the trumpet of the swan is a 2001 animated film produced by nest family entertainment and richcrest animation studios , directed by richard rich & terry l. noss , and distributed by tristar pictures , being tristar 's first animated film since 1988 's pound puppies and the legend of big paw .

the trumpet of the swan ( film )

the trumpet changes color throughout the film . sometimes the trumpet ' s color is gold , when the trumpet is supposed to be silver .
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the trumpet of the swan background
. gradesaver , 10 november 2016 web .
the trumpet changes color throughout the film . sometimes the trumpet ' s color is gold , when the trumpet is supposed to be silver . see more »
the trumpet of the swan by e . b . white ( book summary ) - minute book report
trumpet of the swan
features flat background art , some poor sound syncing and insipid , sugary songs .
there are no featured audience reviews yet . click the link below to see what others say about the trumpet of the swan !
forgive the awful pun , but
the trumpet of the swan
is nothing for its makers to toot their own horns about .
the question and answer section for the trumpet of the swan is a great resource to ask questions , find answers , and discuss the novel .
musician christopher michael venditti , clad in white tux , lets his trumpet do the talking as louis the swan scales aerodynamic and musical heights .
the trumpet of the swan
is rated g , though it does feature one scene of animated violence and some mildly vulgar gags . running time : 75 minutes .
the trumpet of the swan lovingly tells the story of louis , a young trumpeter swan who cannot trumpet . in fact , he cannot make a sound , and that spells trouble when he tries to woo serena , the most beautiful swan he has ever seen . through the help of his sensitive and highly dramatic father , who heroically steals a trumpet for him , and boyd , a young boy who becomes his friend and mentor , louis l . . .
' ' the trumpet of the swan ' ' has more airborne sequences than most animated films , but in a fundamental way the movie never takes off . stephen holden
sony ' s family film the trumpet of the swan saw a dismal opening in limited release over the weekend . the distributor quietly opened the poorly - reviewed animated picture in 125 theaters and grossed $ 102 , 202 . telling the story of a boy who befriends a swan , trumpet averaged a poor $ 818 per site and features the voices of jason alexander , reese witherspoon , and carol burnett .
this is my first trumpet of the swan video that i did . hope you like it . leave good comments . no copy write intended . i don ' t own the trumpet of the swan . these are some scenes from the movie that i used with my camra , when i recorded this from my tv .
it ' s a high - flying adventure when louie , a mute trumpeter swan , is given the gift of a trumpet , and finds his voice .
the second e . b . white children’s classic to reach theaters in recent years , and the third overall ( after “stuart little” and “charlotte’s web” ) , “the trumpet of the swan” is undoubtedly the weakest . its story of a mute trumpeter swan who learns to read , write and play the trumpet in order to express his feelings has delighted [ … ]
the trumpet of the swan study guide contains a biography of e . b . white , literature essays , a complete e - text , quiz questions , major themes , characters , and a full summary and analysis .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
the trumpet of the swan is a book by acclaimed children ' s writer e . b . white . it was published in 1970 and tells the story of a trumpeter swan named louis who is born mute . over the course of the story , louis tries to compensate for his lack of voice by learning how to play the trumpet to try to woo the beautiful swan serena . the story also follows the friendship of sam ( an 11 year old boy ) who befriends the swans and louis . sam takes louis to school and helps him learn to read and write so that louis may communicate in a written form .
the second e . b . white children’s classic to reach theaters in recent years , and the third overall ( after “stuart little” and “charlotte’s web” ) , “the trumpet of the swan” is undoubtedly the weakest . its story of a mute trumpeter swan who learns to read , write and play the trumpet in order to express his feelings has delighted readers since its 1970 publication , but bland animated musical offers little to charm adults with fond memories of the book , and even tykes are likely to become bored by the halfway point . this “swan” is unlikely to ruffle any box office feathers .
the second e . b . white children ' s classic to reach theaters in recent years , and the third overall ,
the trumpet of the swan
is undoubtedly the weakest . its story of a mute trumpeter swan who learns to read , write and play the trumpet in order to express his feelings has delighted readers since its 1970 publication , but bland animated musical offers little to charm adults with fond memories of the book , and even tykes are likely to become bored by the halfway point .
the kennedy center has commissioned a new adaptation of author e . b . white ' s 1970 children ' s tale ,
the trumpet of the swan ,
as an 80 - minute reading accompanied by original music from jason robert brown (
parade
) .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
. the film took four years to complete due to rich’s team hand - painting each cell . released in fall of 1994 , the film struggled mightily with the other films coming out at the same time , including
' ' the trumpet of the swan ' ' is at least an unassailably right - minded fable about language and different styles of communication . because louie ( dee baker ) can ' t speak , he can make himself understood only via the written word and the trumpet . returning home after going to school , he is crushed to discover that his newly acquired skills are lost on his illiterate family . he eventually wins the heart of his childhood sweetheart , serena ( reese witherspoon ) , a swan who is about to marry boyd ( seth green ) , a vain , preening ladies ' man , with the silvery blare of his trumpet , which conveys more pure feeling than any of his rival ' s slippery flattery .
thomas narrates the tale largely from the perspective of the young boy who befriends the precocious bird . kathy bates and edward gero deliver enjoyable readings as the swan’s concerned parents , while fred willard reads a multitude of enjoyable characters .
the kennedy center has commissioned a new adaptation of author e . b . white’s 1970 children’s tale , “the trumpet of the swan , ” as an 80 - minute reading accompanied by original music from jason robert brown ( “parade” ) . mounted as part of the center’s season - long salute to contemporary broadway composers , the show’s impressive list of participants includes playwright marsha norman , [ … ]
in 1991 , burnett voiced the roles of the narrator , the cat , and mrs . rabbit in the animated tv movie , the tale of peter rabbit . she would go on to do more voice work in the trumpet of the swan ( 2001 ) , horton hears a who ! ( 2008 ) —which also starred seth rogen —and the secret world of arrietty ( 2010 ) , for which she received a behind the voice actors award nomination .
film and furniture founder and editor / co - creative director at form . passionate about interiors , design , art , film , music and mind over matter .
at first , the story of a mute swan who learns to communicate by reading , writing and playing the trumpet seems to want to be a hip , jazz - wise allegory . the protagonist is named louie ( presumably after louis armstrong ) , and his two female siblings are billie and ella .
– how much of a film must be animated for you to consider it an “animated” film ? just asking since you have cats & dogs and monkeybone on your complete list but not osmosis jones ( i guess the bill murray segments took up too much of the movie’s screentime – assuming you’ve seen the film , and i’d be shocked if you didn’t considering it was an annie nominee and you try to see every nominated film ) .
in the 1960s , czechoslovakian film - maker milos forman ' s loves of a blonde ( 1965 ) was nominated for a best foreign film oscar , followed soon after by the social satire of the czech new wave titled the fireman ' s ball ( 1967 ) - - before he emigrated to hollywood and made his first american film there , taking off ( 1971 ) .
a tale about a trumpet swan named louie who receives a voice only after his father risks all to steal a trumpet for him . developing a valuable relationship with sam , a young boy who becomes his friend and mentor , louie becomes a famous musician in order to earn enough money to pay back the music store owner for the lost instrument . in the process , he also wins the heart of the lovely serena and , in the end , the two trumpeter swans live happily ever after .
too bad the director didn ' t set his mind to making a film parents could enjoy , too .
the trumpet of the swan
is an innocuous family feature that ' s too little / too late in the fast - moving world of feature animation . i would have found it slow - going anyway , but seeing it not long after the triumph of
shrek
made it seem even tamer and more flat . maybe younger children will enjoy it at home on video , but older family members will find it thin .
