Films That Matter
Star Pick with Kurt Angle
It was an absolute pleasure to meet and get a quick interview with the great Kurt Angle this past summer in Ottawa. First making a name for himself on the amateur wrestling circuit, it all culminated with a gold medal win (with a broken neck, no less) at the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia. The ultimate achievement for most amateur athletes, this was not the end for Angle, but only the beginning. Just a mere two years later, he had signed on to the World Wrestling Federation (now the WWE or World Wresting Entertainment), a leap that would soon find him taking professional wrestling by storm. Making his television debut in November of 1999, he was a natural, not only at the wrestling, but also on the mike.
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Star Pick with Michael Dante
Gone with the Winds of ChangeGone with the WindSeptember 28, 2017It was lovely sitting down with veteran actor Michael Dante at Trekonderoga this past August. In the business for more than sixty years, it was not his original path in life. A top baseball player, he was signed by the Boston Braves out of high school. As fate would have it, he travelled a less expected path, finding his way, through interesting circumstances, into his first feature film, Robert Wise’s Somebody Up There Likes Me, in 1956 (with legendary names like Newman, Duvall and McQueen). Leading to an impressive career, Dante has graced the silver screen in such films as Westbound, Seven Thieves (Edward G. Robinson, Rod Steiger, Joan Collins, Eli Wallach), Kid Galahad (Elvis), The Naked Kiss (with famed director Samuel Fuller), Apache Rifles, Willard, as well as playing the title character in Winterhawk. . . this is just a small sampling of his work.
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The Sound of Silence. . . Almost
LonesomeSeptember 22, 2017A striking picture from a unique moment in Hollywood history, Pál Fejös’ 1928 romantic drama Lonesome found itself one of the first transitional films between the silent and sound/talkie era. Originally developed as a Universal silent feature by the Hungarian filmmaker (Fejös, a Renaissance man, was also a doctor, World War 1 medic, anthropologist and explorer), in post-production it was decided that three dialogue scenes would be added – to appease audiences who desired the new effect following The Jazz Singer craze. A short transitional period of about two years followed, as filmmakers and studios began to adapt to the changing world of sound, adding touches of dialogue into their silent pictures.
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An Ace Venture
Ace Ventura: Pet DetectiveSeptember 12, 2017One of those films that was not treated overly well by critics but is beloved by fans the world over, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, shot lead Jim Carrey, then known to people mostly for being on In Living Color, into another stratosphere. The year 1994 was a good one for the comic and actor, as this film was followed soon after by The Mask and Dumb & Dumber, further adding to his meteoric rise. The next three years would further cement him as a true comic talent, as roles in Batman Forever, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, The Cable Guy and Liar Liar continuously hit viewers’ funny bones. Though, it was the character of Ace Ventura, which was co-written by Carrey, along with Jack Bernstein and Tom Shadyac (who also directed, and would work again with the actor in Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty), that first demonstrated his skills at physical comedy, mimicry, comedic timing and coining memorable catch phrases to be enjoyed by silver screen audiences.
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Thieves in the Night
Seven ThievesSeptember 1, 2017Arriving at theatres a few months before the iconic 1960 Lewis Milestone film Ocean’s Eleven, Henry Hathaway’s Seven Thieves is its lesser known forerunner, yet despite being in its long casting shadow, it is a whole lot of fun. Set in Monte Carlo, disgraced professor and scientist Theo Wilkins (Edward G. Robinson) is the mastermind of a daring plot to rob a posh, extravagant casino in the picturesque Principality of Monaco. Uniting a talented group of shady individuals, the aging ringleader has called on longtime American acquaintance Paul Mason (Rod Steiger), a smart man who has worked with Wilkins before, hoping that he will be his right-hand man as well as the iron fist that will keep everyone in line.
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Star Pick with Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle, Ma Belle. . .Star TrekAugust 29, 2017It is rare to find a character so iconic that by simply uttering their last name, everyone is on point. One such case is Uhura. Brought to vivid life on the original Star Trek series (1966-1969) by the great Nichelle Nichols who developed an engaging, multi-faceted and wholly inspiring persona at a time when African American women were portrayed as maids or in other lowly servile positions on television. The fourth most powerful person on the USS Enterprise, Nichols was a part of a multicultural cast that was more than unusual for the era. The crew was comprised of African American, Asian American, Scottish, Russian (during The Cold War), half-alien, and white – symbolic that in the future, we, as human beings, would be able to come together to achieve something special, or as it was so aptly put: “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise. Its five year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before”.
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There’s No Escaping This One
Escape from New YorkAugust 20, 2017Uttered in the opening narration, the oft quoted line “the rules are simple: once you go in, you don’t come out” is in many ways symbolic of how John Carpenter’s 1981 motion picture Escape From New York has ensnared a passionate cult following. Set in a dystopic America in 1997, the crime rate has risen by four hundred percent, and the island of Manhattan has become an Alcatraz of sorts, only infinitely more secure and bizarrely intense. Surrounded by a behemoth of a wall and patrolled by the United States Police Force, all bridges leading out of the city are mined, making for a doom laden locale that has a semblance of inescapability. Carpenter carefully transports us into this eerie world at the movie’s opening, providing us with an eagle-eyed perspective of Manhattan and its near impenetrable defences.
