“Pain & Gain” Review
Michael Bay really surprised me with this one. After an incredibly lousy streak of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009, followed by Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 2011, it seemed Bay could never recover from the creative slump he stumbled into. Would we ever see him go back to the days of The [...]
“Upstream Color” Review
How can I even begin to describe the bold and unique Upstream Color? I guess I just did: bold and unique. Upstream Color is Shane Carruth’s sophomore film, a follow-up to his brilliant cult film Primer. Much like the puzzling and complex Primer, Upstream Color is very perplexing. Unlike the rigid and scientific Primer, however, [...]
“Welcome to the Punch” Review
Welcome to the Punch is a small British action flick that only recently hit screens in the United States, and generally these low-budget action flicks tend to disappoint. Of its $8.5 million budget, it only made back a little over $1.5 million. It’s actually a great shame, because in spite of the lack of hype [...]
“Iron Man 3 ” Review
Of the films leading up to The Avengers, I found Iron Man to be the most compelling of the bunch. I remember when Robert Downey, Jr. was announced to be playing Tony Stark, most of us wondered if he could really pull it off. Then the movie came out, and not only did the man [...]
“42 ” Review
There was a couple sitting behind me as I was watching 42, and the man, in an attempt to impress his girlfriend, leaned over to her and whispered, “This is actually based on a true story, y’know.” I’m not sure if he’s the dumber one for thinking she didn’t know, or she is for genuinely [...]
Interview with James Oster of JoBlo’s Movie Emporium
Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing movie critic and celebrity interviewer James Oster (a.k.a. “JimmyO”) of JoBlo.com. Here is the conversation that ensued. Thanks for agreeing to let me interview you. I promise to let you out of my basement once this is done. I’d like to start at the beginning. Where did you [...]
“The Place Beyond the Pines” Review
Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines is a film of massive ambition and scope, and is, at the very least, admirable. When a grandiose film tries to encompass so much, it often has some rough spots throughout it, and The Place Beyond the Pines is no different. It’s admittedly flawed, but for those who [...]
“The Monk” Review
Being a monk must be difficult, I’d imagine. It’s a life devoted to discipline and restraint, two things I lack almost completely. I see monks and they behave almost as machines; their life is so rigid and structured, and their brains are wired only towards their immense piety. What we don’t see in monks, however, [...]
“Jurassic Park” Review
*Note: This is a review of the 2D version of Jurassic Park, because I refuse to pay money to see this in post-converted 3D. Jurassic Park was no doubt a landmark film when it came out in 1993, and the film’s technical ingenuity Is still incredibly admirable. Much of the computer-generated effects hold up to [...]
“Phil Spector” Review
David Mamet is largely considered to be one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, having written the critically-acclaimed plays Glengarry Glen Ross and American Buffalo, their film adaptations, and cinematic classics like Sidney Lumet’s The Verdict and Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables. Given that Mamet is the writer and director of Phil [...]