the 74th annual academy awards for the film year 2001 . the nominations were announced on february 12 , 2002 and the awards were held on march 24 , 2002 .
as for the film ' s title , it refers to louie , a newborn trumpeter swan . louie ' s parents ( voiced by jason alexander and mary steenburgen ) are extremely proud of their new son at first , but are mortified when they discover that their offspring is mute .
the kennedy center has commissioned a new adaptation of author e . b . white’s 1970 children’s tale , “the trumpet of the swan , ” as an 80 - minute reading accompanied by original music from jason robert brown ( “parade” ) . mounted as part of the center’s season - long salute to contemporary broadway composers , the show’s impressive list of participants includes playwright marsha norman , director gary griffin and a cast headed by richard thomas . the result is a mostly engaging presentation long on story but short on excitement and visual appeal , which might strain the patience of the targeted young aud .
here at film and furniture we’ll be particularly tuned into to the oscars production design category – the talented teams that design and create the all - important film sets , as well as all those carefully chosen furniture pieces and decor we spot in films .
as you can probably tell , the plot bears less of a resemblance to white ' s book than it does to the rather uneven
swan princess
movies , which also came from director richard rich .
so , the question becomes , how did this harmless little film , a film that really is just for kids without any of the kind of wit or humor that makes shrek and monsters inc films that work for adults just as much for kids ( if not more for adults than kids ) end up as an oscar nominee , and indeed , as my third best animated film of the year , even if it doesn’t rank high enough to actually earn a nighthawk nomination ? it’s precisely because it is what it is and doesn’t try to be anything more . a film like final fantasy spent so much on making the film look great that they forgot to give it much of a coherent story . waking life suffers from the linklater writing that makes me want to hit everyone in the film with a shovel . this is just a harmless little film that is good fun for a little kid . it does everything just well enough and didn’t split any people on its quality the way some of the other contenders did .
check out highlights from some of the best recent trailers including mandy , the predator , zoe , and the king of thieves .
the film : monsters inc . was the film that proved that pixar really wasn’t a one - trick pony . toy story had been magnificent , as had the sequel . but a bug’s life hadn’t been nearly as good and it was the old trope of the lives of animals , which had been a done a lot with animation . but this film ? this was new and original and something different . it paved the way for the new and different directions that pixar would constantly take in their movies going forward .
parallel to the story of louie ' s development of two voices , one written , the other instrumental , is the tale of his devoted father , who out of concern for his son breaks through the windows of a music store and steals the trumpet on which louie eventually learns to play . conscience - stricken for having committed a crime , the father eventually returns to the store to pay for the instrument with money louie has earned as a professional musician , and faces dire consequences .
burnett also appeared in numerous television and film projects , both during and after her variety show . she earned a golden globe nomination for her performance opposite walter matthau in the 1972 film , pete ' n ' tillie . she teamed with matthau again in the 1974 film , the front page , a remake of the 1940 cary grant / rosalind russel comedy , his girl friday . in 1981 , she joined alan alda in the four seasons , earning another golden globe nomination for her performance . the following year , she starred in the film adaptation of the broadway musical , annie , alongside aileen quinn , albert finney , and tim curry . she earned a golden globe nomination for that performance , as well . in 1992 , she starred with michael caine , christopher reeve , and john ritter in the comedy , noises off . her most recent film appearance was in the 2009 film , post grad .
when you look closely at the numbers , and the larger history of the industry , the only explanation is bias .
the six - performance production is a project of the kencen’s education department , with support from the catherine b . reynolds foundation . it features an eight - member cast parked on stools in front of a 35 - piece orchestra , reading white’s story behind music stands . the tender tale focuses on a trumpeter swan born without a voice , who with help from an earnest young boy learns to play a real trumpet before appreciative human audiences and one thoroughly smitten mate .
the prince of light : the legend of ramayana ( * * . 5 , sako / mohan , showcase entertainment )
but perhaps it comes back to that moment at the trash compacter . because this is a film that somehow manages to be moving and funny at the same time , and it follows through with both , throughout the film . my final argument with shrek is that it wanted to be biting , but in the end , we were supposed to then root for shrek to be the romantic hero . it lacked the courage of its convictions . but this film is always heart - warming and funny . sully has won us over in the way that he has learned to care for boo and the film has won us over in the way it shows him reacting .
as for the ranking of monkeybone – it’s not the worst ever , because there are five films that will come later i rank lower , though three of those are questionable as to whether they really should qualify ( smurfs , smurfs 2 , cats & dogs : the revenge of kitty galore ) . i’ll save the other two for surprises . the lowest animated film prior to 2001 is nine lives of fritz the cat from 1974 . there have been a number of * films through the years prior to this , but yes , monkeybone is the worst animated film to this point .
based on the classic childrens book by e . b . white , this tale begins with the hatching of swan triplets to proud trumpeter swan parents . but their joy is short - lived when they discover that their son , louie , cannot speak . without his voice , louie will be unable to compete for the affections of his love , serena . with help from friends , louie will discover his own unique talents which will help him find his place in the world .
but in some ways it perhaps comes down to something that maybe pixar couldn’t even have foreseen . not the wonderful , beautiful relationships in the film . not the humor or the imagination that makes it work so well . not the reference to the right stuff or to the wonder of ray harryhausen . it’s the music of randy newman and that wonderful score that makes the end of the film so beautiful , a perfect melody that helps sully’s face light up when he hears that magic word that means he has found what he has been looking for .
passable animation for the younger members of the family , but the movie never finds its own voice .
now that she’s a paid critic , huttner belongs to the chicago film critics association . with private screenings throughout the year , the association’s members vote each year for their favorites in 15 categories ; when huttner voted on 2007’s films for the chicago film critics association awards , many of her choices had major female players behind the camera . but , she notes , those movies didn’t make the cut .
read the weekly rewind column which reports on the smallest opening weekends of the year thus far . for reviews of a knight ' s tale and the mummy returns visit the chief report .
spy kids , the top ten ' s eldest statesman , placed sixth with $ 2 . 7m allowing the miramax adventure film to reach blockbuster territory with a cume to date of $ 101 . 7m . the effects - driven family film is the highest - grossing picture for both director robert rodriguez and star antonio banderas and already has a sequel in development .
the most distinguished
british
films of the decade were from one of the most original , visionary and controversial of directors - stanley kubrick . kubrick ' s first three feature films were in the 50s :
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but it wasn ' t just this year . the last time a horror movie was nominated for an oscar was 2011 , with
black swan
( which is arguably a psychological thriller , anyway ) . the chance of that consistency occurring unintentionally is less than one - thousandth of 1 percent .
amiable but conceptually muddled , ' ' the trumpet of the swan , ' ' an animated film loosely based on e . b . white ' s much - loved 1970 children ' s book , is a bland , well - meaning mishmash that never coheres into a dramatic whole . the storytelling is rushed ; the dramatic sequences are perfunctory and mechanically segued . except for jason alexander ' s father , the characters are not sharply defined . visually the movie looks flat and has little kinetic energy . worlds that should have been imagined with visual wit - - the canadian woods , boston and billings , mont . - - are illustrated clearly but with little flair .
