In one of the most highly-anticipated action films (or movies of ANY genre, to be honest) in years, Marvel Sudios, in conjunction with Paramount Pictures, has produced another superhero winner, and making the total worth more than the sum of its parts. Simply put, The Avengers (Marvel’s answer to DC’s Justice League), comprised of heavyweights…
I’ve done so many reviews for those “only one man can help” blockbusters that I’ve exhausted every possible way of introducing them. To some, that might’ve been evident in my piece on “Lockout,” which featured a lazy examination into the ‘80s action hero. In my defense, there are only so many ways you could describe…
In the opening shot of Richard Linklater’s Bernie, our eponymous protagonist (played by the infectious Jack Black), who is an assistant funeral director and mortician, warns that, “You can’t have grief tragically becoming a comedy.” Ironically, this dramedy based on a 1996 murder that shook the small town of Carthage, Texas does just that. Written…
There are some good things to say about the newest film by director James McTeigue (“Ninja Assassin,” “V For Vendetta“), a combination of “Sleepy Hollow,” “Saw,” “Se7en” and the latter-day Sherlock Holmes films. First, it acquaints the uninitiated with the works of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s most creative and tortured writers (Poe, while…
I tried to make a list of movies which I laughed at less than Universal’s newest release, The Five-Year Engagement, and could only think of two: “Observe and Report” and “The Passion of the Christ.” Films I found much funnier include: “The Love Guru,” “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” “All About Steve” and “Platoon.” That does…
There is certainly something to be said for the wonderful claymation and quirky British comedy of The Pirates! Band Of Misfits, the by-product of such other animated films as “Flushed Away,” “Chicken Run” and the “Wallace and Gromit” series. I have always appreciated this technique because it shows that the old-style way of making this…
Based on the 1952 play by Terrence Rattigan, Terence Davies meshes personal pain with the struggles of the British people to overcome the effects of a devastating war in his latest film, The Deep Blue Sea. Known as the British Terence Malick, Davies has directed only seven films in the last 35 years including masterpieces…
