Rollie Tyler (Bryan Brown) is a special effects man working on low budget movies in New York City when one day, the FBI suddenly comes calling and they have a unique assignment for him.  They would like for him to stage the fake murder of a mobster (Jerry Orbach) whom they recently arrested and will make a witness.  So Rollie takes on this assignment and everything goes as planned.....or DOES it? :o Suddenly the Feds are after HIM and the NYPD is on the trail too lead by Detective Leo McCarthy (Brian Dennehy).  And what results is a fun cat-and-mouse thriller with Rollie trying to evade the bad guys with his own unique bag of special effects tricks!  Directed by Robert Mandel (School Ties, The Substitute), this grew into a well-liked cult hit in the '80's eventually spawning both a sequel and inspiring a TV series of the same name. 

Host: Geoff Gershon
Edited By Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon  

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The saga of The Sully Clan and their adventures on the far off planet of Pandora continues with this third entry in Oscar-winning director James Cameron's ongoing franchise which started in 2009 with Avatar....but do we still care? :p Well according to recent box office returns, we certainly do and much of that might due to the continued spectacle of seeing these characters fly and swim and now fight fire on-screen.  The fire apparently comes from a new threat who's the leader of an ash tribe named Varang (Oona Chaplin) and as she starts to align with Colonel Quarytch (Stephen Lang, returning from the previous two films), that threat only seems to escalate.  And stuck in the middle of this conflict is young human Spider (Jack Champion) who is still loyal to his adopted family of the Sully's but might now also present a new threat to them and the future existence of the Navi on this planet.  Once again leading this sci-fi epic are Sam Worthington as Jake and now Oscar-winner Zoe Saldana as Netyri, along with several other returning cast members including Sigourney Weaver, Britain Dalton, Kate Winslet, and Cliff Curtis.  Let's find out if Big Jim can pull it off again and if the quality of the story matches the spectacle.....

Host: Geoff Gershon
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From acclaimed director Josh Safdie (Uncut Gems, Good Time) comes yet another intense thriller....sort of....THIS time focusing on the trevails of Marty Mouser (Oscar-nominee Timothee Chalamet) who's an aspiring table tennis player working his way up the tournament circuit in the early 1950's.  Of course, his journey towards attempting to become a world-class ping pong athlete becomes increasingly complicated as Marty is so impulsive and selfish that he starts to get in his own way.  What results is a high-wire character study featuring an array of eccentric and/or dangerour characters whom Marty encounters along the way played by a VERY unique cast including Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Tyler the Creator, Emory Cohen, Geza Rohrig, Fran Drescher, Abel Ferrara, and Kevin O'Leary.  (Yes the SAME Kevin O'Leary from "Shark Tank") 

Host: Geoff Gershon
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Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) is a hot-shot young trumpet player leading his own jazz quintet who loves the music and has a way with the ladies but can't figure out how to reconcile those two things.  He's also dating two women (Joie Lee, Cynda Williams) at the same time and can't commit to either of them.  He has also a manager (Spike Lee) who's a gambling addict and a saxophonist band-mate (Wesley Snipes) who has developed a rivalry with him.  So where does he go from here?  In this sprawling romantic musical drama, we follow his complicated story and hear a lot of great music along the way!  This was Oscar-Winner director Spike Lee's immediate follow-up to Do the Right Thing and even though it was a pretty unconventional choice to come right after such a seminal film, its reputation has only grown over the past thirty-five years thanks to several sterling peformances from its leads along with a stacked supporting cast including Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, NIcholas Turturro, Ruben Blades, Samuel L. Jackson, and the late, great Robin Harris in his last live action on-screen role. 

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Rest In Peace Rob Reiner

Commemorating not only the 35th Anniversary of an iconic adaptation of the popular Stephen King novel of the same name but the recent tragic loss of its director Rob Reiner who was in the middle of a sterling run of instant classics (When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men, Stand By Me) at the time of this film's release.  It's the simple story of fictional best-selling author Paul Sheldon (Oscar-nominee James Caan) who gets severely injured and incapacitated after accidently driving off of a snow road one day in the mountains after finishing his latest novel.  Fortunately he's found by a local retired nurse named Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates in the role which won her the Oscar for Best Actress) who gradually nurses him back to health....or DOES she? 😳 Well as it turns out, Annie is Paul's biggest fan and adores his novels about Misery Chastain....and she wants him to KEEP writing them even if he's run out of stories to tell.   What results is an increasingly brutal situation as Annie tries to keep Paul prisoner while he plots his escape. 

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What happens when you take two comedy legends and place them in prison?? :o  Well in this particular case, in their second of four collaborations, you have Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles) paired up with Richard Pryor (Bustin Loose, Brewster's Millions, Blue Collar) paired up as two out-of-work-actors who end up in the wrong place and the wrong time and are convicted of a bank heist which they did not commit.  As a result, they are both sent to a southwestern prison where they team up with other prisoners to eventually escape via the opportunity of a prison rodeo....and HILARITY ensues!  Directed by the late great Oscar-winner Sidney Poitier (yes THAT Sidney Poitier...he was also a director), let's see how this smash hit comedy blockbuster from a different time (forty-five years ago to be exact) holds up.....