. the film ended up being an unmitigated disaster . the film was completely trashed by reviewers and the film bombed at the box office , grossing $ 12 million against a $ 25 million budget . it’s not often a good idea to adapt a beloved musical into an animated feature and add things to make it entertaining for children . this was the bomb that killed led nest to sell rich to crest . crest renamed the studio richcrest . in 2001 , rich collaborated with nest one last time , for an adaptation of e . b . white’s
while three of the major critics groups had started giving an award for best animated film , two of them ( lafc , nbr ) went to shrek . the third ( nyfc ) went to waking life , the very adult rotoscoped animated film from director richard linklater , and it was uncertain if this would be considered oscar fare . but waking life also joined shrek and monsters inc . as the third nominee at the broadcast film critics association in the first year that they had a full slate for the category and not just a winner . no other awards group had an award yet , with the pga still four years away and the globes and baftas six years away .
the story is adapted from a 1970 e . b . white fable about a swan named louie who is born without a voice . while his sisters ella and billie are trumpeter swans with magnificent calls , louie paddles around in disconsolate silence . his father , desperate , raids a music store in billings , mont . , and steals a trumpet , which louie learns to play .
monsters inc . is a film i haven’t seen since it first came out . i really should revisit it at some point .
. i had assumed when i saw the poster for this film that it was straight - to - video , but no , they released it in theaters . . . at the same time as shrek . the film had a very limited release and grossed a paltry $ 102 , 202 . reviews were scathing , with most focusing on the fact that the movie did not follow the plot of the book . yeah , i think i’ll skip watching this one .
sometimes being different helps you to find your voice ! from the author of stuart little and the co - director of the fox and the hound . when triplets are born to proud trumpeter swan parents ( mary steenburgen and jason alexander ) , everyone is bursting with joy . all seems perfect until they discover that their only son , louie , can ' t speak ! and , without a voice , louie can ' t compete against his loudmouth rival boyd ( seth green ) for the affections of his true love , serena ( reese witherspoon ) . but with help from a boy at camp and his teacher ( carol burnett ) and , with dubious guidance from a big city agent ( joe mantegna ) , louie discovers his own unique talents which will help him find his place in the world . ( original title - the trumpet of the swan ) © 2001 sony pictures home entertainment inc . all rights reserved .
some of the greatest directors from hollywood ' s golden era were experiencing their swan songs during this decade . many of them , including king vidor , raoul walsh , michael curtiz , john ford , and howard hawks , directed their last , lesser - known films in the 60s . for example , king vidor ' s last film in the last year of the previous decade was filmed in spain - the biblical spectacle solomon and sheba ( 1959 ) starring yul brynner and alluring italian star gina lollobrigida . frank capra ' s last feature film was pocketful of miracles ( 1961 ) - a remake of his lady for a day ( 1933 ) . orson welles was struggling in the 60s , although still directing films , such as the adaptation of kafka ' s the trial ( 1962 ) with anthony perkins , and chimes at midnight / falstaff ( 1966 ) in which he starred as shakespeare ' s falstaff .
but the hordes of gal pals who flooded the theaters , says huttner , are showing film executives that superheroes aren’t the only story lines that sell . “most women in the audience still don’t realize the impact of their decisions , ” she wrote july 30 in traction , an online magazine for women in the television and film industries . “how often have i been told : ‘there’s nothing good in theatres anymore . ’ or worse : ‘i wanted to go , but my husband won’t see chick flicks . ’”
only after his father presents him with a stolen trumpet is louie finally able to find a voice . it comes at a price , though , as the father is racked with guilt over the theft . determined to restore his dad’s honor , louie wings to boston and becomes a hit jazz musician , returning home just in time to stop serena’s wedding to rival swan boyd ( seth green ) and to repay his father’s debt .
many famous european directors ( antonioni , truffaut , polanski ) produced their cinematic works in britain during the decade : italian director michelangelo antonioni filmed the enigmatic , complex and thought - provoking , existential murder - mystery blow - up ( 1966 ) , a tale of an over - sexed london fashion photographer ( david hemmings ) - it was antonioni ' s first english language film and his most commercially - acceptable film . [ it was released without a production code seal because it was the first feature film to show a full - frontal flash of female pubic hair . ]
– is monkeybone the worst film you consider animated ( see question below ) that you’ve ever seen ? i don’t remember you giving anything else . 5 before .
spring leftovers filled up the remainder of the top ten . the romantic comedy bridget jones ' s diary stayed put in third place with $ 4 . 5m in its fifth weekend . miramax ' s hit film has displayed some of the best legs among the season ' s releases and slipped only 22 % which brought its cume to a solid $ 51m .
young women gave the film the most support as demographic research indicated that the audience was 55 % female and 60 % under 25 , according to sony ' s marketing and distribution chief jeff blake . exit polls were strong as the film scored a b + overall and an a grade with those under 21 .
the picture is fresh and different and the buzz is good so it should hold up against the big blockbusters ,
said blake .
note : the prince of light is listed as a semi - finalist but did not actually appear on the official reminder list of oscar eligible films from the academy that year . note : this is the only year that the academy released a list of “semi - finalists” .
passengers : guy hendrix dyas ( production design ) and gene serdena ( set decoration ) . see our feature on passengers film sets here >
– i expected you to rank waking life lower than three stars considering you say in this post that you wanted to hit everyone in the film with a shovel .
read the new summer 2001 box office preview which looks at the exciting season of blockbuster films ahead .
arguably the only true horror film to receive multiple major oscars was
the exorcist ,
which received the recognition it did because director william friedkin ' s
the french connection
had won best picture and best director statues two years before .
pic is as by - the - numbers as the synopsis makes it sound , and its episodic nature makes it feel unfocused — not a good idea when aiming at 5 - year - olds . vocal cast is ok , though alexander hams it up a little too much as the father swan with a very strong sense of self .
but the jazz references aren ' t developed , and the film ' s rather skimpy musical score ( by marcus miller ) is a potpourri of rock ' n ' roll and light funk with a disney - style love ballad thrown in at the end that suggests a faded copy of ' ' a whole new world . ' '
premiering in second place was sony ' s period action film a knight ' s tale with a weekend take of $ 16 . 5m . playing in 2 , 980 theaters , the brian helgeland - directed picture averaged a good $ 5 , 541 per venue . a knight ' s tale stars australian heartthrob heath ledger as a lowly 14th century squire who enters a jousting competition and fights for the love of a fair maiden . the movie breaks conventions by mixing historical battle sequences with modern rock music . produced for $ 41m , the pg - 13 film is one of the least expensive action movies of the summer and should become a profitable picture for its studio .
when you look closely , the best explanation for horror movies getting so consistently snubbed at the oscars is just plain old bias . and before you say it ' s only an awards show , the academy canonizes film in a way nothing else can . for instance ,
crash
might not be a great film , but it ' ll long be included on lists of best picture winners that blooming fans often reference for recommendations .
sure , the dearth of award - winning horror flicks is nothing new , but as the genre continues to turn out excellent art , it ' s becoming harder and harder to justify the lack of awards recognition . before diving into the numbers , here are some of the best horror flicks of 2016 that didn ' t receive any recognition from the academy and should have .
these notes were contributed by members of the gradesaver community . we are thankful of their contributions and encourage you to make your own .
so it ' s not really surprising that the film ' s distributor is only giving it a limited theatrical run before its inevitable home - video release . what is surprising is how far the filmmakers have gotten away from the source material , e . b . white ' s beloved book of the same title .
feeling somewhat guilty , louie ' s father steals a trumpet to give his son a
voice .
but once he finds out about the theft , louie decides to get a job as a musician to repay his father ' s debt .
this weekend the big - budget adventure tale the mummy returns remained the top choice among north american moviegoers in its second weekend while the medieval jousting film a knight ' s tale delivered a strong showing in second place . together , the two pictures accounted for a remarkable 72 % of all ticket sales for the top ten films as older spring titles continued to fade away .
or maybe it’s because of that . these are characters . in the end , a lot of the shrek characters speak to archetypes , but the monsters characters really come alive . they develop .
