KGB Productions

  Okay first of all I have to say I liked Matrix: Resurrections .  Maybe I'm in the minority, but I can really say I enjoyed the film.  Lana Wachowski creates a hip, smart follow up to the Matrix trilogy.  It was inevitable that Warner Bothers was going to do a follow up to the Matrix with or without its creators.  When the studio learned that Ms Wachowski was interested in doing a 4th Matrix the studio didn't blink and so they gave it to her, and why not.  Lana Wachowski was one of its creators and in what better hands to have it in than one of the films franchise original creators.  Lilly Wachowski didn't want to participate and felt she had done that already and was not interested in resurrecting the franchise.  That being said I think Lana Wachowski came up with an interesting premise for the film. I hear in many reviews that the film is "meta" and yes that is a good summing up of the film, but it does a disservice to the film.  The ori...

  It's been awhile since reviewing movies, and so I figured it was time to return to something I love.  I hope to do this a bit more, so my apologies for not being too consistent, but hopefully I will rectify that in the coming months. Spiderman: No Way Home is a film that was destined to be seen by a family that grew up with its previous films.  My oldest introduction to the Marvel universe was in back in 2008 when my oldest and I saw Ironman .  My youngest entry in the Marvel universe was Captain America: The first Avenger back in 2011.  It became a family event to go see all of them, and it would always be a memorable one for both my wife and I.  The Marvel universe has been ingrained into our DNA, but that's because I'm a Marvel fan.  Always was & always will be.  My gateway to the Marvel universe was "The Fantastic Four" & "Spiderman".  Two comics that I bought and read throughout my childhood.  This is not to poo poo the ...

I took the family to see this late December, and I enjoyed myself, but I was experiencing several emotions while viewing the film.  One emotion is of familiarity.  Having grown up with the Star Wars films and it having such a profound experience on me as a young teenager I come full circle now as I view it with my own children.  I was glad to see the old cast again even if it was briefly.   It connected the film for me, and as well I enjoyed the adventure that the characters were on.  The music and the effect were all fine, and why would it not be since ILM was still involved.  It was a new cast for as new generation, and maybe thats where it gets emotional.   I saw Star Wars back in 1979, and it profoundly changed me and lite my imagination on fire.  I knew that I wanted to become involved in filmmaking.  George Lucas was my major influencer and I knew his work such as " THX1138 " and " American Graffiti ".  To make a long...

It seems that the movie "Joker" has hit a nerve with the audiences.  Based loosely on DC comic's arch nemesis to Batman the Joker the film is rooted more to our past history of violence then it is to the comics. The film seems to be doing well, and it is amazing that Warner Brothers actually made a R rated film based on a comic book villain.  But then again the movie seems to be a bit of a time capsule of what we are going through presently in our political and social scene. This is only my own opinion but a movies such as "Joker" could only come out now in an era where hate, and senselessness to violence towards each other are more the norm then it was in the past. The filmmaker sets the film in the fictitious city of Gotham, but in reality the film was shot in New York city.  This is no mistake.  Only in a city of 8 million plus can we get the feel and look of despair and loneliness through the NYC landscape.  I do not want to denigrate the city that I lo...

The above video is a promotional video from MOVO .  It is a game changer for vloggers and youTubers in creating content.  It's also a great idea for shooting interviews, and activity. Long ago I had companies ask me what type of portable camera can we get to help interview people from across the county.  Back then we used small cannon cameras that could be shipped to the location.  Now ANYONE can do it, and with the MOVO VXR10 you can get great sound.  Along with the MOVO PR 1 mount you can shoot anywhere you want and be successful in getting images without having a teach along with you. The MOVO VXR10 works with both iPhones and Android phones.  You just need a different attachment which it already comes from.  The MOVO PR 1 mount is a mount that you can secure your phone with, and get a pretty good stabilized shot.  It's also great to mount the microphone on top of it.  You may even mount a light on the mount as well. This is p...

