January 2010
7 posts
3 tags
Edge of Darkness (2010) review
I do like action films, police procedurals, mysteries, crime movies, however one chooses to categorise them. Ironically, since I rarely watch television any more, I have never seen any of the variations of CSI or it’s cousins, but I’d probably like them, too. But the advance word about Edge of Darkness was that it wasn’t an “action flick,” that it was much more of...
2 tags
Legion (2010) review
I’m not reviewing every film I see—some, like Daybreakers, are so disposable I have nothing to comment on—but Legion deserves at least a brief comment or two.
A website I visit from time to time has an annoying audio pop-up ad, in which a grating woman’s voice shouts “Hello! Are you a genius?” (I’ve never gotten beyond that point, instantly killing the...
6 tags
The Road (2009) review
Not so coincidentally, I saw this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel a few days after watching The Book of Eli. Two films with certain similarities—a perilous trek across a dystopian USA (well, you could also say that about Zombieland and scores of other movies)—but some fundamental differences as well.
The Road, shot several years ago, was given tardy and...
5 tags
The Book of Eli (2010) review
Equal parts spaghetti Western, post-apocalyptic trek film, and religious allegory, The Book of Eli is rather good, to my surprise (I was expecting something much more preachy and “profound”). After the whole world has gone to hell (something about wars, bla bla, hole in the ozone layer, bla bla), the USA is pretty much a desert, with isolated clumps of wrecked cars and crumbling...
3 tags
Youth in Revolt (2010) review
Not being a young person any more, I tend to avoid so-called “teen comedies.” I did see Adventureland (not a comedy, and actually quite good) and The Hangover, but for the most part this particular genre or category of cinema is not aimed at me, I know, and I oblige the producers by staying away.
However, an intriguing review (on Filmdrunk—hey, if you mention “A...
2 tags
Up in the Air (2009) review
Allow me to join the crowd of people who think Up in the Air is a really, really entertaining movie. I don’t know that I’d want to see it three times, or five times, or ten times, but it’s well-written and acted, and has a heart and a mind.
Ryan (George Clooney) flies around the country terminating employees of corporations whose management can’t (or won’t) handle...
5 tags
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) review
If I didn’t know who Terry Gilliam was, would I have perceived so many “Monty Python” allusions in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus? Andrew Garfield—at least “on stage,” reminds me of Michael Palin; Tom Waits—with his pencil-thin moustache and smarmy smirk—resembles one of Gilliam’s “Monty Python” animations, as does the giant...
