War Horse is a beautiful and emotional look at war and the affect it has on just about everyone and everything around it. [Read more...]
Film Review: War Horse
12/25/2011 by Leave a Comment
Review: The Conspirator
04/22/2011 by Leave a Comment
Robert Redford’s latest is a fine looking and produced telling of a fairly unknown story in American history that fails to really excel to anything more than a straight forward court room drama that serves as a parallel to our modern day travails with prosecuting through Guantanamo Bay.
Now you might ask how a movie about Lincoln’s assassins translates to an obvious condemnation of the way the U.S. is handling the prosecuting of modern terrorists. Redford clearly has something to say and the film’s, and real life, drama surrounds defendants being prosecuted without a jury and instead by a military tribunal. The ethics of this is something to seriously question as the officers sitting on the judging tribunal are neither unbiased nor uninfluenced by their superiors which will obviously tend to lead to unfair trials. That is what critics of the way the government is handling the modern day situation will attest to, especially when regarding defendants that really have very little relevance to the enemies cause, and that is where Redford’s film draws its focus.
Review: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
07/14/2010 by 1 Comment
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a fun and thoroughly enjoyable fantasy film that is fast paced and features some great performances by its leads; if only they could have gone a bit grander in the fights and action set pieces.
The film opens with a little back story as we encounter Merlin fighting with Morgana who is trying to steal a powerful spell from him and the ensuing fight leads to Merlin’s death and sets his apprentice, Balthazar, on a quest to find the Prime Merlinian, the fabled sorcerer’s successor. Enter Dave, who comes across Balthazar many hundreds of years into his quest and he is revealed to be a potential successor to Merlin. A bit of a hiccup delays any training and Dave grows up unknowing of his lineage until Balthazar reappears ten years after their first encounter and the set off to stop a growing threat of the possibility of the resurgence of Morgana.
Now Playing Review – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
06/01/2010 by Leave a Comment
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time may not be the most faithful adaptation, but it still keeps the spirit of the video game alive in this production in its representation of the comedy, characters, and action of the fan favorite game.
The brief backstory of this incarnation of the Sands of Time story starts with an incident on the streets that leads to Daston being adopted into the royal family. A decade later he is beloved by his father and both of his brothers, and because of this he plays his part in his brother’s decision to attack the holy city of Alamut though he has some reservations in concern to this decision. The sand is briefly allowed to settle following the battle before an incident occurs forcing Daston to flee from the city with the help of Princess Tamina. Though it would be nice to think that she is simply committing her good deed of the day, she is quick to reveal her ulterior motives for helping in the escape. [Read more...]
Review: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
05/28/2010 by Leave a Comment
This could be the best video game adaptation yet, certainly the best looking, but it still feels all too clichéd and familiar even though the action is pretty exciting at times and there is a lot of it.
The film follows Dastan, a street urchin plucked into royalty after the king sees him perform a selfless act in the local market as a child. Flash forward ten years and Dastan and his two brothers, Tus and Garsiv, through adoption are about to lay siege to a holy city in Persia. Their uncle, Nizam, advises the future king Tus to attack at the behest of Dastan and the siege results in Dastan coming into possession of a beautiful dagger that is revealed to have mysterious powers. After a series of unfortunate events Dastan ends up on the run with the holy cities high priestess, Tamina.
Review: RocknRolla
11/03/2008 by Leave a Comment
Guy Ritchie’s return to form in RocknRolla is a crazy, fun, and always cool look at crime in London, and while it might seem like re-tread territory to some, it is so damn entertaining that one should ask, why should we care?
To begin to explain this convoluted and twisting plot from the get go would be a bit of a pain, and Archie (Mark Strong) does a good job of keeping you in the loop as he narrates everyone’s comings and goings, but I will try my best to sum up here. Lenny (Tom Wilkinson) is a big wig crime boss in England that makes his money in property and twisting his connections into his favor. So when One Two (Gerard Butler) and Mumbles (Idris Elba) come to him with a lucrative property proposition, he gets in their way of a loan, and gets them to owe him money as well; all while he turns on the fast track to acquiring the property himself. To help fund this property, Lenny turns to Uri (Karel Roden) a Russian entrepreneur who is trying to get in on the property boom of London like many other “immigrants” are, and Lenny offers his contacts and connections at the cost of 7 million Euros. Uri eagerly agrees and offers his lucky painting as a sign of gratitude to Lenny and assures him that his (Uri) accountant (Thandie Newton) will be able to produce the money in little to no time. Well as you can imagine, things don’t go necessarily to plan and things become quite intertwined and a whole mess of trouble for everyone brews before the end. [Read more...]
