Cinema Basement

A review by Brooks Rich So I saw this movie awhile ago and it's taken me this long to write a review. It's a very middle of the road film. There's nothing inherently wrong with this film but nothing that really makes it stand out save for one very impressive scene. This film did not do well and had the worst wide opening weekend of all time at the box office. Blake Lively plays a prostitute whose family died in a plane crash a few years back that was actually a terrorist attack. She eventually decides to track down those responsible for the attack, no matter the cost. I say eventually because my God this film takes it's sweet ass time in the first act. The main issue people will have with this film is that it takes so long to get going. The film just feels the need to tell you over and over again that her family were very nice, they died in a plane crash, and that she's sad about it. Once she meets up with ex MI6 agent Jude Law the film picks up a little but t...

A review by Brooks Rich I am not an athlete by an stretch of the imagination. I can't ice skate. I can't really hit a baseball with a bat. If I throw a football it looks pathetic. But I've always loved sports movies. I love the underdog nature of them and usually sports translate well to film. There's essentially two types of sports films. There's the uplifting drama about the underdog managing to win and overcome impossible odds. Than there's the comedy that has a bunch of goofy oddballs managing to win despite being a bunch of man children. The film we'll be talking about today falls into the latter. The Cleveland Indians owner has died, leaving the team in the hands of his wife, Rachel Phelps, a former Las Vegas showgirl. She wants the team to finish dead last so she can move them to Florida so she hires the worst players she can in the hopes they do poorly. When the team finds out about Rachel's plan, they decide to win as much as they can just t...

A review by Brooks Rich I usually don't like when one of my favorite books is adapted to film. It generally never works and I am often left pissed off and frustrated. Usually, big important moments are cut out in translation, and sometimes, the film adaptation goes so wildly off its source material, it ruins everything. Ahem……… The Turning.  (Two of the most scathing reviews I'm posted here are adaptations of books I love. Here are the links if you missed them:   https://www.cinemabasementblo g.com/2019/09/the-goldfinch. html https://www.cinemabasementblog .com/2020/01/the-turning.html ) Today we discuss a film I think does its source material justice, and while I recommend you read the book first to experience the story that way, this is a fine film and one that has been pretty much forgotten due to it being released as a TV movie in 2001. Also, let’s be honest here, the early to mid-2000s' was a rough time in the film industry. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was the big do...