Reviews

The Halloween weekend continued to present us with a healthy, caffeine free, dose of horror films.  The supposed final installment of the Saw franchise continues the trendy move to 3D and after having seen the very cheesy trailers featuring arms reaching out of the screen to grab someone in the audience, I could tell the […]

The true test of all horror sequels is how well it connects to the previous films.  Loose and contrived connections result in a rapid de-saturation of the original story (see the Saw series).  Strong connections build and expand the story’s mythos (see The Ring films).  Traditionally, the horror genre has not been particularly successful at

So you’ve been going to the movies recently in a crude attempt to keep your girlfriend or boyfriend interested in you and you’ve been noticing that the movies selected by the man have been getting a little cheesier than you’ve been accustomed to.  You say to yourself, “an action film is an action film,” right? 

. . . to those who screw other people over.  Wait a minute!  That’s not how that expression goes.  However, in these times of highly dubious corporate dealings, stock swapping and market meltdowns, one could easily make the case that this is how the expression ought to read from now on.  The Social Network is

Our boy Ben places himself back in the director’s chair for The Town, yet another film in the long list of bank heist crime dramas with the added twist of the Irish mob perspective that only Bean Town can deliver.  Did you know that Ben has three other directing credits to his name?  Gone Baby

Ever wonder what the life of a professional assassin would be like in real life?  My guess is it would be a little less romantic, prolific and lucrative than it has been made out to be in popular culture.  If less is what you are looking for, then Anton Corbijn’s The American certainly delivers in

Everybody loves crime drama, cops and robbers and bank heists featured in Hollywood films.  Takers is yet another film in the same genre as the Ocean’s films and Heat (1995) that takes the audience on a bullet riddled joy ride from the criminals’ perspective.  These films are notorious for recruiting big names to fill out

Beyond raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, some of my other favorite things include comic books, video games and rock and roll music.  Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a comic book adaptation that encompasses all of the above in a fairly entertaining yet experimental way and I must admit that I am ashamed

Inception is the best movie of this summer, perhaps even the past few summers and Chris Nolan is making what Dane Cook would refer to as “cinematic adventures” fun, surprising and satisfying once again.  Despite Nolan’s ever increasing reputation as a sure thing, I had numerous reservations about this production as soon as the advertising

This film is all about M. Night Shyamalan.  Assuming the writing, directing and producing responsibilities for a film he is involved with is his M. O.  However, Night has always done this with a completely original idea and The Last Airbender is his first real shot at helming someone else’s franchise.  Night’s appeal has always

A title for a review that curses a film is never a good thing. Many a western has been seen by these eyes and even the worst spaghetti, 5 second dub delay, rag-tag acted, thrown together at the last second, cowboy versus Indian flick would be better than that sack of dung also known as

When 100 years pass, will people regard the 1980s as an incredible treasure trove of intellectual property that got ransacked during the 2000s because Hollywood couldn’t come up with an original idea to save its life? I would like to think that those of us who were conscious during the ‘80s already recognize this to

The stand-alone epic: Is it a lost art form in Hollywood Land?  I ask this question because I was extremely stunned to discover that this film is the first of an installment. Of how many sequels are planned, I am not certain, but I would never have pegged the likes of Ridley Scott or Russell

In Need Of A Bigger Gun