On Career Longevity and Receiving a Retrospective – Julie Carmen comments (Exclusive Guest Post)

As an actress, I have not been hot news for decades, so you can imagine my surprise when CinemaSFbay proposed a three night Julie Carmen retrospective to take place July 7, 8, 9th at the newly refurbished nonprofit Balboa Theater with Fogcutter Film Series Q&As moderated by author-filmmaker Robert Mailer Anderson and an after party. To be treated as relevant because I played the female lead in a catalogue of titles that were influential back in the day feels like I walked into a bright interrogation room. Suddenly people want to know Regine Dandridge’s back story and whether Linda Styles is real.

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WEEK IN WOMEN: Kat Coiro’s YOU, ME & TUSCANY Sweeps into Theaters – Brandy McDonnell reports

Acclaimed filmmaker Kat Coiro directs Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page in her new film You, Me & Tuscany, which opens in theatres on April 10. Coiro is an actor, director, writer and producer whose most recent television project is CBS’ hit Matlock reboot starring Kathy Bates, Skye P. Marshall and Jason Ritter. She served as an executive producer and director on the pilot, and she went on to produce the rest of the series as well as directing several more episodes.

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DROP – Review by T.J. Callahan

Drop is high tech Hitchcock. Slow burn suspense for the social media savvy where everyone is a suspect. Director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) plays a game of chess with pawns aplenty. Every character is put in the line of fire whether they deserve to be or not. While Landon doesn’t let Drop fall flat, the film lacks buoyancy. The audience treads water for the first hour as the characters are introduced and the build up simmers. The last 30 minutes is a smash…literally.

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SPEAK NO EVIL – Review by T.J. Callahan

Speak No Evil isn’t a tongue in cheek thriller. What this remake of a 2022 Dutch horror drama is, is a social satire on the excessive extremes of the middle class that will leave you breathless. And it’s fun…if waiting for potential torture and murder is fun. James McAvoy stars in the new English version that follows the original story almost to a tee…until the last 30 minutes. That’s where this Rated R 2024 release switches gears and tones down on the gruesomeness, but, fortunately, not the suspense and shock.

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THE FALL GUY – Review by Susan Granger

After their appearances on many TV talk shows, it’s obvious that Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are playful co-stars and had great fun filming their new action comedy The Fall Guy. So it’s too bad that the film kind of fizzles. Loosely based on a similarly titled TV series, it revolves around the trials and tribulations of movie stuntman Colt Seavers (Gosling), who has been working for years doubling for Hollywood superstar Tom Ryder, (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who claims he does all his own death-defying stunts.

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THE FALL GUY – Review by T.J. Callahan

The Fall Guy is a movie about a big screen stuntman told from the eyes of a stuntman so everything is bigger, louder and more dangerous. It’s a movie within a movie within the making of a movie based on a TV show. If you can follow that, there’s a good chance you can keep up with this action-packed, tongue-in-cheek homage to the unsung heroes of film. Loosely based on the 1980’s Lee Majors television action series about stuntman Colt Seavers who moonlights as a bounty hunter, this Fall Guy puts pretty boy Ryan Gosling in the crosshairs of conspiracy as a down and out daredevil, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, now tasked with tracking down the missing movie star of his ex-girlfriend’s blockbuster film in order to save his own life.

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THE FALL GUY – Review by Susan Kamyab

Ryan Gosling takes on his most thrilling role yet in Universal Pictures newest comedy, The Fall Guy. It’s best not to take this film too seriously, it’s based on the 1981 television series and pays tribute to stunt work, taking full advantage of any opportunity for high-flying tricks. To say this film is action-packed would be an understatement. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt dazzle on-screen. The two of them surprisingly convey enough heart to charm audiences even while they make you burst out laughing from their several comedic scenes. “The Fall Guy” is an exciting moviegoing experience, providing jaw-dropping action, loveable leads, killer soundtrack, and ridiculous chaotic fun. Making it the perfect popcorn flick.

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THE FALL GUY – Review by Nadine Whitney

The Fall Guy is the kind of film which is throwing everything at the wall and hoping some of it sticks. Thankfully most of it does. David Leitch might have mentioned at some point he used to be a stuntman. In fact, it is his stock and trade along with Chad Stahelski – and it’s how they came up with 87North formula which gave audiences John Wick, Nobody, and a plethora of other action films. Bombast and heart – being ridiculous, over the top, and violent. Frantic, frenetic, and sometimes absolutely nonsensical.

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ABIGAIL – Review by Susan Kamyab

It’s rare these days to not be able to predict the end of a movie, especially one that appears to be formulaic, but I can assure you, you won’t know what to expect from Universal Pictures’ new, surprisingly funny thriller, Abigail. After a group of criminals kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful, wealthy man, they must wait 24 hours in an isolated mansion to collect their 50-million-dollar ransom, but things quickly go awry when the group discovers they are locked inside with no normal little girl. What proceeds to happen is an entertaining, creatively shot blood bath that will shock and humor audiences.

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RENFIELD – Review by Susan Granger

For many years, Nicolas Cage refused to play Dracula, turning down major studio films but – now – he’s the legendary, bloodthirsty Count in Renfield. He doesn’t star in this thriller/horror comedy. Instead, the grisly story revolves around Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), Count Dracula’s long-suffering servant – a.k.a. “familiar” – whose job is to bring the infamous Transylvanian vampire fresh victims while he keeps up his super-strength by eating insects. Renfield first appears at a church group therapy session in present-day New Orleans. Coaxed by the support group’s leader, he confesses, “I am in a destructive relationship.”

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