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...]
Zac: The Dark Knight Rises supposedly brings us to the end of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, and the reactions to it have been fairly positive for the most part (Zac’s Review). Still, the latest Batman film leaves a lot to be discussed and Lauren and I have decided to get into spoilers to see what really worked, and what didn’t, for the film.
Lauren: That’s right; feel free to read this in your Batman voice. [Read more...]
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises concludes his Batman series with a wonderful finale as Christian Bales delivers his best performance of the trilogy.
Love and Other Drugs is the latest from Ed Zwick and features a couple of great lead performances in a story that does a lot of things well but has a hard time finding a narrative through line.
Zwick is a history buff and likes to blend fiction with facts and this is another example of that approach; only this time it is not an action film but a raw romantic comedy as his template. The history surrounding our story is the pharmaceutical industry in the late 90’s and a certain little blue pill that changed the industry. Following an up and coming phrama rep, Jamie Randall, who has a long list of jobs never quite living up to his potential he finds his stride selling drugs to doctors. While trying to swoon one doctor, Jamie, meets a girl, Maggie, with Parkinson’s and the two, of course, begin to fall for each other. Their rode is not an easy one though and they find sex is the thing that comes easiest to the two of them.
The 1951 animated version of Alice’s story is far from the top of my list of favorite Disney films from my childhood, but that does not keep me from being overly disappointed in the additional trip down the rabbit hole in this year’s Alice in Wonderland.
13 years following young Alice’s nightmare riddled nights of a mysterious world with crazy talking creatures, Alice finds herself all grown up and in the midst of an engagement party celebrating the proposal that has yet to occur. When the question is finally popped Alice decides to avoid responding and exercise her affinity for chasing clothed rabbits down really deep holes. When she eventually makes it into Wonderland a welcoming party of a few familiar faces greets her and we learn that the run in with the rabbit in the real world was a planned occurrence on his part. Apparently since the last time Alice was there things have taken a turn for the worse and the inhabitants have been searching for the right Alice to fulfill the prophesy of bringing an end to the Red Queen’s reign of terror. Unfortunately for them Alice is less that enthusiastic about filling those big shoes. [Read more...]
I still stand behind the fact that I am not a fan of this day, but Valentine’s Day has at least warmed my heart enough to be capable of acknowledging it as an acceptable holiday. But just this once.
In a nutshell, Valentine’s Day takes a group of characters that tie together in simple ways and depicts the relationships in their lives, whether they be familial, budding romances, friendships, till death do you part relationships, or what have you. The stories are all familiar and never veer from what is expected of them (except for one storyline), but the humor and the majority of the casting are enough to keep it entertaining and enjoyable. With the predictable stories the film also occasionally dips into the cheesier elements of the romcom genre, but it was at least not as sappy as the trailers that were shown prior to the film. [Read more...]
Valentine’s Day is a bunch of good actors, looking pretty, and doing decent work in paint by numbers plot and unimaginative entry into the rom-com genre; whose formula has been done much better in a few films still fresh in the memory.
Now, this film is bound to bring in the bank for a number of reasons; lots of big name stars, appropriately timed release over the romantic holiday weekend, and its familiar plot lines a plenty being peddled in the film’s trailer. Now beyond this surface assessment people can make from the trailer and the poster, the film will gel with audiences once in the theaters because it offers up plenty of comfort food for the average viewer in a multitude of so obviously planned elements it is almost laughable. This is how I imagine some of the production meeting going on this film;
[Read more...]
Jonathan Demme’s latest is a wonderful look at the reunion and attempted mending of semi-dysfunctional family that harbors lots of hidden grief and angst, and is overbear one another with their coping of a tragedy.
Kym (Anne Hathaway) sits on a bench, awaiting her pick up from rehab, so she can go to the festivities leading up to and finally attend her sister Rachel’s (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding at the family home. Before Kym leaves we find out she killed someone with her car, which is probably a reason for being in rehabilitation, when she is “rescued” by her father, Paul (Bill Irwin), who is happy to see his daughter, but is almost immediately overbearing her, trying to care of her a bit too much. [Read more...]
Steve Carell stars as Maxwell Smart in this classic TV show adaptation that falls fairly flat unless a joke or gag involves the lead character.
Maxwell Smart is an analyst for the secret government organization, Control, which monitors and international activity, especially that of Chaos, which has plans for world domination. Max finally has a high enough score to make field agent after his 8th try, but the Chief (Alan Arkin) needs him to stay an analyst; as he is the best. Circumstances change after Chaos breaches Control, which they don’t show at all oddly, and all of the agents are compromised, moving Max into the role of agent. [Read more...]
I would like to consider myself to be a sports fan. I grew up in a baseball town (that just won it's 11th World Series Championship I might add) and … (more...)
Lauren: If there’s one thing that overwhelmed my thought process while watching Man of Steel, it was this: “Batman couldn’t do … (more)
Before Midnight is another masterpiece in the Before Trilogy, only this time we really get to see these characters get into something real. … (more)
This Is the End is one of the few comedies to come out this summer and it does not disappoint. … (more)
When I am not feeling all that well I like to call my bathroom time “The Purge.” This film gave me no desire to change that. … (more)
The Internship is a safe and stereotypical comedy that's best moments are when it actually breaks away from that formula; not that it really matters. … (more)
Sarah Polley's Stories We Tell is a riveting documentary both through its story and by dissecting how we tell them. … (more)
Noah Baumbach's latest, Frances Ha, keeps him in the running for one of the best working directors while getting another stellar performance out of … (more)
Of all the rap albums that came out this week, only one album was interesting enough to talk about. And with Yeezus, I really do mean interesting. … (more)
It's been a while since we heard from the bros of Boulder came out with an album. But in the time since their latest effort came out, music has since … (more)
Hopefully by now, you would have some sort of opinion on post rock Icelandic band Sigur Ros. But with their latest release, the band is throwing fans … (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)
As season 3 of Teen Wolf continues, it becomes clear that the werewolves are not the only dangerous creatures in town. … (more)
Did anyone else feel like they missed an episode between this week and the premiere? No matter, tonight we still have a great episode of Teen Wolf, … (more)
I don't know how they do it, but Game of Thrones keeps getting better as the seasons move forward. Even though it wasn't quite as exciting as last … (more)
MTV’s Teen Wolf comes back with a rather interesting start, definitely hitting the intrigue button for what the season has in store. Yet through … (more)
The story of The Kitchen House begins at its end – with a young woman and terrified child happening upon a lifeless body swinging from a high tree … (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)
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)