I suspected that Lone Survivor would play out as a very simple, loud, and self-fulfilling patriotic film. Knowing that Peter Berg’s past films included Battleship (2012) and Hancock (2007), I was not exactly sure what angle he would take of this quite spectacular and tragic real life story. The trailer made it seem very Hollywood […]
Blue Jasmine – It’s been way too long since I’ve seen a good Woody Allen film. I forgot how many feels I could have all at once. I was happy, sad, irritated and wowed by the incredible performances all at the same time. Kate Blanchett’s monologue in the opening scene is downright amazing. Then, watching her […]
Returning once again to the sheer, overwhelmingly anticipatory joy of fans everywhere, The Hunger Games, a popular book series now turned even more popular series of big budget Hollywood releases, returns with the second installment, Catching Fire. Directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Jennifer Lawrence as the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen as well returning rolls from […]
A while ago, while watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I found myself seriously wondering if I was over superheroes. It’s blasphemy, I know. But I just felt like their stories had lost the ability to really entertain me. And I wonder if the whole Marvel thing – the ambitious, multi-picture, world-spanning insanity of it – was […]
A good movie adaptation of a a good book teases something out of the text. It figures out what is important about the text, what has made it resonate with literary audiences for years. It takes a stand on what it’s adapting, and adds something to it besides just flesh and blood rendering. It’s on […]
First Published: July 12, 2013 There’s something about spectacle. The book version of World War Z was all about the literary spectacle, taking the normally claustrophobic zombie story and blowing it up, writ large across the worldwide campus. I’ve always described it as Contagion with zombies – a world wide, political thriller that just happened […]
First Published: May 25, 2013 DISCLAIMER: I really, really liked Star Trek: Into Darkness. I’d like to start off just saying that. But my feelings about it are a bit complicated, so complicated they’ve ripped this very review in half. Check out HERE for the other half. Star Trek: Into Darkness is an exciting, smart, […]
As Rachael already found out when she tried to read it a few years ago, The Mortal Instruments (movie) didn’t start out with particularly great source material. Like a certain sparkly vampire story before it, City of Bones was under-written and under-imaginative, with occasionally funny characters and semi-intriguing plot, but completely undone by the author’s […]