Discussing Film, Music, TV, Books, Video Games and 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.
Cars 2 is fun, funny, fast paced, and an exciting spy movie that improves upon the original Cars and has fun with the genre its playing in; while turning in some quality set pieces that a lot of action movies wish they had.
Check out my review of the Toy Story Toons short in front of Cars 2; Hawaiian Vacation.
The original Cars has grown on me every time I’ve seen it and while it’s still my least favorite Pixar film I still think it is quite a good little movie. One thing I realized recently about Cars, don’t know why it took so long, is that it is almost without a plot. Sure there is the race but it is just a character piece more or less and that realization even furthered my enjoyment of the original film. And it wasn’t till we got to Radiator Springs in Cars 2 that I realized how much I liked and missed these characters and their stories. I honestly think I would have enjoyed Cars 2 had it just been another nice and easy character piece in Radiator Springs and this sequel made me retroactively appreciate Cars even more for its great character work.
People that were affected, consciously or not, by Cars lack of plot will have no issues here as Cars 2 is full of it. [Read more...]
So obviously Lauren and I (Check out our reviews first; Lauren’s and Zac’s) think Inception is a pretty swell movie. Lauren has picked it as her best picture favorite and it seems to be a lock Top 5 for me as well. But we both agree that the final shot of the film is easily the biggest flaw of the film and kind of B.S.
Either way, we discuss it in depth below and feel free to let us know if you agree.
And Obviously: Spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Inception, the latest from Christopher Nolan, is nothing short of phenomenal and is a prime example of why we go to the movies; to have an experience almost none of us could ever even imagine.
I am not going to even try to explain the plot as it is both complex and better experienced as virgin as possible. But in short it follows a team of contracted thieves, led by Cobb, who steal information from people’s minds by sedating them and creating a dream world which allows them to extract their target mission. When the team is recruited to plant an idea in a mark’s mind, through Inception, they will have the greatest challenge they have faced yet.
This is one of the biggest films of 010 from Christopher Nolan and has an absolutely stunning cast.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine and Dileep Rao, that is a cast few can top.
The trailer is weird and illusive and the poster is no more helpful. But still, you should get a better look at the trailer in the coming weeks as it will be attatched to either Avatar or Sherlock Holmes. Check out the poster after the jump.
In 2006 Alfonso Cuarón crafted one of the best sci-fi, dystopia, and adventure pictures of the decade in Children of Men. A smart, fast paced and thrilling ride that grabs you from the first scene and never let goes, Children of Men is a can’t miss adventure.
The year is 2027 and the last baby born was in 2008 and the global infertility has caused mass chaos across the world leaving England as the last somewhat secure and peaceful place to live. That is beginning to change though as a terrorist group known as the Fishes has been reeking havoc across the country planting bombs and causing disturbances in the name of proper treatment of refugees. Our hero Theo, played by the always great Clive Owen, is almost blown up by one of these bombs when getting his morning coffee and we get a glimpse of life of a non-refugee in this dystopia London. Illegal Refugees are being rounded up daily, the middle class parts of town are run down and violence is at every turn. When Theo is abducted by a group of fishes he finds out that his ex-wife is their leader and that they need his help for an important cause to the refugee movement. [Read more...]
The latest film from John Crowley is an intriguing look into friendship, death, and growing old filled with tender, sad, and humorous moments throughout; and anchored by a fantastic turn by Michael Caine.
Edward is not very happy with his lot in life right now, his home has been recently up rooted since his mother and father began taking on elderly renters in there home as a resting home of sorts. Edward is also unhappy because he can’t get a grip on the afterlife. With all of these elderly folk rolling through his house and ultimately passing away, Edward has begun to become interested in what happens when these people die and begins to try and record their ghosts leaving their bodies. As Edward begins to look to improve his ghost tracking skills, a new tenant moves into the most recently departed’s room, which also happens to be Edward’s old room and he wants it back. The new tenant, Clarence, is an ex-magician whose wife has recently passed and he reluctantly is moving into this assisted living situation. The two are at odds at first for a number of reasons, but after a bit of an adjustment period Edward and Clarence begin to form an unlikely friendship learning magic and investigating ways to communicate with the afterlife. The two work towards adjusting to their situation as life in the house they live in effects the way their lives move forward. [Read more...]
