[TV Review] Lost-“The End”

Everything that can be said about the television juggernaut Lost has been said before, and recently, in great frequency. The show concluded its epic six season run on Sunday, May 23rd with a 2.5 hour finale event. These are my thoughts on it.

It’s tough to talk about Lost without theorizing about what happened, what should have happened, what could’ve happened, etc. I wrote this final episode in my mind a dozen times, but the final product exceeded my expectations more than I’d anticipated. And it’s because it wasn’t filled with things I saw coming, it wasn’t only filled with answers to the many island related questions that have been posed since 2004. Continue reading

[Movie Review] A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

A Nightmare on Elm Street as directed by Samuel Bayer is essentially a remake of the highly acclaimed 1984 original from Wes Craven. According to the majority of press, the general consensus is that the new age retooling pales in comparison to its source material, which is widely regarded as one of the best and most inspired horror films of all time.

I’ve never seen the original. It was before my time, as you may like to put it. Therefore, I have nothing to compare the film to, other than the general standard of film quality. I have no nostalgic connection to Freddy Krueger that will win the production points, nor will I become butthurt if any aspect of the film strayed from being faithful. All I can do is tell you whether or not the movie is good.

Which, in all honesty, it’s not.

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[Movie Review] Kick-Ass

kick ass movie

Dave Lisewski is  the traditional high-school ghost. He exists only to his friends, fantasizes about his English teacher, has a crush on a hot girl, hangs out at a comic book store, and so on. Dave starts to wonder out loud why nobody ever tries to be a super hero. So he buys a scuba suit, starts a MySpace account, and begins trying to do it.

Only it goes terribly wrong right out of the gate because he has no power, no training, and no real skills. As Kick-Ass, he usually ends up getting his ass kicked (as Big Daddy loves to point out), and he contemplates quitting numerous times. But it’s the desire to do good that compels him to continue down his chosen path of masked vigilante. He meets some other avengers along the way, and ends up involved in a very personal battle with Frank D’Amico, the father of one of his classmates and criminal mastermind. Continue reading

[Movie Review] Anitchrist

Warning: Review may contain spoilers.

I am well aware that no one who visits this site regularly gives a shit about the obscure movies I review. So knowing what a colossal waste of time such critiques are, it serves me well only to write them when dealing with movies which truly evoke a strong emotional reaction out of me.

Antichrist, to say the least, is such a film.

Plot Outline:

During a bout of passionate sex, a therapist (Willem Dafoe) and his writer wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) shut off the baby monitor to their young son’s room so as not to be disturbed. Things turn tragic when the precocious kid falls to his death from an open window.

After she collapses at the funeral, the therapist decides to take it upon himself to help his wife work through her grief by taking her to a deep woods cabin called Eden (get it?) where she spent the previous summer with her son working on a thesis paper about women through history, and whether they are intrinsically evil or simply misunderstood. Naturally, things turn ugly. Continue reading

[Movie Review] Couples Retreat

couples retreat reviewSometimes I like to punish myself by laboring through movies I have no interest in, just to see what the general movie going populous seems to enjoy. I feel it’s a valuable trait in a reviewer to not only review stuff you are expecting to enjoy, but to review stuff you might not be as excited about. However, these usually seem to be self-fulfilling prophecies when it comes to movies because Couples Retreat is freaking terrible.

The premise is as paper thin as paper thin it gets. A group of friends go to an island resort to investigate their relationships. There is the couple on the verge of divorce, the couple that is happy on the surface, the high school sweethearts who now loathe each other, and the recent divorcee and his young girlfriend. Stereotypical relationships to be sure, but with good writing those stereotypes would at the least be  humorous (which I’m guessing was the intent). Continue reading

[DoubleShot Movie Review] Hot Tub Time Machine

In this DoubleShot review, Senior Contributor Andrew Majors and Editor in Chief Zac Pritcher give their opposing view points on one of this year’s early comedic efforts, Hot Tub Time Machine.

Andrew Majors:

Oftentimes it’s actually refreshing to walk into a movie knowing you are going to get something direct and straight forward. With a title like Hot Tub Time Machine, you buy a ticket knowing one thing: There is going to be a hot tub somewhere, and the odds of it transporting some people through time are pretty good. It’s too bad that there’s nothing substantial about the movie, other than packing a couple laughs.

The first thought I actually had walking into this movie was that it is an extremely odd choice for John Cusack. A gross-out-comedy doesn’t exactly seem to be his traditional choice, but perhaps he was looking for something easy to sort of reinvent his image. The only problem is that as Adam, he never really seems to click. Most of Adam’s involvement seems awkward. Largely it seemed as if Cusack was never quite comfortable in his own body, and it translates poorly on screen. Continue reading

[Movie Review] Shutter Island

Overview:

It took me until mid-April to finally get around to seeing Martin Scorsese’s new film Shutter Island, which was released in February. So at this point, it would be naive of me to believe anyone gives a shit what a low-rent review blogger feels about this movie at this point.

However, the big boss man Zac Pritcher won’t pay me my monthly salary ($15) unless I actually contribute something, so I will chronicle my opinions on this most disappointing film.

Synopsis:

Shutter Island tells the story of widowed war veteran Boston detective Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is haunted by the memory of his dead wife and the traumatic happenings he encountered during his time of service.

With the assistance of his new partner (Mark Ruffalo), Daniels is called to a mysterious mental asylum to locate an escaped resident. Naturally, once they get within the parameters of the establishment, crazy things start to happen, and Daniels suspects there is a lot more to the island than meets the eye, and fears he may actually be a pawn in a demented game. Continue reading

[Movie Review] George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968)

George A. Romero is pegged as the Godfather of the modern Zombie, and for damn good reason. He is the only director who can consistently create zombie movies of high quality, and no film maker has ever been able to out rank, match, or even come close to competing with Romero.

His first film, Night of the Living Dead, was made in 1968 on a black and white camera with a severely limited budget. When the film was released, it shocked its audiences and showed them an unbelievable gorefest the likes of which had never been seen before.

Today the film is highly regarded as a classic horror movie, one of the best and easily one of the most influential. Widely considered the most important zombie film ever made, outranked only by its immediate sequel Dawn of the Dead, this is essential viewing material for any Zombie fan.

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[Movies] The Beatles Biopic Finally Has A Cast!

In recent years, films chronicling the good and bad times of musicians have been lighting up the movie theater. Everyone from Ray Charles to Johnny Cash to Bob Dylan. With the recent release of their Rock Band and insane global popularity, it’s time The Beatles received the Silver Screen Treatment, and it was recently announced that the Liverpool Lads had finally been cast for their upcoming film directed by Sam Mendes. John Lennon will be played by Jim Carrey, Paul McCartney by Forest Whitaker, George Harrison by Robert Downey Jr., and Ringo Starr by Jason Bateman. The film is scheduled to begin shooting toward the end of 2010.

(Information provided by Topeka search engine.)

[TV Review] Breaking Bad: Season Three Premier

Overview:

Last week I reviewed the second season DVD of Breaking Bad and promised I would follow it up with a review of Sunday’s Season Three premier assuming people cared enough about the initial review to warrant a follow-up.

Well, they didn’t, but I’m gonna review it anyway.

Review:

I will assume anyone reading this is familiar with what has transpired in previous episodes so I won’t go into too great of detail with a series recap. It is, however, quite apparent with this episode that the show clearly seems to be headed in a new direction. While I have openly stated my skepticism that such a shift would work while simultaneously maintaining true with the series’ original premise, I must say Sunday’s episode was very effective in getting me excited to see what Bad will pull off next. Continue reading