Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) – Let’s get something out of the way: holy shit! Tom Cruise is insane. I mean we already knew he was “I’m going jump up and down on a couch” and “I’m in a cult” insane, but this… If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, I refer you to … Continue reading
Swamp Thing (1982)
Swamp Thing (1982) – I am a fan of the Swamp Thing comics. I’m not just talking about Alan Moore’s acclaimed run on Saga of the Swamp Thing back in the 1980s. I’m not just talking about the awesome work Scott Snyder is doing on the title for DC’s New 52 relaunch. I’m talking about … Continue reading
Melancholia (2011)
Melancholia (2011) – Melancholia is a movie that is every bit as cheery as its title would imply. How can you tell that always-unnerving Danish director Lars von Trier has made a downer? Well professionally disconcerting German actor Udo Kier appears as comic relief (he is actually kind of funny in the part). The title … Continue reading
Antichrist (2009)
Antichrist (2009) – So Lars von Trier of Dancer in the Dark and Dogville fame set out to make a horror movie. From his résumé it should be obvious that a standard jump-out-and-scare-you thriller was not in the cards. Instead von Trier wants to scare you in your soul. Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg play … Continue reading
Manderlay (2005)
Manderlay (2005) – While I know it’s somewhat divisive, I rather enjoyed Lars von Trier’s Dogville. Wait, “enjoyed” isn’t the right word. No one ever “enjoys” a Lars von Trier film. More often than not they violate your soul. Dogville was a movie that was somewhat brutal in terms of content. Manderlay has a similar … Continue reading
Pirate Radio (2009)
Pirate Radio (2009) aka The Boat that Rocked — I am a fan of British Invasion rock music from the 1960s as well as “sticking it to the man” stories so I suppose I was somewhat predisposed to enjoy this one. It’s lightweight fun, but I have to emphasize the fun part. Plus an excellent … Continue reading
Chillerama (2011)
Chillerama (2011) – I’m not going to make any arguments about this being some great work of art but holy shit is it a whole hell of a lot of fun. Joe Lynch directs the frame story, in which a drive-in movie theater is being shut down. The owner (Richard Riehle) decides to go out … Continue reading
subUrbia (1996)
subUrbia (1996) – I took a stagecraft class this past semester and the final assignment was to design and build a model for a set for a play. I decided to use gthe opportunity to check out a playwright I had heard about but who I have never read/seen, Eric Bogosian (though I have seen … Continue reading
Like Crazy (2011)
Like Crazy (2011) – So this is a movie I was looking forward to that ended up just sort of leaving me cold. In movies like Star Trek, Fright Night, and even the otherwise lousy Terminator: Salvation, Anton Yelchin has proven himself to be a very charismatic young actor and I was looking forward to … Continue reading
The Descendants (2011)
The Descendants (2011) – George Clooney is one of those actors who has personality that tends to bleed through to whatever role he’s playing. There’s even a sort of charm in him even when he’s playing a cold-blooded CIA assassin (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, or his Oscar-winning role in Syriana) or the single worst … Continue reading
Persistence of Vision 