I’m of the firm belief that movies should always be made with the utmost care in craftsmanship no matter who they’re being made for. This belief seeps into every aspect that goes into the finished product that we end up seeing on the big screen after we buy our tickets and find our seats, from … Continue reading
Posted in August 2010 …
Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, 2010, dir. Edgar Wright
If there’s one cinematic companion to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World that leaps immediately to my mind, it’s not the obvious sugar-rush action movies that director and English national treasure Edgar Wright tends to favor but rather the very genuine and down-to-earth 2007 romantic comedy Knocked Up. Cut out the super-powered bass battles, sword fights, … Continue reading
Review: The Other Guys, 2010, dir. Adam McKay
Wow, Adam McKay– what’s gotten you so worked up? Watching The Other Guys, the answer isn’t particularly secret and nor does McKay seem terribly interested in trying to disguise it. For a bonkers, slapstick, off-the-wall comedy featuring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg swapping back and forth between being the straight man and acting like lunatics, … Continue reading
Review: Punisher Warzone, 2008, dir. Lexi Alexander
As a fan of slasher movies, I occasionally wrestle with a moral dilemma that I find to be central to the psycho-killer-makes-teens-more-dead dynamic (and I’m sure– at least I hope– that I’m not the only one). The slasher, serving as the real star attraction of the movies that they feature in, becomes the figure that … Continue reading
Review: Zombieland, 2009, dir. Ruben Fleischer
How do filmmakers today keep the decaying body of the zombie invasion genre fresh and– so to speak– alive? Decades of offerings focused on the shambling hordes of the undead, many of which exist solely to ape their oft-superior predecessors, have rendered this cornerstone of low-budget indie horror filmmaking inert, arid, and utterly boring. But … Continue reading
Video Games and Art: A Debating Ouroboros
There’s a lengthy three-pronged introduction to this article. The first is that while I usually refrain from cursing in this blog, this debate frustrates me in ways that I didn’t think were possible. If there’s a haughtiness or a shortness or an anger to my words, then that’s probably why. Prong numero duo is … Continue reading
Review: Centurion, 2010, dir. Neil Marshal
In roughly AD 117, Rome’s 9th Legion disappeared while on the march through Britain. What happened to them has been the subject of much debate and speculation amongst scholars; some assert that they were wiped out by Celtic tribes of Britain, while others believe that they simply disbanded, and still others suggest that they died … Continue reading
Review: Surrogates, 2009, dir. Jonathan Mostow
We live in an age where communication comes as easily through a computer as through personal and real human interaction. This is a time when friends are made through online gaming, couples are born from Internet dating services, and everybody– quite literally everybody, from high profile celebrities to your boring neighbors– has a Twitter account … Continue reading
Review: Daybreakers, 2010, dir. Michael and Peter Spierig
2003 brought us the campy Australian horror comedy, Undead, a refreshing take on the zombie genre courtesy of Michael and Peter Spierig. The film’s low budget and B-movie sensibilities lent it a certain scrappy charm; combined with the interesting perspective the siblings brought to the story, Undead became something of a cult favorite. All of … Continue reading
Review: Inception, 2010, dir. Christopher Nolan
Inception, in its fashion, feels well-worn and familiar but only because the trick of the film is a favorite of director Chris Nolan’s. Indeed, he pulled it off just two years ago with 2008’s The Dark Knight, a sincere if bloated attempt at inciting a mainstream cultural phenomenon framed within an equally genuine bid at … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 