Living for the Cinema

This film is based upon the true story of an attempted bank robbery occuring in Brooklyn, NY in 1972 which eventually became a prolonged hostage situaion and at the center of it was Sonny, a troubled soul who gets in way over his head. Sonny is played by Oscar-winner Al Pacino (The Godfather Trilogy, Heat, Scent of a Woman) and the film was directed by the late, great LEGEND....Five-time Oscar-nominee Sidney Lumet (Network, 12 Angry Men, The Verdict) smack in the middle of sterling '70'...

Forty-years ago, Oscar-winning master Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Killers of the Flower Moon) directed his second dark comedy in a row (after The King of Comedy) with this quirky New York story which takes place almost entirely during one crazy night. The whole story centers on Paul played by Griffing Dunne (An American Werewolf in London, My Girl, Dallas Buyers Club) who's just a lowly word processor by day but late one night, he decides to meet up with a mysterious, beau...

HACK THE PLANET! Thirty years ago, that was the catchphrase for a high-energy youth culture movie focusing on a diverse crew of good-looking, well-dressed, "teenage" hackers in New York City. All these kids wanna do via modems and computers is to have fun....until they discover a criminal conspiracy with plans to use a computer virus which eventually result in an ecological disaster. Directed by Iain Softely (Backbeat, K-Pax, The Skeleton Key), this techno-fueled romp eventually b...

Acclaimed Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, The Whale, The Wrestler) returns to the big screen with what MIGHT be his most audience-friendly caper yet....this is the story of a burned-out ex-baseball player named Hank (Oscar-nominee Austin Butler) who unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival of late '90's New York City. Upon doing his neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) a favorite while he goes out of town, Hank soon has ...

The premise is almost deceptively simple: two police detectives - a rookie and a veteran - hunt a serial killer around an unnamed city who has been who has apparently been using the seven deadly sins as his motives for each victim, each one also displayed at the murder scene to signify that one particular sin. Of course as directed by three-time Oscar-nominee David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network, Gone Girl), it became a highly influential phenomenon.....a grisly horror ...

Oscar-winning writer/director Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men, Fargo) and wrtier/producer/editor Tricia Cooke (The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou) collaborate on their second film together for the second year in a row after 2024's Drive Away Dolls. And once again, their film stars Emmy-nominee Margaret Qualley (Maid, Fosse/Verdon, The Substance) who this time is playing the titular Honey Donohue, who is a private detective investigating multiple murders around Bakersfield.......

Right at the height of his '90's powers, Oscar-winner Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Inside Man, Blackkklansman) decided to direct and co-adapt this powerful crime novel from Richard Price (creator of "The Wire") about a murder investigation in Brooklyn which goes much deeper than any one could have expected. Among the prime suspects is Strike (Mekhi Phifer) who is a beleagured "clocker" which is another term for a middle-man drug pusher. This racket is truly taking its toll on St...

For the first time in nineteen years, Oscar-winning director Spike Lee and Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington have re-united for their fifth collaboration after Mo Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, and Inside Man. Washington stars as David, a New York City music mogul with ONE goal at the outset of this story: to retain full control of the record label he had built over the past several decades to reconnect with the music. However some other mysterious figure has other idea...

Last night at 2:17 am every child from Mrs. Gandy's class woke up, got out of bed, went downstairs, opened the front door, walked into the dark ...and they never came back That's the frightening premise which kicks off this folk horror tale taking place in a small town from writer/director Zach Cregger (Barbarian) and things just get crazier from there as we witness the aftermath of tragic incident from various POV's. We follow various characters directly OR indirectly involved with thi...

For much of August, we will be taking a break to get our proverbial batteries recharged - we'll be back to releasing new episodes before the end of the month. In the meantime, enjoy this special episode going back through our catalog of mor20 episodes to rank THE TOP TEN SEQUELS OF ALL TIME! Host: Geoff Gershon Edited By Ella Gershon Producer: Marlene Gershon Links to Episodes Cited (alphabetical order by title): https://livingforthecinema.buzzsprout.com/1764842/episodes/12843457-alie...

