Discussing Film, Music, TV, Books, Video Games and More
Lauren: Les Misérables is at the top of the list of stage productions I’ve been dying to see. As I wait for it to return to the St. Louis area, the release of the film adaptation is making a powerful attempt to remove me from my misery until that day finally comes.
Zac: Eh… [Read more...]
In Time is a mess of a movie with a weak script, little story, and a great allegory to go along with its creative premise. [Read more...]
In the original story of Little Red Riding Hood the Big Bad Wolf swallows the grandmother and the little girl whole, a gruesome, albeit impossible, ordeal to go through. However, this level of gruesomeness does not compare to sitting through Red Riding Hood, a loose film adaptation of this classic story that has forever tainted my childhood memories of hearing this tale. Let’s just say that I’d rather be swallowed alive than see this again…
In this adaptation Little Red Riding Hood isn’t so little anymore, after all that would make for one creepy romance scenario. Instead we follow a girl named Valerie who lives in a small village within a forested region who just so happens to have a red hooded cape. And then there’s the wolf, or in this case a werewolf that keeps the village living in fear. When they realize that the werewolf could be living among them in human form, everyone becomes a suspect. [Read more...]
Letters to Juliet is another entry into the romantic comedy genre that is about as cookie cutter as cookie cutters can get. It is predictable, cheesy, and underwhelming more often than not, but somehow even though I was rolling my eyes at it all, I couldn’t help but be charmed by the familiar love story.
While sightseeing alone during her pre-wedding honeymoon in Italy, Sophie comes across a wall where women post letters to Juliet (yes, that Juliet), asking for love advice. Seeing as she has a lot of free time thanks to her distracted fiancé, she decides to help out a group of women who call themselves the secretaries of Juliet by responding to a 50-year-old letter. Thanks to the power of movie time, it is not long before the author of this letter, who is now all grown up, has returned to Italy to take Sophie’s advice and hunt down her long lost love, to the dismay of the grandson who has come along, and just so happens to be Sophie’s age. Oooo sexual tension… [Read more...]
The latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation falls flat on the romantic side of things, but a fantastic turn by Richard Jenkins and the story around him make the picture worth seeing if you can get through the sap surrounding some of the other elements of the film.
John is a Special Forces soldier in March of 2001, while on leave back home in Charleston he meets a college girl, Savannah, on spring break and the two sweeps each other off their feet and begin a romance that they feel is true love. They decide to stay together and write letters to one another until John’s last year of service ends but as we know 9/11 is looming and they are destined to be kept apart. Each of them also has some close “family” members that both have autism and these relationships are the moments of the film that are most rewarding. John’s father is a high functioning autistic and John was oblivious to his condition which Savannah spots after spending much of her life supporting her neighbor’s son who is autistic. The neighbor’s, Henry Thomas, wife has left him and her son behind as he struggles to raise a child on his own. These stories are where this movie shines and I wish the focus was more on these characters. [Read more...]
Screenwriter Diablo Cody is back with Jennifer’s Body, following up Juno with another film about a foreign being taking up residence in a high school girl’s body. This time around she goes the demonic route with a darkly comedic “horror” film that sadly fails to live up to its full potential.
Though the title may apply more to the idea of her body being a vessel, Jennifer’s Body describes much more of this film’s title character. Jennifer is a very confident and outspoken high school girl who has no problem flaunting what God gave her. Unfortunately for her there is only room for one supernatural entity in this film. While at a bar with her best friend Needy, a weirdly explosive fire erupts, killing most of the people there. While in shock outside, Jennifer agrees to go with the band that had been playing that night in their creepy van, leaving Needy behind to worry about her. Eventually she shows up at Needy’s house covered in blood, starving, and sporting a really unnerving smile. Oh yeah, and she likes to eat people. [Read more...]
Diablo Cody’s second screenplay is full of great ideas and a number of good lines but something keeps Jennifer’s Body from gelling into a well paced and entertaining picture that seems to be hiding in there like the demons inside our title character.
The story follows the school’s hottest girl Jennifer and her best friend Needy whose unlikely friendship is probably based on Jennifer’s insecurities but the two are friends nonetheless. The two decide to attend a rock concert of a band, Low Shoulder, who are from the “big city” and Jennifer dreams of hooking up with their lead singer. The band though is a bit odd and is in search of a virgin which they think they should be able to find with ease at this small town gig. Jennifer lies about her sexual purity to the band and seeing that they have found their virgin an oddly suspicious fire erupts in the bar killing many local patrons and Low Shoulder uses the tragedy to lure Jennifer into their van and off into the night. Later when Needy gets home, Jennifer shows up in her house looking rather messed up, puking black goop all over the kitchen, and leaving as mysteriously as she arrived. Jennifer shows up at school the next day seemingly fine and as the school mourns the students and citizens lost in the fire more people end up mysteriously killed and we learn something seriously weird has happened to Jennifer. [Read more...]
New Girl was my most anticipated new comedy of the fall for one primary reason, Zooey Deschanel, and thankfully it seems to be worth the anticipation. … (more...)
The Hangover Part III is a step in the right direction, it is just such a long walk back to being good after Part II. … (more)
Kon-Tiki is a pretty straight forward biopic in its construction, but it tells an incredible story that allows some gorgeous imagery. … (more)
J.J. Abrams is back for another trek into Star Trek and fans of his first entry will have little to complain about with Into Darkness. … (more)
Baz Luhrmann brings The Great Gatsby to the big screen with a style and visual wonder that is irresistible, even when the story doesn't connect as … (more)
Upstream Color is now available to everyone, so I thought it's about time to break it down to the best of my abilities to help fuel the conversation. … (more)
Love them or hate them, Vampire Weekend’s latest album Modern Vampires of the City is a must listen of 2013. … (more)
Allison Weiss latest effort Say What You Mean brings a punky charm to a rather plastic singer/songwriter scene. … (more)
Iron and Wine continues his road down the glossy, highly produced road with Ghost on Ghost. This time around, however, he knocks this album out of … (more)
Kid Cudi third rap album Indicud reminds us just how unique and fun the former G.O.O.D. Music artist is, as he rides in and out of the most unique … (more)
Fall Out Boy comes out of hiding to release Save Rock and Roll, their highly anticipated fifth full length that doesn’t fall flat when it comes to … (more)
Daenerys army continues to grow, Samwell Tarly displays his brave side, Ser Davos becomes literate and Sansa's last name is Lannister in this … (more)
As I wipe the tears from my eyes, I think it is safe to say that Arrow knows how to end a season. … (more)
Right before our eyes, Jaime Lannister has gone from being one of the most hated, to one of the most respectable characters in the Game of Thrones … (more)
The new HBO show from Christopher Guest and his gang gets off to a great start that shows a lot of promise for the future. … (more)
Apparently, modern day witch hunts do exist. In case you haven’t heard the story of the West Memphis Three, now is your chance to read all about … (more)
Ross Matthews is right about one thing – any self-confidence he feels about his writing skills is without a doubt delusional. He’d have to be … (more)
Yes, this might possibly be (i.e., definitely is) yet another World War II book review that you by now have probably come to expect from me; but … (more)
I am really struggling to come up with an introduction that does this book justice, because to me, Me Before You was perfection. … (more)
Ken Levine deserves some kind of medal. First, he introduced us to the world of Rapture, where we would kindly roam the halls of a forgotten city … (more)
Plagued by delays and shortcomings, 2012 was an up-and-down year for video games. We saw triumphant returns to form, fantastic new IP's, and some … (more)
For future reference: when skydiving, be sure that your projected landing zone doesn’t happen to be an island full of evil pirates that are more … (more)