Month: June 2021

‘Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It’ celebrates and speaks frankly

Jeff Mitchell

“Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It” –  Rita Moreno loves to dance.  Dance, sing, and act!  At 89 years young, this entertainment legend became a household name on April 9, 1962, when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her treasured role as Anita in “West Side Story” (1961).  This 5’ 2” thespian – with probably the shortest speech in Academy Awards’ history – has fashioned a lasting impact on the four traditional pillars of entertainment: movies, television, theatre, and music. However, her career…

Hayek, Jackson, and Reynolds can’t save ‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’

Jeff Mitchell

“The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” – Salma Hayek, Ryan Reynolds, and Samuel L. Jackson are three of the biggest movie stars working today, and hey, all three are big-screen comic book characters, to boot.  Don’t forget that Jackson played a Jedi too. So, after assessing their remarkable acting resumes, let’s all recite this together:  “We’re not worthy!  We’re not worthy!” Well, in 2017, this superhero triad starred in the sophomoric action-comedy “The Hitman’s Bodyguard”, and when a film rakes in 176 million dollars worldwide on a budget of “only” 30 big…

Movie of the Week: ‘The Birdcage’

Jeff Mitchell

“The Birdcage” (1996) – Mike Nichols’ remake of “La Cage aux Folles” (1978) is a landmark LGBTQ film in American cinema, although looking back, this hit comedy – which raked in 185 million dollars worldwide – does have a troubling premise.  The mid-90s and 1978 were different times, so the story of a 20-year-old son asking his gay fathers, Armand (Robin Williams) and Albert (Nathan Lane), to act straight for one night to fool his fiancée’s conservative parents – perhaps – seemed like a semi-reasonable request to the American public…