element that most inexcusably misses the mark is the soundtrack . louie’s jazz riffs on the trumpet are generally well devised and well played , but rest of score sorely lacks an emotional focus that could have played a key role in the storytelling . as it is , score mixes many musical styles and themes , some of them maddeningly bland . songs , too , are unmemorable , even one called “louie louie louie” that is performed by little richard .
ok , but the question is , did any of these flicks actually deserve awards or nominations ? everyone gets snubbed now and again , right ? and any film buff worth their salt can come up with half a dozen oscar snubs in the last two years alone .
if you saw sex and the city this summer , you were supporting more than the popular hbo franchise about four powerful new york city women . according to jan lisa huttner , am’80 , the film’s box - office gross— $ 150 million as of the end of july—affirms that movies marketed primarily to females can succeed , a fact that hollywood has been slow to realize . in 2007 only five of the 50 top - grossing films were about or starred women in strong roles .
the cold war black comedy dr . strangelove : or , how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb ( 1964 ) about a possible nuclear armageddon at the hands of inept politicians , arrogant scientists , and military figures with lunatic concerns about fail - safe points , hotlines , and communist plots such as flouridation ( gen . jack d . ripper ' s fear as portrayed by sterling hayden ) . peter sellers was memorable as he played three roles ( including the title role ) in the film , as was slim pickens in the role of the bomb - riding pilot who directed the h - bomb to its target - rodeo - style . one of the film ' s most memorable quotes was the president ' s admonition :
gentlemen , you can ' t fight in here . this is the war room !
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him . riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you . …
french director francois truffaut ' s first film in english was ray bradbury ' s science - fiction drama fahrenheit 451 ( 1966 ) ( with future director nicolas roeg as cinematographer ) . after his first feature film knife in the water ( 1962 , pol . ) , polish director roman polanski went to england and made his first english - language film - the imaginatively - nightmarish , surrealistic classic repulsion ( 1965 ) with catherine deneuve as a young , sexually - repressed london hairdresser who slowly descended into madness , and then later to america to make his first american film rosemary ' s baby ( 1968 ) adapted from ira levin ' s novel - the colorful thriller about a coven of satanistic witches in new york city interested in mia farrow ' s unborn devil - baby after her husband made a deal with satan .
the young cygnet is a quick study . encouraged by a local boy named sam ( voice by sam gifaldi ) , louie enrolls in the local ( human ) school , and learns to communicate by using a blackboard he straps around his neck . but his father ' s theft of the trumpet weighs upon him , and eventually he flies to boston and appears in jazz clubs to raise cash to pay for the instrument .
at the end of the decade , in homage to one of the greatest western stars in cinematic history , director henry hathaway saluted john wayne with true grit ( 1969 ) - a film for which wayne , as one - eyed , pot - bellied marshal rooster cogburn , received deserved critical recognition and a sentimental academy award for best actor - his first and sole oscar victory .
an interview with terry gilliam , director of
the man who killed don quixote .
another year , another list of oscar nominations . and yet again , as with most years in the history of the academy awards , not a single horror movie has been nominated .
with a modest decline of just 19 % , steven spielberg ' s war horse romped home to a second - leg victory at the uk box office with £3 . 19m , way ahead of the chasing pack . despite not featuring prominently thus far in the various awards races – its five bafta nominations are all in technical categories – the first world war - set film is convincingly dominating a release window that usually favours the major oscar contenders . total is £9 . 63m after just 10 days of play , which compares not unfavourably with the king ' s speech ( £10 . 76m ) at the same stage of its run .
chapter one opens in a canadian swamp , an overgrown , wild location filled with wildlife in the midst of the woods .
the oscars at least did give some help by announcing a semi - finals list , something they would never again do . but it was all over the place , with a cgi animated video game adaptation ( final fantasy ) , a farrelly brothers gross - out production ( osmosis jones ) , a nickelodeon film ( jimmy neutron ) and even a japanese anime horror film ( vampire hunter d ) . which way would the academy turn ?
increasing american interest in british fads , fashion , and culture coincided with the smash - hit period comedy and best picture - winning tom jones ( 1963 ) that was based on the hero of henry fielding ' s classic novel . [ the adapted screenplay was written by john osborne - known for his earlier work for the socially - realistic look back in anger ( 1959 ) . ] its win of four oscars ( including best picture ) and six other nominations in 1963 took everyone by surprise - tony richardson ' s british film was an especially appealing , free - spirited , ' swingin ' sixties ' film because of its bawdy , slapstick attitude toward sex seen through the misadventures of a lusty youth ( albert finney ) in 18th century england .
on the other hand , i agree with you that monsters inc is superior thanks to sully’s character development and the heartwarming relationships . maybe it’s a mark of this film’s lasting power that despite all the other good films goodman and buscemi have done i will always associate them with sully and randall ( embarassingly for me , when i finally watched lebowski for the first time i couldn’t get the image of sully saying “shut the * * * * up randall” out of my head ) . i am quite surprised it’s only # 20 for you among the nominees though – i guess you think pixar’s other films are better .
but unlike the live - action version of white ' s
stuart little ,
which expanded the short tale by throwing in scenes that had just the right amount of whimsy , the story here has been padded with painful , forced humor and unmemorable musical numbers .
with so few votes , it appears that few have seen this movie . i am a bit shocked at its low rating . it is barely 70 minutes long , the voice - acting is very good , with reese witherspoon , jason alexander , carol burnett , and others . it is about a hatchling trumpeter swan who doesn ' t have a voice . how can he
trumpet
and attract a mate ? how about if he gets a real trumpet and learns to play ? ? i got this dvd on loan from my county library system , i planned to watch a few minutes of it late last night , to see if i wanted to see the whole thing , but found it so captivating that i couldn ' t stop . it is a total fantasy , with a brief commentary about the plight of trumpeter swans , but overall a nice diversion which would be enjoyed by any children , or childish grandfathers like me ! the critic ebert has a complete review , however i believe his rating is a bit low for this charming little cartoon .
there ' s more , involving his romance with the feathery serena ( voice by reese witherspoon ) , who in despair over louie ' s absence waddles to the altar with the dastardly boyd ( voice by seth green ) . much is made of the build - up to the serena - boyd vows , but once they are interrupted by louie ' s last - minute arrival , there are no further wedding scenes , leading thoughtful viewers to wonder whether serena ' s nest - full of eggs represents a little premarital feather - dusting . it wouldn ' t be the first time a bird fell for a trumpet player .
a 2002 new york times article motivated huttner to speak out . writer dana kennedy observed that many women directors “don’t even wish to pursue the sort of high - octane careers some a - list male writer - directors achieve . ” incensed , huttner wrote the times asking it to “look closer to home” to understand why the industry has few female directors : at the time the newspaper had three film critics , all men . ( today manohla dargis has been added to the mix . ) “i’m willing to bet , ” she wrote , “that if more major publications hired more female film critics , then more films by women ( which , surprise , surprise , are often films about women ) would get the kind of critical buzz that leads to box office clout . ”
i haven’t seen shrek in a while , but i always liked it . i think you nailed why , too . i wonder how the original version would’ve come out , with chris farley voicing shrek . the scottish accent is definitely one of the best parts of the character .
the discrepancy isn ' t just in the numbers . many of the best directors working today have delved into horror to great effect . the original
alien
trilogy alone reinforced the early promise of three industry giants : ridley scott (
gladiator
) , james cameron (
titanic
) and david fincher (
the social network
) .
