The Impossible

The Impossible tells the story of a family separated by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and who struggle to find each other again. What results is a movie showcasing the devastation left in the wake of this real life disaster, a powerful reminder of the true might of nature. I have heard criticisms of this […]

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is six stories melded into one. The main idea is that these stories take place in different time periods but involve the same souls of the people involved. We have one story set in the present, three in the past, and two in the future. The problem with a concept like this is […]

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook is essentially a romantic comedy involving people with mental health issues. But the question is, is that enough to set it apart from that most trite of genres? The answer, surprisingly, is yes. The characters and their unique problems are just enough to make this a watchable and enjoyable film, despite how […]

Red Dawn

Red Dawn is a remake of the 80s film in which the Russians invade the US and a high school football team becomes an insurgent force fighting back.  This time around, replace the USSR with North Korea, and you get the newest standard of remaking/rebooting unoriginality.  This movie was brutal. The pacing was downright awful. […]

Life of Pi

If you want a visual feast, watch Life of Pi. If you want an interesting and unique story, watch Life of Pi. If you are looking for deeper themes being explored, you may also watch Life of Pi. Or maybe you aren’t looking for anything more specific than a great movie. Well, Life of Pi […]

The Master

The Master is the latest film to reach the heights of pretentious film-making. It’s the story of two men who come together; one is a traumatized war vet, the other the leader of a new-found cult movement. It’s a story about the relationship between these men. It’s a story about a man’s search for meaning […]

Wreck It Ralph

Wreck It Ralph was the most celebrated animated film of 2012, though likely most of that praise comes from the simple fact that its about video games. Otherwise its a pretty regular family movie, nothing that will compete with the recent animated greats like Up or the Toy Story films. The arcade underworld works very […]

Django Unchained

Django Unchained is probably Quentin Tarantino’s most straight forward film, yet it is also perhaps his most indulgent. This story of a slave who is freed, becomes a bounty hunter, and tries to rescue his wife has a clear-cut arc. But within that arc we get a lot of Tarantino’s stylized direction. The strongest aspect […]

Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher is a pretty standard but enjoyable detective movie. Tom Cruise has helped to make a rather interesting central character. Sometimes its just fun to get caught up in a guy who is about to face five guys in a fight and gets cocky, saying something along the lines of it not being a […]

My Top 5 Worst Films of 2012

Another year, another slate of both good and bad films.  My best of 2012 list still needs a bit of time.  But seeing as I don’t actively seek out bad movies, this list is ready to go. 5. The Amazing Spider-Man It was an unnecessary reboot made worse by the fact that they did almost […]

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild is an ambitious film about a young girl in a remote delta community outside of New Orleans just before Katrina. It blends reality and fantasy in an attempt to show this girl’s personal story as a part of the larger universe around us. Along the way it over-glorifies the “simple […]

This is 40

Django Unchained was sold out, so we saw this instead. It was like going to a restaurant expecting to order top sirloin, but instead getting mutton. This is 40 takes the most annoying character from Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up and makes her the central character. Leslie Mann is not an actress I was to see […]

Lincoln

When I heard that Spielberg was doing a biopic of Lincoln, I groaned. It pained me to see one of my favourite directors wasting his talents on an unoriginal, boring biopic. Keep in mind I had not seen the movie yet, this was all based on assumptions. But as the film released and I learned […]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Part 2)

Alright, I feel like I have to chime in on the visuals of this movie. Yes, the production values look very consistent with the first trilogy. Yes, the special effects are up to Middle Earth Par, especially the Eagles. Well, okay, the goofier stuff not so much (i.e. The Goblin King). But what I really […]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (part 1)

I’ve decided to split my review into two parts The first will focus on the story elements of the film while the second will look at the technical and visual aspects. Part 1 I have to admit that I went into this film skeptical, despite being a big Tolkien fan (or perhaps because of that). […]