Movie Review: Bad ‘Moon’ On The Rise

November 20th, 2009–

As an outsider to the cult of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight, I confess to not understanding the draw of Bella Swan and her pasty vampiric paramour.  Having not read the novels and seen only the uneven, frustratingly bland and often risible (search your heart, you know it to be true) first installment, I was less than eager to catch New Moon. After watching it, less-than-eager seemed far too naive a stance to have taken. Significantly more stilted, cloying and nodescript than its predecessor, Moon stares full-on into the flat, gray abyss of teenage gothic longing and sexual repression. I now understand the draw, but am baffled by the lack of taste with which the series handles its themes.

Movie Review: Hoffman, Nighy and Ifans struggle to keep ‘Pirate Radio’ afloat

 Richard Curtis is a bit of a cheeky monkey.

Having written British quirk comedies like Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Love Actually (which was his directorial debut), Curtis has specialized in making off-color movies that are always more wholesome than they want to be.  His second film as a director, Pirate Radio, is a tune-filled anthem to the renegade rock jockeys of the 1960’s who would broadcast continual music from off-shore boats functioning as floating radio stations.

Movie Review: On the eve of destruction with ‘2012′

There is no getting around it. Roland Emmerich’s 2012 is a spectacularly stupid movie.

Over the course of its 153 minute running time, Yellowstone blows its top, D.C. gets predictably crushed under heavy down-pour of CGI, and most of California just crumbles like a French pastry. In the midst of this eye-smashing gauntlet of global apocalypse, a startling number of gifted actors run about dodging falling Earth shrapnel, choke out hokey lines about mankind’s fall, and work overtime to convince us that this time it really is the end. To top things off, Danny Glover gets to be the second black president to shepherd the human race through an extinction level event.

DVD Showcase: Dark fantasy spills into reality in ‘Ink’

November 12th, 2009–

God Bless Jami Winans and his filmmaking team. Their indie effort ‘Ink’, a fantastical mish-mash of children’s bedtime stories, surrealistic imagery and sci-fi action is an honest to goodness sleeper. You won’t see it, or its emotional impact, coming. It’s been some time since a film this low budget achieved so much in regards to what ends up on screen. The world of Ink is like 80’s Spielberg meets Gilliam by way of Neil Gaiman. At the same time, it has originality and heart. Plenty of that last one.  

What would Perseus Do? See the ‘Clash of the Titans’ trailer!

Nov 11th, 2009–

Ye children of the Nineteen-Hundred and Eighties gather round! Behold the glimpse of things soon to pass and the return of a friend from the desert of memory! Clash of the Titans has returned….sort of.

10 more top war films from Xiphos

November 9th, 2009–

A month or so ago, I posted Xiphos’ list of his top ten modern American war films from the perspective of a military man and someone personally interested in the history of warfare. Now, Xiphos is back with a follow-up list highlighting war films that are both international and from previous eras. We don’t get any Spartans, but there’s plenty of great films in the list below, both ones you have seen and others you probably haven’t. If I was pressed to give an opinion, I’d say Lawrence should perhaps be higher and that all three of the Australian films mentioned (including Morant, which is more of a courtroom drama) are top-shelf and absolutely worth seeing. Great work, Xi! Thanks again.

Take it away…

‘The Wolfman’ gets some howlingly good new posters!

Ok, so I definitely miss those gorgeous painted movie posters of days gone by–one for this would have been outstanding–but in the world of haphazard photo-shop rush jobs, these two at least have some style.

Joe Johnston’s Wolfman is a film I’ve been anticipating and dreading for awhile. The original is one of the all time great creature features and it’s still the most powerful and engrossing werewolf film ever made. Once the trailers started showing up, I became more intrigued than put-off. Aside from some unfortunate CGI, this one looks pretty good.

Here now are two posters(the one at the left was originally posted over at Aint it Cool News and the one below was scooped by Cinematical) for the film that help build that victorian gothic atmosphere that seems to be an integral part of Johnston’s vision.

This Is It! A fitting eulogy for the once and future King of Pop

This Is It (PG) 121 min. Directed by: Kenny Ortega.

I am not a Michael Jackson fan.

Like many others, I listened to the music, sat there patiently waiting for the Black and White video to premiere on MTV, and found sadly I couldn’t turn away when the media circus went critical mass in the late 90s. But through it all, I always found following Michael to be more of a social obligation than the genuine interest of a true fan. When he died, I acknowledged the tragedy, but I didn’t think much more on it. Now, with Kenny Ortega’s ‘This Is It’, the bittersweet daydream of a concert that will never be, I’m finally beginning to realize why Jackson had rightfully earned the title ‘King of Pop’.

Sci-Fi thriller starts strong but strays too far outside ‘The Box’

Richard Kelly’s The Box brings with it some good news and bad news. The good is that it’s about 100% better than his last movie, Southland Tales. The bad is that despite a really solid opening hour or so, it never duplicates the kind of alternate-reality mind trip that Kelly struck paydirt with on Donnie Darko.

 I’m just going to link you over to Atomic Popcorn and you can read my more in-depth, and mostly spoiler-free, thoughts over there.

THE ATOMIC POPCORN REVIEW OF ‘THE BOX’

‘Fourth’ is a close encounter of the questionable kind

Nov. 6th, 2009–

For all those who want to go into The Fourth Kind as fresh as possible, check out my spoiler free review over at Atomic Popcorn. For everyone else, feel free to stick around but know that I’m going to get into some of the more specific details of the film and you might want to clear out. Nothing too spoiler-heavy, but some of whats working or not working in the film is difficult to discuss without revealing elements that the marketing folks have done a reasonable job of hiding.

ATOMIC POPCORN REVIEW OF THE FOURTH KIND