I had been interested in seeing these two films for awhile.  I do like some of Lars von Trier  early work  and find him as a director interesting.  I was interested in the the Nymphomaniac series because of the subject matter, and who was in it.  First off the actress Charlotte Gainsbourg does a phenomenal job and she is captivating throughout the two films.  It is her performance that I found to be true, and honest.  Mr Trier does not go for the vulgar.  He shows an individual who is complex and a bit broken.  How she is interacts with others throughout the film is what made me want to continue with the films.  It also shows how Mr Trier and Ms Gainsbourg trusted each other through the production process.  Surely with such a title the film would go into a more exploitative theme, but under the direction of Mr Trier's he involves us (the audience) in the character of Joe.  We are subjected to many relationships and scenes...

Okay you've heard by now this movie is doing fantastic business.  The studio has passed the two billion mark worldwide, and it's still growing. I'm also sure you've heard all the spoilers now.  Amazing now that we have to contend with "spoiler" alerts now.  I mean what would Hitchcock of done with "Psycho"?  I remember the campaign back then had people NOT to tell the ending to the people coming out of the theater.  Now you're a tweet away from making that happen. But I digress.  So how is the film?  One word "FUN!" If you're a fan of Marvel, and you've seen most if not all the movies you'll love this film.  I can only imagine the box-set coming out for this.  It would be huge.  Now if you're not a fan then this is not the movie for you.  Clocking in over a little over 3 hours long it certainly does not feel like 3 hours, and that's a good thing.  The filmmakers Anthony Russo , and Joe Russo do an extraor...

Went to see the latest superhero movie, and was pleasantly surprised.  The mix of drama and comedy works for this film.  It works because our superhero is a 14 year old boy in a hulking big body.  That is the charm of the movie, and it's theme is family, which isn't a bad theme to have.  Shot in Toronto filling in for Philadelphia the filmmakers create a good illusion of the city.  The filmmakers made sure they capture all the iconic Philadelphia landmarks and used them in their process shots.  I'm very skeptical when it comes to substituting cities with other cities because the filmmakers got a better deal in the city they were shooting in, but here it doesn't detract from the fun. Though I would really like if Pennsylvania get's its act together and offer bigger tax credit to studios and filmmakers.  Don't they know for every dollar spent in the city or town they get like 3 or 4 dollars back?  But I digress. The film is a fun origin story...

So Universal Studios decided to cash in on the original Mama Mia! and try a second go at it with a sequel of sorts.  I really liked the first one.  In fact my entire family loves the film.  We find ourselves singing along to the film, and enjoy watching the film unfold, so why does the sequel partially fail when the original kicks butt every time you watch it?  Easy.  The second film is nothing but a rehash of the first with other people singing the songs.  There are a few new songs in the film, but a lot of the first songs are rehashed and when they are sung it feels like the filmmakers are just trying to elicit emotions you had for the first movie.  It all feels forced. Now don't get me wrong.  I did succumb to some emotions, but only because that was towards the end of the film.  The death of Meryl Streep's character is handled very emotionally towards the end when Amanda  Seyfried and Meryl Streep's sing a duet together "My ...

I was excited to go see the latest Marvel movie for a number of reasons.  One is that I always thought Captain Marvel would make a great film.  It is especially powerful since our protagonist is a women.  The one thing the Marvel universe has skipped over was having a women superhero, and that's pretty strange since the Marvel comic universe is littered with powerful and assertive women.  From the She Hulk to Sue Storm from the Fantastic Four , to Valkyrie of the Defenders .  There have been a number of lady super hero's that have rocked the comic book world.  It was about time that Marvel make one. To be fair Marvel movies have had women in their films such as Black Widow in the Avengers , and Storm in the X-men franchise.  With the success of Wonder women from DC Marvel had to introduce one of their own women super hero's, and all I can say is about time. Brie Larson does a great job as Mar-vel a noble hero warrior from the Kree home-wor...

So I finally saw the film "Bohemian Rhapsody" about the band Queen and Freddy Mercury.  I have to say it was enjoyable to hear the music again, and see how the band actually formed.  But something was missing, and at first I could not put my finger on it.  Halfway through the film my son looked at me and said is this the "cliff notes" of Queen's origin.  He had a point.  It seemed to the story went too quickly.  The story evolved quickly and seems to not dwell on the earlier years of Queen's origin.  I thought so as well, but still was interested in hearing the music and seeing how some songs came about.   What I really wanted to know was more about Freddy Mercury, and though towards the end of the film I did feel I learned a bit more about Freddy, yet I only feel I got a small glimpse into the man's life because if anything the movie shows me how really complex Freddy Mercury really was. When the movie starts we see Queen perform at the...

