With our feet firmly planted in 2013, it is time for the writers here at HST to look back on the past year and reminisce about the good, the meh, and the just plain ugly of the entertainment world, starting right her with film. [Read more...]
HST…Best Movies of 2012
12/31/2012 by 8 Comments
Film Review: Jack Reacher
12/21/2012 by Leave a Comment
Jack Reacher is a wonderfully executed crime procedural that has some great set pieces and a fantastic turn by Tom Cruise in the title role. [Read more...]
Film Review: Killing Them Softly
12/03/2012 by Leave a Comment
Killing Them Softly is the second collaboration between Brad Pitt and director Andrew Dominik and the end product is gorgeous, tense and gives you a look into the world of criminals you don’t normally see. [Read more...]
Film Review: The Cabin in the Woods
04/13/2012 by Leave a Comment
Stop! If you have not seen The Cabin in the Woods and you are about to read this review; don’t. Go see the movie, immediately if possible, and come back here so we can go over the film both knowingly aware of the greatness that this film is. [Read more...]
Film Review: The Cabin in the Woods
04/12/2012 by 1 Comment
The Cabin in the Woods has had a while of waiting to get through before finally coming to the big screen. Trust me, I know. As an avid Joss Whedon fan (he co-wrote this one), I have been waiting for what seems like forever. We’re talking The Sandlot’s reading of the world “FOR-EH-VER.” And now, the wait is finally over. [Read more...]
Film Review: The Rum Diary
10/27/2011 by Leave a Comment
Years ago when Captain Jack Sparrow was wondering where all the rum had gone, he probably would have never guessed that it was being stockpiled for another movie by the man filling his shoes. That traitor! Johnny Depp’s appropriately titled new film, The Rum Diary, has lots of rum, and not much else. [Read more...]
Now Playing Review – Let Me In
10/01/2010 by Leave a Comment
When it comes to films like Let Me In, the most recent adaptation to the already adapted to film novel Let the Right One In, the viewing audience seems to fit into two camps. On one side of no man’s land reside the purists, those who think that the Americanization of foreign films is a waste, egocentric, and just plain stupid. On the other side are those that think there is room enough for any film that can bring something new to the table. I am one of the latter (though technically it is by default in this case since I have neither seen the original nor read the book), but no matter the side you fall on I hope you are willing to see what this film has to offer.
For those of you who don’t know Let Me In is yet another vampire story. But check your groans at the door. Instead of the romanticized idea of beautiful creatures or the brutality of a mass of soulless beings, Let Me In approaches this creature feature as realistically as possible by blending the story of a visually young vampire with her new neighbor, a young boy who is bullied at school and finds friendship with his equally lonely neighbor. Apparently it is actually hard to live as a vampire. Who knew? [Read more...]
Now Playing Review – Eat Pray Love
08/13/2010 by 1 Comment
Based on this title there are three things in the world needed to bring oneself out of an overwhelming depression that has ruined one’s sense of direction in life. First one must eat to build strength and energy for the long journey ahead. With a full stomach and a foot placed hesitantly on the trail, one must pray that they don’t fall from the beaten path because danger lies ahead. But if faith is not enough, then find someone that can grab your hand and help you on your way. Hand in hand you will now have no problem of finding the finish line of self-fulfillment and happiness. Wait, was that not what I was supposed to pull from this film? I really have no idea…
Based on the memoir of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love follows Liz (played by Julia Roberts) during her travels across the world. She gives up her husband and the life she knows at home in order to take a year long quest to go searching for herself in mounds of food in Italy, through prayer in India, and through inner balance in Bali, where she unexpectedly finds love as well. [Read more...]
Review: Eat Pray Love
08/13/2010 by Leave a Comment
Eat Pray Love is a dull and poorly executed picture that meanders, is no where near as good as it thinks it is, and fails to engage or fill us with emotion almost every step of the way.
Liz Gilbert isn’t happy in life and when she decides she can’t take it any more she sets out on a globe trotting journey. Leaving her ex-husband, new lover, and friends behind she will search for herself in Italy, India, and Bali. And that is all I will really divulge plot wise as I just kind of want to get into this review and get it over with; kind of like how I felt about the film about an hour in.
Review: Dear John
02/05/2010 by Leave a Comment
The latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation falls flat on the romantic side of things, but a fantastic turn by Richard Jenkins and the story around him make the picture worth seeing if you can get through the sap surrounding some of the other elements of the film.
John is a Special Forces soldier in March of 2001, while on leave back home in Charleston he meets a college girl, Savannah, on spring break and the two sweeps each other off their feet and begin a romance that they feel is true love. They decide to stay together and write letters to one another until John’s last year of service ends but as we know 9/11 is looming and they are destined to be kept apart. Each of them also has some close “family” members that both have autism and these relationships are the moments of the film that are most rewarding. John’s father is a high functioning autistic and John was oblivious to his condition which Savannah spots after spending much of her life supporting her neighbor’s son who is autistic. The neighbor’s, Henry Thomas, wife has left him and her son behind as he struggles to raise a child on his own. These stories are where this movie shines and I wish the focus was more on these characters. [Read more...]
Review: The Visitor
10/15/2008 by Leave a Comment
Richard Jenkins stars in this touching drama about a man finding himself in the midst of an immigration mess with his unexpected roommates upon his return to NYC.
Walter (Richard Jenkins) is a lonely professor in Connecticut; he lives the day paint by numbers and carries on getting from one day to another. Struggling to attempt to learn the Piano, Walter has a love for music, but no way to play it, a role his wife once held, and his failure the art only adds to his sadness in life. When his writing partner has to pull out of a conference, he is sent in her stead as he “co-authored” the book, but has hesitation to go due to his lack of really being prepared for the conference. The faculty insists and basically forces him into going to New York City, where he used to live with his wife and family before his child grew old and his wife passed away, and he returns to stay in his apartment he still owns that he uses while he is in the city. [Read more...]
Review: Step Brothers
07/28/2008 by Leave a Comment
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay re-team, with the help of John C. Reilly, for their third picture together and falls way short of being as good as their previous entries.
Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly) are both 40 something men still living at home with their parents. Nancy, (Mary Steenburgen) Brennan’s mom, meets Robert (Richard Jenkins), Dale’s dad, at a medical conference and they hit it off immediately and quickly get married. They proceed to move into Dale’s house and Brennan and Dale are forced to share the same room as they begin to wage war on each other with feverish sibling rivalry.
The two start off as bitter enemies before finding a common enemy in Brennan’s younger brother Derek, who is stuck up, successful, and pretty much a major douche bag. As Dale and Brennan begin to bond they begin concocting ridiculous dreams and begin to perform silly and ludicrous acts as they bond even further.
As their antics begin to interfere with the life of Nancy and Robert, a deadline is laid down for the boys to get jobs and move out so that the couple can go on their sail boating trip around the world. [Read more...]
