In the wake of Halloween and Friday the 13th, there have been a great many horror flicks that use secluded spots in the woods for their kill zones, from The Burning and Mother’s Day to Wrong Turn and Camp Slaughter. The woods are cheap […]
Continue reading »Month: April 2012
The Raid: Redemption (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
While I have never been a big fan of martial arts movies — especially after having watched a slew of them in the early 1980s — I have to admit that Gareth Evans’ Indonesian apartment slaughterhouse The Raid: Redemption is quite […]
Continue reading »Lockout (2012) ✰ ✰
Its credits claim that Lockout is “based on an original idea by Luc Besson,” but there is nothing original about Besson’s “idea.” Lockout is, depending on your viewpoint, either an homage to or a ripoff of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (1981), […]
Continue reading »The Lorax (2012) ✰ ✰ ✰
Some children’s movies have more substance than others, and some have more propaganda. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is a movie that certainly entertains children, and adults, yet it also undeniably functions as environmental propaganda. So did the book. This is not […]
Continue reading »Mirror, Mirror (2012) ✰ ✰ ½
The first of two live-action “Snow White” adventures to be released this year is an imaginative, slightly wicked little comedy that retells the tale with an adroit sense of humor. Because megastar Julia Roberts is cast as the evil Queen, […]
Continue reading »Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2012) ✰ ✰ ✰
I’ve always liked Lasse Hallström as a filmmaker, ever since I saw My Life as a Dog way back in 1985. He is one director I wish would work more frequently than he does. Hallström’s penchants for character detail, gradual […]
Continue reading »Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) ✰ ✰ ½
In 2008 Brendan Fraser starred in Journey to the Center of the Earth, a goofy but likable version of Jules Verne’s tale. Now comes a sequel of sorts, although Fraser is nowhere to be seen. His nephew from the first film, […]
Continue reading »Hugo (2011) ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
In 1920s Paris, Hugo (Asa Butterfield) lives in the train station and maintains the clocks in an effort to avoid the orphanage. In his spare time he works on an automaton that his father left him in the hopes that […]
Continue reading »Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2012) ✰ ✰ ✰
Much more up my alley (than Wrath of the Titans) is the contemporary comedy drama Jeff, Who Lives at Home, which is written and directed by brothers Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass. Its essence is a struggle between two dissimilar […]
Continue reading »Wrath of the Titans (2012) ✰ ✰
This thoroughly unnecessary sequel to the thoroughly unnecessary remake of the 1981 thoroughly unnecessary original is a passable time filler if one has any interest in its mythology or its movie stars. Some of the stars, like Liam Neeson and […]
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