Lauren: If there’s one thing that overwhelmed my thought process while watching Man of Steel, it was this: “Batman couldn’t do that.”
Zac: But Batman’s movies and characters are better.
Lauren: Nope. [Read more...]
Dissecting Man of Steel: Does Superman Sink or Soar?
06/13/2013 by Leave a Comment
The Breakdown: Man of Steel Trailer 3
04/17/2013 by Leave a Comment
Not that the others were disappointments or anything, but this was the Man of Steel trailer I’ve been waiting for. Check it out after the break! [Read more...]
Film Review: Trouble with the Curve
09/20/2012 by Leave a Comment
Trouble with Curve is the directorial debut from Robert Lorenz and it is a painful paint by numbers affair that doesn’t excel in any way shape or form. [Read more...]
Film Review: The Master
09/20/2012 by 1 Comment
The Master is the latest from Paul Thomas Anderson and it is as magnetic and mesmerizing as anything put out in theaters this year.
Film Review: The Muppets
11/23/2011 by Leave a Comment
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. [Read more...]
Review: The Fighter
12/17/2010 by Leave a Comment
The Fighter is a fine character study mixed in with a nice little true life sports movie that I can’t help but feel didn’t reach its potential or bar set by its peers.
Following the last attempt of Mickey Ward to win a boxing title we dive into the people around him and shape him into the boxer he has become. Unfortunately the boxer he has become is on a losing streak and Mickey seems destined to be another one of the many has-beens of the boxing world. His brother Dicky is one of those has-beens but is thinking about making a comeback for which he is being followed around by an HBO camera crew. Dicky is the pride of Lowell, Mass., where the brothers are from and still reside, and Mickey has always played second fiddle to both Dickey and their Mom who seems most concerned about the elder sibling’s career. After getting his ass kicked by a last minute replacement in his apparent stepping stone match, Mickey and his new girlfriend Charlene begin to outline a new plan for him as his family life spins out of control.
Now Playing Review: Leap Year
01/08/2010 by Leave a Comment
Leap Year has the cast and story to become at least a cute romantic comedy, though completely unoriginal, but all I can say is if this movie shows what happens on a leap year, then I am really glad they only come around once every four years.
Anna is the type of person with her life planned out. She already has a job she loves and is good at, she is (hopefully) moving into her dream apartment, and her boyfriend is about to propose to her. Or, at least she thought as much. Turns out more than one thing can come in that little box. Taking control of the situation, Anna decides to follow Jeremy to Ireland in order to propose to him on Leap Day (a tradition in which women are “allowed” to propose to their boyfriends and not have to wait around for them to pop the question). Unfortunately for Anna, her plane hits a rough patch and has to land early, making her journey to Dublin a little more problematic. Good thing there is a handsome Irishman to put up with her long enough to help her along the scenic route.
Review: Leap Year
01/08/2010 by Leave a Comment
Leap Year is a conventional rom-com that makes all the prescribed moves and is entirely predictable; only its two likeable leads and excellent cinematography save it from being an absolute failure.
Amy Adams and Matthew Goode are just to fine of actors to be in this trivial and run of the mill premise where the only fresh thing about the picture is its Irish setting. The gimmick of this film is that Amy Adams’s character, Anna, decides to go to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on the one day that it is apparently ok for the woman to propose in the relationship; February 29th, Leap Day. Her boyfriend is a good guy, just lacks emotional initiative, her trip to Dublin doesn’t go as planned though and she takes a very roundabout way to get there in which she runs into a handsome Irish man, Declan (Goode); guess where this is going. The two then slowly trek their way to Dublin as a number of unfortunate incidents force them to bond and get closer to each other than they hoped for.
The film follows all of the conventions of the genre and it’s a real shame they couldn’t take the film in more interesting places with such strong leads. Adams and Goode are both charming enough and fine enough actors for us to go along with most of the genre’s shenanigans, but even they can’t overcome the contrived turns at the end. This film also another victim of completely victimizing a poor undeserving sap that gets tossed aside for doing nothing of consequence. Why do the guys that get dumped not do horrible things to deserve it anymore in romantic comedies? Now all it takes to leave a guy it seems is a bit of an accent and rugged looks and women are completely ok with the stars of these films dumping their men. [Read more...]
Suggestion Box (Nov. 9 – 16)
11/16/2009 by Leave a Comment
Clash of the Titans Trailer – Yay violence, mythology, creatures and CGI. Check it out here.
Date Night Trailer – Two of TV’s best comedians finally come together for this film. Should be great. Check out Tina Fey and Steve Carell here.
Green Zone Trailer – Matt Damon doing what he does best. Check it out here.
