Be a man.
First post in over half a year. Review? No. Picture of my Ron Swanson tattoo? Yes.
You’re welcome.
Ron Swanson Tattoo
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Category Archives: Movies & TV
[Movie Review] Rubber
Overview:
Since it’s out of competition debut at the 2010 Cannes Festival, Quinten Dupieux’s RUBBER has been piquing interests across the horror community.
Labeled as “The Killer Tire” movie, Dupieux attempts to outsmart his audience with the tale of Robert, a tire left in the California desert that suddenly finds itself afflicted with a bad case of Life. Confused about its new environment, Robert sets out to discover the world around, using its powers of psychokinesis to blow anything up that crosses its path. It starts small with tin cans and glass bottles, moving upwards to bunnies, scorpions and then human prey. Continue reading
[Movie Review] The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
The works of Philip K. Dick have been adapted to the silver screen for over two decades, ranging from Blade Runner to A Scanner Darkly, Dick’s work has often succeeded in creating a completely new world based on reality. Does The Adjustment Bureau, the most recent of Dick’s works to be adapted, merit to shift to the big screen?
[Movie Review] The King’s Speech (2010)
Last Sunday, The King’s Speech was honored at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards as Best Picture, and also earned nods for Best Actor and Best Director. Does the film, starring Colin Firth as King George VI, live up to the hype?
Yes, and no.
Firth’s performance as the troubled monarch was phenomenal and very much deserving of his Best Actor award. Firth’s humanity is evident in nearly every frame, as the soon-to-be King battles a stammering issue that has plauged him since childhood with the help of a new Speech Coach, Lionel Logue (played by Geoffrey Rush).
[B-Movie Review] Birdemic: Shock and Terror
Overview:
While many were spending Oscar night watching the mind-numbing ceremony rewarding Hollywood’s best, I was alone in my bedroom watching perhaps the single most stunningly inept piece of B-movie trash ever created.
The movie was Birdemic: Shock and Terror a movie that ceremonies like the Academy Awards were likely created to bring an end to. Luckily, for dorks like me, they have not yet succeeded.
Synopsis:
Software guru Rod (Alan Bagh) and fashion model Nathalie (Whitney Moore) have fallen in love and are about to settle down after Rod makes a mult-million dollar business transaction. Their plans to spend eternity together hit a snag, when deadly brids unleash a wave of shock and terror. Continue reading
[Movie Review] Blue Valentine (2010)
Blue Valentine is a film that centers around a contemporary married couple in a struggle to keep the relationship afloat amidst a dimming romantic flame between them. The film is raw, unflinching, and boasts two of the most intense, brave performances from leads Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.
The film portrays the relationship by cross-cutting between the present as a struggling married couple and their initial meeting and subsequent courtship. The film is such a roller coaster of emotion that it’s almost unnerving at times.
Gosling and Williams deliver two of the most powerful performances in recent memory, as the film forces the two actors to balance equal parts optimism and dejection, a rare feat that allows each of them to rip your heart out and put it back time after time.
The two burst off screen with Gosling channeling the intensity of Robert De Niro with Nicholas Cage’s ability to completely delve into the character like a chameleon. Williams is just a powerful, but her performance might be just slightly more impressive just because of how amazingly brave and one of a kind it is.
[Movie Review] Let Me In (2010)
The only thing that gives American cinemaphiles a greater sense of satisfaction than latching on to an acclaimed foreign film is scoffing at the idea of that movie being remade in America. So naturally, many a self-righteous brow became furrowed upon the release of Let Me In, the Americanized version of the excellent 2008 Swedish movie Let The Right One In.
While it would be false of me to deny ever engaging in acts of film snobbery, I can honestly say I went into Let Me In with a completely neutral attitude and am happy to report it’s not a travesty, but rather a good, sometimes excellent, re-telling of one of the great sad stories of recent memory.
Synopsis:
Like the original movie and the novel it’s based upon, Let Me In tells the story of a lonely and bullied kid, in this version, named Owen. While fantasizing revenge against his tormentors, Owen meets Abby, an outsider whose moved in next door to him.
The two strike up a friendship, with Abby providing Owen with a much-needed friend as well as helping him stand up to his bullies. Things become complicated, however, upon Owen’s realization that his new friend is a vampire.
[Movie Review] House of White Spiders (2010)
Overview:
Back in the 90’s there was a glorious resurgence in the Indie movie scene, which busted out gems like Swingers, Clerks and Kids. That era came and went fairly quick and we no longer see those kinds of Indie love fests.
However, the horror genre has always been one to draw the Indie directors. Maybe it’s because of the films they saw as a kid, maybe it’s because horror is well known as being easy to make, but there is a huge amount of Indie horror out there if you want to make the effort to look for it.
House of White Spiders is a low budget indie flick written and directed (along with a bazillion other production roles) by Gregg Taylor. According to IMDB this is Taylor’s first film credit, and if you’re going to go this route, you might as well get your name on it a lot! Continue reading
For Those Of You Wondering Where The Black Eyed Peas Drew the Inspiration for Their Awful Superbowl Halftime Show…
Check out this prophetic and “never tedious” Simpsons clip from all the way back in 1992:
[Movie Review] Cyrus (2010)
Cyrusis one of those movies that really sneaks up on you. It has a fantastic cast, nice, quirky Indie Movie story, and a pair of brothers at the helm who have developed into two very reliable comedic minds, Jay and Mark, The Duplass Brothers.
Cyrus starts off and immediately thrusts you right into the world of John (played effortlessly by John C. Reilly), as he literally gets caught with his pants down by his ex-wife (Catherine Keener). She, and her future husband decide to invite John to a party to help get him out of his current funk. It’s at this party he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei), and after the two surprisingly hit it off, her odd son, Cyrus (Jonah Hill) enters the fray. Continue reading