Review: Lawless

Prohibition era stories have been done quite a bit by Hollywood.  Gangsters in suits with semi-automatics in hand, bullets and blood lining the streets of New York and Chicago, and square-jawed lawmen chasing down thugs from speak-easies to back alleys.  There has almost been a romantic quality that has underlined these movies, which most often are marked with severe brutality.  Filmmakers and moviegoers alike have held an affinity...

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Review: Battleship

Well, it’s official.  Taylor Kitsch has absolutely no range as an actor.  I thought I would announce that here because it’s probably not a well known fact since according to theatrical box office numbers, most of you have not seen any of his movies.  Having just completed the third leg of the Year of the Kitsch (John Carter, Savages, Battleship), I can tell you that he delivered the same performance in each of the...

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Review: Priest

I was on the Paul Bettany bandwagon for a little bit.  He had a nice run with A Knight’sTale, A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander, and Wimbledon.  Those were movies with varying degrees of merit and success, but Bettany usually stood out as a solid performer.  His career seemed to get derailed with The Da Vinci Code and this launched a long string on unremarkable performances in mediocre...

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September 2012 Movie Guide

OPENING SEPTEMBER 7, 2012 THE WORDS Starring: Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde, Dennis Quaid, Jeremy Irons Why You Should See It: Because there was enough buzz around this movie that CBS Films was interested in acquiring it before Sundance. Why You Should Avoid It: Because the whole struggling author narrative has been done so many times before. And the Magic 8 Ball Says:  There’s a reason why certain...

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Review: Premium Rush

I love what technology has done for films.  The advancement of computer graphics has allowed directors to take us to worlds previously reserved for the imagination like the planet Pandora in Avatar and to realize characters like The Avengers on a scale that was previously relegated to the funny pages.  And because of this, the bar for action movies keeps getting set higher and higher.  But as much as I love this...

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Review: The Three Stooges (2012)

Before losing all credibility for watching The Three Stooges (2012), I want to point out that the movie was directed by the Farrelly Brothers – Bobby and Peter; the two men responsible for Dumb & Dumber, Kingpin, There’s Something About Mary, and Stuck On You.  Sure, it seems as though they might have lost a few miles per hour off the proverbial fastball given their last few outings (Hall Pass, The...

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Review: We Bought a Zoo

Cameron Crowe, where have you been?  That was the first thought that crossed my mind when I realized We Bought a Zoo was directed by the man responsible for some truly great movies including Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire, and Say Anything.  When last I saw his name in the credits it was attached to the incredibly forgettable Elizabethtown back in 2005 – a movie so mediocre that it would not have surprised me to learn that that filmmaking...

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2012 Vanity Post, Part 2

How does Ted not make this list?  I have no idea, but I digress.  As promised and in the interest of fairness, I have followed up The Vanity Post, Part 1 with a Part 2 that this time around features actors from the past 12 months.  To aid me in this list, I have solicited the help of some fellow cinephiles who are much more inclined than me to take notice of a good-looking man onscreen.  So without further ado, I defer...

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2012 Vanity Post, Part 1

I have recently had requests to do a vanity blog post looking at some of the actors and actresses that rate highly in regards to pulchritude.  As a writer, I find the attractiveness of an actress is tied greatly to the character they are playing onscreen.  For instance, I really like Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts in Iron Man and am ambivalent to her in pretty much everything else.  I have just recently passed the one...

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