HST Discusses: This Means War
Zac: This Means War is the latest film from director McG, whose previous efforts I have had a lot of fun with. The Charlie’s Angels film and Terminator Salvation are at their worst fun action films and that is what I hoped for here. Sadly, I was ultimately disappointed with the end product, even with all the actors doing a →
Review of 21 Jump Street
If you don't know what 21 Jump Street is before seeing this movie, then welcome to my club. I knew that it was a show back in the 80's, but I was too young to know what it was. Luckily for me (and for the three of you who are with me), they decided to re-imagine the show →
Review: Big Miracle
Big Miracle is a surprisingly honest and political tale of community that has a bunch of good performances in a compelling story of survival. I was only four years old when this true story about freeing three grey whales trapped under the ice unfolded in Point Barrow, Alaska so the story was new to me from start to finish. Being dressed →
Now Playing Review – The Woman In Black
“Here comes the Woman in Black / Murderous Offender / Here comes the Woman in Black / She’s hard not to remember.” Yes, those are the catchy lyrics to Will Smith’s “Men in Black” with a few alterations of my own, but it is hard not to manipulate the lyrics of the chorus to fit this film even though they →
HST Discusses: Chronicle
Hello boys and girls! In this edition of HST Discusses, Alan and Lauren break out the fighting words over Chronicle, the new film about a group of boys who gain superpowers. Don’t worry, no one was harmed in the making of this (spoiler free) discussion. And if someone was harmed it would be Alan. No, Lauren did not write this →
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 →
Now Playing Review – Man On A Ledge
Not just any movie gets one of the stars to do a commentary track over its trailer, so Man On A Ledge must clearly be something special. Right? At least for we feeble minded individuals, anyway. A fellow reviewer said this to cap his review: “Man on a Ledge sets out to be a crowd pleaser and it might succeed at →
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 →
Now Playing Review – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
A few years back it became a hobby to make fun of the trend in marketing to describe things as extreme. Extreme sports are one thing (you aren’t going to see me jumping out of a helicopter into the middle of circling sharks while wearing a suit of meat with the goal of safely swimming back to shore. Way too →
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 →
HST Reviews: Contraband
Zac: So Lauren, you and I both saw Contraband this week, the new film staring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster and Giovanni Ribisi about a bunch of smugglers trying to iron out a family debt; what did you think? Lauren: I think that I am rather impressed with how easily you were able to narrow down that plot. Smuggling is →
Looking Ahead to 2012 – Quarter I (January – March)
With our lists of favorites of the past year done, it is now time to look ahead to what is to come this year. [Takes a gander] Holy F there is a lot! Did you read year? No, I said year through March. Silly you. Here is the list from your favorite writers at HST for what we are most →
HST’s Best of 2011: Movies
It was a great year for films, here are some highlights from the writers of HST. [Sorry to blow you away with my expressive introduction, it's just my talent shining through] (Note from Zac: My lame self still hasn't called 2011 quits when it comes to movies and will have my big annual write up come Oscar time in February. See →
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 →
For Your Renting Pleasure
As the year winds down to an end, I find myself trying to squeeze in a bunch of films that I haven't seen from the past year, all while rewatching some of the highlight films in order to compile a best of list (Be on the look out for those to start the first week of January!). Click more to →
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 →
For Your Renting Pleasure
A few weeks have passed since my last compilation post of movie rentals, and I should be ashamed at my lack of movie watching, but I have still spent a large percentage of my time wisely! We're talking playing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword on that stupid Wii and rewatching all three previous seasons of Parks and Recreation on →
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 of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Before going on to the review, I must warn a vast majority of you all that are interested in seeing David Fincher's adaptation of Stieg Larsson's book series The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. If you cannot handle any sort of ultra-violence, which includes pictures of brutal murders and a couple of scenes of rape and torture, then →
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, →