another week , another batch of awards contenders , this time led by alexander payne ' s the descendants . the george clooney starrer , arriving friday , enters a market that is currently running 9 % below 2011 levels – a year ago , the equivalent frame saw black swan join a surging the king ' s speech . also in theatres this week is the grey , which pits liam neeson and a bunch of fellow plane - crash survivors against a pack of wolves in snowy alaska . animation a monster in paris targets families that have surely now , its distributor must hope , had their fill of puss in boots and the singing chipmunks . intruders is another genre offering starring clive owen , while us indie like crazy is an awards contender that feels more independent spirit than oscar .
you are correct that i rank monsters behind all the other pixar winners . it is my # 1 animated film for 2001 , but the only other years since the oscars created the category it would win would be in 2006 and 2014 and in several years it would finish 3rd while in 2016 it would actually finish 5th ( at best ) .
let ' s look at the numbers : in 2016 , six of the top 100 grossing movies of the year were horror flicks , and 23 of those top 100 were nominated for an oscar in at least one category . even if the academy chose those 23 nominees randomly , they ' d have only a 20 percent chance not to pick a single horror movie .
co - director richard rich and his producing team should know a few things about swans ; they were responsible for the animated “swan princess” trilogy several years ago . one might have hoped the magical ingredient missing from those efforts would have been supplied here by e . b . white . unfortunately , even a solid cast and a mostly intact plotline can’t supply it .
this is a * * * * film while i have shrek at * * * . 5 . so why is that ? is it because this is so fantastically original , the whole concept of a world of monsters that must also interact with the human world , where they get the screams that power their city ? it is because it takes a tired old plot , the idea of a bachelor who ends up in charge of a child and ends up caring for the child more than he ever could have imagined and makes it new and original ? is it because the animation is so amazing ? i remember noticing that in the theater . shrek had considerable wit and biting humor , but the animation wasn’t the best thing about it . here , the animation is simply amazing . i remember watching sully standing in the snow and the wind and watching the individual hairs on him moving in the wind and was just astonished . or look at the scene where he believes that boo has been crushed in a trash compacter . look at the amazing expressions in his face . these characters come alive .
blacklisted us director joseph losey collaborated with scriptwriter harold pinter and actor dirk bogarde ( as a sinister and unctuous manservant named barrett ) to satirize the upper strata of the british class system in the servant ( 1963 ) and accident ( 1967 ) . but the british film ( now a cult classic ) that best exemplified the ' swinging ' youth drugs / sex era of late 60s london was co - directors donald cammell ' s and nicolas roeg ' s originally x - rated performance ( 1970 ) - starring rolling stones rock star mick jagger .
cnet magazine : check out a sampling of the stories you ' ll find in cnet ' s newsstand edition .
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. rich’s luck continued to be terrible , as the movie was critically panned , focusing on the bland story and animation . the film did , however , make a profit , grossing $ 50 million against a $ 20 million budget . this led to a few straight - to - dvd sequels , but not anymore theatrical releases . richard rich continues to direct the
third of the hollywood newcomers , jonah hill comedy the sitter , delivered an opening gross of £910 , 000 . that ' s a better result than david gordon green ' s last effort your highness , which only achieved a £926 , 000 debut last april thanks to two days of previews totalling £344 , 000 . previously , the director ' s pineapple express left the starting gate in september 2008 with £1 . 37m including previews of £132 , 000 .
take this week ' s new reader survey on whether universal should make a third mummy film . in last week ' s survey , readers were asked which of three recent hits they most wanted to see a sequel to . of 2 , 652 responses , 47 % voted for charlie ' s angels , 34 % picked hannibal , while 19 % said spy kids .
a trio of critically - panned april releases tumbled out of the top ten over the weekend . the david spade comedy joe dirt fell 49 % to $ 752 , 845 lifting its sum to $ 25 . 8m . produced for $ 16m , the sony release should finish with $ 27 - 29m . new line ' s $ 80m warren beatty vehicle town & country and sony ' s low - budget horror flick the forsaken each saw more than half of its audience disappear and reached 17 - day cumes of just $ 6 . 3m each . look for the movies to conclude with embarrassing finals of about $ 7m .
monsters inc . is one of my top 5 pixar films ( i can never narrow it down ) . from the voice acting , to the character design , to all the different worlds , to how inventive some of the setpieces are ( the door scene in particular ) …and it’s really , really touching , the first pixar film to really hit that note that they would come to perfect . i can still do a pitch - perfect roz voice , and i would pay money to see “put that thing back where it came from or so help me” performed . also , the scene with sully’s reactions to the trash compactor are a pretty direct reference to an old looney tunes short ( urltoken )
brown’s varied score meshes nicely with norman’s script to create the imagery of graceful swans in nature , punctuated by moments of intensity as the drama unfolds . especially enjoyable is a jazzy component as the scene shifts to a seedy philadelphia nightclub . the pleasant and generally undemanding score is clearly written for future productions by less accomplished musicians than the center’s polished house orchestra .


an eye for an eye is a 1981 american action film directed by steve carver , and starring chuck norris , christopher lee , richard roundtree , matt clark , mako iwamatsu , and maggie cooper .

an eye for an eye ( 1981 film )

if you want to answer the questions ,
who starred in the movie an eye for an eye ?
and
what is the full cast list of an eye for an eye ?
then this page has got you covered .
this cast list of who was in an eye for an eye includes both lead and minor roles . ( 15 items )
an eye for an eye cast list , listed alphabetically with photos when available . this list of an eye for an eye actors includes any an eye for an eye actresses and all other actors from the film . you can view trivia about each an eye for an eye actor on this list , such as when and where they were born . to find out more about a particular actor or actress , click on their name and you ' ll be taken to a page with even more details about their acting career . the cast members of an eye for an eye have been in many other movies , so use this list as a starting point to find actors or actresses that you may not be familiar with .
it may have been 1981 when an eye for an eye hit theaters , but it ' s still got the feel of gritty 70 ' s vigilante sleaze all over it . does anyone have a spare moist towelette ?
the surrounding cast makes an eye for an eye worth watching , and the frequent action scenes make it easy to look past norris ' cardboard - y dramatic acting .
fans of norris and his simple and interchangeable movies will find an eye for an eye as enjoyable as the equally shallow lone wolf mcquade . people with taste , however , will not look twice .
with a chuck norris film comes a certain kind of expectation . this ranges from fans to potential assassins . the fans expect hard , fast , furious action with norris on screen constantly . the assassins expect a turgid piece of seventies garbage . an eye for an eye lies somewhere in between and due to my own feelings towards norris , the scale is more weighted towards the irritating .
there are some moments of flair , however . shots of the san francisco bridge are constructed nicely and carver has an unflinching eye for action set pieces - the slow burning to death that kane ' s partner endures is captured second for second .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
i just watched an eye for an eye the other day , yet already i ' m forgetting the particulars of the plot . that ' s more of an indictment against the generic story than the movie itself , however , since this is a fairly solid action / crime flick . it reminds me a bit of the umpteen crime films charles bronson starred in during the 70 ' s / 80 ' s , only with approximately 450 more roundhouse kicks .
thank you again for writing it ! i don ' t think that i had seen this film before doing the work to publish your review .
seriously , although no one believes me , steve carver ' s an eye for an eye with chuck norris is my favorite film of all time and one of the few that i have seen in a cinema with my late father . it ' s odd that the movie was rated pg in south africa in 1981 and was rated r in the usa . it is so much so my favorite film that i have it on vhs and dvd and i have a poster of it on my wall at work . so no one , not even mr . norris ' webmaster believes me , but it is and remains my favorite film . i tried to recapture the magic of sitting in that same cape town cinema a few years back ( i had also seen ghostbusters in the same cinema a few years after that ) only to be told that the cinema had closed and that there was now a bank in it ' s ' place . bummer .
