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Showing posts from July 3, 2016

Review: Danny Collins

Al Pacino plays the title rock/popstar a long way from his 70s heyday and now the partying, the drugs, and the casual sex are making him look an embarrassment. He has also lost all passion to perform his usual schtick, as his one insipid hit ‘Baby Doll’ appears to be all his ‘fans’ want to hear now. One day his long-suffering manager (Christopher Plummer) gives him a letter that had been somehow lost for 40 years and never delivered to Danny. It’s a response to a letter that Danny wrote at the time…to John Lennon, asking him for advice. Overwhelmed by the admittedly too-late response from the long-dead Lennon, Danny decides some changes are in order. He moves out of his house, ditches his druggie trophy girlfriend and checks into a ritzy hotel in Jersey. There he hopes to visit his long-estranged son (Bobby Cannavale) and connect. The embittered Cannavale, now married to a calm and sensible Jennifer Garner and father to an ADHD-afflicted daughter (with another baby on the way), is ...

Review: SPL 2: A Time for Consequences

HK cop Kit (Wu Jing) is so dedicated in bringing down crime bigwig Mr. Hung (Louis Koo) that he has gone so far undercover as a junkie to actually get hooked on drugs for real. The only person on the force with any respect left for him is his uncle Wah (Simon Yam), who tries to look out for him. Unfortunately, their attempt at nabbing Mr. Hung is botched, and Kit ends up getting thrown in a Thai prison for life. It’s there that Kit comes across prison guard Chai (Tony Jaa), whose young daughter Sa has leukaemia. Chai works for warden Ko Chun (Max Zhang), a brutal man in cahoots with Mr. Hung. Chai, being conscientious teams up with Kit (despite neither speaking or understanding the other’s language), who is looking for a way out. Meanwhile, Mr. Hung is afflicted by a dicky ticker and can only be saved by a transplant with his brother’s heart.   The original “SPL” had an awesome trailer that promised martial arts bad arse supremacy, but turned out to be a mostly dull, ord...

Wonder Years Episode Rankings

Wonder Years Episodes Ranked Part Deux Here’s where we get the really rock-solid episodes, and slowly move towards my favourites. So, remember, the list is from worst to best. And feel free to tell me I’ve got it wrong in the comments at the bottom, as some pretty popular episodes miss out on the Top 10. 65. "Day One" (Season 5, Ep 2) Kevin's first day of high school goes from bad to worse, beginning with his attempts at being the class clown. The utterly humourless, neurotic, and vindictive Mr. Bottner (Scott Jaeck) has it in for Kevin from that moment on. Jaeck's thoroughly a-holeish performance is the highlight of this OK episode, let down by the slightly cartoony way Mr. Bottner is ultimately portrayed by the episode's conclusion. Jaeck is terrific, but by the end the character has become too comedic for my liking. Still, it's solid stuff. 64. "The Yearbook" (Season 4, Ep 19) Kevin finds himself on the Yearbook committee tryi...