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Legendary auteur Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Time Bandits, The Fisher King, Monty Python & the Holy Grail) directs this time-bending sci-fi thriller focusing on one man's unique journey to the past to save the future.  That man is James Cole (Bruce Willis) who is currently living in a dystopian 2035 so ravaged by disease that no humans can actually live on the surface of the Earth so he has been tasked by scientists to travel back to the 1990's in Philadelphia to pinpoint the very beginning of a fatal virus which would eventually spread and wipe out most of the Earth's population.  As would be expected, several complications occur along the way including being commited to a mental facility where he meets the mad son (Brad Pitt who received an Oscar nomination for his performance) of a reknowned virologist (Christopher Plummer).  And he also encounters a therapist (Madeline Stowe) who initially believes him to be crazy though they build a unique relationshiop over time.  Co-written by David Webb Peoples (the Oscar-nominated writer of Unforgiven and Blade Runner), this dizzying tale takes features several dizzying turns carried by sterling performances.  

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Throughout his storied career, the legendary Steven Soderbergh has directed a wide array of highly acclaimed films and/or hits (Out of Sight, Ocean's 11, Magic Mike, Black Bag, Logan Lucky, Contagion, Sex, Lies, & Videotape) and THIS is the film which earned him his only Oscar for Best Director in 2000.  This was actually one of two films (the other being Erin Brockovich) which he was nominated for in 2000 which turned out to be a TRULY stellar year for him!  It's a sprawling story about the American "War on Drugs" during the late '90's, focusing on several different characters on different sides of the law and various levels of the drug trade including two DEA agents (Don Cheadle, Luis Guzman), a judge who has just been appointed the National Drug Czar (Michael Douglas), the wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) of a suspected drug dealer (Steven Bauer), that couple's conniving attorney (Dennis Quaid), a teenager (Erika Christiansen) who becomes addicted to crack, and one conflicted Mexican cop (Benicio Del Toro who won an Oscar for his performance).  It's a complex story delving into a lot of moral grey areas and it's a testament to all of the talent involved (including Oscar-winning writer Stephen Gaghan) that this film was not only highly acclaimed but also a word-of-mouth blockbuster with audiences at the time of release.  However twenty-five years later, it is not often mentioned by many as among Soderbergh's best....so how does this ambitious ensemble hold up?  Let's find out if any one gets away clean.....

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He'll Save Every One Of Us....

Yes it's the story of Flash Gordon (Sam Jones), the fictitious quarterback of the New York Jets who inadverdently travels into deep space with intrepid travel agent Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) and crazy-but-misunderstood scientest Dr. Hans Zarkov).  They land on the mysterious planet of Mongo which is ruled by the vicious Emperor Ming (Max von Sydow) who intends to destroy Earth. :o And together, they embark on a crazy sci-fi adventure to try to save their home planet while also encountering various local leaders who may OR may not be able to help them including Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton), Princess Aura (Ornella Muti), and the boisterous Prince Vultan (Brian Blessed).  Forty-five years ago, this comic book adaptation was released into theaters with much fanfare by famous producer Dino DeLaurentis (Serpico, Blue Velvet, Conan the Barbarian, Hannibal) who was hoping that this big budget enterprise would duplicate the success of Star Wars which had come out just three years prior.  Disappointingly, the film received weak box office and weak reviews upon initial release but eventually would grow to be a beloved cult classic on cable and video.....with much of its success due to a slam-bang soundtrack by the band Queen!  And now its legacy lives on very much due to some VERY catchy music featured throughout including the now iconic main theme song perfomed by the band.  Directed by the late, great Mike Hodges (Get Carter, Croupier), it's time to head back to Ming City on our rocket cycle and.......DIIIIIIVE!!!!!

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"Following the style of some of the world's most prolific street artists, an amateur filmmaker makes a foray into the art world." 

That's the official IMDB description for this Oscar-nominated documentary but does that even really describe it?  Well.....sort of.  The amateur filmmaker described is likely Theirry Guetta, a French clothing shop-owner in Los Angeles who never goes anywhere without his camera and we initially seem to follow him as he takes a very strong interest in graffiti artists.  So he starts to film various reknowned streets artists in action including Shephard Fairey, Space Invader, Borf, Buffmontster, and eventually.....the legendary Banksy.  He builds a relationship with Banksy, decides to film some exciting new acts of street art and then things get increasingly interesting....AND funny! :)  Well as it turns out, Banksy himself is the ACTUAL director of this film, Theirry Guetta MIGHT be the actual star, it's all wittily narrated by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, House of the Dragon), and what results could actually be one of the funniest (yet still insightful) documentaries of all time. ;) 

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