Tag Archives: Sony

Iron Lion

22 January 2025 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Kraven the Hunter: Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes on a lion hunt led by his overbearing and unsympathetic widowed father (Russell Crowe). During the hunt, Kraven is fatally mauled by an almost mythic lion but is saved by a potion, mixed with some of the lion’s blood, given to him by a future voodoo priestess, Calypso. The serum grants Kraven superhuman strength, speed, and senses, which he uses to hunt criminals, poachers, and other enhanced baddies.

Kraven could have been a better film. It’s a 95-minute movie crammed into 127 minutes. The most serious flaws are the CGI effects, the ending, and an excess of unnecessary drama. The subpar CGI disrupts the immersion in an action-heavy movie, while the ending focuses too much on setting up sequels and spinoffs, detracting from the action scenes. Resolving his father issues would have served as a fitting end to the movie, but the writers were likely beholden or burdened by the suits on the business end of the studio lot.

Genre: Action—Adventure—Drama–Thriller

Directed by: J.C. Chandor

Screenplay by: Richard Wenk, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch, Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine

Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe

Film Location: Iceland, London, Scotland

ElsBob: 5.5/10

IMDb: 5.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 16%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 74%

Metacritic Metascore: 35%

Metacritic User Score: 4.5/10

Theaters: 13 December 2024

Runtime: 127 minutes

Budget: $110-130 million

Box Office: $59.5 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic. Graphic: Kraven the Hunter Trailer, copyright Sony.

Don’t Stop Me Now

8 January 2025 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Venom: The Last Dance: Eddie (Tom Hardy) and Venom (Tom Hardy), together again, possibly for the last time, battle Symbiotes from Venom’s home planet of Klyntar. Supervillain Knull has sent the Symbiotes to collect Eddie and Venom’s Codex. The Codex will free Knull from his prison, originally created by the Symbiotes long ago. Now, they will help to release him. It’s complicated.

Tom Hardy and his symbiotic, parasitic alter-ego, Venom, make the movie worthwhile. Everything else feels like underemployed extras earning points for existing, about as entertaining as toothpaste attempting an exit from a spray bottle, except for Martin (Rhys Ifans). Martin was a fun diversion.

As with the first two movies, it is worthwhile sitting through the credits. Somewhere between the listing of Executive Producers, Producers, Producers of Second Worth, Producers of Wind, and the Second Gaffer from the Last Good Gaffer, there is a hint of what can be, unburdened by what has been—although Hardy has said maybe not never again, so what can be, may have to be burdened by what has been.

Trivia: “Don’t Stop Me Now”by Queen is played while Venom infests a horse and gallops, with Eddie riding on top, at incredible speed, to get to Area 51.

Genre: Action—Adventure–Comedy—Fantasy—Sci-Fi–Thriller

Directed by: Kelly Marcel

Screenplay by: Tom Hardy, Kelly Marcel

Music by: Dan Deacon

Cast: Tom Hardy, Rhys Ifans

Film Location: Cartagena, Spain

ElsBob: 6.0/10

IMDb: 6.0/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 41%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 81%

Metacritic Metascore: 41%

Metacritic User Score: 5.9/10

Theaters: 21 October 2024

Runtime: 109 minutes

Budget: $120 million

Box Office: $476.4 million

Source: Screen Rant, Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic. Graphic: Venom: The Last Dance Trailer, copyright Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures.

Elvis

8 July 2024 By in Music Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis album was released 50 years ago on 8 July 1974 by RCA Victor. The recording was captured at a Mid-South Coliseum concert in Memphis, Tennessee 14 weeks earlier on the 20th of March.

The Memphis ‘concert’ included two shows each on the 16th and 17th with the actual recording occurring during the fifth show on the 20th. The five sold-out shows were estimated to have sold more than 60,000 tickets with some seating going for as much as $10.

In addition to the Memphis shows a ‘rehearsal’ concert was held in Richmond, Virgina on 18th of March in which the album Forty-Eight Hours to Memphis was recorded. The set lists for the Richmond and Memphis recordings were nearly identical.

Although the concert and subsequent album release were not in the same league as Elvis’ 68 Comeback Special, the Memphis album contained a truer representation of his career and his genre crossing-over appeal.

The album was certified gold, reaching number 2 on Billboard’s Country chart, number 40 on Billboard 200 and garnered another Grammy for Elvis for his rendition of the gospel song “How Great Thou Art”.

The original 1974 album left out the concert songs “Suspicious Minds” and “Polk Salad Annie” but were re-inserted back into the FTD Records 2004 re-issue of Live on Stage in Memphis. Sony’s 2014 40-year re-issue of the album includes the FTD Records 2004 re-issue on disc one plus also including the ‘rehearsal’ concert preformed at the Richmond (Viginia) Coliseum two days before the Memphis concert.

Source:  Sony Legacy Release by Troy Yeary, The Mystery Train Blog and Elvis Australia. Graphic:  Elvis at the Richmond Coliseum, 18 March 1974, Copyright FTD Records.