I am not a gamer. I have played video games. I am fond of Nintendo, and I really enjoyed Sega Genesis, but I am in no way a video game snob. For some reason, the early rumblings I was hearing about Wreck-it Ralph insinuated that the viewer wouldn’t really enjoy it unless they could get all the subtle nuances and references throughout the movie. After seeing it, I strongly disagree with that.
Arguably, the best song ever written about Martin Luther King, Jr. was “In the Name of Love” by U2 …who are from Ireland. And now the greatest rendition of Abraham Lincoln so far is performed by an Englishman. It’s a goddam travesty!
I like a kids’ movie that does what, in my mind, they’re supposed to do: Entertain and encourage. Rise of the Guardians does this very very well. Not as well as The Incredibles, the benchmark of all children’s movies for me, but close enough to make me compare them. I was prejudiced against this film because there was, recently, some crazy owl movie titled something something guardians, and it was another super dark kids movie. Which I will rant about in a moment.
A lot of people seem to have some preconceived ideas about this film. They see a young man on a lifeboat with a tiger and scratch their head about it. Why, I don’t know. That image alone intrigues me. That fact alone is exactly what made me read the best-selling novel upon which this film is based. Dude, A TEENAGER IS TRAPPED ON A LIFEBOAT WITH A BENGAL TIGER. What about that premise seems boring to anyone? Are you all that jaded? Should he be trapped on a lifeboat with a tyrannosaurus rex?
Based on the book Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, this 94 minute looong pedestrian look at Alfred Hitchcock’s life should have been called “Hitchcock really relied on his wife, Alma!” Anthony Hopkins does a passible Hitchcock impression and Helen Mirren probably does a good Mrs. Hitchcock, having never heard the real one speak, but instead of really getting details on how he made his most successful movie, Psycho, it is mostly comprised of his married life and the emotional insecurity he brought to relationship.
…in Backyard Blockbusters, director and fan film maker himself, John E. Hudgens, introduces us to these uber nerds and geeks that have a passion for these things beyond that of your usual San Diego Comicon attendee.
I’ll admit it; I’m a big found footage film fan! Ever since my first viewing of The Blair Witch Project (which by the way is a great film that people should stop talking shit about), I’ve been a sucker for any film where people feel compelled to keep filming the horror their experiencing beyond all limits of logic. There’s just something innately eerie about seeing something terrible happen to people on low resolution video…with the exception of an episode of Tosh.0.
I’m kinda glad to see that Ben Affleck has managed to escape the albatross that was Gigli. And Daredevil, for that matter. But Gigli was albatross enough for one man, I think. Ben seems like a nice enough guy and he’s more than made up for such past mistakes – so far. And he has indeed become a formidable director as well. in Argo, we get to see that, and that he certainly has reafirmed his acting cred as well.
Ah, yes, another Halloweeen and another Shriekfest Horror/SciFi Film Festival! I look forward to it every year, and this year was no different. And there were some particular stand-outs in the features this year, and even a few in the Shorts.
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Comedy Film Nerds sends Dean Haglund to talk to Tom Hanks and Halle Berry about Cloud Atlas, conventions, action figures, Mazes and Monsters, and reincarnation.