Bill Newcott

1 week ago | saturdayeveningpost.com | Bill Newcott

The Surfer⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Rating: RRun Time: 1 hour 40 minutesStars: Nicolas Cage, Finn Little, Julian McMahonWriter: Thomas MartinDirector: Lorcan FinneganHere’s a little inside-baseball tidbit about film critics: Most of us can’t wait for the next Nicolas Cage movie to come out, because there’s just no telling what that guy is going to do next. By my reckoning, over the past decade Cage, among the screen’s most accomplished actors, has headlined just one or two big-budget flicks.

2 weeks ago | saturdayeveningpost.com | Bill Newcott

Pink Floyd at Pompeii — MCMLXXII ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Rating: G Run Time: 1 hour 32 minutes Stars: David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason Director: Adrian Maben In the early 1970s, the British rock group Pink Floyd was poised to leave behind its beloved but increasingly self-indulgent blend of blues and psychedelia in favor of catchy, thematically complex songs that might, in the words of band member Nick Mason, make them “far less difficult to enjoy.” But before they could move on to...

3 weeks ago | saturdayeveningpost.com | Bill Newcott

Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Rating: RRun Time: 2 hours 3 minutesStars: Tommy Chong, Cheech MarinDirector: David BushellIf ever there were artists who were specifically, indelibly a product of their time, that would be the comedy team Cheech & Chong, whose stoned, defiantly profane celebration of America’s 1970s drug culture cruised through the period’s social barriers with bleary-eyed, munchie-chomping, doobie-lighting glee.

3 weeks ago | saturdayeveningpost.com | Bill Newcott

If it’s a ghost town you’re looking for, there’s none in America more haunted than Texas’s Washington-on-the-Brazos, where even the buildings are ghosts. When Texans talk about The Revolution, there’s an even chance they’re not referring to the spat that involved George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in 1776, but instead the one headlined by Sam Houston and Stephen Austin in 1836. For nearly 190 years, the eyes of Texas have seldom gazed much farther back than the Texas Revolution.

4 weeks ago | saturdayeveningpost.com | Bill Newcott

The Shrouds⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Rating: R Run Time: 1 hour 59 minutesStars: Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy PearceWriter/Director: David CronenbergReviewed at the Toronto International Film FestivalOften — too often — art is born of pain. The resulting work can be difficult to look at, and everyone is welcome to turn away. But there’s no telling the artist to ignore their personal agony. It has to be expressed, like a cry…or a howl.