COOP COOPER is an independently syndicated film critic with a split personality. His “Southern Side” prints mainstream reviews that appear in various print publications across the mid-south. His “Dark Side” from Los Angeles befouls the site with reviews of horror and grindhouse flicks. Welcome to the site where COOP’s two halves (and his contributors) review and debate the latest film/DVD releases…

For many of you couples, this is probably a common argument: He wants to see the new Bruce Willis action movie while she’d rather see the latest romantic comedy starring Julie Roberts. Now this may not apply to all guys. Girls, if you have a boyfriend/husband who likes most romantic comedies and Victorian Era dramas, then hold onto him. You’ve bagged yourself a sensitive, modern guy there. Since that description doesn’t apply to the majority of men, here is some advice for women trying to convince their significant other to see the latest “chick flick” (don’t worry tough guys… this benefits you too).

Firstly, don’t ever… EVER use the word “cute” to describe a movie. As soon as guys hear a movie is “cute” or “sweet” or any other adjective that conjures images of babies and puppy dogs, they immediately…

Homer Simpson: “You know something Marge, it’s not that tough being a film cricket.”

Me: “Bull@#$%!”

Contrary to popular belief it actually IS hard being a film cricket… I mean critic. A tough market shares some of the blame but a lot of us bloggers also have other jobs/projects/responsibilities burning on the stove. Then there’s family obligations, staying fit, the thankless job of single-handedly managing a website, not to mention the million other chores that keep us from spending our precious time at the keyboard (like we actually have to go out to see some movies for instance). For those of us who live in the sticks, the challenge of actually SEEING films can be magnified x 10. Then getting it to the publisher on time to make the paper while I’m juggling screenwriting, creating teaching documents and about a dozen other projects. What am I getting at here?…

In Part 1, the summer movie slate didn’t look to promising from April 9 – June 11 (with the exception of “Iron Man 2” and maybe “Kick-Ass”). Let’s see how the rest of the summer movies stack up… June 18 introduces another fringe comic book hero to the silver screen with “Jonah Hex”, about a disfigured, ex-Confederate soldier turned bounty hunter (Josh Brolin) who along with a prostitute (Megan Fox) battles supernatural forces of evil unleashed by a calculating villain (John Malkovich). While this western comic book franchise has a cult following among readers, the film will test the property’s potential for mass appeal…

Many people don’t realize the beginning of spring coincides with the launch of the summer movie season. While that might sound a bit early, and it is, you may have already noticed the 3-D remake blockbuster “Clash of the Titans” has already set a few records… despite severe critical backlash. It has already begun. Here are the summer (starting in spring) movies you might decide to spend your hard-earned summer (spring) cash on. Some have me cautiously optimistic. Others, not so much. Some I’m going to preemptively encourage you to keep your money in you wallet…

I dig viral marketing for its innovation and the way it can emmerse you further into a fictional experience. While it reaches only the most tech-savvy of fans, a good campaign can cause an overnight sensation and facilitate unprecedented levels of interest in a film that might have been ignored back in the days before the internet.
Studios have embraced the practice as well. They now dump a portion of their budget into creating viral marketing for their new releases. This works best for the genre flicks that have either a mythology or a mystery to work with. Let’s look at a few of the best and most successful viral campaigns out there and through the process, try to determine which strategies studios and film pioneers will use next…

If you don’t have a big cinema multiplex in your hometown, you can venture an hour or more to a city that does or you can choose to stay home and watch a DVD. For the sake of convenience most choose a night at home with a DVD. But what are your options when your local Blockbuster Video store goes out of business as it did recently in my how town of Clarksdale, Mississippi? Or, what if you’re done with antiquated video stores and you’re looking for something better? Fortunately, the modern age provides many options, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages…

These are the heroes that just won’t go down no matter what you thow at them. The best of the best. The Greatest. Here’s the criteria I used while making the list… a. The heroes must survive to the end of their film/franchise. b. No superheroes with superpowers. c. Pick heroes who represent cult phenom films. These are my results:

Click HERE to download “The Small Town Critic’s Movie/Film Review Lesson Plan.”
It might surprise some of you that I was once a High School English teacher…
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Okay, now that you’re done laughing, I know how hard it can be to develop a lesson plan that will engage students, access their prior knowledge, allows for scaffolding and [...]

One built monsters (and a few heroes) for a living. The other was a creature of grace and beauty. They both passed this week. Here are their tributes…
First, Stan Winston. He was the creator of such creatures as Alien, Predator, The Terminator and the dinosaurs from “Jurassic Park”…

I declare Cyd Charisse one of the most [...]

That’s all the old published reviews/articles I can find for now. I will post others once they resurface from the Batcave (or an old, lost document file). Now, on to the new reviews…
-Coop

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The summer movie season is upon us and Hollywood has already pulled out some big guns. “Gladiator” and “Dinosaur” are still doing well. “Mission Impossible 2” seems to be a huge early success. So why does Hollywood put out so many of their “summer movies” out before summer? It’s a race like any other actually. [...]

This will be my website until I get things further along. I plan to post movie reviews (one week after their projected print publication), archived reviews, features, contact info, ect…
Standby for more content.
Small Town Critic, out.
-Coop Cooper

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