May 2012
1 post
MovieFest: Year 12.
This is less of a post, more of a warning.
Now, to get to said warning, I have to give a little history lesson. Don’t worry, it will be short. (Jason, get your head off the desk and pay attention!)
It was the big, round scary year of 2000. I had just finished The Stand, Stephen King’s apocalyptic so-bad-it’s-good opus, and wanted to watch the 6-hour 80’s-classic...
April 2012
1 post
1 tag
November 2011
1 post
August 2011
5 posts
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
Directed by: Morgan Spurlock
Starring: Morgan Spurlock
Plot: ”A documentary about branding, advertising and product placement that is financed and made possible by brands, advertising and product placement.”
Review: Bah, advertising doesn’t work … Ok, someone get me a Coke! (A)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
One Day
Directed by: Lone Scherfig
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Patricia Clarkson
Plot: ”After spending the night together on the night of their college graduation Dexter and Em are shown each year on the same date to see where they are in their lives. They are sometimes together, sometimes not, on that day.”
Review: The title’s misleading … it feels way longer than...
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
Fright Night
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette (and yes, David Tennant)
Plot: ”A teenager suspects that his new neighbor is a vampire. Also, yes, his neighbor is a vampire.”
Review: Well, it wasn’t good … but devilishly entertaining. (B)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
2 tags
10 Word (or less) Film Review
50/50
Directed by: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogan, Anna Kendrick
Plot: ”A comedic account of a 27-year-old guy’s cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.”
Review: An unbelievable sleeper indie hit … like Juno but with cancer. (A+)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
The Help
Directed by: Tate Taylor
Starring: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer
Plot: ”A look at what happens when a southern town’s unspoken code of rules and behavior is shattered by three courageous women who strike up an unlikely friendship.”
Review: *sobs* Damn you white guilt!(A-)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
June 2011
1 post
May 2011
1 post
April 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Give this song a listen:
“Days/This Time...
March 2011
1 post
February 2011
5 posts
This Week's Weekly Obsessions →
Honey badgers, Artswave, levitating girls, the best pickles in Cincy, more paintball on Community - it’s all here.
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
Buried
Directed by: Rodrigo Cortés
Starring: Ryan Reynolds
Plot: ”Paul is a U.S. contractor working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it’s a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.”
Review: Shove Reynolds in a box? Gladly! … except for this film.(A-)
...
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
Let Me In
Directed by: Matt Reeves
Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins
Plot: ”A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian.”
Review: Sucks? Hell no, I sank my teeth into this baby.(A-)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
January 2011
14 posts
This Week's Weekly Obsessions! →
Lazy superheroes, George Clooney, The Muppets - this post has it all!
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
The Company Men
Directed by: John Wells
Starring: Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper
Plot: ”The story centers on a year in the life of three men trying to survive a round of corporate downsizing at a major company - and how that affects them, their families, and their communities.”
Review: You think you getting fired would be depressing? Watch this.(B-)
See all my 10-word (or...
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
The King’s Speech
Directed by: Tom Hooper
Starring: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush
Plot: ”The story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.”
Review: The movie was decent, but Colin Firth left me … speechless.(B+)
See all my 10-word (or less) film...
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
The Art of the Steal
Directed by: Don Argott
Plot: “A Documentary that follows the struggle for control of Dr. Albert C. Barnes’ 25 billion dollar collection of modern and post-impressionist art.”
Review: Greed, fraud, conspiracies - screw fiction, truth is way more cinematic!(A)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” - Mark Twain”
– (For some reason, Mark Twain quotes have been resonating with me recently. This is one of just many good ones. Dude was cranky and amazing.)
My New Obsession(s)
Hey look, I started a new blog!
Basically, I’ve had a bunch of people come to me in the last few months asking what I’ve been watching, reading, listening to and enjoying - especially now as Watch This is over.
Figuring that, if you care enough to ask me in real life, you might like a quick weekly list of really new, fun, stuff… Not a bad assumption, I say. It’s going to...
The End of Watch This
A few of you … ok, maybe a bit more than a few … knew Allison and I had been watching all of the American Film Institutes’s Top 100 movies in a year, publicly throughout Cincinnati and always for free. It was partly to see if we could do it, partly to stop people whining about there being “nothing to do in Cincinnati,” and partly to spend some more time together - and...
December 2010
3 posts
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
Black Swan
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel
Plot: ”A thriller that zeros in on the relationship between a veteran ballet dancer and a rival.”
Review: Jesus, Nathalie Portman is psychotically good … so is the movie.(A)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
True Grit
Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld
Plot: ”A tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn young woman track down her father’s murderer.”
Review: The West, revenge and murder aren’t funny … they’re damn hilarious. (A-)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
August 2010
2 posts
On hold
Big news coming in the world of Alex Shebar in less than a week (Thursday to be exact). Your patience is appreciated.
July 2010
13 posts
1 tag
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
Inception
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page
Plot: ”In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception.”
Review: Jesus, was this film a kickass dream or epic...
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
The Runaways
Directed by: Floria Sigismondi
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon
Plot: ”A coming-of-age biopic about ’70s teenage band The Runaways.”
Review: Sex, drugs and rock and roll! … Plus, some terrible storytelling. (C+)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Directed by: Niels Arden Oplev
Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Sofia Ledarp
Plot: ”A journalist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing — or dead — for forty years by a young female hacker.”
Review: The best Swedish things ever: Fish. Meatballs. Thriller movies. (A)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
Song of the Day: “Seven Nation Army”...
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
Toy Story 3
Directed by: Lee Unkrich
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack
Plot: ” Woody, Buzz, and the rest of their toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, departs for college.”
Review: Damnit, Pixar! Now even playing with toys makes me cry. (A)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
Hot Tub Time Machine
Directed by: Steve Pink
Starring: John Cusack, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson
Plot: ”Four guy friends, all of them bored with their adult lives, travel back to their respective 80s heydays thanks to a time-bending hot tub.”
Review: Hot tubs? Time machines? This movie has everything! (B+)
See all my 10-word (or less) film reviews here.
1 tag
10 Word (or less) Film Review
Edge of Darkness
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Starring: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston
Plot: ” As homicide detective Thomas Craven investigates the death of his activist daughter, he uncovers not only her secret life, but a corporate cover-up and government collusion.”
Review: Mel Gibson hasn’t kicked this much ass since Hanukah. (B+)
See all my 10-word (or less) film...