James' Movie Blog

Snow is a very powerful enemy. For both humans and animals, snow provides a need to find shelter from the cold harshness of Mother Earth.  More specifically, trying to find warmth to counteract the cold. But to others, snow is seen as a threat. This more prominent in Quentin Tarantino’s 2015 feature “The Hateful Eight”, a long tribute to the western and the chance of seeing movies on the big screen. Quite literally. However, there are some big, glaring issues ascertain to the overall production that needs talking about. Despite this, the movie itself is quite good within its own execution. “The Hateful Eight” is a production where time is definitely a villain, but the true enemy is snow. The plot surrounds the titular eight characters stuck up in a cabin in the mountains of Wyoming, during an excessive blizzard. At this cabin, we meet our eight players. These include the following: a major (Samuel L. Jackson), a bounty hunter (Kurt Russell), a criminal (Jennifer Jason Leigh)...

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II are quite possibly the greatest music-writing team in the history of musical theater. Together, the duo wrote some of the most renowned stage plays of all time. These include such well-known stage productions as The Sound of Music, South Pacific, and Carousel, among others. All of these productions had wonderful film adaptations throughout the years, most of which were done by studio 20 th Century Fox. But it is 1956's “The King and I” which just may be the most memorable, mainly because of Yul Brynner, who was cast in both the film version and the original stage production, giving and delivering a magnificent performance. This is one of those movies that give the viewer a rare treat to see film making at its finest. The plot of the movie revolves around Ms. Anna Leonowens (Deborah Kerr), an overqualified schoolteacher sent by the King of Siam (Brynner) to teach his many children the ways of the modern world. Once Anna starts teachi...

Who did it? That's the main question on everyone's mind in a mystery. Who did it? This trope of the mystery genre has almost faded from the public eye; now writer-director Rian Johnson brings it back. And it's done to near perfection in his latest film “Knives Out”. Featuring an all-star cast, the mystery aspect is the driving force behind this movie, while also delivering the perfect comedic moments. Still, there are some problems that the movie has, it more than makes up with its brilliant writing, attention to detail, and keeping the viewer invested all the way through. With “Knives Out”, we finally answer the question of who did it, with some pretty clever results. The story has a detective (Daniel Craig) coming to the esteemed estate of a famous author (Christopher Plummer), only to find out that the author is dead. Now that the family is there, they want to know how their patriarch kicked the bucket. Through a series of investigations, the detective must try ...