I’ll admit that the first trailers for The Fighter gave me the impression that it was yet another inspirational underdog “based on a true story” boxing movie with little to distinguish it from its predecessors. I had no doubt it would be very well made, it just didn’t look like anything I [...]
Friday 18 Mar 2011 |
blogadmin |
drama, movie reviews, recommendations
Clint Eastwood bites off a bit more than he can chew as a director with Hereafter, his somber, slow-moving drama about three disparate people’s connection to the afterlife that could basically be summed up as Crash meets The Sixth Sense.
Friday 18 Mar 2011 |
blogadmin |
blu-ray, drama, movie reviews
“I love indie rock, 50 Cent… Madonna…”
“Where is the list of banned female singers?”
In America you could overhear the first snippet of conversation, but never the second.
Friday 18 Mar 2011 |
blogadmin |
comedy, foreign films, movie reviews, recommendations
What was first an 88-minute French film called Pour Elle is now a 133-minute, big-studio thriller starring Russell Crowe and directed by Paul Haggis that, despite needing a bit of trimming, turns out to be a solidly entertaining effort.
Friday 11 Mar 2011 |
blogadmin |
drama, movie reviews, romance
Every Day is a gentle dramedy about a couple who are in the early, unsettling stages of middle-age, and their family (and its problems). The couple are played by the very fine Liev Schreiber and Helen Hunt, both of whom excel in projects like this, where they can both have room [...]
Friday 11 Mar 2011 |
blogadmin |
comedy, drama, movie reviews
Its title makes it sound like the latest installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise, but Faster is actually a stylish and surprisingly good revenge thriller starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (who coincidentally appears in the fifth F&F entry next month) and Billy Bob Thornton that looks and feels a little like film [...]
Friday 04 Mar 2011 |
blogadmin |
action/adventure, drama, movie reviews
When I sat down to watch Burlesque I expected to find a vanity project. Cher, tired of playing Vegas to make ends meet, needed to throw herself back into the spotlight. Christina Aguilera never made as big a splash as Britney and wanted more, more, more.
What I found was a beautifully done (gag) engaging [...]
Friday 04 Mar 2011 |
blogadmin |
drama, movie reviews, music & musicals
I remember the day, back in 2003, when Aron Ralston emerged from the maze of the Canyonlands with his epic story of survival. At the time, I was working at a map store that furnished, among other treasures, the best printed material about the region that money could wrangle. Ralston himself was [...]
Friday 04 Mar 2011 |
blogadmin |
drama, movie reviews, recommendations, suspense/thrillers
Having already done the underground train thing with their remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott move above ground with Unstoppable, a rousing runaway train thriller co-starring Chris Pine that barrels right along and barely brakes for nuance.
Thursday 17 Feb 2011 |
blogadmin |
action/adventure, drama, movie reviews, suspense/thrillers
It’s not easy to believe in evil anymore. Evil acts from evil intent? They occur everyday, would that they wouldn’t. But evil bound in its own genetic helix? As its own reward? For its own sake?
This is a broad attack to take in reviewing a horror film, but since Bram Stoker’s Dracula [...]
Friday 04 Feb 2011 |
blogadmin |
blu-ray, drama, horror, movie reviews, recommendations