Leap Year Trailer – Who knows if this film will move beyond the usual romantic comedy, but I am pretty much willing to watch Amy Adams in anything, so here’s to high hopes. Check it out here.
Now Playing Review – Julie & Julia
08/10/2009 by Leave a Comment
Unfortunately for Amy Adams, the title, Julie & Julia, is a slight exaggeration on the importance of her character to the film. It would be a better representation if it was something along the lines of: Julia Child and Why She Deserves to Have Some Random Woman Dedicate A Year of Her Life to Her. But I guess that has too many words to fit nicely on the poster…
It is not that Amy Adams does not do a great job with the role she is given, but when competing with Meryl Streep’s Julia Child, it is no question that Adams is going to lose. Throughout the film Streep paints a portrait of the eccentric woman that Child was, using her mannerisms, voice, personality, insecurities and cooking prowess to do so, something which any lesser actor could have turned into a caricature.
Review: Julie & Julia
08/07/2009 by Leave a Comment
Nora Ephron’s adaptation of two books connected to the life and teachings of the chef Julia Child is an often hilarious yet a bit overly long tale that overall is quite the success in the end and carries one of the finest performances of the year.
Julie Powell is a wannabe writer. Having written half a novel and never got around to finishing it, she is now living a life in a cubicle and at home in a nine hundred square foot studio apartment in Queens with her husband. While the couple is happy, Julie dreams of more and hopes to follow through on something once in her life. Enter Julia Child’s book Mastering the Art of French Cooking and a goal of preparing every recipe in the book over the course of the year while blogging about her experiences online. Julie’s story is intercut with Julia Child’s first adventures into cooking and her success along the way both professionally and personally as her relationship with her husband Paul takes center stage. We follow the two as they move through their lives and their paralleling of sorts works us towards Julie’s deadline to finish all the recipes in the book. [Read more...]
Review: Sunshine Cleaning
04/10/2009 by Leave a Comment
This indie comedy has a few really bright moments and is never dulls, but fails to take full advantage of its interesting premise, but still manages to be an intriguing character study.
Rose is a single mother living paycheck to paycheck working for maid service company as she works toward getting her real estate license. Norah is her kind of a loser sister who lives at home, goes out and parties, and gets fired from her job and doesn’t really care. When Rose gets a bit of a wake up call from a high school friend she runs into while cleaning her house, she decides she needs to do something more with her life. Enter Rose’s adulteress lover, Mac, which she meets at the local motel when she should be preparing for her real estate license. Mac is a cop and an ex-high school sweetheart of Rose, but he went off and married someone else from there class. Anyways, Mac tells Rose that she should put her cleaning skills to better use by cleaning up crime scenes and recently deceased homes, where she can apparently make a killing (no pun intended). Rose, at the request of her father, drafts Norah to help out with the cleaning service and the two begin to steal business from the local regulars. [Read more...]
Review: Doubt
01/06/2009 by Leave a Comment
The film adaptation of this award winning play is superbly acted, beautifully shot, and while maybe a bit long winded from time to time, it remains constantly engaging and keeps you guessing and talking after the film is over.
Sister James (Amy Adams) is the newest sister and teacher at the local Bronx church school which is run by Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meyrl Streep), a old school, tough as nails nun that hands out punishment at will and always looking to straighten some one out. Sister Aloysius is also always looking out for the best for her church and school, and the newest priest, Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), has popped up on her radar. Flynn is seeking change in the church, Flynn is a threat to Aloysius and her ways and when Sister James notices an odd behavior from the school’s only black student Donald Miller after he was called to the rectory by Father Flynn. Aloysius reading into the encounter assumes the worst, and quickly gets the naive and vulnerable Sister James behind her in her investigation. A game of posturing and positioning between Flynn and Aloysius begins, while Aloysius turns over every stone to pin her accusations on Flynn. [Read more...]
Review: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
03/12/2008 by Leave a Comment
This adaptation of a book by the same name is a fun period film for the actors to have some fun in, and they do, but ultimately is a bit off in a couple of areas and doesn’t gel overall as a film.
Amy Adams and Frances McDormand star as a bubbly, American, wanna be actress and a British nanny who is down on her luck, respectively. The film takes place over the entirety of one day and that plot device constrains the film and only serves the purpose for a food joke that I can see. The film also involves a love triangle for McDormand and a love square Adams [Read more...]
Review: Charlie Wilson's War
12/27/2007 by Leave a Comment
Mike Nichols new film is a great piece of history through film with a story that few people probably have heard of or know much about in the first place.
Tom Hanks stars as the title character; a congressman from a small district in Texas that you would think didn’t have much power, but has a direct impact on the outcome of the cold war. [Read more...]
