Friday, March 31, 2017

Movie Review: Life - No Matter How Incredible Rebecca Ferguson’s Performance Was, Daniel Espinosa’s Sci-fi Thriller LIFE Has Anything But

Life    From IMDB
Review by Landon Funk

I honestly do not know what I expected. After seeing the trailer for LIFE nearly a year ago, I remember thinking, “Wait, is this not the plot of ALIEN?” I was upset and felt ripped off by major studios. Unlike the usual blockbuster garbage that is based off comic books, this was a film that was not even trying to hide that it was a rip off from Ridley Scott’s science fiction masterpiece. Nevertheless, I went to go see LIFE because I had faith in writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, two lads whose claim to fame is their fantastic script for DEADPOOL. Also, I was taken aback that up-and-comer Rebecca Ferguson received second billing after Jake Gyllenhaal and before Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds. How could someone who has only had small parts receive such a massive part accompanied by a multimillion dollar paycheck?


Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Justin Beiber Helps out NJ Animal Shelter: Makes Surprise Appearance at Tribe Body Dance Benefit

Bieber cane to NJ to help animals. Photo from Twitter
Icon Justin Bieber gave a little help to a friend by appearing at a benefit for the Ramapo Bergen Animal  Refuge annual benefit named "A Cause for Paws" held at Tribe Body Dance Studio in Ramsey, NJ. 

The widely-recognized singing sensation was ushered in secretly and surprised everyone, though the owner of Tribe Body Dance Studio found out he was coming earlier in the day. He sat in the front

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Complete List of Daytime Emmy Nominations 2017: Outstanding Digital Daytime Nominations Include The Bay, Red Bird, Tainted Dreams, Tough Love and Venice The Series

The 2017 Daytime Emmy Award Nominations have been announced and congratulations go out to all of those behind the scenes and in front of the cameras that are responsible for the high level of entertainment and quality that the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognizes.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Review of Beauty and the Beast: Emma Watson Leading the Way for Disney’s New Feminist Heroines

Review by Kelly Byrne


Stunning Emma Watson                        Credit: Disney
After almost a year long marketing campaign, there were two popular and opposing sentiments surrounding Disney’s new live-action Beauty and the Beast: excitement and indifference. The latter comes as no surprise since Princess movies
tend to target specific audiences, namely daughters and their parents. Many who grew up with the 1991 animated film questioned the necessity of this live-action addition; what would director Bill Condon add that Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise failed to incorporate in the original?  

Amazon Series Tainted Dreams - The Story of a Soap within a Soap Nominated for Five 2017 Daytime Emmys

Tainted Dreams, the soap within a soap that is reeling in the viewers on Amazon, has received 5 daytime Emmy nominations. They are as follows:

Michael Lowry nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Digital Daytime Series
Kelley Menighan nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Digital Daytime Series
Natalia Livingston nominated for Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actress in a Digital Daytime Series
Anthony Wilkinson nominated for Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor in a Digital Daytime Series
and Tainted Dreams for Outstanding Digital Series

Monday, March 20, 2017

Rating Films: The Woman-O-Meter Seeks to Rate Films and Programming on Different Female Variables

It has been very hard to have a conversation about film the past few years without having the "female" aspect of it come into play.

More reviewers are now looking into and at the female aspects of a film or any production, whether it be behind the scenes or in front of the camera. Also including in this is the subject matter and the way women are portrayed in the film or content.

As a producer, I am always looking for projects created by women and featuring women in positive roles. I know other producers looking at potential projects in the same light and realized that right now there is no
"rating system" taking into account these types of variables.

On this website we would like to introduce a new rating system to see how the movie (or other content) scores in relationship to many variables about women. We are calling it the Woman-O-Meter.

From this point on we will use a Woman-O-Meter to rate films on several criteria. To score one point (a pump) on the Woman-O-Meter one would have to have or be:

1. One or more producer, Executive Producer, Associate or Co-producer that is female
2. A female director
3. A strong female lead
4. A strong female lead that acts as a positive role model in some way/makes good decisions
5. One or more females that are over 40 in the cast
6. One of more females in the cast that are over a size 8
7. A movie about women you would be proud to or want to bring your daughter to see
8. A movie that has at least one minority woman in it, either by race or orientation
9. A movie that has deals with a topic that is specific to women, or something that women have to deal with often
10. A movie about a female that faces some kind of discrimination or problem in life and clearly seeks to triumph over it or successfully triumphs over it

Review: Before I Fall Movie: Ry Russo-Young's Coming of Age Thriller Evolves From Horrendous to Engrossing with a Noteworthy Performance by Zoey Deutch

Review by LANDON FUNK

I will be honest. I went into BEFORE I FALL with extremely low expectations. Based off of Lauren Oliver’s novel of the same name, the film had an absolutely horrendous marketing campaign with an anything but climatic trailer and little to no promoting commercials or billboards. But, quite truthfully, I was pleasantly surprised by Ry Russo-Young’s BEFORE I FALL.  After I snuggled into my purple socks and snapped open the snuck-in can of Dr. Pepper, I settled into my seat in the dead center of the theater. There were only two other women in the theater, and each of us was spread out far enough to not even be in the same eye sight as the other two. The opening credits started to roll, opening with loud pop-rock over beautiful scenes of the pacific northwest. BEFORE I FALL follows a high-school girl named Samantha Kingston (Zoey Deutch), a popular girl that is part of a MEAN GIRLS-esque clique, and her life on February 12 aka “Cupid Day.” At her school, students anonymously send each other roses, and the girls with the most roses are the most popular ones. As the day progresses, Samantha and her friends gossip, pick on a “crazy” girl named Juliet, prepare to swipe their V-cards, and go to party. The twist? Samantha and her friends are in a horrible car accident on their way home from the party, essentially halting time for Samantha as she is forced to relive Cupid Day over and over again GROUNDHOG DAY style.