While I was Streaming: New York, I Love You

The 2nd anthology film in the I Love You series this time stops in New York and the results are just as great as the Paris anthology, Paris, je t’aime.

The film follows a loosely connected group of individuals as we watch their experiences with love through a series of short films and connecting vignettes.  The stories involve a just dumped boy who gets a last minute prom date, a composer and an assistant who bond through their many phone calls, a couple of strangers outside a restaurant, a confident and tad overzealous smoker trying to pick up a not so forth coming women, a pick pocket and a girl that catches his eye, an jeweler and his client, an long lived and nagging couple, an assumed one night stand deciding to meet again, an aging star revisiting an old hotel, a painter and his longed for muse, a video artist capturing people around town, and the bond between father and daughter even if no one believes they are related. [Read more...]

Review: A Christmas Carol

Robert Zemeckis’ third foray into the 3-D motion capture world is a retelling of the classic A Christmas Carol and the results are a beautiful and well executed version of the classic tale that could easily become many peoples “go to” version of the fateful night of Ebenezer Scrooge.
The tale of Scrooge doesn’t really need to be rehashed, we all know the stubborn hater of Christmas is visited by three ghosts of past, present, and future visit him over the course of a single night and forever change his views on the holiday. The question is how Zemeckis’ version is any different or better than the tales already out there. So is it different? Not really, it rarely strays from the classic tale and the most different thing about it is the filmmaking style it is told in. Better? Not sure about that either, but it is definitely not a weak entry into the telling of this tale.
So why should you want to see this version of a Christmas Carol? Well first off, you are unlikely to find a more beautiful and awe inspiring version of the tale. [Read more...]

Review: State of Play

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: What Just Happened?

Barry Levinson’s latest is a look at Hollywood through the eyes of a big time producer who is dealing with crisis in all aspects of his life, and the result is a solid comedy that gives us a look into Hollywood behind the scenes.
Based off screenwriter Art Linson’s own book, the film is a reflection on his experiences as a producer through the eyes of the fictional Ben, who is warding off three crises over a two week period; one personal, two professional. First up for Ben is his personal struggle with trying to get back in with his most recent family which he has been estranged. As him and his ex work through separation counseling, Ben is trying to get back in and prove he is good for it. Making things hard on this front is the constant badgering he gets handling his professional crisis that keep getting in the way in his present as they did his past that was his downfall at home in the first place. The professional crisis in question is the re-editing of an egotistical director’s (Michael Wincott) film ending after a poor test screening that really went soar after a canine assassination in the end. Added to the mess is the production of his new film is in jeopardy due to the reluctance of Bruce Willis [Read more...]

Review: Beowulf

Let’s get one thing out of the way, if you see this, see it in IMAX 3-D. The 3-D is phenomenal and a must see for anyone that enjoys film or wants to see the future of the medium. The 3-D gives the movie a bit more life than it might normally have had, but you accept the look and it is a part of the film after the first Grendel attack.
Now the movie. Beowulf is a pretty good, with a classic story, a beautiful look and some amazing action scenes. The movie opens with a celebration of King Hrothgar and his people when Grendel, a beast of terrifying looks and brutality, [Read more...]