Will Wright: Award-Winning Indie Journalism, Writing, incl SpeechWriting
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Forty Years after Reiner’s “Stand by Me,” Ben King’s Hit Song Resonates
I’m sure I heard Ben King’s hit “Stand by Me” before I saw the film. Rob Reiner’s 1986 adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Body,” “Stand by Me” came out as summer ended around Sept. 5th. In the American lore of coming-of-age experienced, summer has persistently been a mile-marker of these experiences! According to TV shows…
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Hitchcock’s 1948 “Rope” Recounts Leopold & Loeb Murder, and Out-Dated Psych
I barely remember the movie “Rope”. The Alfred Hitchcock film with “no cuts” came out in 1948 well before my birth! August 28th marks an anniversary of the film’s release. As for the real “inspiration” for the film, and self-conscious exercise of snotty young men, 19-year-old Nathan Leopold and 18-year-old Richard Loeb’s, self-perceived brilliance and…
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In 1987 “Dirty Dancing” was Much More than Most of Us Thought!
As with many films the GenXers know, they wonder “how is “Dirty Dancing” nearly 40-years-old”? On August 21, “Dirty Dancing” was released in 1987. What any of us saw might be disparate from what or how we remember it more than 30 years later. The youngster dance and romance story aged in a peculiar way.…
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Even if You’ve Not Seen “It Happened One Night,” You’ve Seen What It Built
A film, 1934’s “It Happened One Night,” which no one outside of film students and historians have seen, but one most viewers have seen! That film didn’t create, but crystalized traits that during the last near century have become tropes in romantic comedies. I’m more cerebral. So I have not habit for watching romantic comedies.…
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Redemption, Friendship, Identity. The Beacon of “The Shawshank Redemption” Still Burns
To opine on 1994’s “The Shawshank Redemption,” when the last time I saw it was at least 10-years-ago, is a risk. Reading in order to inform my prose I’m reminded of Morgan Freeman’s voiceover, and Andy’s downpour shower after having crawled through a sewer tunnel. And fans have forgotten or weren’t alive when “The Shawshank…
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Three Decades after “The Fugitive” Chase, Where are Smart, Black Chase Films?
I’ve seen “The Fugitive” since I saw it in a cinema. It came out in 1993 and ultimately earned $369-mil. As could happen back then, it played in theaters for six weeks. I remember a well-paced, propulsive story with well-drawn characters. It had a clear moral compass. Until I read a retrospective article about the…
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Most Movie Portrayals of Combat are Bullsh_t. The beginning of “Saving Private Ryan”?
Most action or war films don’t show candid or accurate stress and peril of fighting. It’d upset even offend viewers. 1998’s “Saving Private Ryan,” changed that. In 1998 with the opening depiction of the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach in “Saving Private Ryan,” Spielberg was driven to portray the horror and stress of combat, above…
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How Has “Die Hard” Lasted in Movie Memory for 38 Years!
As with many remarkable films which I saw and absorbed as a teenager, I was too young to note that “Die Hard,” which is 38 years, was upturning a decades-established genre. I know and remember “Die Hard,” which came out during the summer of 1988. I was in high school. I’m a very different man…
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Richard Roundtree, and “Shaft’s” Resonance on the Actor’s July 9th Birthday
In Hollywood career and celebrity terms Richard Roundtree, who was born July 9 1942, immortalized John Shaft, the titular character in “Shaft,” and affirmed a modern and sure Black manhood. He was born on July 9th. I guess that I need to be grateful? I don’t know what is was as a Black man circa…
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The July 4th Movie Corridor as a Gate for Movie Events. But…
Ever since Chat GPT told me that “event” or “tent pole” movies are a thing because 1975’s “Jaws” brought the blockbuster to and 1996’s “Independence Day” wrought the July 4th movie corridor upon cinemas, my eyebrows raised. When an algorithm reigns, and human perspective carries less influence how do independent voices succeed? I guess I’m…
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Will Wright: Award-Winning Independent Journalism, Exec Oratory and More... 