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...]
Now Playing Review – Hanna
04/09/2011 by Leave a Comment
“I don’t know what she is. Sometimes she acts like the heroine of an epic fantasy novel and sometimes she acts like she’s about nine years old, which might be cute if she didn’t kill people.” Technically this quote was originally written by Austin Grossman about a fairy in his book Soon I Will Be Invincible, but this blend of innocence and danger is what keeps Hanna from losing itself amongst the masses of other films of this genre.
Hanna gets its name from the protagonist, a teenage girl who was raised in the woods of northern Finland by her father, learning skills to survive on her own. However, “survival skills” are much more than the basic learning to live off of the land skills like hunting and turning furry animals into fashion pieces. In addition to these merit badges she also adorns the badge of a trained weapon, and for reasons unknown she is about to be set free in Europe as she revisits the past of her family and puts her knowledge to work. [Read more...]
Review: Hanna
04/08/2011 by 1 Comment
Joe Wright’s latest, Hanna, is an assassin picture on the surface but at its heart is a film of self discovery after being trapped in isolation your whole life. It all works really well, but after one viewing I feel like it is missing that special something to make it incredible.
The film is fun, suspenseful, and moves at a whip’s pace and I have next to nothing to complain about the film. But something is missing that makes me go, “that movie was incredible.” As we follow Hanna from her isolated life in the woods of Finland and out into the real world as she travels across Europe we get to watch her grow and discover the world and everything in it. The girl was raised with nothing to inform her about the outside world except her father, an encyclopedia, and a ragged copy of some Grimm fairy tales that was her mother’s. Hanna and her father, Erik, are in hiding from the US government, specifically a Marissa Wiegler, who wants Hanna alive for mysterious reasons. [Read more...]
Review: The Soloist
04/22/2009 by Leave a Comment
The latest from Joe Wright is an amazing story that is reproduced to great effect, but leaves the viewer asking questions that this true story just doesn’t have the answers too.
Steve Lopez is a columnist at The Los Angeles Times which is unfortunately forcing to change its image a bit in the world of the newspaper crisis. Lopez’s editor, who also happens to be his ex-wife, is pushing stories on him while Lopez tries to hold on to finding and creating original stories from the streets of Los Angeles. Enter Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless man playing a two stringed violin underneath a statue of Beethoven. Lopez approaches Nathaniel and discovers that in between his exceptional play, even minus a couple strings, Nathaniel has a pretty warped perception on what is going on around him. Rambling and spouting off gibberish that is almost completely incomprehensible Lopez gets one bit of information off him that is rather interesting, that Nathaniel attended Julliard. After a bit of investigation Lopez discovers this to be true and finds himself quite a story worth telling. As Lopez begins to write more and more stories about the life of this musical prodigy living on the streets we are also shown flashes of Nathaniel’s life [Read more...]
Review: Atonement
12/16/2007 by Leave a Comment
This period drama and Oscar hopeful delivers on multiple levels, at varying times, but meanders occasionally leaving us a bit unfocused at times. Now, I will say I do want to see it again as the theater environment I saw it in was anything but ideal, not to mention it is hard to focus when you feel like you are in an oven, but either way, back to the movie. [Read more...]
