I am part of the generation that spanned the digital revolution which means I have dozens of reels full of my parents’ Super 8mm film going back to the mid-60s. I have made one previous attempt to convert these old home movies to DVD, with moderate success. The quality of […]
Tag: movie
Killers
Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl make a pretty good team in the new romantic comedy Killers (whose plot seems strikingly similar to the Cruise-Diaz vehicle Knight and Day that opens later this month — just sayin’), although I will say that the on-screen chemistry seemed to be lacking, when compared […]
The Big Box Office Bamboozle
It looks like my prediction about Avatar is on track to come true, but the box office reports today reminded me just how pointless box office reports are. I already know the answer to this question, but why do these reports still use dollars instead of gross tickets sold? Hey […]
The Hangover
I don’t go to the movies much (there are three reasons for this), and even when I do, I rarely take the time to write reviews of them anymore (I have people who do that for me). But every now and then a movie comes along that I just have […]
Indiana Jones 4
A while back, I wrote about how movie franchises rarely make it to the fourth installment, and that there’s a reason for that. The latest offering in the Indiana Jones series is a painful reminder of why this is usually true. It would be easy to blame George Lucas, and, […]
Cloverfield
There certainly was a lot of hype surrounding this film, and J.J. Abrams has a lot riding on it since it is the first foray into the big-screen world for his Bad Robot production company. If this movie doesn’t do well, it could be bad news for his much-anticipated Star […]
Live Free or Die Hard
Few movie franchises make it to the fourth installment, and there’s a reason for that. By the fourth one they’ve typically run out of steam. Notable exceptions to this rule are Lethal Weapon 4 and this movie. The original Die Hard (1988) was a seminal movie, defining a genre of […]
Knocked Up
My expectations for this one might have been higher than usual since I thought The 40-Year-Old Virgin was so good. While writer/director Judd Apatow has disappointed in the past — that Ron Burgundy movie is simply unwatchable — he delivers in this movie. For any thirty-something that has gone through […]
Spiderman 3
It’s probably been terribly over-hyped, although it’s still a good movie. I would say that some of the CG fight scenes lose their focus because of the camera spinning around the action instead of trying to capture it. Bruce Campbell’s cameo as a maitre d’ is pretty entertaining. The movie […]
Ghost Rider
It didn’t suck. I had set my expectations pretty low (as I do with all comic book-based movies), and it exceeded them. Nicholas Cage’s performance is solid, and the special effects are top drawer. The mythology/back story that is explained is intriguing, if superficial. The plot is predictable, but at […]
Epic Movie
Never has so much been spent on so little to entertain so few. The budget for this film was certainly epic, so it’s a shame the comedy was so lackluster. No expense was seemingly spared on the CG effects, or the sets and wardrobe, but it was still a disappointing […]
The Good Shepherd
The acting is superb, and DeNiro’s direction is spot on, but don’t go see this movie if you are in need of a nap. Drink some caffiene and be prepared to pay attention. I think I was just lucky, and noticed the right details, otherwise the whole thing might seem […]
Casino Royale
So Daniel Craig’s not as bad as everyone said he was going to be. I’m by no means a fan of the 007 franchise, but I enjoy a good action movie, and this one certainly delivers. I have to wonder how many stuntmen were killed while filming the opening scene. […]
Accepted
This movie was pleasantly surprising. It doesn’t suffer from traileritis, as I had been expecting. Although some of the jokes have been recycled from college movies of the past (such as the granddaddy of them all, Animal House), it didn’t stop it from being entertaining. It even has some heartwarming […]
Pirates of the Carribean II
This movie lived up to the high standards set by the first one, however, it is a bit on the long side. I found myself squirming in my seat the last 20-30 minutes. Perhaps my attitude was different since I knew going into it that the next installment has already […]
The Break Up
Will Vince Vaughn ever tire of the flat, stereotypical characters that he plays? I’ll admit the man has a gift, but I’d just like to see him extend his range a bit. He and Jennifer Aniston have good on-screen chemistry, but not great. And certainly not worth all of the […]
The DaVinci Code
There is no such thing as bad publicity. I’m surprised that the Catholic Church didn’t learn that lesson in 1988 when they turned The Last Temptation of Christ from a mediocre film at best into a certified media sensation. Denouncing a film as heresy is good for guaranteeing it at […]
Mission Impossible III
I’ve never been a big fan of Tom Cruise — his movie career peaked with Top Gun, in my opinion — and his recent exploits and the surrounding media blitz have done little to endear him to me and many other moviegoers who were on the fence about him. Cruise […]
Take The Lead
I’m not a huge fan of Antonio Banderas, and as I sit here trying to think of the last movie I saw him in, I’m coming up blank. But no matter. He’s good in this one. I vaguely recall the cry of collective surprise during the media blitz for Evita […]
V for Vendetta
This is a powerful film. Sadly, too few people will see it. And of the ones who do, not enough of them will see the deeper message contained within it. That message manages to surface once or twice in between the glitz and the action, mostly embodied in the dialogue […]
The Family Stone
“Finding your path” is the message behind this movie. Well, that, and “letting your freak flag fly.” In the end, it’s a love story, but not the kind you would expect. Or maybe it is since it deals with just about every kind of love imaginable — familial love, homosexual […]
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
This movie is simply magnificent. From the fantastical creatures that inhabit the world of Narnia (C.S. Lewis borrows heavily from just about every culture’s mythology on Earch, from cyclopes to the phoenix), right down to each CG-hair in Aslan’s coat (that makes the lion in Jumanji look like 1st graders […]