the professor - professor toru tanaka ! the aforementioned human tank . mute , except for an occasional
ugga
when he is belted by chuck norris . dies in one on one conflict when he is kicked into an oak table by mr norris , giving us an impressive view of his nads .
an interview with terry gilliam , director of
the man who killed don quixote .
pretty much to itself when it comes to limited releases . i ' ve seen more ads for that movie up here than i have for
this is the only film i ' ve ever seen where someone gets knocked out cold with a telephone . end of plot .
lucy , as played with enormous passion and intelligence by miss nelligan , accomplishes the unimaginable when she begins to distract faber from his mission . he begins an unexpectedly tender affair with her , so that for a while she , faber and the aloof , embittered david form an explosive threesome .
a one - man army comes to the rescue of the united states when a spy attempts an invasion .
sean kane is an undercover police officer assigned to the narcotics division of the san francisco police department . in the beginning of the film , there is an undercover operation , involving an informant , and things go sour when norris ' partner is killed . he resigns from the sfpd , after his partner and his partner ' s wife , a tv news reporter , are murdered . unknowingly to norris is that the assignment that he was working undercover on was connected to a smuggling operation involving the chinese triad , and the deaths of his partner and his g wife are connected to an investigative report that involved the smuggling operation . in this dirty harry - like film , norris goes beyond the law and goes after those responsible for the deaths of his partner and his partner ' s wife .
the film opens with an intense gunfight that leaves sean kane ' s ( norris ) partner dead . instantly , the plot has been laid down and from now on the audience knows what to expect . director steve carver throws in a fair amount of heartbreak ( friend linda chan ' s death ) to add more tension to the fight sequences , which he pretends are not the central element of the film . he adds a bunch of chase sequences and wooden exchanges between characters to fatten up a very basic film , contorting the pace .
movies and tv shows are certified fresh with a steady tomatometer of 75 % or higher after a set amount of reviews ( 80 for wide - release movies , 40 for limited - release movies , 20 for tv shows ) , including 5 reviews from top critics .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
a martial artist must defeat a plan by ninjas to create a worldwide training camp for terrorists .
an ex - us army commando must find the reason why his comrades from his unit are being systematically murdered before he is next .
this martial - arts offering casts chuck norris as an ex - cop who vows revenge on the drug cartel who killed his partner .
truck driver searches for his brother , who has disappeared in a town run by a corrupt judge .
the goal of cosmetic blepharoplasty is to obtain an improvement in the appearance of the eyelids without causing functional or symptomatic alterations in the patients . patients with undiagnosed problems in tear production who have cosmetic blepharoplasties are a common source of extremely dissatisfied patients with alarming ocular symptoms . although keratoconjunctivitis sicca is the most common manifestation of an abnormal tear film state , there are other conditions of which the eyelid surgeon should be aware . knowledge of methods used in the diagnosis of states of tear deficiency will allow the surgeon to better select candidates for cosmetic eyelid procedures .
during the triad assault on james chan ' s house , sean kane attacks a triad terrorist who knocks an ornamental box off a desk as he falls . when kane runs for the door , the box is back on the desk again .
when the detectives of an undercover police unit are being mysteriously killed by a martial artist , a professional kickboxer is hired to assist them .
for a description of the different acting role types we use to categorize acting perfomances , see our glossary .
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during the triad assault on james chan ' s house , sean kane attacks a triad terrorist who knocks an ornamental box off a desk as he falls . when kane runs for the door , the box is back on the desk again . see more »
a chicago cop is caught in a middle of a gang war while his own comrades shun him because he wants to take an irresponsible cop down .
the grindhouse cinema database is an online database of cult / exploitation / grindhouse movies from the ' 30s to the mid / late ' 80s . i found…
see the box office tab ( domestic ) and international tab ( international and worldwide ) for more cumulative box office records .
it ' s a busy week for dvd releases , but the signal to noise ratio is a little high , and that made it harder to find the dvds that were truly worthy of attention . ( and even then , i went off track a couple of times . ) as for the dvd pick of the week , there is really only one choice for me ,
we are starting to get some serious updates on the websites for the summer blockbusters , however , it will be a few more weeks before this list is dominated by such films . in the meantime , it is a website for a new release ,
thanks , peter j . i ' ve just noticed something really funny ~ i ' ve never seen still pictures of this film before and it looks like stevens ' office and canfield ' s office are in the same building !
a film that has clean shaven chuck norris , professor tanaka , christopher lee , mako , richard roundtree and one of the best taglines ever : chuck norris doesn ' t need a weapon . . . he is a weapon !
this week ' s round of new movie release information contains release dates for resurrecting the champ , the waterhorse , avatar and more .
this is one of those 70s / 80s cop drama / action flicks with a far - fetched storyline . . . . and i enjoyed it very much . my only complaint was the middle portion of the film where the was little action to be had and spent a lot more time fleshing out the plot . i still recommend it for a fun action movie though .
it is this portion of the film , the central portion , that is by far the most successful . the beginning has been devoted to establishing the characters of lucy and faber and bringing them together . and the last third will be devoted to a gory battle between them . but when lucy is still innocent of faber ' s secret , and he himself has begun to waver , the story balances beautifully between romance and intrigue . in fact , the central part of the movie is so powerful it becomes something from which the film never recovers . the final confrontations are less heart stopping than those that occur midway through , particularly a cleverly staged showdown between faber and david . mr . marquand invests this scene with more surprises than the rest of the film has to offer .
i ' m looking for the name of a chuck norris film , wherein if i remember correctly someone tells chuck the meaning of the word expedience and the word is used incessantly throughout the movie . this may be it , that red sweater looks awfully familiar , but it ' s been years since i saw it . . . . . . anyone who knows what i ' m talking about please post comment thx
captain stevens - richard roundtree ! sean ' s ass - kicking , ass chewin ' boss , mean mutha . . . i ' m talkin ' ' bout shaft and we can dig . . . uhhhh , wrong film . shut yo ' mouth , trevor !
eye of the needle , directed by richard marquand ; screenplay by stanley mann ; based on a novel by ken follett ; director of photography , alan hume ; edited by sean barton ; music by miklos rozsa with the royal philharmonic orchestra ; produced by stephen freidman ; released by united artists . at the little carnegie , 57th street east of seventh avenue ; cinema ii , third avenue and 60th street ; embassy 1 , times square ; ua 85th street , at first avenue ; bay cinema , second avenue and 31st street , and other theaters . running time : 112 minutes . this film is rated r .
if you like watching a shaved orangutan karate kick short guys , this is a bucket of fun . there should be a drinking game for chuck norris movies . whenever you spot an extra under 5 ' 7
, odds are chuck will karate kick him . the shorter the better , so chuck ' s foot can reach the guy ' s face . i ' ve been watching chuck ' s movies for 30 years and i don ' t remember watching this one . surprisingly , chuck is tom cruise short .
canfield :
i ' m sure that you ' d agree that the murder of a reporter in pursuit of an investigation is every bit as serious as the murder of a policeman in the line of duty .
linda chan - rosalind chao ! james ' daughter , a high flying investigative reporter for canfield ' s station . gets pursued and finally strangled by the human tank .
roger ebert ' s speech on empathy for the
11th hour
series on april 9th , 1994 , being republished here in honor of his birthday june 18 .
after surviving an attempt on his life by his former partner , officer cliff garrett ( norris ) exacts revenge on those who wronged him by going undercover as a hit man . he works to gain the . . . see full summary »
james chan :
she was like you : headstrong , willful . she had a great hunger for retribution . it seems , i too i am in need of retribution !
