‘Elysium’ Review: A Worthwhile Action Flick
Four years after the release of the stellar District 9, writer/director Neill Blomkamp brings us Elysium, a well-intentioned (albeit clunky) scifi actioner in the same vein. Blomkamp offers up visual spectacle, violent action, and social commentary in roughly equal measure. Elysium, however, lacks the punch of the director’s previous entry.
‘Fruitvale Station’ Review: Anatomy of a Tragedy
Fruitvale Station opens with grainy cell phone footage of several young black men lined up against a wall. Police officers hover over them, speaking sharply into their radios. Spectators cry out incoherently. Suddenly, one of the young men begins shouting. The officers throw him to the ground. A struggle ensues. It’s impossible to tell what exactly is happening. The unmistakable sound of a gunshot rings out, and with it, the life of a 22 year old father ends.
‘The Wolverine’ Review: The Bar Has Been Raised
Thirteen years ago, director Bryan Singer brought the X-Men to the big screen, and in the span of two movies, he helped to wipe away the stigma that hack filmmaker Joel Schumacher had left upon the superhero genre. Then Singer jumped ship to direct a mediocre Superman movie, and the franchise was left to be mismanaged by a barrage of talentless executives at Twentieth Century Fox. Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class boldly rebooted the flailing property, but The Wolverine marks the first X-Men movie to actually follow the disastrous X-Men: The Last Stand in terms of continuity. The question on everyone’s minds: Can director James Mangold un-fuck the thorough fucking over this franchise received at the hands of mediocre filmmakers and clueless studio execs?
‘Only God Forgives’ Review: Fist Fighting with God
I really liked Only God Forgives. There…I said it. One of the most critically drubbed films of 2013, the latest collaboration between director Nicolas Winding Refn and star Ryan Gosling is easily one of the more ambitious, visceral pictures of the year. It’s also a completely divisive film that leaves the audience with no middle ground—you’re either going to love it or you are going to completely despise it. Most will probably despise it.
Vikings On History Channel – Why Didn’t I Know About This?
Rape, kill, pillage and burn…and not necessarily in that order.
So, I was looking around at some of my viewing options the other day and came across “Vikings”, a new television show which is being aired on The History Channel. Being as I am known to regularly roll with our gamers in The Sons Of Odin, this is relevant to my interests so I turned it on and watched…well…all of it.
‘Red 2’ Review: At Least You Know What You’re Getting
So three years ago Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and Morgan Freeman starred in Red—a movie fueled by the premise that old people can still kick ass, too. It was an enjoyable movie. Bruce Willis beat Karl Urban up a couple of times, John Malkovich played a crazy person, and Morgan Freeman died…I think. To be honest, I can’t remember much about it, and I doubt anyone left theaters clamoring for a sequel. Well, Red received a sequel, and while it’s just as enjoyable, it’s ultimately just as forgettable.
‘The Conjuring’ Review: It’s Right Behind You
James Wan, who achieved fame and fortune by creating the Saw franchise, must wish to atone for steering the American horror film into the waters of torture porn. That’s the only reason I can come up with for why the talented filmmaker has so abruptly switched course, leaving the violent slasher genre behind and focusing instead on eerie haunted house movies. Compared with the sheer excesses of the Saw franchise, Wan’s previous film—Insidious—and The Conjuring are exercises in restraint and solid, traditional filmmaking. Whatever Mr. Wan’s motivations, I fervently hope he continues in this direction, because The Conjuring just so happens to be one of the better horror films released this year.
‘Rapture-Palooza’ Review: Worthy Of God’s Wrath
Don’t let Anna Kendrick’s blank stare fool you, she’s the one most on point here.
The Biblical book of Revelation once again finds itself as the blueprint for yet another cinematic apocalypse starring Chris Robinson, because we haven’t seen one of those before. In reality, this is a story about Anna Kendrick’s Lindsey, her boyfriend Ben and their families as they watch many of the people they know get raptured to heaven. This leaves the remaining “left behind” populace to deal with new plagues while Chris Robinson’s Antichrist rises to take over the world. We’ve seen this all before, so does Rapture-Palooza bring much to the table? Nope.
‘Pacific Rim’ Review: Everything a Blockbuster Should Be
Guillermo del Toro knows how to put on a good show. With Pacific Rim he takes the simple concept of giant monsters beating each other senseless, and he mines it for all its worth. The result is a gorgeous, explosive film that also happens to be one of the best action movies of 2013.
‘Phantom’ Vs. ‘K-19: The Widowmaker’: The Battle Of The Cold War Soviet Sub Flicks
Soviet Sucmarine captains gotta hustle!
With the recent release of Ed Harris and David Duchovny’s submarine thriller Phantom to homes., I took the opportunity to review it. It’s pretty terrible. That doesn’t make for much of an article, but I was reminded very much of Kathryn Bigelow’s take on the Soviet navy over a decade ago in K-19: The Widowmaker, a film that didn’t woo critics or dollars to the box office, but it impressed me. In discovering how different they were, I was surprised at how similar they were. So where did they both go so wrong in two totally different ways?
