To the Wonder is the latest from Terrence Malick and it is his most visually narrative feature yet; that is both a blessing and a curse over the course of the film. [Read more...]
HST…Film Review: Argo
10/11/2012 by 2 Comments
Lauren: In a time of war, there is nothing quite like propagandistic films to sway us in our feelings towards a certain group of people. Seriously, after the first 10 minutes of this film you will hate Iran. Wait… That’s not the point of this movie? Oh, my bad. [Read more...]
Looking Ahead to 2012 – Quarter 4 (October – December)
10/01/2012 by 2 Comments
Alright people, it’s almost the end of the year – which means some big releases are coming out. Some of the biggest albums, movies, and video games are slatted for release, making for one incredible last quarter in 2012. Enough of this, let’s get to our selections. [Read more...]
Review: The Company Men
01/29/2011 by Leave a Comment
The Company Men is a fine little drama that rings very true and features a bevy of fine performances that help elevate this modern tale of job loss despair.
Our story follows Bobby Walker who is a rising future executive type at GTX, a transportation company that gets laid off when the recession kicks into high gear; along with the majority of his co-workers. Walker doesn’t know how to deal with himself and as he tries to find a new job and can barely get an interview, let alone a job at the standard he once had. The world of GTX is crumbling elsewhere as well as the upper executives are at odds with one another. Gene McClary has been a lifelong partner and friend of GTX’s president James Salinger, but when Salinger cuts 2/3 of McClary’s division tensions grow between the two. Lastly, Phil Woodward is a lifelong GTX’er who worked his way from the factory floor to upper management but when the heads start to roll he begins to stress out and become obsessed with when he will hit the chopping block.
Now Playing Review – The Town
09/17/2010 by Leave a Comment
I have some confessions to make: Even with the persistent recommendation from a certain reviewer on this site I have never really had the inclination to see Ben Affleck’s first directed big screen film, Gone Baby Gone. (2) I seem to have a subconscious aversion to films involving bank robbery. No Inside Man or Public Enemies for me. (3) A certain upset in a World Series a few years back has led me to have negative feelings towards Boston. Clearly this film has a lot to make up for to win me over, yet The Town manages to quite easily. Silly preconceived notions…
The Town personalizes the criminal underbelly of Charlestown by following the character of Doug MacRay, a man who is neck deep in this way of life as a bank robber. He and his crew are quite the professionals, yet somehow he makes the amateur mistake of bringing his work home with him, as his friend so adequately puts it. What he is referring to is a certain hiccup to their life of crime glory when Doug somehow manages to fall in love with the woman they took as a hostage during their last robbery. Now Doug has a reason to try to leave his lifestyle, but unfortunately his ties in the community and the FBI’s interest in him are making it hard for him to make a clean break. [Read more...]
Review: The Town
09/17/2010 by 1 Comment
Ben Affleck’s second directorial effort is as strong as his first, Gone Baby Gone, and is a very good crime/bank robbery movie that is tough to complain about.
The film follows Doug MacRay, a bank robber, and his team as they run through a series of jobs which events lead to Doug wanting to finally get out. A former hockey protégé, Doug, turned to his father foot steps after he couldn’t make the squad; unfortunately his father was a crook and Doug begins working for his dad’s old boss, “Fergie the Florist.” It’s on a recent job though that Doug falls for a hostage that they take and riskily enters into a relationship with her. Added to this, the F.B.I. is coming after him as well and only needs some strong evidence to finally lock Doug and his gang up.
Rental Review: Extract
01/01/2010 by 1 Comment
For a movie about flavored extract, Extract sure is bland.
For the most part, Joel lives a pretty mediocre life. He lives comfortably in his nice house with a nice car in the driveway, but its hard to be content with this with an annoyingly outspoken neighbor and a wife that uses sweat pants as if to say “you’re not getting any tonight.” What’s more is that his only escape from it all is the extract plant he built and now owns, but now it too is becoming more trouble than it’s worth for Joel. Seeing his escape thanks to an offer from General Mills to take the company off his hands, he finally sees a way to put his life back together. Too bad the factory has other plans for him. After a freak accident at work, Joel must now find other ways to bring about a happy return to normalcy before he loses his mind.
[Read more...]
Review: State of Play
04/22/2009 by Leave a Comment
This journalistic thriller keeps the intensity and intrigue from start to finish, and when coupled with some excellent performances across the board you have a pretty good picture when it is all said and done.
Cal McAffrey is a journalist for the Washington Globe, which also happens to be a sinking ship of a medium as the days of newspapers are quickly dying out in today’s internet fueled news world. That doesn’t keep Cal McAffrey from trying to still be a good reporter though, bribing cops and bending the rules for his stories, Cal is of the old school ilk of news reporters; and he gets what he wants. Cal is in the process of investigating a possible drug related murder that we witness in the opening of the film, when news breaks of Congressman Stephen Collins aide dying on the subway system on her way to the hearings she was chief investigator on that was probing a company profiting off the wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan by privatizing the war effort. The death of this aide, Sonia Baker, quickly turns into scandal as rumors/news of an affair with Collins quickly comes to the surface. We discover that Collins and McAffrey were college roommates and that an aspiring blogger at the Washington Globe, Della Frye, might turn out to be a thorn in Cal’s side [Read more...]
Review: He's Just Not That Into You
02/17/2009 by Leave a Comment
This dramedy that is being sold as some silly romantic comedy is actually pretty serious and interesting look at relationships that works for the most part, outside vindicating the failures of some its characters in the end and warping young girl’s minds.
The film follows an ensemble of intertwining characters and couples, for instance Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, and Ginnifer Goodwin (yes three “jen”ifers) all work together and they gossip about their love life’s, Connelly and Aniston both are married or in a long term relationship, while Goodwin is the example of exactly how a girl should not act if she is trying to pursue a man, which connects us to a Kevin Connolly as they open the film on a date though he is already infatuated with Scarlett Johansson who has a chance encounter with Bradley Cooper who is Ben Affleck’s friend who is in a long time relationship with Jenifer Aniston to bring things full circle. Now the interconnections between these people come into play for an occasional twist here or there, but where the film works the best is in the examination of relationships and the courting process of males and females today. [Read more...]
Review: Gone Baby Gone
10/31/2007 by Leave a Comment
Another movie dealing with the loss of a child, this one excels on pretty much every level. Gone Baby Gone is an adaptation of the Dennis Lehane(Mystic River) novel by Ben Affleck in his directorial debut. I have always been a fan of Affleck and I am glad that he does a great job here which is supported by his great cast. [Read more...]
