are in for a treat!
MARGIN CALL is an excellent thriller set in one 24 hour cycle during the 2008 Wall Street meltdown. It revolves around a number of key players at a major investment bank on the brink of imminent chaos and collapse.
It’s a real Wall Street nailbiter delving into the actions and reactions of the people who choreographed those complex financial schemes and whose after effects continue to blight the lives of tens of millions of their fellow citizens.
What makes it so compelling is it’s told through their eyes. From their point of view and almost makes you feel for them and root for these flim-flam artists as they dump huge chuncks of worthless assets on unsuspecting customers—many of whom will go bust so that the firm can survive.
It’s convincing, complelling—-and scary as hell!
NEW JACK CITY: Holy Cornholio; The Boneheads Are Back!
Beavis and Butt-Head ruled MTV between 1993 and 1997…
Beavis’ HnHnHnHn and Butt-Head’s UhhhUhhhUhhh became signatures of a generation.
And we all know how they fared….
For years now MTV’s been trying to get creator Mike Judge to ressurect his knuckleheads. But Judge showed little interest. After all, he’d sold off his ownership of the series to the network and gone on to other projects.
There was KING OF THE HILL and 4 feature length movies that followed including his animated BEAVIS & BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA and one of my all time favorites, the cubicle-comedy OFFICE SPACE.
Then there were the controversies that surrounded the series.
Jack Goes Confidential: ‘The Three Musketeers’—All for One and One for 3-D
How many times can Hollywood remake a classic?
When it comes to THREE MUSKETEERS movies I stopped counting at about 15.
And that’s not even going way back to 1921’s silent version which starred Douglas Fairbanks.
But then, this newest addition doesn’t really qualify in the count. It’s not a Hollywood offering but a German, French and British co-production filmed primarily at Berlin’s fabled UFA Studio now called Studio Babelsberg in Munich, home to such cinematic gems as METROPOLIS and THE BLUE ANGEL.
Here movie maker Paul W.S. Anderson takes time off from the RESIDENT EVIL series to devote his talents to THE THREE MUSKETEERS.
