Films That Matter
By the Skin of Your Teeth
Originally meant to be a satire... though of a film very few have ever seen nowadays, the Norman Z. McLeod western comedy The Paleface (1948), written by Frank Tashlin about 1929's Virginian, infuriated the man in how it was directed (as a more generic spoof of the western)... but funnily enough, despite the screenwriter’s opinion, until Blazing Saddles (1974) came out, it was the highest grossing western parody of all-time and spawned a sequel in Son of Paleface (1952), while it was also remade as the Don Knotts vehicle The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968). After government agents tasked with tracking down an illegal gun smuggling ring turn up dead, the infamous Calamity Jane (Jane Russell) is secretly broken out of jail by Gov. Johnson (Charles Trowbridge) with the hope that she will take a pardon for going undercover to get to the bottom of this rebel-rousing (similar to rabble-rousing) gang in the frontier land.
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Star Pick with Joel O'Keeffe
Die Hard with AirbourneDie HardDecember 17, 2014I have been lucky enough to meet a lot of interesting and famous people in my life. One such person is rock star Joel O’Keeffe, the lead guitarist and singer of the Australian hard rock and roll band Airbourne, whose song Live It Up went number one in Canada this year (the first of their career in any country). I have been able to spend quite some time with the guys from Airbourne, and as you can probably guess, it did not take long for the conversation to turn to movies. Joel’s favourite film is the legendary action flick Die Hard, which he calls "the greatest film ever!!" He also added that, "Die Hard literally set the benchmark and wrote the book for the ‘One Man vs. heaps of Terrorists’ blockbuster action flick".
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Star Pick with Billy Gibbons
Casablanca on TopCasablancaDecember 17, 2014We are now in the middle of the awards season and are closing in on the holy grail of film festivities: the Academy Awards, or as we all like to call him – Oscar. This month, I will be reviewing four motion pictures that have won at least one of the major prizes of either best director, actor, actress or picture.
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Star Pick with Jacques Demers
A Race for GoldChariots of FireOctober 6, 2014I must say that when I asked Senator Jacques Demers the question of what his favourite movie was at the Children’s Treatment Center Roast a few weeks ago – he was caught off-guard. He initially named the previously reviewed Forrest Gump, yet after he roasted local MP Guy Lauzon, he pulled me aside in order to mention that the Hanks’ offering was not the sole movie at the top of his list – the 1981 Academy Award Best Picture Chariots of Fire was equally as important to him.
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Star Pick with Peter MacKay
Victory Over Adversity in The NaturalThe NaturalSeptember 25, 2014As I stood talking with The Honourable Peter McKay the night of the Children's Treatment Center Roast, his eyes lit up as the conversation turned from his comedic favourite, Stripes, to the subject of baseball and the excellent sports drama The Natural.
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Star Pick with Peter MacKay
Stripes a Film Comedy ClassicStripesSeptember 17, 2014First off, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, The Honourable Peter MacKay, spoke to me about his love of film. He had two favourite movies and the first will be featured here today. It is the classic 1981 war comedy Stripes. MacKay was utterly impressed by the amazing improv that went into the film (especially from Bill Murray and John Candy) and spoke of the immense laughs it brought out of him every time he watched it. He also mentioned that the movie means more to him now that he works with the armed forces.
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Billy Jack Finally Finds Peace
Billy JackJuly 31, 2014Hopefully this will be the last week for quite some time that I will have to start with the announcement of another actor’s death. Tom Laughlin, the co-writer, director and star of the four Billy Jack movies, passed away at the age of 82 last month. Though Billy Jack, the second film in the series, cannot be considered a ‘good’ movie by any means, it is still a B-movie cult classic that has some solid entertainment value.
