Year: 2019

Political Thriller Week: ‘In the Line of Fire’

Jeff Mitchell

AHFW’s Political Thriller Week is firing on all cylinders on Day 2 with director Wolfgang Petersen’s “In the Line of Fire” (1993).  Secret Service Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) is still rattled with guilt after President Kennedy’ assassination in 1963, and it’s 30 years later, and a new threat grabs his attention and thoughts of the past.  Eastwood plays an even mix of machismo and vulnerability that lies in the center of the film’s emotional core, and while he is perfectly cast as the troubled protagonist, John Malkovich’s creepy, loner turn…

Political Thriller Week: ‘No Way Out’

Jeff Mitchell

Washington D.C. is up in arms with an ongoing scandal, and AHFW is not taking a side, but it is a very topical theme at the moment.  So, we’d thought we’d look back at four of our favorite political thrillers! Kevin Costner burst on the scene with two movies in 1985:  “Fandango” and “Silverado”.   Apparently, films ending in “o” were big that year.  Didn’t Hollywood release “Jello”, “Figaro” and “Oreo” in 1985 as well?  Mmm….perhaps not. Anyway, in “No Way Out” (1987), Costner plays U.S. Navy Lieutenant Tom Farrell, and…

‘Judy’: Zellweger takes a big step towards Oscar gold in a small, incomplete biopic

Jeff Mitchell

“Judy” – It’s the late 1960’s, and a star is fading.  Judy Garland’s (Renee Zellweger) star, because the bright, beautiful shine on her career – which includes “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) and Oscar nominations for “A Star is Born” (1954) and “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961) – seems like a lifetime ago. She feels like a terrible mother to her two preadolescent children Lorna and Joey. She’s also broke and homeless. Judy needs to jumpstart her career and earn a living, and through some very helpful advice, she earns a…