Here’s a well-known traditional Japanese proverb: “the world sucks”. Filled with deception, greed, and amoral opportunism, honesty and trust have become nothing more than archaic misnomers and fantastical abstractions for naïve dreamers and gullible idealists. As such, there are people out there who see life as nothing more than a game, and when that game […]
HBO’s Game Change could have easily been a liberal-biased exercise in condescension. The fact that it’s not is a credit to screenwriter Danny Strong (yup, That Danny Strong) more than anyone else. In interviews star Julianne Moore has made a point of praising Strong’s research, insisting that she refused to play any scene that wasn’t […]
Having devoured the books in a matter of days, I was more than excited about the film adaptation of The Hunger Games. With the inevitable elimination of that all-too-troublesome first person narrative, thoughtful and promising casting, a director who is a sworn fan and oh-so-welcome authorial input on the screenplay, I was pretty convinced that […]
There are many ways that 21 Jump Street could have- and maybe even should have – been a failure. The Hollywood flameout bin is filled with attempted remakes of goofy eighties shows. Aside from those of us who have watched She’s The Man so many times their eyes want to fall out, who would have […]
Jason Segel is having quite the year. Not only is he on a successful tv show, he wrote, directed, and starred in The Muppets, he has two new movies coming out in as many months, and he’s gone from being that lanky dude from Freaks and Geeks to a household name within the past two […]
20. The Magdelene Sisters – Water. For the Nuns. 19. Breakfast On Pluto – Traditional: Guinness with a dash of Blackberry Currant Juice and a Brown sugar rim 18. Five Minutes Of Heaven – Bushmills on ice 17. Omagh – Jameson and Ginger 16. Bloody Sunday – Irish Car bomb 15. Michael Collins – Michael […]
As a (mostly) unabashed fan of romantic comedies, you end up having to do a lot of apologizing. You’re supposed to couch your enjoyment of these films in the self-aware “of course, it’s JUST a romantic comedy.” Never mind that technically all films are JUST something. That’s what genre means. All films (short of maybe […]
The Lorax is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories. It’s a morality tale, a sort of new-age parable about appreciating what you have and taking care of what you’ve got. It is not as anti-industry as it is pro-practicality. It’s modern economical ethics for kids with rhymes. The 2012 film adaptation takes this core […]