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When it was finished, there was no theatrical release. Trolls were nowhere to be found. Instead vegetarian goblins were the enemies of the Waits family, and what was performed in true earnest, went straight to VHS and BETA, leading the young Stephenson to turn off his VCR and the parents and sister of George Hardy who played the family patriarch, Michael Waits, to avow, “This is the worst movie ever made.” Over the years, Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB concurred with the Hardy family and TROLL 2 gar...
I still remember when NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was released. A mere youngster, I thought it was one of the coolest films I had ever seen. It’s still a face of mine. I found the whole concept and look of Zombies fascinating. Cooler than the movie however, was the marketing campaign which had giveaways of plastic lined “barf bags” emblazoned with a rubber-stamped red mini-lobby card of the film. Yes folks - it was rubber stamped with an ink pad on the bags. (These were the days of pre-high tech...
Take three parts “Indiana Jones”, add two parts “The Mummy”, mix in some “National Treasure” and then toss in a little Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort and even a little Anakin Skywalker, and you’ve got yourself PRINCE OF PERSIA - A Roller Coaster Ride for the Ages!! Based on Jordan Mechner’s highly successful 1989 video game, “Prince of Persia”, uber producer Jerry Bruckheimer has assembled the preeminent technical artisans in the industry today, a world class cast, an imaginative mythica...
In 1865, Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics professor at Christchurch University in Oxford, England forever changed the world. No, he didn’t disprove the Pythagorean Theory or find a new way to alter tax percentages to help the people. What he did do was much more amazing and wonderful. Reverend Dodgson, under the pen name of Lewis Carroll, created the incredible, fantastical and imaginative world of Wonderland and began to write stories about a little girl named Alice. With its b...
The Best Picture Oscar race officially takes off this week with the release of Anurag Basu’s KITES. This is PURE OSCAR GOLD. Unfamiliar with Basu’s work, I went into this screening blind, with no idea of the story, the filmmakers or the actors, but I quickly found myself blinded by the beauty before me on screen and the brilliance of a stunning and exceptional film. Reminiscent of Baz Luhrmann in style, color and texture, KITES is a seamless, beauteous meld of “Moulin Rouge!” and “Romeo...
Ah, Juliet. The mere mention of the name may make even the most hardened heart a tad wistful at the thought of love won or love lost, while for the true romantics, hearts may go pitter patter and eyes well with tears of joy, or heartache. Juliet is, after all, one-half of the most romantic and enchanted couples of the ages, albeit in literature. Thanks to William Shakespeare, the 14th century story of the Montagues and Capulets and the forbidden and fated love of Romeo and Juliet has endured...
I should know by now that anything to which Nicholas Sparks is attached will guarantee an increase in the stock value of Kleenex. A world class novelist, the mere mention of some of his most cherished works, “The Notebook”, “Dear John”, “Message in a Bottle”, “Nights in Rodanthe” and “The Wedding”, bring tears to the eyes on recalling the indelible and deep emotion of the stories, the characters and the film adaptations. And now, not only does Sparks give us another emotional heartwren...
Leo Tolstoy is long considered one of the greatest novelists of our time. Celebrated for works such as “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”, his appeal is as universal as the language of love itself, a language for which he publicly espoused its idealistic virtues, but behind closed doors, led a life in his final days that was anything but. Married to the Countess Sofya for 48 years, theirs was a true partnership, a true story of love and hate, passion and fury. With a vast difference in their a...
Think back to your youth and those small suburban neighborhoods or city communities or even now in this age of technogadgetry. Remember when Mr. Jones got a new car? What did your dad go out and do? He went and got a new car. Of course, then Mr. Jones went out and got an even newer and fancier car which meant every other dad had to go get the newer and fancier car. And what about that 4 foot above ground pool and cedar fence that Mr. Jones put in? How long did it take before every other house...
The bar is set and the Documentary Oscar race begins with the debut of WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY. Not environmentally or politically messaged, WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY takes a rare, honest, and very personal, even cathartic, behind-the-scenes look into a pivotal time in the animation world of the Mouse House (a.k.a. Disney). Not just a trip down memory lane, but a trip into the world that gave us the likes of Tim Burton, John Lasseter, Don Bluth and dozens of other artisans and magicians, WAKING...
Olga Connolly, Five time Olympian and Olympic gold medal winner, was a 50 year resident of Culver City, She now resides in Huntington Beach. The old-world milieu of Sorrento Market drew me to stopping in whether or not in shopping mode. Sometimes I would order a sandwich handcrafted by the grand old lady at the back counter, sometime I would hang around the tomato sauce cans. What really kept me there was listening, smiling with, or, commiserating with strangers who shared events in their lives with the supremely patient ear of Ursula Vera, or...
3 Time Mayor Suffers Apparent Heart Attack Albert Vera Sr., an Italian immigrant who came to the U.S. as a penniless teenager and grew to become one of the most admired government officials and store-owners in Culver City’s history, died in his Sunkist Park home earlier this week. Vera was 75 years old. He is expected to be buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, but a date for memorial and funeral services had not been set as the Observer went to press late Wednesday.- UPDATE - June 3 2...
