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« Previous EntriesDVD: GENESIS - WHEN IN ROME 2007
Thursday, June 26th, 2008In the beginning, GENESIS started life as an art-rock installation full of bold, in-your-face ideas and snooty, experimental posturing. After the defection of resident wierdo PETER GABRIEL, the band settled into a trio with pop-chart sensibilities and a genial, balding frontman/drummer PHIL COLLINS. The eighties were kindest to the band, as they scored several huge, [...]
The Last Of The Breed
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
True originality and greatness are fading quickly in the music world. As each year goes by, we lose more of musics great pioneers. This year we have already lost Bo Diddley, Eddy Arnold, and Buddy Miles and most of the ones left are to old to continue to record new music or even play live shows. Just [...]
Stop-Loss Ray’s Review
Friday, March 28th, 2008Ugh. This is going to be a detailed review. I apologize in advance.
Let me get the politics out of the way in the opening sentence: I am an American, and completely against the American military operation in effect since September 11, 2001. In fact, I often apologize to those I meet from Europe and other [...]
Cloverfield - Ray’s Review
Friday, January 18th, 2008The hype machine has been mercifully turned off; it’s now time to see if producer J.J. Abrams managed to pull off a first-person giant monster movie with the eagerly anticipated Cloverfield.
There Will Be Blood - Chris’ Review
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008I have long been a fan of Paul Thomas Anderson. His latest, There Will Be Blood, has been hyped for quite a while and my expectations were very high. Perhaps too high.
There Will Be Blood - Ray’s Review
Monday, January 14th, 2008Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest, There Will Be Blood, has been receiving accolades for a solid month - hell, it just won star Daniel Day Lewis a Golden Globe - yet it hasn’t been shown theatrically to most of the country. If you don’t live on the coasts, you might as well be dead.
And while no [...]
National Treasure: Book of Secrets - A Review
Sunday, January 13th, 2008I know that this is quite late to review this film, but the truth is I hate seeing PG rated movies too soon after they come out because there is always a group prepubescent 11 year old fucking up the experience. So I waited. Was it worth it?
The Orphanage - A Review
Saturday, January 12th, 2008Remember the days when horror films only tried to scare the shit out of you with some sort of monster? The set up was simple: monster/demon/psycho stalks and kills people until he/she/it was (usually) defeated by the hero.
Since The Ring, we have been deluged by horror films with complicated storylines and lots of prettified cinematography. [...]
The Savages - A Review
Saturday, January 12th, 2008Late in writer/director Tamara Jenkins’ The Savages, playwright Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) looks at her brother Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and asks, “Do you think it’s a little self-indulgent?”
As far as this movie goes, the answer is a resounding YES!
Juno - Chris’ Review
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008Jason Reitman’s Thank You For Smoking was a treasure that got lost in the muddled mess of films between 2005 and 2006. This is certainly not the case with his follow up gem Juno.
Juno - A Review
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008Every trailer and piece of advertising for the new Jason Reitman comedy Juno smacked of the dreaded Little Miss Sunshine syndrome: cute and quirky characters who say incredibly witty things all the time while dealing with ridiculously unrealistic and quirky situations.
And while it has all of that, this film is so much more.
Charlie Wilson’s War - A Review
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007In October when the buzz really started for Mike Nichols’ new film Charlie Wilson’s War I suggested in a preview that this film would feel a lot like being bought. Big time directors teaming with multiple award winning actors to do period war pieces is usually a recipe for Oscar gold. I said this in jest but [...]
National Treasure: Book Of Secrets - Review
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007Imagine buying a Quarter Pounder from McDonald’s, except this one has a juicy Chicken McNugget inside. Then, when you bite into it, the McNugget has shit inside of it, but the shit tastes like chocolate … but it’s still shit.
That’s just about the only way to sum up the viewing experience of National Treasure: Book [...]
Sweeney Todd - Ray’s Review
Sunday, December 23rd, 2007Director Tim Burton returns to the big screen with an adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd.
His best and worst special effect is Johnny Depp.
I Am Legend - Ray’s Review
Saturday, December 15th, 2007The “man alone in a deserted city fighting hyper-vicious zombie/vampires” genre has been done to death (so to speak) over the last several years. They all have as their progenitor the 1954 Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend, which chronicles the last man on earth, Robert Neville, who survives a deadly viral outbreak which wipes [...]
RECommended Renting - Order of the Phoenix
Thursday, December 13th, 2007This week saw the release of the latest Harry Potter film, Order of the Phoenix, on DVD. Last week saw the completion of me finally reading all seven books. Though I was very much a “Johnny-come-lately” with the Potter series I must say that I was immensely impressed with the experience as a whole. I [...]
P.S. I Love You - A Review
Thursday, December 13th, 2007
Remember when I wrote THIS? It was a prediction for what I thought was going to be one of the worst movies of the year. Was I right?
The Golden Compass - Ray’s Review
Monday, December 10th, 2007New Line Cinema, desperately missing the humongous cash influx from their wildly successful Lord of the Rings films, has decided to tackle Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. The first film in the proposed trilogy, The Golden Compass, arrived over the weekend to subdued box office results and fairly negative reviews.
Obviously, some things should be [...]
RECommended Renting - Superbad
Sunday, December 9th, 2007The generation that came of age in the early to mid-1980’s, is chronicled in the works of John Huges. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off are staples that define the era. Comedies certainly have a way of doing this. The mid to late 90’s are trimmed with the likes of the Farrelly’s Dumb and [...]
Hitman - A Review
Friday, December 7th, 2007I bit the bullet, and spent $6 to go see the film adaptation for the highly praised video game, Hitman.
Was it as bad as everyone thought it was going to be?