Movies

Movie Review -- 'A Star is Born' Features Oscar-Worthy Performances From Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga

A Star is Born has two really great things going for it. One, a star/director who really, really cares about the film. Two, it has Lady Gaga.

This is the second time the 1937 film A Star Is Born has been reimagined, and this version bears a closer resemblance to the 1976 incarnation than the original. Washed up rock star Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) meets Ally (Lady Gaga) and they fall in love, allowing her access to the career and stardom she’s always dreamed of while he continues to be pulled down by his alcoholism and drug...

Movie Review — Row the Boat, Please: 'Manchester By the Sea' is Good, But Too Slow to be Great

manchester-by-the-sea-casey-affleck-lucas-hedges-promo Though it ain't Jimmy Stewart finding life's true meaning is in the small pleasures, it's not that far off. Manchester By the Sea is a grim tale — we see Casey Affleck as Lee grinding it out as a maintenance man for a Boston slumlord, not much going right for him. His daily life consists of getting hammered after a day of drudging work before collapsing in his one room, cell-like apartment. Casey is obviously damaged,...

Movie Review -- 'Steve Jobs' is a Relatively Boring Three Act Play

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Aaron Sorkin is one of most renowned writers of drama and dialogue in Hollywood today. His 2010 script for The Social Network was one of the best movies I've seen in the past 20 years. The dialogue is electric, the pacing of the film is perfect and the duration is never boring. Yet, going into Steve Jobs with high expectations, I left the theater nothing but disappointed. Despite all the love this movie has received (85% of Rotten Tomatoes), I have to say I wasn't impressed one bit with this film. I was engaged in the Steve Jobs story...

Movie Review - 'Unfinished Business' - Unpolished Work

unfinished-business-02-gallery-image If you haven't heard of the latest R-rated Vince Vaughn comedy, don't be surprised, I hadn't seen much promotion for Vince Vaughn's Unfinished Business either.  Twentieth Century Fox likely didn't push it too hard because this business trip turns out to be a bit of standard fare. The opening scene places Dan Trunkman (Minnesota's own Vince Vaughn) character as an under-appreciated salesman at a minerals company that sells "swarf" (Dynamic Progressive Systems). Trunkman is considered replaceable by his boss, so he starts his own company where his only two workers are...

Movie Review -- ‘The Lazarus Effect’ Can’t Totally Revive its Dead Premise

lazarus effect - movie review 2015 A college intern shouts “It’s alive!” directly at the camera. He plays it off as a joke, but there’s genuine excitement in his voice all the same. He’s aware that there’s a movie called Frankenstein, clearly. He’s not aware of the irony that the scientist behind his research team is named Frank, nor will he notice that their efforts to “cure” death are doomed to a very familiar comeuppance — not until it’s too late anyway. When Colin Clive shouted that line in 1931 he was theatrically depicting the pure, grandiose hubris of a man overwhelmed by the fact that he’s played God. The sentiment belonged...

Movie Review -- 'A Most Violent Year' Can’t Live Up to Its Ideals

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Few films about the recession were as unflinchingly grim as JC Chandor’s debut feature Margin Call. Time and time again, well-meaning, sympathetic characters (and others less so) were given no choice but to act deplorably leading up to the greatest economic disaster since the Great Depression. “It’s all just the same thing over and over; we can’t help ourselves. And you and I can’t control it, or stop it, or even slow it. Or even ever-so-slightly alter it. We just react,” one Wall Street executive stated almost too succinctly. Despite a number of flaws common to first time writers and directors,...

Timeless 'Double Indemnity' Still Feels Fresh -- Featured @ Heights Theater This Week

double indemnity - movie review There are great films and there are classics. Double Indemnity, which plays this Thursday at the Heights Theater as part of their series “Death Wore Lipstick: The Women of Film Noir,” is easily one of the latter. Even if you haven’t seen it, you know its trademarks: the harsh shadows, jagged edges, quick patter, melodramatic voiceover. It features lines like, “I was thinking about that dame upstairs, and the way she looked at me, and I wanted to see her again, close, without...

Movie Review -- 'Into the Woods' – Be Careful What You Wish For

into the woods - review Adapted from the music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book originally by James Lapine, Disney tries turning their recent original story live action flops into the first retold story success with Into The Woods this Christmas. Disney's live action film promotions have little effect on my day to day life and it's only when at the theater or passing by a giant bus advert, do some of these future titles actually present themselves to me. Thinking back to such releases as John Carter or The Lone Ranger (both of which I enjoy despite the overwhelming amount...

Movie Review -- 'Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb' is a Perfect Holiday Family Flick

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Nearly five years have passed since the release of one of the most underwhelming sequels put together from (nearly) the entire original cast and crew. Mixed reviews and the strong reheated aftertaste from those leftovers put a sour taste in viewers' mouths with the release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. The third entry, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, returns to the roots of what made the original Night at the Museum a success.When the magical powers that bring the museum exhibits to...

Movie Review -- 'The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies' Sputters to a Disappointing Finish

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I should start by saying I am a big fan of anything and everything Middle-Earth. Like, a HUGE fan. I’ve read every book by J.R.R. Tolkien, and I’ve been reading The Lord of the Rings at least once a year since I was about 14 years old. The books and movies representing Tolkien’s world have been a central theme in my life for over a decade. So, you can imagine that the anticipation going into the last Hobbit movie, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, was greater than I can describe in words. This was it. The last time I’d be able to see Middle-Earth...