Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy

UNSTOPPABLE

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews January 16, 2025

113

Unstoppable is a mashup of an underdog sports movie and a domestic drama about a family terrorized by an abusive father. The worst thing I can say about it is that it is conventional, but since when is that a crime? A true-life story told in linear fashion with a superior cast still resonates in 2025, especially with this one’s provenance and cast. Jharrel Jerome plays high school wrestler Anthony Jerome, who was born with just one leg but doesn’t let his disability define him. He has an innate drive to succeed and doesn’t want to settle for being second-best. Jennifer Lopez plays his loving and protective mother, who has endured physical and verbal assaults from his stepfather (Bobby Cannavale) far too long. His younger siblings…

I’M STILL HERE: AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews January 16, 2025

154

I admire Walter Salles’ work, and I’m especially fond of his acclaimed features Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries. He has returned to his Brazilian roots for another exceptional narrative, I’m Still Here…but he hastens to explain that it’s not the story, or the book by Marcelo Rubens Paiva that impelled him to create this deeply empathetic picture. It is the fact that he knew the Paiva family and spent time in their home, where intellectuals and artists gathered while living under military dictatorship in the early 1970s. He wanted to recreate their lives. It’s difficult for an American to fully comprehend the emotional state of a family when its titular head—a devoted husband and loving father of five—is whisked away by the police, leaving no trace behind. This…

REMEMBERING DAVID LYNCH

Leonard Maltin January 16, 2025

212

Some forty years ago I first met David Lynch in a setting that could have come from an episode of Twin Peaks: the now-defunct Studio City branch of DuPar’s, an all-American coffee shop where he had come to enjoy a well-crafted chocolate milk shake. He seemed to appreciate my enjoyment of seeing him at the cashier’s counter. Our next meeting was more productive, as Entertainment Tonight had sent me to the press junket for The Straight Story. My first interview was with its costar, Sissy Spacek. Trying to be cool, I said, “I’ll bet it isn’t every day you get a phone call from David Lynch.” She replied, “Actually, yes it is. He and my husband Jack Fisk are close friends.” Boy, did I feel foolish—and underinformed. In fact, Fisk…

STAN & OLLIE & CHARLEY & THE LITTLE RASCALS IN SILENT COMEDY CLASSICS

Blu-Ray/DVD Leonard Maltin January 13, 2025

340

If you are a Laurel and Hardy devotee it’s probably old news that the second volume of beautifully restored shorts has been released on Blu-ray and DVD by Flicker Alley. Covering the year 1928, the second year of their official partnership, this two-disc set features such silent-comedy classics as THE FINISHING TOUCH, SHOULD MARRIED MEN GO HOME? and TWO TARS. The bonus features are worth the price of admission, especially the fact-filled commentary tracks by Randy Skretvedt and Richard W. Bann. Dick can even tell you the current address of a house seen in the background of THE FINISHING TOUCH! But wait—there’s more. Kit Parker has scoured the globe—literally—to present a two-disc DVD/Blu-ray set called CHARLEY CHASE AT HAL ROACH: THE LATE SILENTS 1927. Most…

THE LAST SHOWGIRL

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews January 13, 2025

461

The first feature film directed by Gia Coppola, Eleanor and Francis’s granddaughter, is a respectable but unmemorable vehicle for former Baywatch and Playboy pin-up Pamela Anderson. The script has been custom-tailored for her and she comes off well, but the film has only one note to play and that is revealed in the title. Anderson portrays a forty-ish woman whose old-school Vegas stage show—awash in sequins and feathers—is coming to an end. She has no idea what comes next, as this has been her livelihood for decades and she has no other skills to draw upon. Her now-grown daughter (Billie Lourd) resents the fact that she left her in the car as a child in order to perform—and make a living—and has no idea that the show’s stage manager…

A BIT OF CRUMPET WITH MARK SEARBY

A Bit Of Crumpet December 27, 2024

568

Leonard here. The following column is written by my colleague Mark Searby highlighting British cinema past and present. Please enjoy A Bit of Crumpet. Everybody, at some point in their life, has seen an Alfred Hitchcock movie. He made so many iconic films throughout his career. He was, and still is, hugely influential in filmmaking. The films that most know are post mid-1930s. Films such as Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt and onto the bigger ones like Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest etc. But what about his pre-1940s movies made before his venture over to Hollywood? Those don’t get talked about anywhere near as much. Hitchcock: The Beginning brings together ten of Hitch’s early works to Blu-Ray for the first time, and a new documentary…

WHAT’S NEW ON DVD/BLU/4K IN DECEMBER

Blu-Ray/DVD December 27, 2024

974

The following article was written by my friend and colleague Alonso Duralde. You can learn more about him HERE. WHAT’S NEW ON DVD/BLU/4K IN DECEMBER: WALLACE & GROMIT, TERRIFIER 3, SEINFELD, AND MORE! NEW RELEASE WALL Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection (Shout Factory): Well, “complete” except for the brand-new W&G feature, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, dropping any minute now on Netflix. But if you love the adventures of the hapless cheese-lover and his resourceful and patient canine companion – and who doesn’t? – this new set contains a bounty of stop-motion goodies, including all the shorts, the Curse of the Were-Rabbit feature, and a lavishly illustrated booklet, all inside a snappy suitcase. Also available: Alien: Romulus (20th Century Studios): Director Fede Alvarez…