Long before Adam Sandler was making movies like “Punch Drunk Love” and “Spanglish,” he was making movies like “Billy Madison” and “Happy Gilmore.” To some, that may seem like a slam on the Saturday Night Live alum, but to many others (this reviewer included), it’s anything but. For those in the latter group, the “Billy Madison/Happy Gilmore Collection” is a must-buy. Admittedly, “Billy Madison” and “Happy Gilmore” don’t represent Sandler’s best big-screen work, but they do stand as the first two steps he took on his road to superstardom, a fact that Sandler himself recognized when he named his production…
Author: Jamey Codding
Relive some of your own dreadful family vacation moments with National Lampoon’s comedy classic, “Vacation.” Written by 1980s legend John Hughes (“The Breakfast Club,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) and directed by Harold Ramis (“Caddyshack,” “Groundhog Day”), “Vacation” marked our first introduction to the ultimate Every Family, the Griswolds, the fictitious clan that eventually would be featured in three more “Vacation” films. Of course, as is usually the case, none of those sequels matched the appeal of the original, though admittedly 1989’s “Christmas Vacation” came close. Chevy Chase plays the head of the Griswold tribe, Clark, an enthusiastic husband and father…
So what’s the true story behind the murders of rap superstars Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.? Well, we may never know, but director Nick Broomfield certainly has raised some intriguing questions with his new documentary, “Biggie & Tupac.” Dubbed “the most frightening moment in movies this year” by the LA Times, this investigative film was a hit at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and, regardless of your opinions on the hip-hop industry, is a must-see for all you aspiring conspiracy theorists out there. Broomfield, who’s also directed documentaries on Heidi Fleiss and Kurt Cobain, initiates his latest project by…
Set and filmed in Cleveland, “Welcome to Collinwood” is a heist film about a group of knucklehead thieves drawn together by the promising payoff of one sweet job, a “Bellini.” Written and directed by Cleveland natives Anthony and Joe Russo, “Collinwood” features a remarkably intelligent script, a wonderful cast and, most important, plenty of genuine laughs. The collection of clumsy crooks is led by Pero (played to perfection by Sam Rockwell), an amateur boxer who’s better with his fists on the street than he is in the ring. Pero learns of the Bellini, the perfect job that any idiot should…
Jamey Codding recently sat down to chat with Anthony and Joe Russo, the writer/director team behind “Welcome to Collinwood,” a new film from Warner Bros. starring George Clooney and William H. Macy, set to open in select theaters on October 4 and nationwide October 18. Among other things, the Russo brothers (pictured below; Joe on the left, Anthony on the right), originally from the Cleveland area, talk about their recent success, their relationship on the set, and the future for the Browns and the Indians. Jamey Codding: So what, in your minds, separates “Welcome to Collinwood” from other heist films?…
Today’s real-life Cleveland Indians may not bear much resemblance to the bumbling baseball team in this classic, but in 1989 you couldn’t really tell the difference between the fictional team portrayed in director David Ward’s “Major League” and the actual team that regularly lost 90-plus games every summer in decrepit Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Loved for its inspirational storyline and roster full of misfit players, “Major League” is one of Hollywood’s best underdog stories. Determined to move the Indians to Florida after inheriting the team from her dead husband, owner Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton) brings in the sorriest group of players…
As any fan will tell you, the crux of a great sports video game is its level of realism. From the stadiums and the stances to the uniforms and the rosters, a sports game that doesn’t closely mirror the action on the field just doesn’t have much appeal on the TV screen. While “High Heat 2003” certainly hits a few potholes on the realism highway, 3DO has managed to transfer most of the action from the diamond to the console. The graphics are, as expected, fantastic, the play-by-play commentary is solid and, with the inclusion of some of baseball’s quirkiest…
Whenever Sean Connery stars in a movie, his brilliance tends to overshadow the film’s other key actors. But in “Finding Forrester,” Connery’s excellence on the screen is matched by newcomer Rob Brown, who plays the gifted Jamal Wallace in director Gus Van Sant’s (“Good Will Hunting”) latest movie. Jamal, a 16-year-old black kid with undeniable talent on the local Bronx basketball courts, is a “just-enough-to-get-by” C student, although the results of his aptitude tests, not to mention his love of reading and writing, suggest he’s holding himself back in the classroom. On his way back from a Yankees game one…
Any movie starring Robert De Niro naturally will be saturated with hoopla, and “15 Minutes” is no exception. In director John Herzfeld’s latest film, De Niro plays Eddie Flemming, a media-savvy detective whose appearances on local TV and in Time magazine have turned him into a Manhattan legend. Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) is a local fire inspector who teams up with Flemming after his examination of a seemingly accidental fire uncovers a gruesome double homicide. Intrigued by his skills as a detective, Warsaw starts following Flemming around throughout this investigation and even gets a mini crash course in law enforcement.…
You don’t go to an Adam Sandler movie to see some Emmy award-winning acting or for a well-written script. Quite simply, you pay to see an Adam Sandler movie to laugh your ass off, and that’s what you’ll do if you check out “Little Nicky,” Sandler’s latest flick in which he plays Nicky, the son of the Prince of Darkness himself, the Devil, played by Harvy Kietel. Nicky’s two brothers, Adrian and Cassius (Rhys Ifans and “Tiny” Lister) decide it’s time they get a chance to rule hell, but because dad doesn’t seem to be vacating his throne anytime soon,…