Review: The Grey
Joe Carnahan’s latest, The Grey, is half a great movie, it’s a shame it probably never would have gotten made if they didn’t have to include those wolves. The aspects surrounding the wolves isn’t a complete wash, but it is nowhere near as interesting as watching this group of guys try and survive and stare death in the face. There are →
Review: Man on a Ledge
Man on a Ledge is an adequate at best thriller that has an impressive cast, but is seemingly too guided by the studio hand to excel in any area of the filmmaking process. The film is a smorgasbord of ideas and genres, but it is all watered down and filled with one note characters. Take the film’s villain played by Ed →
Review: Red Tails
Red Tails is a long gestating project from George Lucas about the Tuskegee Airmen during WWII and the results are a good ole fashion war movie that overcomes its shortcomings through a likable cast and great action. George Lucas didn’t direct this film, that would be Anthony Hemingway, but he has been talking about making this for years, having a real →
Review: Haywire
Steven Soderbergh’s latest, Haywire, is a sleek and brutal action film that’s light on story, but isn’t really hurt by that in the slightest. Haywire is another new genre for Soderbergh, spy/espionage/action, and he feels just at home here as he does in every film he puts out. Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors and he doesn’t disappoint his fans →
Review: Beauty and the Beast 3D
Beauty and the Beast is back in theaters with the Disney 3D treatment and it is pretty much a success all around. The film is a deserved classic in the Disney cannon though it has never been my favorite from the era. Beauty and the Beast was part of the early 90’s resurgence for the company’s animation studio and while very →
Review: Joyful Noise
Joyful Noise is the first movie of 2012 I have reviewed and it is already in the running for the year’s worst. The film is an unbearable slog of a film that shows no craft whatsoever in both its filmmaking and musical performances. At two hours, the film felt like a freaking eternity and the filmmakers show no sense of pace →
Internet Film Critic Society: 2011 Year End Awards
I vote for these, even if I didn't get to see quite as much as I would like, but I felt pretty confident I wouldn't change much come February when I write up my year end list. For now this will have to hold you over till then as to where I fall, and I will say I don't agree →
Review: War Horse
War Horse is a beautiful and emotional look at war and the affect it has on just about everyone and everything around it. The film starts off a slowly as we get to know Joey, our protagonist horse, and his relationship with his owner, Albert. Albert is lower class and his family has always struggled to get by, but the situation →
Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the definitive version of this internationally renowned source material, besting both the book and the Swedish film of the same name. As we follow our protagonists, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, on separate, yet intertwined, paths, we get to uncover a murder mystery surrounding an affluent Swedish family, The Vanger’s, and ingest →
Review: The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a wonderful action-adventure that allows director Steven Spielberg to unleash every action beat/camera move he has never been able to do with the freedom of motion capture. Our protagonist is Tintin, a young and respected journalist who ends up on crazy globetrotting adventures that endlessly puts him in the face of danger. When Tintin purchases a →
Review: Young Adult
Jason Reitman's latest is another strong, yet lesser, effort from the young director and he gets a great performance out of his lead, Charlize Theron, who makes the most of Diablo Cody’s sharp screenplay. Theron plays Mavis Gary, a ghost writer for a formerly prominent young adult series that is coming to its unheralded conclusion. Feeling the pressure of her coming →
Review: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Brad Bird makes his live action debut with Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and the results are 2/3 of a great action movie that makes up for its minor third act missteps in the finale. Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg are the returning team members from the third film as we quickly discover Ethan Hunt is in a Russian prison. Benji, →
Review: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a solid sequel, but doesn't really advance the story or bring much new to the series. Picking up shortly after the first film, Sherlock Holmes is still in hot pursuit of Moriarty. The mastermind has been bombing multiple locations around England and causing a lot of stress upon Europe. Meanwhile, Watson has been busy →
Review: Shame
Steve McQueen’s Shame features the best performance of the year in Michael Fassbender and might also be the best film of 2011 on top of that. Our protagonist is Brandon, an affluent sex addict in contemporary New York City who spends almost every extra moment in his life "pleasuring" himself. Whether it is sex with women, masturbating at work, using call →
Review: The Artist
The Artist is an interesting homage to the silent film era that shows the format can still entertain, but it doesn't play with the format as much as it could; especially when it seems that it wants to. The picture takes place at the turn of the silent era into talkies and follows the path of Hollywood's biggest star George Valentin. →
Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the English language debut for Tomas Alfredson and the result is a marvelously acted and meticulously directed and plotted spy film that will reward those who give themselves over to the plot as it unfolds its twists and turns. When a British MI6 operation goes bad in Budapest, leaving a British agent shot, the “Circus’s” top →
Review: New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve is a terrible movie, one you shouldn’t see, and I hope it is a giant failure so we don’t get Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Arbor Day movies over the next three years. This is coming from someone who thought Valentine’s Day was a watchable mess, but this latest entry makes that film look phenomenal. In lieu of a normal →
Review: The Muppets
The Muppets is a joy of a film, as it is wonderful to have the gang back, and the sheer positivity of the characters paired with the excitement of seeing them on the screen again makes it easy to forgive a few shortcomings as you grin ear to ear over almost the entirety of the runtime. The film's narrative acknowledges the →
Review: Hugo
Martin Scorsese's Hugo takes a bit to find its way, but once it does it is a marvelous tale of filmmaking and wonder that is, quite possibly, the best use of 3D yet. The protagonist of our tale is Hugo Cabaret, an orphaned boy living with his uncle and working as a clock smith inside the walls of a Paris train →
TV Review: The Walking Dead 2.6: Secrets
The Walking Dead bides time after its big reveal in the barn by tying up some lingering plot lines before the mid season finale next week. The beginning of the episode gets off on the wrong foot as Glenn is forced to keep secrets for both Lori (which is understandable) and Maggie (which is ridiculous) as he must keep the baby →
Review: The Descendants
Alexander Payne returns from a seven year hiatus with the marvelous film, The Descendants, that is easily one of the best films of the year. George Clooney stars as Matt King, a successful lawyer who is the head of his family’s long held land trust which owns the largest plot of undeveloped land on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. The trust →
Am I A Zelda Fan?
I cannot wait for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword to come out this weekend, but can I be a Zelda fan (which I self identify as) if I have only ever played through two of the series' games in their entirety? The two games in the series I have played through are Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess and I →
Review: Like Crazy
Like Crazy is a very well made and acted romance that is a narrative mess and could have used a script instead of just an outline to frame the film around. Taking a similar cue from last year’s superb Blue Valentine, this heavily improvised romance follows a pair of young lovers as they meet in their final year of college. Instead →
Review: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
The Twilight Saga is coming to an end with Breaking Dawn: Part 1 and while some are counting away the days till it is out of their lives it should be remembered as a series that missed opportunities to actually be interesting. The film is an extended look at the first few weeks of Bella and Edward's marriage and it stresses →