Directed by Akiva Schaffer (Hot Rod, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping), this is a a 21st Century relaunch of the crime spoof franchise which kicked off in 1988 with the original "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" which starred the late, great Leslie Neilsen as Lt. Frank Drebin. Well the mantle has now been passed to Oscar-nominee Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, Darkman, Taken) who plays his son, Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. This time around, he has his own crimes to solve k...

From Sam Raimi, the acclaimed directer of the Evil Dead Trilogy AND Spider-Man Trilogy comes this action thriller which FEELS as if it was based upon a comic book though was actually an original concept developed by Raimi when he was unable to land the rights for The Shadow back in the late '80's. Oscar-nominee Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, Taken) stars as Payton, a mild-mannered scientist trying to develop synthetic skin. Oscar-winner Frances McDormand (Fargo, Nomadland) plays ...

As a follow-up to her beloved '80's cult class Valley Girl, director Martha Coolidge delivered another beloved cult classic two years later with this science-based (sort of) campus comedy starring the late, great Val Kilmer in one of his earliest roles as the wisecracking titular genius Chris Knight. Knight has been tasked with building a laser by his duplicitous professor (William Atherton) though at least he has help in the form of the latest young genius to be recruited to the fictio...

Marvel's First Family has returned to the big screen.....could the THIRD (or actually fourth if we're counting the Roger Corman version which never got a proper theatrical release) time be the charm? Well it helps that they brought out the big guns: Matt Shankman (WandaVision) is directing and the all-star cast features Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) as Reed Richards otherwise known as Mr. Fantastic, Vaness Kirby (Mission Impossible Fallout, Napoleon) as Sue Storm/The In...

On paper, the set-up for this movie seems fairly conventional: a mild-mannered small-town diner owner named Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is living an idyllic life in the Indiana countryside with his wife Edie (Maria Bello) and two children when suddenly one night just before closing....two thugs enter his diner and start threatening everyone, start to get violent...and Tom channels the hero inside him to dispatch them and save everyone, then becoming a local hero known all around which starts ...

WHO is Keyser Soze? It was one of the more intriguing questions posted within cinemas in the Summer of 1995 and for good reason. Identifying this mysterious spectral crime boss whom EVERY ONE else on screen was afaid of became the central mystery of this small indie crime thriller from a couple of relatively untested fimmakers with a very electic cast. The director was Bryan Singer (X-Men Days of Future Past, Bohemian Rhapsody) and the Oscar-winning screenplay was by Christopher M...

Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Point Break) joined forces with writer James Cameron (Titanic, Terminator 2, Avatar) to craft a dark vision of the future....this was released in '95 and the story takes place four years in the future on the eve of New Year's Eve '99. This particular story takes place in a beleaguered Los Angeles beset with violence where the latest vice of choice are "squids" which are virtual reality discs that can deliver any ...

During a peak era for Hollywood produced conspiracy thrillers, this was one of the most popular and for good reasons. It was directed by the late, great Oscar-winner Sydney Pollack (Out of Africa, Tootsie, The Firm) and starred two of the most beautiful and enduring stars of this era. Robert Redford (The Sting, Indecent Proposal) stars as Turner who is an mild-mannered analyst for the CIA who suddenly finds every one in his New York City research office brutally murdered while he ...

Look Up in the Sky..... Superman is back and this time he's directed by James Gunn who also helmed the Guardians of the Galaxy Trilogy before switching sides in the superhero genre to now lead DC Studios and this is the FIRST official release now kicking off a brand new extended universe....hopefully. There's a lot riding on this cinematic re-introduction to the Man of Steel (THAT film was the last time) and this time, he's played by David Corenswet (Twisters, We Own This City) in a sto...

What has Eight Legs, Two Fangs, and an Attitude? It's your typical spider of course....only the villains of this creature feature offer much more than that: they swarm, they have high vertical leaps, AND they can kill you with just ONE bite! :o And they happen to reaching the same small-town destination of Canaima at the same time as one mild-mannered family moving from San Francisco out the country for the first time, the Jennings. They are lead by Dr. Ross played by Jeff Daniels (Spee...