Howdy Folks! It’s The Kendog here with a look at Pixar’s latest masterpiece. It’s called “Turning Red” and it’s a gorgeously animated, terrifically voiced coming of age story that will resonate with everyone but especially with teenagers who will feel that this film is talking directly to them. Like almost all of Pixar’s films, “Turning Red” has something for everyone with eye-popping visuals that will appeal to audiences of all ages.
Continue readingDog’s Movie House: “The Batman” A Bold, Original Take On The Dark Knight!
Howdy Folks! It’s The Kendog here with a look at one of the most anticipated releases of the year. It’s Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” and although it’s the umpteenth version of the Caped Crusader put to film, this one benefits from being a straight up detective yarn as well as one of the most chilling atmospheric comic book films ever made. Reeves has brought his considerable filmmaking skill to the fore and rendered a film that could have been the offspring of “Batman” and “Seven.” The result is a thrilling, intense, and well-acted superhero film that doesn’t feel like a superhero film at all and sails through its three-hour running time!
Continue readingDog’s Movie House: Quick Hits – “Cyrano,” “No Exit” Imperfect But Entertaining Films!
Howdy Folks! It’s The Kendog here with a quick look at two films recently released and worth your time, even if they are, shall we say, a bit uneven. The first is “Cyrano” Joe Wright’s telling of Edmond Rostand’s play. This is a musical, which for me proves a bit jarring as the musical numbers distract somewhat from the otherwise riveting tale of Cyrano De Bergerac (an excellent Peter Dinklage), a smart, tough man who’s only flaw is his diminutive size. (This is a change from the original story in which Cyrano is cursed with a large nose.) Cyrano, for all his prowess, feels his lack of height such an impediment to declaring his love for Roxanne (Haley Bennett) that he decides the next best thing is to help the young soldier Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) woo Roxanne with Cyrano’s words. Rozanne, you see, in a bit or irony has confessed to Cyrano that she is attracted to the young soldier. Comedy and tragedy ensue. The movie is worth seeing solely for Dinklage’s amazing performance and the scenery is breathtaking, but the songs are so-so and the other actors don’t make much of an impression. I think the musical version probably made more sense on the stage. 3 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer!
The Dogcast: A Little “Bold Venture” For Some Bogie/Bacall Adventure On The High Seas!
Howdy Folks! It’s The Kendog here with some classic adventure with one of the silver screen’s all time great couples. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were one of Hollywood’s great love stories. Having met on the classic film “To Have And Have Not” they fell in love and were married until his death in 1957. They appeared together in films (most notably in “To Have And Have Not” and “The Big Sleep”) but they also did a radio series together during 1951. It was called “Bold Venture” and starred Bogie as Slate Shannon (what a great name!) as the owner of a hotel in Havana and a boat called “The Bold Venture.” Bacall stars as his lady Sailor Duval. Both are similar to their characters in “To Have And Have Not” and that’s not accidental. The two episodes I have are a lot of fun and feature that crackling Bogie and Bacall chemistry! Enjoy and as always feel free to comment below or on my Facebook Page! So Sayeth The Kendog!
The Kenblog: Remembering Ivan Reitman!
Howdy Folks! It’s The Kendog with a fond remembrance of legendary director Ivan Reitman who passed away this week at the too-young age of seventy-five. As a child of the eighties, Reitman and his work was an indelible part of my childhood. His work with such luminaries as John Landis, the late, great Harold Ramis, and Bill Murray were as much a part of my growing up as Star Wars or Steven Spielberg. I won’t go into all of his biographical details here: you can find them all at other sources. I will say that he was one of my doorways into a more adult form of humor. The fact that he managed to insert it successfully into PG movies made his brilliance all the more amazing. Of course, he did his share of R-Rated films, classics such as “National Lampoon’s Animal House” and “Stripes.” But it was “Ghostbusters” that managed to combine legit scares and frat house comedy into a winning combination. At 12 years of age, I was old enough to get the adult humor along with some of the scary stuff. (After all, what other mainstream film would feature a dream sequence in which one of the Ghostbusters gets, ahem, serviced by a female ghost?)
Reitman was also the first director to really realize Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comic chops. Both “Twins” and “Kindergarten Cop” still hold up today because Arnold’s sense of humor and absurdity shines through, and a great deal of that is due to Reitman’s guidance. From all involved, Ivan Reitman was a kind man both on and off screen and his unique brand of humor and filmmaking will be missed. So Sayeth The Kendog! (Below I have clips from some of his best known movies. Feel free to comment below or on my Facebook Page!)
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