Movie Reviews
nisbetmc | May 21, 2009
So I scanned the reviews for director McG's Terminator Salvation at the Washington Post, New York Times, and New York Magazine, and it turns out not unexpectedly that in the words of my hometown Buffalo News' critic Jeff Simon that the film "is a remarkable looking piece of work. And you'll find gobs and gobs of action in it at least half of the time. Bullets fly, so do people. Things blow up and, yes the people do, too."
But reading the reviews left me thinking: There's so much visual, so much wider audience engagement with a film like Terminator Salvation, that the underlying themes of…
retrospectacle | December 9, 2007I went to go see the movie the Golden Compass last night with a few friends, and was phenomenally impressed by it at every level. As someone who has not read the books (The Golden Compass was based on the book 'Northern Lights', renamed 'The Golden Compass' in America) I don't have a basis to compare whether it followed the book exactly or not. But the movie did succeed in making me really want to read the book, part of a trilogy. The Golden Compass first came to my attention through Facebook, specifically through a "Boycott the Atheist Movie!!!" Facebook group that a few old friends were…
retrospectacle | January 8, 2007Me and my friends went to see "The Good Shepard" Saturday night, a movie about the inception (and deception) of the CIA surrounding the Bay of Pigs invasion and Cold War. It was directed by/produced by Francis Ford Coppola and Robert De Niro (who also starred), with screenplay by Eric Roth of "Forrest Gump" fame. Cast included (in addition to De Niro) Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, Billy Crudup, Tim Hutton, and Joe Pesci among others. Seriously star-studded, and some of those casting decisions were spot-on awesome (Crudup and Baldwin especially). However, the two main characters,…
retrospectacle | November 29, 2006I absolutely loved Aronofsky's work. Not that there's so much of it, only "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream" plus some student works. But I've heard mixed things about his most recent movie "The Fountain."
So: Have you seen it? And, if so, what did you think?
I'm trying to decide if/when to go see it, so be honest!
retrospectacle | November 7, 2006I'm sure you've heard about "Borat." Like Snakes on a Plane, its been the object of a huge amount of hype and word-of-mouth style promotion. I went to go see the movie Sunday night, and I gotta say, I thought it was hilarious. Although, several people walked out of the theater about 15 minutes into the movie. And I heard a few others say "That wasn't funny at all" while leaving. Honestly, if you don't have a sense of humor (and a flexible one at that) don't see it. But, if you're a fan of pushing-the-envelope type humor a la South Park, Drawn Together, etc, chances are you'll laugh hard and…
retrospectacle | July 25, 2006
Last night I went to go see "A Scanner Darkly," the dis-topia flick starring Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder based on the 1977 sci-fi novel by Philip Dick. Now, before you shout "Keanu Reeves!" and pan the movie, believe me, the acting issue was more than made up for by a phenomenal performance by Robert Downy Jr., among others. And even then, somehow Keanu was handed a role that was MEANT to be somewhat cardboard, somewhat jaded and stilted.
"What does the scanner see? Into the head? Down into the heart? Does it see into me? Into us? Clearly or darkly?"
This is the line from whence the title…