I don’t always see movies with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in them, but when I do, I always enjoy him.
I have advantages when I see a GI Joe movie. I never saw the cartoon and I have no vested interest, so they can’t be “ruined” for me. I enjoyed the first GI Joe movie and this one is better.
Any preconception I may have had about Oblivion were irrelevant. I didn’t know where it was going to go at first. It definitely offers things I didn’t expect, and yet, it simultaneously manages to borrow little things from many different movies, and therefore allowed me to se some things coming.
After trying hundreds of times to explain to my oldest son what the word “crude” means and how it applied to his table manners, I was ready to give up. Then we saw Dreamworks newest animated comedy The Croods and he finally got it. “Mommy, are trying to say that I eat like a caveman?” “YES! That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to say!” Well worth the price of admission if all we got out of it was making that point.
Yes, yes, I know; why would someone remake the Evil Dead? We asked the same question when they remade Nightmare on Elmstreet and Friday the 13th. I asked myself the same thing of all these. But where Nightmare and Friday the 13th mostly failed by simply remaking the originals, Evil Dead is made not by trying to recreate the original, but by taking the same premise and making a film that is both faithful to the original, and creating it’s own identity.
Sound City was a Los Angeles studio where over a hundred certified gold and platinum albums were recorded during the 70’s and 80’s. It’s also the subject of a documentary of the famed analog studio and its fabled soundboard, which includes an in-studio jam with director Dave Grohl and some of his former bandmates.
Basically, crazy North Korean terrorists attack and take over the White House. What. This movie makes the whole task look easy. There’s surely a lot of unseen details in the logistics of actually taking over the White House, but let’s just suspend our disbelief, ok?
Emperor is a solid film based on the true story of the reconstruction of Japan after World War 2. The movie is directed by Peter Webber and stars Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones. Fox plays General Bonner Fellers, who was assigned by General MacArthur to covertly investigate the Emperor’s fate while the future of Japan hung in the balance. Fox has to determine if the Emperor should be punished for war crimes or saved. Fellers and MacArthur are in the tough spot of the world wanting the Emperor’s head and the Japanese looking at him as a living God. This is the story of the film.
Was it time for a parody of Vegas magicians? Is it too predictable to do so? I don’t know, but here it is. Regardless of which side of that argument you happen to be on, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is actually funny enough to be worth a look. For much of that, you can thank Jim Carrey. Turns out, he’s still pretty hilarious when he wants to be.
You know how you’re watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and you see that there are 42 cars in the parking lot and then you realize that this movie is actually an allegory for the Holocaust? No? Well, my friend, then have I got the movie for you.
Ok, I figure it’s better late than never, but let’s have a look at the Oscars for this year. Frankly, I find myself more interested in the choice of hosts than the actual awards. There seems to be so few surprises in the winners anymore that I kind of enjoy the dubious host selections. And this year, Seth MacFarlane was this years lab rat.