TheFilmChair.com | A Clevelander's musings on Movies, Indie Film, TV and Pop Culture

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Posted by Dan Stasiewski on May 21, 2013

Supes! Zod! Jor-El! New MAN OF STEEL Character Posters

If you read my rant on why I hate The Dark Knight Rises, then you understand my skepticism at the prospect of a Nolan-produced Superman movie. But at every turn—a new trailer, new images—that skepticism is being challenged. Now comes a set of character posters featuring Superman, General Zod and Jor-El that make me excited despite my better judgement. Check ‘em out: via Superman: Man of Steel...

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Posted by Dan Stasiewski on Feb 24, 2013

Last Minute Oscar Predictions

Well, it’s about two hours away from the show and I thought I’d finally post something about the Oscars. If I were a braver man, I’d go all in for Amour and have Alan Arkin winning his second Oscar while riding the Argo wave. After all, 2012 feels a lot like 2002, when Roman Polanski’s The Pianist won more awards than anyone was expecting. But being this being the most...

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Posted by Dan Stasiewski on Jan 9, 2013

The Oscar Nominations Are Tomorrow… Here are My Predictions

The Oscar nominations are early than they have ever been before. And the voting process has completely changed with online voting available for the first time this year. What does that mean? Who knows. With no clear Best Picture front runner this year, for the first time in a very long time, it’s even tougher to gauge Academy sentiment. So, here’s my shot at predicting the nominees in bigger...

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Posted by Dan Stasiewski on Jul 21, 2012

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES movie review

The Dark Knight Rises *1/2 out of **** I haven’t written a review on this site in year. Why am I writing this one? Because I can’t contain my contempt for The Dark Knight Rises and all of its careless storytelling, unwieldy filmmaking and lazy character development. Because it doesn’t succeed on any level, outside of Nolan’s ego-driven, James Cameron-like screwing around. Because the only thing...

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Posted by Dan Stasiewski on Sep 13, 2011

BIG 6: The SpongeBob effect, Tyler Perry is so money, more

SpongeBob Found to Impair Preschoolers’ Thinking Now, I’m no developmental psychologist, but several things about the conclusion being drawn here leap out at me. First, this was a group of four-year-olds, who are not the target audience for SpongeBob, and with good reason — the humor in SpongeBob is largely based in irony and sarcasm, two concepts that few kids under the age of six are likely to...

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Posted by Dan Stasiewski on Sep 12, 2011

Hannibal Lecter TV series coming with Bryan Fuller on board

The thought of a Hannibal Lecter TV series might cause a knee-jerk reaction. Like mine: “Stop effing with a masterpiece.” Of course, that only really takes into account The Silence of the Lambs (and to a lesser extent Manhunter). I always forget that even Anthony Hopkins couldn’t save Hannibal or Red Dragon. And there’s Hannibal Rising, which I didn’t see and never plan...

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Posted by Dan Stasiewski on Sep 12, 2011

BIG 6: Emotional superheroes, Creative Emmys, RIP Cliff, more

Superheroes Have Feelings, Too – Why Hollywood Should Show Them After all, Batman can’t walk around Gotham beating up bankers just on principal. So how do our heroes fit into this world of moralistic grey? Easy, they don’t. Maybe that is why the new slew of Hollywood superhero films have left us feeling, well, not so super. It’s as if we have become desensitized to the violence and gore...

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Posted by Dan Stasiewski on Sep 10, 2011

Rust Belt Rivals: What Marvel & DC tell us about Cleveland & Pittsburgh

If you live in Cleveland or Pittsburgh, you probably have Dec. 8 and Jan. 1 marked on your calendar. Those are the dates when the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns are scheduled have their two regular season clashes. The Browns, the underdogs with very loyal fans, have only won four of the 24 contests since 1999. In that same time, Pittsburgh has gone to three Superbowls and won two. The...

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