Several days ago, I had the opportunity to attend an advance screening of the HBO film “You Don’t Know Jack” about the life of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. The television movie has a strong cast including Academy Award winners Al Pacino and Susan Sarandon and is directed by Academy Award winner Barry Levinson. Despite the cast and crew, the movie often fails to bring insight into the life of the controversial doctor who became well-known for helping patients kill themselves.

The movie, which premieres this Saturday on HBO, focuses on Dr. Kevorkian’s work helping sick patients end their lives. It begins around the time that Dr. Kevorkian began actively assisting patients in their attempts to die. As the movie progresses, the doctor receives a great deal of publicity for his methods as he continues working with new patients. The film explores the methods that Dr. Kevorkian used and it also focuses on the types of patients that Dr. Kevorkian did and did not assist in bringing their lives to a close. (more…)

Judging from the reaction a couple weeks back to my Happy Birthday open thread, there aren’t many Big Hollywood readers out there who share my hero worship of Muhammad Ali. When Breitbart starts Big Boxing, I’ll explain all of that but know that one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life occurred on October 2nd, 1980, as I watched my 38 year-old idol and shadow of his former self come out of a two-year retirement and take a terrible and humiliating beating at the hands of Heavyweight Champ Larry Holmes.

At that point Ali was beyond past his prime and had absolutely no business being in the ring with any heavyweight much less the Champion of the World.  It was hubris and the lure of a quick payday and believing in his own press that caused The Greatest to embarrass himself in front of millions – which brings me to what it feels like to watch the latest theatrical releases* from these five (in order of my personal disappointment). (more…)

Friendship. Love. Dreams. All good stuff in life. 

“Inside Moves” is a little gem of a film, director Richard Donner knocked out back in 1980 between, among others, “Superman” and “Lethal Weapon.” Working from a solid script by Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson, “Inside Moves” tells the story of a young man named, Roary, (beautifully portrayed by John Savage) who, after a failed suicide attempt, sets out to put the pieces of his life back together again. Along the way, he finds a motley group of friends, who accept him for the man he is, as he discovers just how sweet life can be, when you’re willing to risk, willing to go for your dreams. 

Shortly after being discharged from the local hospital, Roary, moving along like some sort of sand crab as a result of his injuries, finds himself among the slightly ‘crippled,’ yet not-so-broken souls of Max’s Bar (a wonderful ensemble of actors, including casting director turned actor, Bert Remsen, jazz great, Bill Henderson and Harold Russell, the Academy Award winner from “The Best Years of Our Lives,” add to the joy and spirit of the film.) 

Roary immediately strikes up a friendship with bartender, Jerry Maxwell, (the fine David Morse) who invites him to watch the San Francisco Warriors, play some round ball later that night. At the game, Jerry is all over hot shot rookie, Alvin Martin, (Harold Sylvester) who, while clearly a talented player, seems to lack the killer instinct to be a truly great player. After the Warriors lose the game, due to Alvin’s freezing under pressure, the mouthy Jerry confronts him, challenging him to a game of one-on-one. Alvin accepts. Put up. Shut up.  (more…)

Actress Rachael Leigh Cook entered the lion’s den in the summer of ‘08 – the Republican National Convention in her home town of Minneapolis. For a dyed in the wool liberal, that took some effort. But she’s a member of the nonpartisan Creative Coalition, and she figured it was only right to visit the RNC after making a stop in Denver for the Democratic National Convention.

“A lot of people didn’t even wanna go,” Cook says of her fellow coalition members. “I was really curious to go.”

Rachael Leigh Cook

Director Barry Levinson covered Cook’s visit to both political conventions as part of Poliwood,” his film essay on actors who speak out on the issues of the day. Leigh, who chatted with me earlier this week along with fellow coalition member Richard Schiff (“The West Wing”), says she learned more in an hour at the RNC than her entire time at the DNC. 

“These are people who are generally small business owners,” she says of the GOP convention visitors she met during her visit.

“Poliwood” follows coalition members as they visit the two conventions. The actors discuss why they speak out on political issues, share their hardscrabble roots and, at one point, debate Republican pollster Frank Luntz on how they express themselves in public. (more…)

Did you know celebrities have a right to speak their minds about politics courtesy of The First Amendment? Or that the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon televised debate changed the way we saw politicians forever? “Poliwood,” a new film “essay” from director Barry Levinson, uncovers those nuggets and much, much more.

The film, set to bow at the Starz Denver Film Festival this weekend and already airing on Showtime, does offer more than just those recycled themes. It’s an occasionally fascinating look into the modern actor’s mindset as well as the anger the general public feels when they hear celebrities pontificating on events of the day.

Director Barry Levinson

We’re also given a peek at the passions driving some celebrities to speak out on the issues. Yet the film is emblematic of Hollywood productions which strain to achieve balance but come up mostly empty.

The bulk of the film features liberal celebrities from the Creative Coalition, a nonpartisan group, maneuvering around last year’s Democratic National Convention in Denver. (more…)

11pm PST – Bugsy (1991) The famed gangster running the mobs in Los Angeles tries to turn Las Vegas into a vacation paradise. Cast: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley Dir: Barry Levinson C-136 mins, TV-MA

Warren Beatty and Annette Bening smolder like Bogie and Bacall in a superb film that only gets better with each passing year. “Bugsy” is one of those rare period pieces made over the last 20 years where the casting’s so perfect no one looks silly in a fedora. Real grown ups placed in a beautifully designed production that never breaks the spell of time and place. (more…)