On 03/17/2011, news hit that Darren Aronofsky, genius director and the man responsible for Black Swan (which we kinda liked over here), had jumped ship as the director of the sequel to 2009 fiasco and failed X-Men spin-off, Wolverine. Citing travel woes and a reticence toward being yanked away from his family for filming, Aronofsky … Continue reading
Posted in March 2011 …
Review: Paul, 2011, dir. Greg Mottola
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost at this point should be considered the premiere comic duo of our time. Is that fair to say? These English lads– one of their country’s most beloved exports– constitute a twosome which functions organically and a dynamic that requires no employment of shtick to work; they’re funny, individually and together, … Continue reading
Review: Date Night, 2010, dir. Shawn Levy
Taking an everyperson– that’s an everyman or an everywoman for you PC types out there– and throwing them into an extraordinary circumstance can provide a path to success in storytelling if the person spinning the yarn knows what they’re doing. In a way, I think we respond more to the everyperson than we do to … Continue reading
Review: The Adjustment Bureau, 2011, dir. George Nolfi
Nothing can bring down a good film like a weak, flimsy ending. If anything can make a person question their enjoyment of the two hours or so of movie they’ve watched up to the finale, it’s a bad denouement. Not even a bad one, even, just one that doesn’t do the rest of the story– … Continue reading
The Japan Tragedy
I wanted to take a moment here to talk about Japan instead of films. Yes, this is a movie/entertainment blog, but the world has ways of reminding us that our hobbies and interests aren’t what matter the most. The disaster that hit Japan yesterday epitomizes the simultaneously heartless and amoral wake-up call to the very … Continue reading
Review: The Kids Are All Right, 2010, dir. Lisa Cholodenk
Walking away from Lisa Cholodenko’s latest effort, the curiously titled The Kids Are All Right, I felt myself being pulled in multiple directions by its varying incongruities and opaque intentions. This is a confused film, a film unsure of exactly whose story it wants to tell and greatly confused over the message it’s supposed to … Continue reading
Review: Cedar Rapids, 2011, dir. Miguel Arteta
Ed Helms’ career is defined by a relegation to supporting roles and a specific casting type– whether intentional or otherwise– that does not on its own merits suggest leading man potential. Unless the film in question features a leading man that plays perfectly to that type, which Tim Lippe, insurance salesman and poster child for … Continue reading