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Leonard Maltin
The Secret World Of Arrietty—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 17, 2012 12:55 AM
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- 4 Comments
We’ve come to expect so much from Japan’s Studio Ghibli—especially the films directed by Hayao Miyazaki like 'Spirited Away' and 'Howl’s Moving Castle'—
Bullhead—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 17, 2012 12:50 AM
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- 3 Comments
If I were to sum up my feelings about this film in two words, they would be “grimly fascinating.” Bullhead is the dark horse in this year’s Oscar race for Best Foreign Language Film, a sleeper from Belgium that has won acclaim around the world. Part of the response comes from the excitement of discovery: an unknown writer-director making his feature debut, and creating a gritty crime story (with strong emotional currents) set against an unlikely backdrop.
More Woody Allen
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 15, 2012 2:44 PM
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- 3 Comments
If you missed Robert B. Weide’s two-part American Masters profile of Woody Allen that aired last November on PBS, it’s just been released on DVD—by Docurama—with bonus material that wasn’t seen on TV. Weide, whose earlier documentaries have dealt with W.C. Fields, The Marx Brothers, Mort Sahl, and Lenny Bruce, sufficiently impressed Allen that the notoriously private writer-director-author-comedian gave him virtual carte blanche to film him at work and interview him at length about his life and career. I doubt that anyone will ever have such access again, or be able to win Woody’s confidence to this degree.
Valentine Pin-Ups
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 14, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 6 Comments
In the old days of the Hollywood studio system, stars and starlets under contract learned that their “free time” between movies would be taken up by interviews, appearances, and posing for publicity photos. These often-silly pictures were gobbled up by newspapers and magazines around the world, adding to the public’s awareness of the players, especially up-and-comers. They’re great fun to see all these years later. Today’s sampling celebrates Valentine’s Day in typical (and sometimes not-so-typical) pin-up fashion. First up: Marsha Hunt, in a demure pose for Paramount in 1936, when she was about to make her second movie, Desert Gold, with Larry “Buster” Crabbe and Robert Cummings. No one could have envisioned that the former Powers model would turn out to be a sensitive, intelligent actress…and to this day one of the most gracious women in Hollywood.
On Stage With Jerry Lewis
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 13, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 19 Comments
I grew up believing that the sun rose and set on Jerry Lewis; in fact, one of the first movies I remember seeing in a theater was his initial solo comedy feature, The Delicate Delinquent. I was six years old, a perfect age to discover “that kid,” as Jerry called his alter ego. So needless to say, it was a kick to share a stage with him last week at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, to mark the DVD release of his 1959 TV production, The Jazz Singer, by Inception Media.
The Vow—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 10, 2012 1:01 AM
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- 7 Comments
'The Vow' was inspired by a news item that one of the producers read twelve years ago about a woman who, after an accident, had no memory of her husband. What a shame that the finished product—which comes after numerous attempts to create an effective screenplay over the past decade—is so lackluster. Whatever appeal it may have as a romantic drama derives from the casting of its stars; at least Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum make an attractive and believable couple.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island plus Daffy's Rhapsody
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 10, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 3 Comments
Four years after a family-friendly 3-D version of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, the same studio (but different filmmakers—and an entirely different cast, except for Josh Hutcherson) have come up with another PG-rated adventure yarn aimed at the same demographic. The good news is, it isn’t bad. Even the use of 3-D is pretty good.
Rampart—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 10, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 2 Comments
When a movie about Los Angeles cops is co-written by noir specialist James Ellroy, you know it’s not going to paint a pretty picture. In Rampart, we learn all we need to know about the protagonist, Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson) in the first five minutes, and things go downhill from there.
In Darkness—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 10, 2012 12:40 AM
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- 3 Comments
The latest in a long line of incredible-but-true stories from World War II turns out to be one of the best. In Darkness dramatizes the saga of a group of Jewish men, women and children who paid a sewer worker in the city of Lvov to hide them underground, little dreaming that they would spend more than a year in that dark, damp, environment.
Lunching With Oscar’s Finest
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 7, 2012 1:25 PM
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- 0 Comments
What a treat, and an honor, to be invited to attend the Oscar Nominees Lunch once again. This unique gathering of over 100 nominees brings together stars, directors, animators, sound men, documentarians, screenwriters, makeup artists, and other collaborators—and treats them all the same. It’s a rare opportunity to commune with leading talents from every aspect of the movie world…but of course, stars get the lion’s share of attention. I told Meryl Streep, “I hope you know you are loved,” and she said she did at that moment, even though “I thought my career was washed up twenty years ago.”
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