Christopher Nolan reboots and revitalizes a dying franchise that takes the source material seriously and creates one of the better comic book origin films to date.
Christian Bale stars as Bruce Wayne who has purposefully got himself thrown into prison and entered a life of crime to train and learn how to get back at evil and strike fear into their hearts. While in prison he is approached by Henri Ducard (Liam Nesson) speaking on the behalf of Ra’s al Ghul (Ken Watanabe), who leads an organization called the League of Shadows who wishes to, rid the world of the scum of the earth. The league trains Wayne into a skilled master of fighting, stealth, and combat tactics, before having to pass the final test of executing a proven criminal. Refusing to kill the man, Wayne is forced to defend himself, kills Ra’s al Ghul, and destroys the league’s hide out along with many of it’s members; with Wayne saving Henri Ducard before it’s all said and done, yet has to leave him behind.
Upon returning to Gotham, Wayne, along with the help of Alfred (Michael Caine) the family butler begins to re-establish his name in both Wayne Enterprises and the city. He begins to work secretly with Alfred creating Batman while also enlisting the help of Lucius Fox at Wayne Enterprises for the high tech gadgetry needed to become Batman. [Read more...]
Christopher Nolan returns with his follow up to Batman Begins and has crafted one of the finest comic book adaptations in film history.
Batman’s (Christian Bale) presence in Gotham is driving down crime, driving the Mob mad, and inspiring people like Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to make a tangible difference in the city. Enter The Joker (Heath Ledger), a psychotic madman, who gets off on anarchy, social distortion, and pure mayhem. He convinces the Mob to entrust him with the task of taking down the Batman and returning the status quo of criminal activity in Gotham to its once great order.
In the meantime, Bruce Wayne, Batman’s real life persona, is using his Wayne Enterprises to investigate a Chinese accountant who handles the mob’s money in an attempt to help bring down the Mob threat in Gotham with the assistance of Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman) and his Charmin of the Board Locus Fox (Morgan Freeman). If his life was complicated enough, Wayne’s dream girl, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is dating Dent as Wayne struggles with his desire to support Dent and his cause while longing the fact that he longs for Rachel, with his alter ego of Batman getting in the way of them being together. [Read more...]
Before listening to Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, I knew Mindy Kaling only as the self-obsessed and sometimes annoying Kelly Kapoor from NBC’s The … (more...)
The Fast & Furious franchise is back with its sixth entry, and whatever the series has done for you so far will most likely hold true for this … (more)
The Hangover Part III is a step in the right direction, it is just such a long walk back to being good after Part II. … (more)
Kon-Tiki is a pretty straight forward biopic in its construction, but it tells an incredible story that allows some gorgeous imagery. … (more)
J.J. Abrams is back for another trek into Star Trek and fans of his first entry will have little to complain about with Into Darkness. … (more)
Baz Luhrmann brings The Great Gatsby to the big screen with a style and visual wonder that is irresistible, even when the story doesn't connect as … (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)
Iron and Wine continues his road down the glossy, highly produced road with Ghost on Ghost. This time around, however, he knocks this album out of … (more)
Kid Cudi third rap album Indicud reminds us just how unique and fun the former G.O.O.D. Music artist is, as he rides in and out of the most unique … (more)
Fall Out Boy comes out of hiding to release Save Rock and Roll, their highly anticipated fifth full length that doesn’t fall flat when it comes to … (more)
Daenerys army continues to grow, Samwell Tarly displays his brave side, Ser Davos becomes literate and Sansa's last name is Lannister in this … (more)
As I wipe the tears from my eyes, I think it is safe to say that Arrow knows how to end a season. … (more)
Right before our eyes, Jaime Lannister has gone from being one of the most hated, to one of the most respectable characters in the Game of Thrones … (more)
The new HBO show from Christopher Guest and his gang gets off to a great start that shows a lot of promise for the future. … (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)
I am really struggling to come up with an introduction that does this book justice, because to me, Me Before You was perfection. … (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)