Captain America-Civil War, Review: Danger...Us? Emerging from the 2006 Marvel Comic storyline, Civil War, this is a top heavy assembly, where the heroes get divided into two camps and battle it out, before realising that unity in diversity must come first, and egos should take second billing. It is about two superstars taking opposing, dictatorial stances, but with so many characters doing their bit for the fans, the film is a democratic treatise. Villains, by comparison, are poorly delineate...

  Daily Film Forum Exclusive:: From theater to film, and the new horror / thriller “The Samaritans”  us for A moment with rising star Annelise Nielsen     DFF: Your new project, The Samaritans - what’s it about, and tell us about your character in it and how you want to bring it to life? AN: The Samaritans is about a group of four ambitious entrepreneurs who have been developing hot new apps ...

Mother’s Day, Review: Mom Com Mother of two sons and a dedicated wife, philandering husband falling for sexy new babe, grieving widower raising two daughters, an aging couple who discover that they have an Indian for a son-in-law and a woman for the other daughter’s partner, an out-of-wedlock abandoned child of a mother who is now a TV celebrity...all set for a Mom Com, made for, and aimed at, Mother’s Day. Well, it could have been a Rom Com, except for the fact that so many...

10 Cloverfield Lane, Review: Hollowcaust Ultra-thin story line, with some slick moments in the first half, is how one can sum up 10 Cloverfield Lane. A psychological, science fiction, holocaust, suspense tale, the film needed a rock solid unravelling. Instead, it goes off on an indulgent tangent, and you come out wondering, “So this was what it was all about?” It is the second film in the Cloverfield franchise. The film was developed from a script titled The Cellar, but while und...

The Huntsman-Winter’s War, Review: Ice Maiden and Sinister Sister What? No Snow White in the title? Right. Almost no Snow White in the picture too. Many Huntsmen, one ‘The Huntsman’, two evil queen sisters who hate everybody, including each other, a few dwarves, a kingdom of gnomes and monsters, and the ubiquitous mirror that often steals the image (read: scene). Evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron), who has the power of shooting tentacles to wrap her opponents, betrays her...

Production has started on the new Boyband documentary film and it is truly "Larger Than Life" From Co-founders Edvin Ortega ("Orange Is The New Black", "The Jersey Devil") and John Wagner comes "Larger Than Life: A Boyband Story" The film not only takes a close look at what is like to be a tribute artist in New York's cut throat music scene, but it depicts the journey of co-founder Edvin Ortega as he tries to reu...

SPOTLIGHT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS       Thom Bierdz and Adrienne Papp By Adrienne Papp   Highlight Hollywood s all venues of the entertainment industry, from politics to sports to cinema to fine arts...

Demolition, Review: Shun If ever there was a practical example of ‘deconstruction for the sake of reconstruction’ being taken too literally, here is one. Our protagonist, a tormented and meandering soul, cannot cope with the loss of his wife, which tragedy has benumbed him. So, he re what his father-in-law once said, that in order to rebuild something, you have to demolish it first. His father is a more than sane investment banker and his own boss (which means that our hero...

The Jungle Book, Review: Unputdownable A fitting tribute to the 1967 version on its golden jubilee, The Jungle Book is unputdownable. You might find differences in the two versions, and in the book itself. Don’t bother comparing. If the smooth-sailing songs make you sing-along (a friend seated on my left just wouldn’t stop), even better. Gaze into the volcanic eyes of the animals, marvel at the resourcefulness of the man-cub, and applaud the imagination of the writer who spun this...

    First look pictures have surfaced on the new film that tells us no good deed goes unpunished. Currently filming, from the minds of Award Winning Filmmakers Keith Collins ("The Meat Puppet","Clean Cut"), Doug Bollinger ("Waltzing Anna", "Mail Order Bride"), Cory Green ("The Jersey Devil"). The chilling pictures set the tone on where this new creep show seems to be heading. You be the judg...

By Maria Esteves – April 5, 2016 The MOMS MAMARAZZI Special Presentation of MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2, directed by Kirk Jones and written by Oscar nominee Nia Vardalos was held in New York, Friday, March 18, 2016. Actress/writer Nia Vardalos (Toula) and actress Elena Kampouris (Paris, Toula's daughter) appeared for a Q&A session after the presentation moderated by co-founders Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein, The Moms Sirius XM. Questions and discussions posed by The Moms...

By Maria Esteves – April 3, 2016 The mystery of faith to believe in something we cannot see or hear like the air we breathe despite our circumstances in this life is a miracle! Scientists at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland calls it ‘The God Particle (Higgs Boson).’ MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN is an extraordinary and powerful true story that captures the spiritual journey of the Beam family, ordinary American Judeo Christians from Texas who discove...

The Divergent Series-Allegiant Part I, Review: Alley Giant Three down, one to go. This film is the first of two cinematic parts, based on the novel Allegiant, the final book in the Divergent trilogy, by Veronica Roth, and the third instalment in The Divergent Series of films. On the score board too, the series hits divergent marks. Neil Burger barely scraped through with the Divergent debut two years ago, while German director Robert Schwentke acquitted himself well in Insurgent last year. Sc...