surprise may be what ' ' eye of the needle ' ' finally lacks . the plot itself , while canny , offers very little of the unexpected , since we know what happens to men and women on deserted islands , and since we know who won the war . all the film ' s important touches of surprise come from within its characters . mr . sutherland turns faber , who might easily have seemed a one - note heavy , into a complex and fascinating figure . when faber steals a motorbike only to have it break down on him , and mr . sutherland tosses the bike into a ditch , he turns around and straightens out his suit with a briskness that speaks volumes about faber ' s eerie resourcefulness .
notice that the bad guy ' s submachine gun perforates everything , everything except chuck norris . oh , and i was just waiting for chuck to roundkick that helicopter out of the sky .
morgan canfield - christopher lee ! newspaper and media magnate whose picture window overlooks alcatraz island . his next destination at the end of the film . it doesn ' t matter that alcatraz , like robben island in south africa , is now a museum ; that is where he ' s going . gets his throat gently squeezed by chuck norris .
the ultimate showdown is enjoyable , although the fight scenes leading up to it seem to have been shot poorly on purpose in order to set the final battle apart . yet , it isn ' t worth dragging yourself through 106 minutes of an overlong movie to watch it .
chuck plays sean kane , an undercover narcotics cops hot on the heals of discovering the leader of a local drug gang . when his partner gets killed , and he ' s reprimanded for throwing one of the thugs out a third story window in front of several onlookers , he quits the force and sets out to kick the living shit out of those responsible . his search will finally bring him face to face with the mysterious drug lord . . . whose identity our hero wasn ' t expecting .
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miss nelligan and mr . cazenove work hard to give extra dimensions to characters who might have seemed flat . miss nelligan invests lucy with a fullness and warmth far beyond anything the screenplay calls for , while mr . cazenove ' s david displays a rage and stubbornness even greater than his plight might be expected to generate . for a while , these three actors create a tense and fascinating web . later on , the story lets them down , and that web can ' t help unraveling .
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' ' eye of the needle , ' ' which opens today at cinema ii , the little carnegie and other theaters , is largely set in 1944 . after a brief 1940 prelude , it concerns itself with a ruthless german spy named faber ( ' ' needle ' ' is his sobriquet ) , who is on the verge of discovering that the allied invasion of europe will take place at normandy . faber , played with a chilling calm by donald sutherland , is on the verge of relaying this information to his superiors when he is shipwrecked on storm island . the residents of storm island are lucy ( kate nelligan ) , a woman who has lived in near - isolation for four years , and her husband , david ( christopher cazenove ) , who was crippled in a car accident on their wedding day .
it ' s been quite a while since this review was published here but , almost two years down the line , it still gives me a major thrill to see my work published . thanks again to andrew ~ my first publisher ~ for this .
and clearly he ' s a cop who is careful with his money , after all he can afford an impressive waterfront home , although he saved a lot of money by building it himself , and he ' s flash enough not to park his car at home but to leave it somewhere else and travel to it by way of speedboat .
solid norris actioner involving a vengeful ex - cop ( chuck ) seeking revenge on the death of his patrol partner and wife , encountering triads , professor toru tanaka and an evil christopher lee as criminal mastermind along the way . in amongst the roundhouse kicks , i did like the way chuck trained his dog to keep carrying away his dirty laundry .
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some people will find the movie slow going . i preferred to think of it as deliberate . it is effective , i think , to develop a plot like this at a deliberate pace , instead of rushing headlong through it . that gives us time to meditate on the character of the needle , and to ponder his very few , enigmatic references to his own behavior . we learn things about him that he may not even know about himself , and that is why the film ' s final scene is so much more complex than it seems .
the war has come down to the two of us ,
sutherland tells nelligan , and in the final exchange of desperate looks between the man and the woman there is a whole universe left unspoken . the movie ends with nelligan regarding a man who is either a treacherous spy or an unloved child , take your choice .
thanks very , very much for publishing this , andrew . i actually got quite emotional this morning when i saw it online for the first time : i started writing in 1992 and it has been a long hard road to get to where i have my work recognized and published . now that it has been not only recognized but published too , everyone will have to line up and smack me to get the smile off my face . thanks once again , andrew ! i will drink your health with a ice - cold glass of coke and . . . yeah , some fine south african chocolates too .
the producers originally wanted to cast andré the giant in the role played by former professional wrestler professor toru tanaka because they felt tanaka wasn ' t tall enough . they were eventually convinced that tanaka would be more believable ( as demonstrated in the james bond film goldfinger ( 1964 ) in which harold sakata was cast as oddjob ) , as well as cheaper and with less scheduling conflicts , so they agreed to cast him . in order to overcome his height
disadvantage
they had him wear platform shoes to make him appear taller than his 6 ' 2 frame . see more »
norris is on typical bare - chested form , delivering his lines down - and - dirty without much real meaning behind them . familiar moments from a range of seventies cop shows pop up - the badge and gun on the captain ' s desk scene , the captain gaining a new found respect for the renegade cop scene . . . its all present , correct and mundane .
the final showdown in the movie provided me with a thrill that has never left me ( and also got me interested in the martial arts ) where kane beats the seven colors of crap out of the professor and kicks him into a solid oak table , killing him . after canfield is taught a lesson by kane ( and we are given an acting lesson by christopher lee : it looked like chuck norris was really strangling him ) the movie ends with kane , heather and james walking away from the estate , smiling and laughing .
chuck norris plays sean kane , an unorthodox policeman whose friend and partner is killed in a drug bust on the streets of san francisco . after going berserk billy jack style and ruining the investigation as a result , kane resigns from the police force and swearing revenge , mounts his own investigation , teaming up with his zen quoting martial arts sensei james chan when the latter ' s investigative reporter daughter is murdered by what can only be described as a sherman tank in a suit . kane is assisted in his investigations by heather sullivan and her media magnate boss morgan canfield .
i was very lucky to have worked with mako in 2000 on the wonderful wizard of oz radio project - - he played the king of the flying monkeys . the imdb shows only a fraction of his work , as he did so many indie projects as well - - yeah , this is a great genere picture , as these things go - - you ' re right to focus on the cast - value here - - you get a lot of bang for your buck ! peter johnson / denny crane
so it ' s chuck vs . the triads with cool cinematography in always cool san francisco ! big chuck norris stars as sean kane ( a name that practically screams
why yes i ' ve palm - striked a dude in a bar before
) , a cop who turns in his badge to get revenge for his murdered partner . . . his way . we ' ve got shaft himself richard roundtree playing the frustrated black police captain cliché (
kaaane !
) . we ' ve got wrestling legend professor tanaka ( although to me he ' ll always…
tracking the killers down proves dangerous to kane and james as they clash with triad killers for hire and the scary sherman tank in a suit . even more dangerous are kane ' s erstwhile boss captain stevens and the omnipresent mccoy ~ the latter almost always being on crime scenes where kane ' s friends have met their ends . knowing who to trust is the difficult part as kane finds out to his dismay as his main ally on the san francisco force proves to be up to his neck in skullduggery ( this guy gets his reputation totally trashed ) and the affable , fatherly , pipe smoking canfield turns out not only to be the mastermind behind the drug smugglers that james ' daughter was investigating but also the driver of the car that turned his friend and partner dave pearce into a flaming sambuca . canfield also has a very irritating dog which sean kane should also have taken out , but that ' s another story entirely .
big week in terms of flash sites launching , but a tough one when it comes to picking a winner . there were several sites that were contenders , and a few that will likely be winners after a few more updates , but none that stood out as the best for the week . it ' s almost like there were so many that were so close to winning the award that none were able to stand out and get me excited . however , there was one site that was updated this week that did , the simpsons movie - official site . this site did get a new look , but the real draw here is the first full trailer , to go along with the three previous teasers . is that enough to make it award worthy ? no . but while my rational side was distracted by a game of sudoku the fanboy in me made that decisions , and all fanboy freak - outs are legally binding . hopefully the final site will live up to the award . i have a feeling it will . more . . .
