Movie Reviews
New Moon Review
“The Twilight Saga: New Moon” is the second movie based on the series of four vampire-based fantasy and romance books by author Stephenie Meyer. The New Moon movie continues the story of the first Twilight movie about the ill-fated romance between mortal Bella Swan, played by Kristen Stewart, and vampire Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson.
New Moon goes through great pains to present itself as a descendent of Romeo And Juliet, except without all that icky tragedy in the end. There are warring clans—in this case, werewolves and vampires—a rival suitor, tragic miscommunication, and at the center of it all, two self-absorbed teenage lovers. Throw in a revenge subplot and an ancient, power-hungry clan of evil Italian vampires, and it all sounds potentially thrilling. But in spite of its wealth of conflict, New Moon suffers from a dearth of accompanying tension and excitement, thanks to the increasingly tedious relationship at its center…read more [AVClub]
New Moon finds Edward and Bella settling into life as high school sweethearts in Forks, Washington, although she’s already worrying about future complications.
She wakes on her 18th birthday from a dream in which she has turned into her grandmother while 108-year-old Edward has remained his perennially youthful, undead self.
This scenario has become common. We’ve seen variations on the theme of time playing tricks in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Time Traveller’s Wife and Dorian Gray. Welcome to the Botox generation’s nightmare…read more [Stuff.co.nz]
2012 Review
“2012” delivers everything you could possibly want from a blockbuster disaster movie, though you have to wonder how Roland Emmerich is going to top the end of the world.
It’s not so much that the Earth is destroyed, but that it’s done so thoroughly. “2012,” the mother of all disaster movies (and the father, and the extended family) spends half an hour on ominous set-up scenes (scientists warn, strange events occur, prophets rant and of course a family is introduced) and then unleashes two hours of cataclysmic special events hammering the Earth relentlessly.
This is fun. “2012″ delivers what it promises, and since no sentient being will buy a ticket expecting anything else, it will be, for its audiences, one of the most satisfactory films of the year. It even has real actors in it. Like all the best disaster movies, it’s funniest at its most hysterical. You think you’ve seen end-of-the-world movies? This one ends the world, stomps on it, grinds it up and spits it out…read more [Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times]
A Christmas Carol Review
Charles Dickens’ beloved holiday story “A Christmas Carol” gets the 3D treatment, and the result is a visually stunning big-screen experience I’m sure many cinema goers out there will enjoy to the fullest extent. As far as I’m concerned, my feelings about this one are mixed.
The story doesn’t really require a lengthy introduction. The holiday season is in full swing, and Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) despises Christmas and everyone celebrating it. Then he’s visited by three ghosts who take him on an emotional journey, and before you know it, his meanness is gone for good…read more [ScreeningLog]
It’s hard to believe that Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol 166 years ago, but here we are in 2009 and Robert Zemeckis has spent $180 million to produce a motion-capture animated film that retells the famous story. The movie opens this weekend on more than 2,000 digital 3D screens and features the voices of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Cary Elwes and Robin Wright Penn. Despite first being published on December 19, 1843, A Christmas Carol remains one of the most popular, heart-warming holiday tales ever written. I’m sure you don’t need a recap of Scrooge’s encounters with the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future…read more [Empire Movies]
Saw 6 Review
Has there ever been a movie franchise as user-friendly as the “Saw” films? “Saw VI,” the latest installment, may have a new director (Kevin Greutert), but the writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, collaborating on their third consecutive “Saw,” make sure that it’s as customer-service-oriented as ever.
