Ricky Miller, Entertainment Editor
| March 2, 2024
“The Color Purple” (1985) - This gem of a gritty drama got 11 Oscar nominations but ended up with a giant goose egg in the win column. Whoopi Goldberg, in her second feature film appearance, and Oprah Winfrey, making her big-screen debut, were nominated but did not receive any recognition, snubbed by the Academy. GRADE: A+ “Shaft” (1971) - This significant action crime-thriller was amazing be-cause it started the whole blaxploitation trend in the 1970s. It also won a Best Song Academy...
Ricky Miller, Entertainment Editor
| February 23, 2024
For all intents and purposes, “Argylle” is just a fun romp. Director Matthew Vaughn interlaces comedic tidbits with the violence while sending a wink-wink to the viewers. Vaughn also directed the action-adventure comedy “Kingsman: The Secret Service” in 2014. In this one, we have Bryce Dallas Howard’s Elly Conway, a fiction writer. Her written words turn out to be more truth than fiction. Conway is overseas promoting her new works, a book and a movie. She befriends Aidan Wilde (Sam Rockwell)...
Ricky Miller, Entertainment Editor
| February 9, 2024
Hollywood’s award season is in full swing, with the Academy Awards coming up on March 10. Now that all of the eligible movies are out, here is our entertainment editor’s revised best film list of 2023...
Ricky Miller, Entertainment Editor
| November 22, 2023
“Little Big Man” (1970) This is an amazing story narrated by Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman), who is 121 years old. Looking back, he recalls becoming indoctrinated into the Native American culture through no fault of his own. Mrs. Pendrake, portrayed by Faye Dunaway, has feelings for Jack that never quite come to fruition. Grade: A+ “Thunderheart”
(1992) Ray Levoi, Val Kilmer’s FBI agent of mixed blood, is put on a murder case on a reservation because of his Native American heritage. This crime-thriller is...
Ricky Miller, Entertainment Editor
| July 25, 2023
“Oppenheimer” is my event movie of the summer. I couldn’t care less about superhero shenanigans in the fictional world. Part of the reason it’s my event movie is that it’s directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan, a five-time Oscar nominee known for “Tenet,” “Dunkirk” and three recent Batman adventures.
Ricky Miller, Entertainment Editor
| July 11, 2023
Veteran actor, director and producer Alan Arkin died June 29 at 89 after a long, varied career. He is probably best known for his Oscar-winning role in the comic-drama “Little Miss Sunshine” in 2006. Arkin portrayed Edwin Hoover, the title character’s profanity-prone grandfather.
#8 ‘Indiana Jones
and the Dial of Destiny’ (June 30)
This adventure must overcome the absence of franchise helmer Steven Spielberg, instead featuring James Mangold as director. With Harrison Ford, of course, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and John Rhys Davies.
“Polite Society” -- This Indian comedy finds a girl dreaming big of becoming a stuntwoman while her older sister wants to get married to a man with ulterior motives. Very enjoyable tale is good family fun. B+
“Renfield” -- Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage hams it up as Count Dracula in this action- comedy about his assistant Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult. Renfield puts up with the count’s hijinks and the ridiculous day-to-day life as a vampire. B-
Ricky Miller, Entertainment Editor
| April 4, 2023
Even four chapters in, John Wick still rocks, even if it’s kinda weird to watch people indiscriminately die.
The “John Wick” franchise is centered around a secret society of assassins that have their own currency and way of doing things. When Wick is excommunicated from the society, he exits knowing all their secrets. In “Chapter 4,” a $40 million bounty is placed on his head.
Ricky Miller, Entertainment Editor
| February 24, 2023
With writer and director M. Night Shyamalan, whose new mystery-thriller is “Knock at the Cabin,” one never knows what they’ll get. Either greatness like “The Sixth Sense” and” Unbreakable” as well as the Mel Gibson led “Signs,” which paired Gibson with Joaquin Phoenix and Abigail Breslin.
On the disappointment end, he helmed the mediocre dramatic mystery-thriller “The Village” and the disappointing fantasy-mystery “Lady in the Water,” as well as the misfire that was “The Visit” in 2015 wherein fake grandparents was the big twist. He made up for it with the “Unbreakable” trilogy that finished with “Glass” in 2019.
