To paraphrase an old car commercial: This ain’t your father’s Halloween. No indeed. Where John Carpenter’s 1978 film was a modern fairy-tale about the dangers of pre-marital sex, Rob Zombie’s version eliminates the moralizing over-tones and brings in a back story which tries to define, once and for all, how an American psychopath is made.
And it works. Mostly. Continue reading “Review: Rob Zombie’s Halloween”
When I go see a Kevin Bacon film, I have come to expect a certain level of quality. Like anything else, most people have expectations when they walk into a film. You’ve seen the trailers and noted the actors and based on those things, there is a certain implied contract between the film and the audience. This is why Adam Sandler or Mike Myers rarely work when cast in a serious film. So when I went to see the new revenge thriller Death Sentence, I expected a thought provoking film, one which ruminated on the topics of death and revenge. And for the first 30 minutes or so, that’s exactly what I got. Continue reading “Review: Death Sentence”
Once upon a time, there was a film that encapsulated the idea of the modern fairy tale in a perfect 130 minute package. That film went by the title of Stardust and it has everything a fantasy film could want… there’s an evil witch, a scheming prince (or four), a fallen star, a quest for love, and hidden lineage which leads to great things – and Robert De Niro as a blood-thirsty air-pirate named Shakespeare!
To be fair, I’m not going to tell you anything about the plot. It’s not that the plot is so mysterious or anything, in fact, it’s almost wonderfully predictable, but this movie is so much fun I want you to have a good time just letting it unfold before your eyes. So then, what shall we talk about to fill up this review? Continue reading “Review: Stardust”
The problem with experimental films is that sometimes they fail. Sunshine is just such a film. Directed by Danny Boyle from a script by Alex Garland, this has a wonderful pedigree – these are the same guys, after all, who brought us 28 Days Later – and really should work. But it doesn’t.
This isn’t to say the film is a complete failure. In fact, not only is it quite beautiful to look at, for the first half it’s very good. Like a lot of modern films though, it falls apart in the conclusion, mostly, I think because Boyle and Garland don’t trust their audience. Continue reading “Review: Sunshine”
The time has come, I think, to officially create a sub-genre in the dramedy film category for the hitman movie. There have been a number of them through out history: The Professional, Gross Pointe Blank, Coldblooded, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and now, a new one joins the ranks and for me, it’s number one… with a bullet. Continue reading “Review: You Kill Me”
Two things about No Reservations, right here at the top, just to get them out of the way. They relate to each other and I think it’s important they both get mentioned, in order: first, this isn’t a bad film… it’s just not a very good one and second, if you want to know everything, and I mean everything important, that happens in this film, watch the trailer. Because if you’ve seen the trailer, then there are no surprises in the 105 minutes you’re going to spend in the theater. Personally, I find that a little troublesome because it takes a movie which could have been a cute, romantic comedy and turns it into a by-the-numbers rehash of every cliché in the book. As icing on the cake, No Reservations isn’t even original in its unorginality – it’s a remake of the 2002 German filmMostly Martha. Continue reading “Review: No Reservations”
Pixar is the best movie studio in the English speaking world. I’m not sure if that claim is too big, but honestly, I’ve never seen them miss and they certainly don’t in their latest, Ratatouille. This film has heart, charm, darkness, love, wit, and just a soupçon of silliness… and all of this without the benefit of any actual actors on screen. Continue reading “Review: Ratatouille”
No one does sarcastic action hero better than Bruce Willis. There, I said it. And no matter how many people try to top him at it, it just doesn’t play as well as if it were Bruce Willis. Why is this so important to state, though? Because there are many pretenders to the John McClane throne and even though it’s been twelve years since the last time Willis has donned the McClane mantle, in Live Free or Die Hard he slips it on like he’s wearing an comfortable old suit and man is it great to see him back. Continue reading “Review: Live Free or Die Hard”
The filmmakers behind Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix have done something a little risky. Here, in the fifth installment of the wildly popular series, they’ve not only shied away from the light, airy world created by Christopher Columbus in the first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but they’ve also ignored any type of pre-film summary. When the lights go down in the theatre, the film starts. Just like that. There’s no “previously, in Harry Potter…” synopsis of everything that’s gone before. And good on them, I say. By this point in the series, if you’re just joining in, there’s just too much back story to try and deal with. Go rent the other four if you need to catch up… we’ll wait. Continue reading “Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”
About twenty minutes into Michael Bay’s tent-pole blockbuster Transformers my eight-year-old nephew Bailey said, without ever taking his eyes off the screen, “Now, this is the good part.” What he was referring to was the first major battle between competing super robot factions Autobots and Decepticons. And he was right. Continue reading “Review: Transformers”
Michael Moore has an agenda. Let me say that right off the bat. There is no such thing as completely objective reporting, everyone has an angle, a point of view and Moore certainly has an agenda with every film he’s ever made. Like him or hate him, what he is doing is expressing HIS views of the situation. With that in mind,SiCKO is probably his least controversial film to date. Is there any controversy, of course, this IS Michael Moore, but instead of creating a personal attack-filled one-sided argument like he did in Fahrenheit 9/11 or a meandering, directionless search for answers like Bowling for Columbine, he gets back to his Roger & Me roots and goes after answers with a laser-like accuracy. Continue reading “Review: SiCKO”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… George Clooney is the Dean Martin of this generation. He defines cool – women want to go to bed with him, guys want to play poker with him. And neither side cares about the other. This is why he’s the perfect Danny Ocean, regardless of the fact it was Sinatra who played him in the original. See, the thing is, Sinatra is beyond cool. He is legend. He is icon. Martin, though, he’s a real flesh and blood man. He’s human, with flaws and foibles. And Clooney is his heir apparent. Continue reading “Review: Ocean’s Thirteen”
Before we can really talk about this film, we need to talk about definitions. This is where a lot of film critics run into trouble. We look at movies differently than normal people. In fact, just the other day, my own mother asked me if there were any films I actually liked. Now the reason for this is because we, sometimes, expect more from a film than possibly the filmmakers themselves. Continue reading “Review: 1408”
Do you ever get the feeling that people making superhero movies have never read a comic book? With the exception of Sam Raimi, it seems to me that all these directors and writers being hired to bring the men and women in tights to life on the big screen treat the job offer as a paycheck assignment and entry into a big budget world as opposed to the sacred trust it really is. When you are brought on board to make a film based on a spandex-clad icon, you have a responsibility to the fans, to the people who grew up with these characters. Director Tim Story, in his second go around with these characters, almost gets it right. Continue reading “Review: Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer”
It took me a while to write this review because I really wanted to like the film. Honestly, I did. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, for me it just didn’t work. Okay, to be fair, a lot of films don’t work. So why am I so concerned about this particular effort? Because it was so close to working that I want to reward the effort and encourage writer/director Taika Waititi to make more films! Continue reading “Review: Eagle vs. Shark”
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 