The Worst Film of 2011. With The Hangover Part III about to be released, I take this opportunity to share my opening weekend review for its predecessor, the aptly titled The Hangover Part II. The film went on to be my pick for Worst Film of 2011. How will the third (and supposedly final) film of [...]
Part 2 of Dave’s Epic Take-Down of the New Trek Movie. This is a heavily-spoiler-filled review. Read at your own risk if you haven’t seen the film yet. Part 1 Show, Don’t Tell One of Star Trek Into Darkness’ biggest problem is that it violates one of the fundamental storytelling rules of the cinema: show, don’t [...]
Dave Guts this Movie From Bow to Stern. Part One of Two. This is Part I of a two-part examination of Star Trek Into Darkness. It’s very spoiler-heavy, so read at your own risk. JJ Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) was something of a minor geek miracle. For years, the Star Trek franchise had been deader than disco. [...]
The Iceman Cometh. The “All persons fictional” disclaimer runs at the end of the credits of every movie. If you’re like me, and you stay for the end credits when you watch a film, you see it all the time. If not, the text of the disclaimer goes something like this: This is a work of [...]
Where Entertainment Meets Manipulation . Film is a mixture of storytelling and voyeurism. Those who create the movie are the storytellers. They manipulate the audience to feel and believe. We, the audience, are the voyeurs. In Francois Ozon’s newest film, IN THE HOUSE, he literally connects the two on the screen. Fabrince Luchini plays Germain Germain [...]
High Drama in the Heartland. Ramin Bahrani makes movies about people trying to get by; people doing unconventional and sometimes unethical jobs but fighting from letting those jobs define them. In AT ANY PRICE, Dennis Quaid plays Henry Whipple, who represents the logical conclusion of what Bahrani feels would be the outcome of someone allowing their [...]
Does This Sequel Boldly Go Where No Sequel Has Gone Before?. Star Trek Into Darkness is the second entry in the famed series from director J.J. Abrams (Super 8, Mission Impossible III, Lost, and Alias). Four years ago, Abrams took on the massive challenge of rebooting a 40 year-old series, while at the same time being [...]
A Tale of Two Artists and the Woman Who Inspired Them. The famous artist biopic is its own niche, its own mini wing of the movie rental store/museum gallery. When it comes to the lives of people responsible for timeless artwork, the allure to know more about them and to see the work contextualized is forever [...]
The First Movie to be Covered in an Ongoing Column Highlighting the Best Movies of the Century So Far. . EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP is a documentary that isn’t really a documentary. What makes it great is trying to figure out how much is real and how much isn’t; what is intentional and what is [...]
Weekly DVD releases. I apologize for such weak and minimal releases this week. I tried to think of as many things as I could to flesh this column out this week a little, but there’s noting. None of these movies are really worth anything, although I picked one movie just because I made a rule for [...]