Last weekend was the debut of yet another remake! This time a beloved Disney classic (based on their very first animated feature). I (like many) are tired of the never-ending remakes or sequel cycle, so I sought out an original!

Last Friday evening I saw the new action comedy, " Novocaine" starring up and coming star, Jack Quaid (Son of Hollywood stars Dennis Quaid & Meg Ryan), Amber Midthunder (famous for the Predator prequel, "Prey") and Ray Nicholson (Jack Nicholson's son). All three stars are great and having recently just seen "Companion" & "Opus" I'm really keeping my eyes on Quaid & Midthunder as they're both showing excellent range as actors in these unique and quite different films and roles. 

As far as "Novocaine" goes, the film should've been 20-30 minutes shorter as the film runs out of steam and had too many additional plots that were not necessary. I'm glad I saw it though as it was an enjoyable one time watch & was entertaining enough.

Last Sunday, Nicole & I caught the new Barry Levinson (director of "Rain Man", "Bugsy", "Wag The Dog", etc.) film "The Alto Knights" starring Robert De Niro in dual roles as real life mafia bosses Frank Costello & Vito Genovese. While the real life story was interesting, the film suffers from treading over way too familiar territory. De Niro's performance here can't be blamed as when he's acting out against himself, De Niro proves why he's still one of the best actors in the business. Real make-up and prosthetics were used instead of CGI, so that was a plus too. The film never really wowed me in any way unfortunately. This is a case where a documentary would've been more effective. Also, with De Niro's polarizing political rants and views, one may have difficulty with this film as well. 

I'm going to keep supporting more original films (at least films that are not remakes or sequels) as we need them in the theatres too!