Category: Forgotten Gems
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Forgotten Gem: Skateland: Remember when people responded to tragedy?
Skateland – 2010 Directed by Anthony Burns Starring Shiloh Fernandez, Ashley Greene, Brett Cullen, James LeGros, Taylor Handley, Haley Ramm, Heath Freeman, Melinda McGraw Written by Anthony Burns, Brandon & Heath Freeman, Justin Gilley, Nicholas Jayanty, Victor Moyers There was a point, about 4 hours after I got my first driver’s license, when I got into…
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Forgotten Gem: Mao’s Last Dancer
Mao’s Last Dancer – 2009 Directed by Bruce Beresford Starring Cin Cao, Bruce Greenwood, Joan Chen, Kyle MacClachlan, Wang Shuangbao, Amanda Schull, Ferdinand Hoang Written by Jan Sardi, based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin There’s a point early in Mao’s Last Dancer when young Li Cunxin, is missing home badly. He’s been selected from his small…
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Forgotten Gems: Jerry Maguire is Love, Love, Love
Jerry Maguire – 1996 Written and Directed by – Cameron Crowe Starring – Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Kelly Preston, Jay Mohr, Jerry O’Connell, Regina King, Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Lipnicki Listening to the podcast Mohr Stories earlier in the week and I was reminded of this movie. In describing his auditions with himself and…
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Forgotten Gems: Flipped is Reiner’s sweetly realistic view of young love
Flipped – 2010 Directed by Rob Reiner Starring Maddy Carroll, John Mahoney, Callan McAuliffe, Aidan Quinn, Rebecca DeMornay, Anthony Edwards, Penelope Ann Miller Written by Reiner and Andrew Scheinman based upon the book by Wendelin Van Draanen Rob Reiner has quietly put together one of the greatest directorial resumes of the last 30 years. The style and category…
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Forgotten Gems: Along Came Polly is funny in the best, uncomfortable way
Along Came Polly – 2004 Written and Directed by John Hamburg Starring Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Debra Messing, Hank Azaria, Bryan Brown, Alec Baldwin In a very misguided way, I decided that this movie probably sucked when it was a huge hit while being horribly reviewed in 2004. Never a fan of…
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Forgotten Gems: Outsourced shows that even India has its pride
Outsourced Directed by John Jeffcoat Starring Josh Hamilton, Ayesha Dharker, Asif Basra, Arjun Mathur, Siddarth Jadhav Written by George Wing, John Jeffcoat It’s almost impossible to go through any working space these days without finding someone who has been laid off. It happened to me in 2004, and although I eventually landed on my feet,…
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Forgotten Gems: August Rush
August Rush Directed by Kirsten Sheridan Starring Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terence Howard, Robin Williams Written by Nick Castle, James V. Hart, Paul Castro There is an amazing moment toward the end of August Rush, when our wayward protagonist, August Rush, plays a guitar duo with his father. Neither is aware of…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 