Category: Movie Reviews
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The Three Musketeers is bright, beautiful and smarter than it looks
The Three Musketeers – 2011 Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson Starring Logan Lerman, Milla Jovovich, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stephenson, Luke Evans, Mads Mikkelson, James Corden, Juno Temple, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Gabriella Wilde, Freddie Fox Screenplay by Andrew Davies and Alex Litvak based on The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas The Three Musketeers is one of the more ridiculous…
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Dream House is almost as good as the story surrounding the movie
Dream House – 2011 Directed by Jim Sheridan Starring Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Martin Csokas, Elias Koteas, Taylor and Clair Geare Written by David Loucka The director and stars of Dream House balked at promoting the film, essentially due to the way the movie was cut after its test screenings. What’s more, Rachel Weisz and Daniel…
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Immortals: More Fighting and Chicks in Sepia Tone
Immortals – 2011 Directed by Tarsem Singh Starring Henry Cavill, Freda Pinto, Mickey Rourke, John Hurt, Stephen Dorff, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Kellan Lutz Screenplay by Charley and Vlas Parlapanides At the beginning of Immortals, Zeus, in his “Old Man” disguise, gives the following exposition: “When this world was still young, long before man or beast roamed…
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Footloose is tight as a coin in the back pocket of Julianne Hough’s pants
Footloose – 2011 Directed by Craig Brewer Starring Julianne Hough, Kenny Wormald, Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, Miles Teller, Ser’Darius, Ziah Colon, Patrick John Flueger, Ray McKinnon, Kim Dickens Screenplay by Craig Brewer, Dean Pitchford It took me a while to learn to appreciate Kevin Bacon, and when the original Footloose was released, I was still in the warming up phase. The…
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CPE and Em: The Nativity Story offers a view of grace in dark times
The Nativity Story – 2006 Directed by Catherine Hardwicke Starring Keshia Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, Ciarán Hinds, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Stanley Townshend, Shaun Toub, Alessandro Giuggioli, Hiam Abbass, Alexander Siddig, Eriq Ebouaney, Stefan Kalipha, Nadim Sawalha Much of the news surrounding The Nativity Story had to do with the personal drama of then 16-year-old Keshia Castle-Hughes announcing that she pregnant during the publicity tour of the…
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The Thing is a good compliment to the classic
The Thing – 2011 Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Eric Christian Olsen, Jørgen Langhelle Written by Eric Heisserer So the word has it that this movie sucked. The box office receipts seemed to confirm this. Still, being a fan of Joel Edgerton (he of the wonderful move, Warrior) and so…
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The Rum Diary: Notes on a life full of exits
The Rum Diary – 2011 Written and Directed by Bruce Robinson Starring Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Giovanni Ribisi, Amber Heard, Richard Jenkins I had always wondered whether I should read any of Hunter S. Thompson’s stuff. I had a quirky friend who had read him in High School and, before he went off…
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Hell and Back Again: Desiring only to serve
Hell and Back Again – 2011 Directed by Danfung Dennis Documentary regarding Nathan and Ashley Harris, Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment in Afghanistan There is a moment in the midst of Hell and Back Again where Nathan Harris, while driving in his car, decides he is tired of hearing his wife’s joking around in the…
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Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is the kind of hillbilly horror we all can rally behind
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil – 2010 Directed by Eli Craig Starring Taylor Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss Written by Craig and Morgan Jurgenson There is a subtlety to the acting of Taylor Labine and Alan Tudyk, who as Dale and Tucker provide one half of the adversarial title of this film, that is…
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