Somewhere within the Saw universe’s ridiculously convoluted back story is a film showing how the dying “Jigsaw Killer” John Kramer (Tobin Bell) won the lottery, set up corporate offices, and hired legions of worker elves to build a “torture district” the size of Disneyland. It would be a helluva lot more entertaining than watching his uber-secret second protégé (Mandylor, Mandylor, Costas Mandylor) tiptoe around the events of the previous films, which was all that the abysmal Saw V really had to offer…read more [DreadCentral]
I really don’t want to talk about the plot, because if you’ve seen a few of these films, then the point of how to have fun with them is the twists and turns of the stories. Saw VI is a very satisfying sequel for a handful of reasons. One of the complaints of the last few sequels, were people felt each entry was incomplete because the film’s would leave plot points left unanswered. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton make Saw VI into a caper for the previous films, finally answering some long wondered questions, while juggling an interesting solo story. We get questions answered, which should please the long time fans, and tells a sick little moralistic tale that goes back to the origin of Jigsaw. Saw VI won’t win over any newbies, but it doesn’t have too. If you’re late in this game, go back to the beginning. Maybe that’s good advice for all of us Saw fans, because you’ll appreciate this film a lot more, with all of the subplots fresh in your mind…read more [KillerFilm]
Where The Wild Things Are Review
The children’s classic “Where the Wild Things Are” is only nine sentences long. The new, live-action film version is more than 90 minutes long. You might expect that clever director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) and trauma-tested co-writer Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) would pad the story with extraneous detail to captivate modern kids and their parents.
Where the Wild Things Are is about a child’s innocence brushing up against reality’s prickles. As king, Max (solidly played by newcomer Max Records) inherits the wonder of power, bossing around the monsters in fits of rumpus fun. The child-like tyranny of fun is easy, but the party’s sheen wanes, and Max faces the actual responsibilities of leadership. When forced to deal with being a caretaker, mediator, and confidant to his kingdom’s dysfunction, Max is in way over his head. The monsters of his fantasy world engage in the same frustrations and pettiness he sees in adults of his real childhood, and the solutions to their problems reveal deeper fissures in the group’s fabric. It seems as though Max’s come-to-life toys have become manifestations of his own emotional baggage…read more [Twitchfilm]
Spike Jonze WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is brilliant. It is strange, wild, wicked, terrifying… it is an absolute classic. I remember growing up with the book by Maurice Sendak, and it having a very warm place in my heart. Even today I remember it. I loved the idea that monsters were just like us, they feel and they are oftentimes misunderstood. And as beautiful as the book is, Jonze managed to take that beauty and create a near flawless piece of fiction that lingers somewhere between reality and the fantastic imagination of childhood. I couldn’t have been more pleased with the outcome as it brings out what made the book a classic work of fiction, but it also brings a very emotional and human element to the story of Max and the “wild things”. This is a movie going experience that should not be missed. Young or old, this is a magnificent motion picture that may well end up being the best film of the year come December…read more [Joblo]
Law Abiding Citizen Review
Remember Charles Bronson in Death Wish? Law Abiding Citizen offers a taste of no-mercy vigilante family-man justice 3.0. Ten years after his wife and daughter were slaughtered in front of him, Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) kidnaps one of the perpetrators, straps him down to a torture table, and saws off his limbs (and other things). Then he sends a video of the atrocity to Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), the slick, out-for-himself Philadelphia prosecutor who cut too soft a deal with the killer…read more [EW]
When “Law Abiding Citizen” feels comfortable enough to be a blunt object of suspense, it comes together splendidly. Pitting the harsh realities of the modern justice system against the suburban cry for blood from a soccer dad, Kurt Wimmer’s screenplay nurtures a pungent odor of injustice that sets up the plot in an exhilarating manner. Morally frozen lawyers? Tired, careless judges? Wimmer manipulates audience reaction superbly, bringing the story to a wonderful boil as Nick stands firm to his case-winning percentages and Clyde sulks away, beaten down by the system that was supposed to heal his aching heart. Now there’s a proper set-up for a bracing thriller that respects the fine art of revenge…read more [brainorndorf.com]
Zombieland Review
Zombieland’s not much of a horror movie. There are some really good scares in the first act, and it’s set in a world that’s been devastated by zombies (but not, I think, the undead. These zombies seem to be much more like the Rage-infected types from 28 Days Later and less like the ghouls of George A. Romero’s films), but if you’re hoping for a really gory, juicy, splattery zombie movie, look elsewhere… read more [CHUD]
Falling closer in tone to “Shaun of the Dead” than “28 Days Later” or the George Romero movies, “Zombieland” has its tongue planted firmly in its rancid cheek while still delivering the visceral goodies.
It’s an admittedly tricky balance that’s pulled off with energetic panache by first-time director Ruben Fleischer and the writing team of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. It also has perfectly pitched performances, including the cameo of the year by Bill Murray. But more about that in a bit… read more [THR]