So I finally got to see the documentary " Won't You Ne My Neighbor? " directed by Morgan Neville .  I had heard a lot of good things about the film, so I was excited to finally see it.  What I can say is that it is an emotional piece about a man who literally helped many children understand about growing up.   Roger's became an advocate for children and fought for good educational programming that would help children through the perils of growing up.  In the film we learn when and how "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" came into existence, and how Fred Rogers developed the concept.  It is quite moving to see how Roger's comes up with the concept of "Mister Roger's Neighborhood".  I can say that I was one of the kids "Mister Roger's neighborhood" was preaching to.  I remember vividly sitting down and watching Fred Roger's go through his day and learning new things.  All before I even set foot into a classroom.   Roger...

This week marks the 20th anniversary since the television show" The Sopranos " debuted on HBO , and with all the celebrations going on this week I wanted to put in my two cents about the series. It feels like only yesterday that we were all talking about the show.  Every Sunday night HBO would air the show, and by Monday we were all talking about it.  the show seemed to capture our imagination, and we were always drawn back to it no matter what happened each week. The Sopranos was about a family in New Jersey that happened to be in the mob.  Tony Soprano was the head of this family and it was his character that drew us in every Sunday night.  Of course James Gandolfini had a lot to do with us coming back to the show each week.  Along with the cast of Edie Falco James Gandolfini and Falco turned a unusual drama into a weekly viewing ritual.  I am of course not listing the others such as Steven Van Zandt ,  Tony Sirico , Michael Imperioli , an...

Orson Welles last movie " The Other Side of the Wind " was finally released back in November of 2018.   33 years after Welles' death in 1985 Netflix premiered it on it's platform.  The film had a limited run in theaters starting in October.  The film is a stunning piece of cinema due to it's editing and it's photography.  The film with-in the film concept is nothing new, and Welles denied that the film was autobiographical, but it is hard to say that it is not.  The film is about a director played by the legendary John Huston whose career is in decline and who dies in the end.  The film is about friendship, betrayal, and power.  It is in essence one long flashback into the director's last days, and who he was, and who he cared about.    Peter Bogdanovich plays a up and coming director who is friends with Huston's character.  In that way it is a personal film for Welles.  Being a friend to Welles was a challenge, and the fi...

Okay so there's this meme going around called the top ten movies that influenced you.  John Oak Dalton did his, so I try it.  I left a lot of movies off this.  Just way too many good films to choose from, so I tried to make list them quickly.  I'm sure you can figure the titles out.  Have fun.

Okay here's a really neat little camera for those on the go videos.  The video is brought to you by our friends at B&H camera.  The results are stunning, and the size of the camera is even more remarkable.  You can use it with you're smart phone as well, or just alone by itself.  It's a lot less encumbered when not using your smartphone, but when you use your smartphone you have a better viewer to frame your shots with.  Either is good. It also can take still pictures, so it makes for an excellent on the go camera for blog posts, and web based applications.  I am blown away with the quality too.  I'm sure sound isn't that great, but from what I saw for simple set-ups it sounds okay. It's a bit pricey but at $349 it's not a bad deal if you use it for blogging purposes or you're an aspiring you-tube star.  I'm sure we'll see more of this in the future.  The clarity and the smoothness of the shots are really good.  Take a look at th...

Ricky Jay passed away at his home in Los Angeles last Saturday.  Known for his superior card skills which lead him from the stage to screen in such films as "Heist", "State of Maine", "Boogie Nights", "the Spanish Prisoner", "House of Cards" & "Magnolia".  His talent was most of all his skills with a deck of cards. It has been reported that Jay started practicing magic tricks at age four.  Jay's interest in tricks and cons lead him to form a company with his partner Mark Weber called Deceptive Practices.  He had several Broadway shows one of them called "Ricky Jay & his 52 Assistants" directed by David Mamet. *"Jay’s film career hit its saturation point in 1997, a year in which he appeared in Mamet’s  The Spanish Prisoner,  played an adult movie cameraman in  Boogie Nights ,   and popped up as a cyberterrorist in the James Bond film  Tomorrow Never Dies . He reunited with Anderson for a double...