Review: Contagion
Contagion is the latest from Steven Soderbergh and it is a terrifying look into what would possibly happen to our world if a pandemic virus broke out that could kill its victims in a matter of days. There are no crazy African monkeys or accidentally released vials of some secret government project here. Just good ole fashioned evolution staying one step →
Now Playing Review – Contagion
Two seconds prior to the movie starting a man to the far right of where I was sitting starting hacking, as if on cue. This was followed by a sporadic slew of coughing throughout the film, followed by a general ill feeling moving through my body, throat to stomach. These are the things you are going to notice while watching →
Now Playing Review – The Adjustment Bureau
With the success of a film like Inception last year that perfectly blends action and a thinking man’s story, it isn’t hard to fathom that many more films will attempt to beat this same path. At least a girl can dream. Though it is by no means as high concept, The Adjustment Bureau is yet another step in this direction →
True Grit and the Coen Brothers
Just a week after I wrote about probably the Coen brothers film with the most mystery and depth in A Serious Man, I watched the extremely straightforward Coen brothers version of True Grit. Despite their deviation from their usual eccentricity, I loved the film. The Coen brothers like Tarantino have a knack for propelling a film with a screenplay’s dialogue, →
Still Playing – True Grit
Not to age my dad or anything, but westerns are a very generational thing. Heck, the last time I really watched a western by choice was when I became obsessed with one scene in McLintock! after accidentally opening the gifted VHS copy meant for my dad on Christmas as a child. And in all honesty, if it wasn't for last →
Review: True Grit
The latest from the Coen Bros., True Grit, is their least odd and most straightforward film to date but there is still plenty of weirdness, laughs, and amazing performances that we expect from these guys in this great film. The film is not a remake of the 1969 John Wayne film of the same name but is instead a re-adaptation of →
Still Playing Review – Hereafter
Following the disappointment of the film adaptation of The Lovely Bones last year I was looking for a new film about life after death to invest my hopes in. Following first seeing the trailer for Hereafter it quickly became that film for me, and I expected that it would do what Bones was unable to as long as it didn’t →
Review: Hereafter
Clint Eastwood’s latest bests his last couple efforts but for every thing I like about Hereafter there is almost always something that really grates me the wrong way. The film follows three thread lines of different people that have had a recent connection with death and/or the “hereafter.” One is a French reporter who has a near death experience in a →
Suggestion Box (Sept. 6 – 12)
This week's Suggestion Box contains trailers for the movies Hereafter and Priest, my brief writeup for some of the premiered shows this fall, and then videos for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and Portal 2 in games. Movies: Hereafter Trailer - The newest film paring Clint Eastwood as director and Matt Damon has Damon cast as a genuine psychic →
Review: Green Zone
Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass have teamed up on an adaptation of Imperial Life in the Emerald City and the result is a decent political action hybrid that runs into some pretty big third act issues that really hurt the picture. The story follows Chief Miller a WMD team leader for the Army and is coming up empty repeatedly on sites →
Review: Invictus
Clint Eastwood’s latest is an unoriginal and uninspired affair, that while holding a fine performance from Morgan Freeman and some rewarding moments, is too flawed in too many areas to really excel. The story revolves around the work of Nelson Mandela from the end of South Africa’s apartheid and through the first year or so of his presidency of the country. →
Suggestion Box (Nov. 9 – 16)
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 - →
Review: The Informant!
Steven Soderbergh’s latest is a unique picture that spins a pretty serious and messed up character study into a comedy by applying a silly tone and ramping up the absurdity that this actually happened and the results are pretty good for the most part. Mark Whitacre is a bit out of his element. He is a PHD in biochemistry but →
Review: Ponyo
Hayao Miyazaki’s latest is given the A+ voice over treatment for American audiences with the help of John Lasseter and the results are a beautiful looking animated tale full of wonder and imagination that is a bit all over the place and can’t sustain it’s full run time. Sosuke is a young boy that lives on the top of a hill →
The Decade's Best – The Good Shepherd (2006)
Robert DeNiro had a long gestating dream project about the origins of the C.I.A. Sitting on it for ten years he was finally able to bring it to fruition in 2006. Taking on a pacing and tone of its title character Edward Wilson, a collected, cold, calculated, subtle, and methodical man that helps give birth to secret the →
Review: The Bourne Ultimatum
Possibly the best movie of the summer, and almost a lock for my top 10 of the year, Bourne comes to your home on DVD this week and I will use this opportunity to right my review of the film. Bourne is just as kid the second time around and surprisingly still very intense. That was one of my fears →
