Discussing Film, Music, TV, Books, Video Games and More
Zac: Craig is back as Bond with possibly the best director yet to work on the series in Sam Mendes, and the results are sure to please Bond fanatics who have felt the series has gotten away from its roots, while not alienating those that don’t mind the new face of Bond.
The Coen brothers annual entry, A Serious Man, is their oddest film since Barton Fink and for all the thought provoking twists and turns that may befuddle, it remains a funny and often hilariously sad portrait of a man trying to find himself.
Setting you up for something different from the get go, we dive into a scene between a European Jewish wife and her husband, presumably sometime one to two hundred years before the films setting of 1967, as the bicker over a chance encounter the husband had with a man that has been presumed dead for sometime by the wife. Jump ahead to our main characters, Larry Gopnik and Danny Gopnik, inter-cutting between a pair of events that fill come full circle and not without consequence. The film from here follows Larry primarily with diversions into Danny’s life in the final days leading up to his bar mitzvah. What entails though is a strange, random, yet lightly intertwined series of events filled with black humor and many an existential consequence.
The direction and writing from the Coen brothers is as sharp as ever as this very different film would clearly come undone in less skillful hands. [Read more...]
Sam Mendes’ latest is his darkest film yet, but it really gets you to think about ones own life as you can easily see both sides of the argument laid out by the terrific performances by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
April and Frank hit it off right from the start at a party. Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) is fresh off the boat while serving a tour in the navy, with dreams of returning to Paris and slowly spending time finding what he wanted to do with his life. April (Kate Winslet) has dreams of being an actress in New York and there chemistry just rips through the screen. Flash forward a number of years and the two now have kids, and on the ride home from a decidedly not so great play April is staring in, the two erupt into a vocally violent assault on one another proclaiming how they are trapped in each others fates and both are clearly unhappy in their situation. Oh how things can change. After the dust settles, April begins reflecting on her past and Frank’s dreams and she discovers they have enough money to move and live off of in Paris for close to a year, and she could get a job at a high paying secretary position that would allow Frank to stay home and figure out what he wants to do with his life. [Read more...]
My willingness to watch predictably horrible horror films has struck again. I am ashamed… Lucy Liu has a problem. The most obvious of which is that she … (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)
Upstream Color is now available to everyone, so I thought it's about time to break it down to the best of my abilities to help fuel the conversation. … (more)
Iron Man 3 isn't really an Iron Man movie for much of its run time, but that doesn't stop it from being an entertaining and hilarious ride from nearly … (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)
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)
With this penultimate episode of Arrow, it’s time to devote our attention to Malcolm’s evil plan, The Undertaking. … (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)
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll be thankful no one ever called you raghead because they think your ginger hair is reminiscent of a … (more)
What do you do when the fate of humanity rests on the shoulders of one small boy? Choose it for book club and discuss it, of course! … (more)
Looks like I was right about Colin the pig playing a bigger part in this group of issues following his random appearances in #1-5 (review here), I … (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)