Is there no justice in this world? Lex Luthor argues that since God takes sides, he cannot be a just hero, and likewise Superman, who is revered as God’s agent on earth. What if Superman went rogue, he postulates? So, he asks the White House to allow him to import kryptonite (rock from Kal El’s native planet, Krypton, that robs him of his superpowers) from an ancient ship wreckage in the Indian Ocean, just in case.... Senators are not impressed, possibly because instead of behavin...

Bad Boys 3 Director Joe Carnahan and actor James "Badge" Dale from 13 HOURS to attend opening night!!! 13 HOURS is our opening night film. This film's Executive Producer is Scott Gardenhour, a local who grew up in Smithsburg. He will be receiving the "Nora Roberts Award" for being one of the most successful filmmakers hailing from Maryland. 13 HOURS is about an American ambassador that is killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya, a s...

SPOTLIGHT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS   A new Picasso: Gültekin Bilge, Redefining Modern Art   Gültekin Bilge By Adrienne Papp Great art can come from many unexpected sources. In the case of international artist, Gültekin Bilge, the evolution of this most extraordinary artist came from Turkish Cyprus by way of Scotland. His is the story of an artist who has overcome immense odds. During a difficult...

SPOTLIGHT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS   American Cinematheque Schedule for March, 2016   Program for March, 2016, Posted y Adrienne Papp           Egyptian Theatre Lawrence of Arabia, Sergio Leone, Antonioni,  Some Dirty Dancing & Crispin Glover Live! ...

Triple 9, Review: 9 pins If bodies count in a crime drama, the body count in Triple 9 is very high. In fact, hardly anybody is left alive in the end. So that makes it morbid. Decapitation and gore galore make it really blood-curdling. Cops and criminals mixing and mingling, while betraying and killing each other, make it confusing. High-profile robberies, blackmail, drug dealers, buddy-buddy cops, uncle-nephew, brother-brother, alcoholic cop, titillation (if the censors have let it ), bet...

  KEITH COLLINS -- DOUG BOLLINGER -- TIMOTHY LAUREL HARRISON -- ANNELISE NIELSEN SIGN ON TO STAR IN NEW HORROR / THRILLER "THE SAMARITANS"   "THE SAMARITANS" WILL POSSESS YOU FULL OF VENGANCE Award-Winning Team Begins Shooting in New Jersey March 2016   "No good deed goes unpunished"   Production is announced today for the frightening new Horror / Thriller fe...

13 Hours-The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Review: Michael? No Bay! This 144 minute film is a good 44 minutes too long for its own good. It reconfirms the golden rule that true stories are not necessarily film material, unless worked-on real hard by a team of talented individuals, more behind the camera than in front of it. That it is produced and directed by Michael Bay adds to the disappointment. How accurate it is, in of recent history, is a matter of debate, both in the USA and in Li...

London Has Fallen, Review: The Butler did it If he can save the White House, can London be far behind? To be accurate, it never really fell. Yes, London Bridge was blown up. A few hundred armed terrorists, with a few dozen combat vehicles, had gained access to the city’s communications network, donned local police uniforms, blown-up most of the historical monuments and deployed surface to air missiles locked at the escaping US President’s helicopter, and all was well, until Mike B...

By Maria Esteves – March 2, 2016 The 88th Academy Awards hosted by Chris Rock commenced Sunday, February 28, 2016 at Dolby Theatre & Highland Center, Hollywood, C.A. Presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.), the Oscars honor outstanding film achievements of 2015. Mad Max: Fury Road was top winner with six Oscars including Best Film Editing MARGARET SIXEL and Best Production Design COLIN GIBSON. Three Oscars went to The Revenant including Best Dire...

An Australia-United States co-production, Gods of Egypt was shot in Australia, predominantly on green screens, at Fox Studios, Sydney. Most ‘Egyptian’ Gods are played by Caucasian actors and the boundaries between earth, the sky, heaven, hell, man, god, ferocious bird, plasto-metallic creatures, life and death, are all blurred. CGI, forced perspective, shooting with two cameras side-by-side, motion control, are the flavours of the day. Authenticity is conspicuous by its absence. R...

It happens around Christmas, so Carol is the quite the name of the season. Yes, there is snow and Christmas trees and gifts, but Carol is no innocent Santa Claus tale. Rather, it is an exquisitely woven love story, between two women. We can call them lesbians today, without looking over the shoulder, but when Patricia Highsmith wrote the novel, in Senator McCarthy’s America of the early 1950s, a time of witch-hunting, the term would surely invite wrath. Sixty-four years later, there are ...

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Review: Gory pride, bloody prejudice It’s not quite like anything you have seen before. Imagine going on a cruise, in a carrier that is part horse-drawn and part ship. On board, there are two sets of activities going on: a family of five sisters and their parents are trying to get the girls married by hook or by crook, and another set of creatures, called the zombies or the undead, are fe eding on human flesh, threatening to eat up all the humans who in...