Posts tagged Ray Liotta
The Identical “Cheap Copy”
Sep 10th
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE IDENTICAL is not a very good movie about what might have happened if Elvis Presley’s twin brother had not died at birth, but had been given away to another couple who couldn’t have children.
The other couple are evangelist preacher Reece Wade, played by Ray Liotta, and his wife, Louise, played by Ashley Judd.
So, the movie follows their lives and the life of their adopted son, whom they name Ryan Wade, rather than the life of the more successful twin brother, who becomes a very successful singer named Drexel “The Dream” Hemsley.
The story begins in 1935, the same year in which Elvis was born, in Decatur, Alabama, where Helen Hemsley gives birth to twin boys and says to her husband, “William, Honey, meet your sons.”
But times are hard, it is the middle of the Great Depression, and William doesn’t have a job, but he had recently attended a revival meeting where Reverend Wade had revealed that he and his wife had not been able to have children.
So, believing that they could raise one child but not two, and taking the expression “It is better to give than to receive” to heart, the Hemsleys give one of the twin boys to Reverend Wade and his wife to raise, making them promise to keep the secret, and then pretending to bury that son and telling people that he had died at birth.
Well, naturally, Reverend Wade wants Ryan to have a calling and to follow him into preaching for a life, but Ryan has other interests, such as music, and he seems to have a talent for that, even taking his guitar with him when he spends two years in the Army and singing for his buddies in his job in the motor pool.
Ryan eventually convinces his father that he doesn’t have the calling to be a preacher and moves out on his own, dating a girl named Jenny, whom he had met when they were younger, and finally marrying her.
Meanwhile, Drexel has become a huge success, people remark how much Ryan looks like Drexel, and when Ryan wins a Drexel impersonating contest, his own singing career takes off, being billed as “The Identical,” as in the identical copy of Drexel “The Dream” Hemsley.
THE IDENTICAL is a very cheap copy of Elvis.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Identical – Movie Trailer
Sep 7th
Identical twin brothers (both played by Blake Rayne) are separated at birth during the Great Depression. Their parents (Brian Geraghty, Amanda Crew) just cannot afford to give them both a life beyond poverty, so one is adopted by loving family. Despite their very different upbringings, the boys’ shared passion for music causes their lives to unknowingly intersect as they experience a powerful and mysterious connection often felt by twins.
“Muppets Most Wanted” Most Enjoyable
Mar 26th
“Most Enjoyable”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
MUPPETS MOST WANTED reminded me of that old vaudeville saying, “a little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants,” as the Muppets once again do what they do best: act silly and be entertaining during the course of a story that brings them all together.
All your favorite Muppets are back, and many of your favorite human entertainers appear in surprising cameos or as major characters advancing the story.
The cameos include such entertainers as Tony Bennett, Hugh Bonneville, Sean Combs, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Salma Hayek, Frank Langella, Ray Liotta, Usher, Stanley Tucci, and Christoph Waltz, who in fine Muppet tradition dances the waltz onstage during a performance in Berlin.
The story has the Muppets reuniting and being convinced to go on a world tour by Dominic Badguy, played by Ricky Gervais, who promises them houses that will be sold out and worldwide adoration if they will hire him to be their manager.
Dominic says, “Kermit, how about the Muppets go on a world tour?” and says that his last name is pronounced “Badgee” even though it looks like “Badguy,” because it is French and actually means “Good guy.”
Meanwhile, Constantine, the World’s Most Dangerous Frog, breaks out of a gulag prison in Russia and becomes an integral part of the story, because he looks just like Kermit, except that he has a dark mole above his lip.
Well, Dominic has a dastardly plan for the cities he picks for the world tour, and, sure enough, Constantine replaces Kermit on the tour, and Kermit is arrested as Constantine and sent back to the Russian gulag, whose commandant is Nadya, played by Tina Fey.
After a museum robbery in Berlin engineered by Dominic and Constantine, Interpol sends Jean Pierre Napoleon, played by Ty Burrell, and Sam Eagle from the CIA shows up to solve the case, but after interviewing all the Muppets, they conclude that the Muppets are too stupid to be behind the robberies, which now include another museum robbery in Madrid.
Meanwhile, back at the gulag, Nadya has ordered Kermit to be in charge of the annual musical review, and she has started to have fond feelings for Kermit.
Incidentally, stay for the end and Nadya’s solo, which is priceless.
MUPPETS MOST WANTED of course contains a major marriage subplot with Miss Piggy.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
