Oh, the Coen brothers. Where do I start?
If you’ve heard anything about their new film, A Serious Man, you may have heard the comparisons to the story of Job. (The guy in the bible.) That’s certainly a good starting place, but I think it’s best to use that story as an influence, and consider the [...]
For a long while, I was unsure how to talk about this film. It’s obviously about the war in Iraq, but it’s not necessarily a war film. There are tense scenes, but it’s not really a suspense/thriller film. The film is less about a certain storyline or eventual showdown, and more about the ability to [...]
I’ve seen a great number of films, and experienced a great deal of villainy. One of the recent villainous greats was Heath Ledger’s interpretation of The Joker in The Dark Knight. Ledger’s version of The Joker gave the character a whole new shade. His take was a whole new voice compared what we’d seen in [...]
“Adventure is out there!”
So claims Charles Muntz, famous world explorer and star of black-and-white newsreels. Carl Fredericksen, an elderly widower, grew up idolizing Muntz. Muntz discovered Paradise Falls, a seemingly mythical jungle paradise, home to a strange beast Muntz claimed to have discovered – but was rejected and shamed by the scientific community. Fredericksen was [...]
To boldly go where… several movies have gone before?
The new Star Trek film is blasting into theaters, almost literally. There have been plenty of Trek movies, derived from the original television series or its various spin-offs, but this new film is stepping outside the realm of continuing a TV show. This Trek film fits into [...]
Most people, I think, have some sort of unhealthy habit. Whether they admit it or not, everyone has some trait, activity or habit that they take to the extreme. Now, I doubt very much that most people can relate to the love of Star Wars that the characters in our film have. But, everyone has [...]
Ever watch The History Channel? It’s got the H logo in the corner – for history! Every time I go to that channel, it seems to be about Hitler. So often, in fact, that I just call it The Hitler Channel. I mean, how many documentaries can there be about one guy? At least that [...]
Someone once told me it’s impossible for men and women to be friends. It just is. There’s always the inherent possibility of sex happening somewhere down the line, I guess, so every male/female friendship isn’t really friendship, it’s just a booty call that hasn’t been dialed yet.
Zack and Miri (short for Miriam, natch) are male [...]
I remember reading once, maybe in a textbook, about American ingenuity. I’m pretty sure American-made school textbooks are always going to be pumped full of nationalism. I guess it was a romanticist idea that a guy would come home after work, put his kids to bed, and invent for America in his basement.
Dr. Robert Kearns [...]
Let’s see. I’m not a big mathematical person, but I think I have this flick figured out. Okay. The Karate Kid + Neverending Story + Last Action Hero = The Forbidden Kingdom. And that’s not really a bad thing.
Going by the ads for this movie, you’d think this was a movie about Jet Li and [...]
The Promotion Movie Review
If you work in any sort of service to the public, your fate is not your own. And our characters in this film, The Promotion, have very little control over their own fate. The film opens with the main character, Doug (Sean William Scott, or “Stifler”, for some of you), seems really slow. And I [...]