, which would have won a few weeks ago if i had got the right information on the quality of the dvd .
a big list of limited releases this weekend , not so much in the number of films but in the number of theaters . five of the seven films on this week ' s list have opening theater counts in the double - digits with a couple opening in more than six dozen . this means that even with little overlap in target audiences , at least one will be squeezed out at the box office . on the other hand ,
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sean kane is forced to resign from the san francisco police department ' s narcotics division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered . he decides to fight alone and follows a trail . . . see full summary »
trippy indie madeline ' s madeline is the movie that lakeith stanfield and boots riley from sorry to bother you want to see the most .
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a casino security guard is forced into violence from when the hong kong mob threatens his friends .
a sheriff tries to stop the killing spree of a mute maniacal murderer who , as the result of years of medical experimentation , has the ability to self - heal .
the archetypical renegade texas ranger wages war against a drug kingpin with automatic weapons , his wits and martial arts after a gun battle leaves his partner dead . all of this inevitably . . . see full summary »
danny o ' brien is back in action fighting the notorious simon moon , also known as the terror . three years earlier o ' brien had single - handedly captured the terror and was called hero by the . . . see full summary »
prequel to the first missing in action , set in the early 1980s it shows the capture of colonel braddock during the vietnam war in the 1970s , and his captivity with other american pows in a brutal prison camp , and his plans to escape .
sean kane is forced to resign from the san francisco police department ' s narcotics division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered . he decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places .
was originally offered the role of nicky labelle , which he turned down . instead , he took the more significant and memorable role of tony montoya . the role of nicky labelle eventually went to
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aside from a few random smatterings of chop - socky daring - do , there ' s not one single thing about this movie worth sitting through .
the acting isn ' t the best , especially mako ' s performance is really awful , but it has some decent action . apart from the chuck norris ' s fumble , some of the fight scenes are very good , especially those fights near the end . the story is very simple , but it has good atmosphere , so it never bores .
better than chuck norris ' late 1970s movies . the dialogues between his character and mako ' s are delightful and the settings and cast are better than usual , as is the story . norris is no coward to fight against christopher lee ' s gangster without any weapons , only his tough fists and kicks .
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sean kane - chuck norris ! great cop , lousy listener to his boss . resigns from the police force after his friend dave gets fried in a drug bust gone wrong .
dave pearce - terry kiser ! sean ' s partner and good friend : steps into wet dog poo , shot , gets turned into a flaming sambuca and dies horribly . and so , how ' s your day been so far ?
james chan - mako ! righteous ass - kicker , abuser of telephones and sayer of wise sayings like
warrior is not a mountain goat : it is well to remember this
. goes up against the professor . . . bad idea .
heather sullivan - maggie cooper ! linda ' s friend and chuck ' s main squeeze , also user of his snot rag .
maccoy - matt clark ! old oirish san franciscan policeman , heavy on the take . gets completely trashed by chuck norris .
if you keep your eyes on the puddle , you ' ll probably step in dog poo .
drug dealers also have annual general meetings : dunno who takes minutes , though .
7 mins - i sincerely hope he didn ' t land on my car there .
16 mins - that ' s the guy my landlord sends after me when the rent ' s due .
79 mins - if mac doesn ' t want to kill sean , he ' s doing a good job of not trying to .
93 mins - that is the scene i want to see before i close my eyes permanently .
james chan :
warrior is not a mountain goat . it is well to remember this .
canfield :
i wouldn ' t hesitate to shoot this young lady , you know .
stevens :
kane , you are a reckless man . you always have been . a police department cannot operate that way .
kane :
we were setup .
stevens :
oh really ? your undercover operation was the best kept secret this narcotics bureau has ever had . so tell me something , my friend : where was the leak ? on this end , someone here ?
maccoy :
two of the vertebra on her neck are completely snapped . i ' m telling you , whoever did this got a helluva lot of strength .
kane :
any ideas , mack ?
maccoy :
we ' ve got half a dozen witnesses - saw her chased around the market street bart station by some guy that they said looked like ' a sherman tank in a suit . '
i did see this and i found it to be relatively dull compared to my usual fare of overthetop action movies . mission in action ii , invasion usa , and the delta force are superior among chuck ' s own library . maybe i was tired when i watched it . it wasn ' t un - entertaining altogether , just a bit meh . the one awesome bit is in the final battle when chuck starts doing slo - mo kicks on professor oddjob and they sound like star wars lasers . i guess another awesome factor was having chuck norris , the guy who played oddjob , and christopher lee in the same movie . wait , i was tired . i think i like this movie . a lot .
how to find a bad movie the champions of justice plan 9 from outer space manos , the hands of fate podcast : todd the convenience store clerk faster , pussycat ! kill ! kill ! the human tornado maniac the educational archives : driver ' s ed godzilla vs . monster zero do you have a zombie plan ?
earth is visited by a giant antimatter space buzzard ! gawk at the amazingly bad bird puppet , or chuckle over the silly dialog . this is one of the greatest b - movies ever made .
osmosis : os·mo·sis ( oz - mo ' sis , os - ) n . , 1 . when a bird eats something .
norris has the screen presence of a can of soup , but the sheer amount of roundhouse kicks set amongst beautiful san francisco backdrops makes this a moderately diverting early 80 ' s actioner .
christopher lee plays a bond - type villain here . as usual , he steals every scene he ' s in while being provided with awful dialogue and idiotic character decisions , like not destroying evidence that would incriminate him . the climax was ludicrous . almost cartoonish . good stuff !
he ' s the kind of guy who can punch a guy across a room and out of a window and who , completely unarmed ( he doesn ' t need a weapon , he is a weapon ) can make machine gun laden helicopters run away .
this should be most awesome movie ever but unfortunately its mostly by the numbers flick without any real standout moments .
except of course the best moment in action movie history : chuck norris karate kicking a lamp .
or that moment where he knocks a man out and then places a pillow behind his head .
one of chuck’s best films and it’s still a proper belter . mako is amazing in it .
bom policial de ação do norris . o diretor steve carver , eventualmente , comete erros amadores na hora de posicionar sua câmera na hora das lutas , mas no geral as cenas de luta são muito boas . o elenco de apoio , que conta com christopher lee , richard roundtree , mako e o gigante professor toru tanaka , contribuem para
agregar valor
a esta pérola . um dos melhores do astro .
starring : chuck norris , christopher lee , richard roundtree , matt clark , mako , jeffrey bannister , robert behling , joe bellan , rosalind chao , michael b . christy , maggie cooper
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sean kane is forced to resign from the san francisco police department ' s narcotics division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered . he decides to fight alone and follows a trail . . . see more »
sean kane is forced to resign from the san francisco police department ' s narcotics division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered . he decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places . written by scott lane
kane ' s justice is revenge . kane ' s weapon is himself . see more »
james chan : perfection is approachable , sean , as i have often told you . see more »
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him . riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you . …
roger ebert was born on this day in 1942 , and died a little over five years ago . i owe a good part of my success…
a look back at robert zemeckis ' half - animated classic , who framed roger rabbit , on its 30 - year anniversary .
a tribute to the late tab hunter , a gay matinee idol and hollywood trailblazer .
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a san francisco policeman ( chuck norris ) quits the force to avenge his partner ' s murder by asian drug dealers .
blazing saddles , dr . strangelove or : how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb , the howling
my name is trinity ( 1970 ) - this one is new to me , i ' ve never beaten him before . . . ( hd )