Posted by
Shane -
February 1, 2012 – 1:55 am
3 out of 5 *****
Self-obsession isn’t an attractive quality. Self-delusion less so. Well, Young Adult gives us a lead character who has an overabundance of both. Charlize Theron stars as Mavis, once the popular girl in high-school, who has moved from a small town in Minnesota to the more bustling municipality of Minneapolis – even though how small does your hometown have do be to regard Minneapolis as the “big city”?
Now a divorcee, Mavis is a writer of fiction novels that can be found in the “young adult ” section of bookshops (as you can see, the film’s title has a double-meaning). However, she is unsatisfied with her lot in life, and rather than write, she spends most of her time drinking heavily and watching trashy reality TV shows that specifically focus on women – which I’m sure is deliberate. She may look at the likes of “tweens” in beauty-pageants and feel superior in their vacuity, but at her core, Mavis is no better. The only difference between her and Kim Kardashian is that she has a diploma. Read More »
Posted by
Shane -
January 25, 2012 – 12:44 am
3 1/2 out of 5 *****
One could argue a brief look at the publicity for Like Crazy is something of a marketing disaster; the trailer, the mawkish poster, even the title. You’d be right in surmising that Like Crazy is a love story, but it’s not the love story that the first wave of advertising would have you believe. Jakob Rehlinger – from the Nerd Hurdles podcast – argued that this same problem beset the movie, Hanna.
The couple is question is Anna (Felicity Jones) and Jacob (Anton Yelchin). Anna is an English college student in Los Angeles and takes a shine to classmate, Jacob. Sure enough a whirlwind love-affair swiftly develops between the two of them. While I’d imagine that they have been in relationships before, they approach this one with the wide-eyed wonder of a child who’s opened their Christmas presents to find that Santa has brought them exactly what they wanted. Read More »
By Shane
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Also posted in Simply Read
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Tagged 500 Days Of Summer, Anton Yelchin, Ben York Jones, Blue Valentine, Cemetery Junction, Drake Doremus, Felicity Jones, Film, Jennifer Lawrence, Like Crazy, Simply Read, the hunger games
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Posted by
Jakob -
January 24, 2012 – 2:25 pm
Since we don’t talk much about Underworld: Awakening in our upcoming Nerd Hurdles episode on Underworld: Awakening, here is a more in depth look at this weekend’s biggest film.
The fourth installment in the franchise—and the proper sequel to the second film Underworld: Evolution—finds our heroine, Selene, awakening from twelve years in stasis to a world where humans have purged Vampires and Werewolves to the point of extinction. This is really the only place the franchise could be taken. This place being the Resident Evil films.
Co-directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein borrow more than a few pages from the Paul W.S. Anderson schlock-fests:
Page 1—We see a back-story of where a True Blood-style “Great Revelation” results in lycanthropy and vampirism being treated as like T-virus infections with paramilitary units going on search and destroy missions.
Page 2—Selene breaks out of a glass stasis tube, naked, in an Umbrella Corporation lab (here trading under the name AntiGen) and has to kill her way past endlessly respawning guards who luckily have a bad case of the Stormtroopers as far as their marksmanship goes.
Read More »
Posted by
Shane -
January 21, 2012 – 5:23 am
Before I get to my thoughts on the past year in movies, it’s only fair to begin with three caveats: 1) I will only be dealing with films released in the UK in 2011, so films like The Artist, Shame and Martha Marcy May Marlene will not be considered. 2) I can only talk about movies that I’ve seen, so if you feel that I’ve omitted a movie that you liked, it’s likely that I never got round to watching it. 3) I will be mentioning numerous films in this post, and they will contain a certain amount of spoilers. Read More »
By Shane
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Also posted in Simply Read
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Tagged 2011, 50/50, attack the block, Beginners, Black Swan, Blue Valentine, bridesmaids, drive, Film, hanna, Incendies, Kill List, Melancholia, Midnight in Paris, Never Let Me Go, paul, Perfect Sense, Rango, Red State, review, Simply Read, Submarine, Super 8, Take Shelter, The Ides Of March, The Inbetweeners Movie, The King's Speech, Thor, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, True Grit, Tyrannosaur, X-Men:First Class
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Posted by
Shane -
January 11, 2012 – 6:32 pm
3 out of 5 *****
There is an argument for saying that if you were to distill Steven Spielberg into a giant chunk of celluloid, the end result would be War Horse. Based on the popular children’s book, and the even more popular stage production (which Lindsey Kalenborn was kind enough to review here), the story focuses on young Albert Narracott, and his beloved horse, Joey.
The opening of the film is set in the lush Devon countryside in the early part of the 20th century. Simple living and English countryside accents abound. The lifestyle is basic and insular, where everyone knows each other’s business – making it easy for Spielberg to introduce us to the characters, as well as the setting. Read More »
Posted by
Art -
December 14, 2011 – 8:52 pm
Yesterday 2oth Century Fox came out with Rise of the Planet of the Apes on Blu-ray and DVD. I have seen the cult classic Apes films from back in the day and enjoyed them for the storyline. I did not know if this film was going to be great or be a dud. It turns out that Rise is a great film. Rise is a prequel to the original Planet of the Apes. The film shows the starting point of where the apes attempt to take over the world. The plot is centered around a scientist, Dr. Will Rodman (James Franco) who looks for a cure for the Alzheimer’s disease that his dad, Charles (John Lithgow) has and needs to be supervised as his condition continues to get worse.
Rodman looks to cure Alzheimer’s with a new drug called ALZ-112 that has been tested on apes. One of the apes called Bright Eyes shows signs of great mental growth from the treatment. After an incident with Bright Eyes the company shuts down the trials, but Rodman keeps the study alive with Bright Eyes’ offspring Caesar that inherited the ALZ-112 drug from his mother. A bond grows with Caesar and both Rodman and his father at Rodman’s home. That is all I will say about the film since I feel you need to check out the film because it is on my favorite films of this year.
Rise does a great job of tying the old films and brings in the new CGI technology of now to create a great film. Caesar is played by actor Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Serkis does one hell of a job as Caesar. At one point I started rooting for Caesar with all the different struggles he faces in the film. Make sure you watch the credits since there is a little footage after the film ends!
Posted by
Shane -
November 23, 2011 – 12:26 am
3 out of 5 *****
Take Shelter begins with a shot tilted upwards towards a looming tree, its leaves swaying gently in the breeze. This shot isn’t self-indulgent visual pretension, but the point of view of our protagonist, Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon). He seems uneasy, and this isn’t helped by an ominous storm cloud whirling in the distance. Drops of rain begin to fall, which on inspection appear as a rusty orange colour, rather than vitreous.
This is the first of many unsettling scenes. Take Shelter communicates in harbingers. Curtis lives in a small Ohio town with his wife, Samantha (Jessica Chastain) and their young daughter, Hannah (Tova Stewart). Hannah is deaf, and as such, Curtis & Samantha communicate with her using sign-language, which Samantha seems to be better at than her husband. The community is blue-collar, working-class and generally church-going, but more out of keeping up appearances rather than devout faith. To be honest, the movie probably shows a more accurate portrayal of your average Republican voter than any of those tiresome & interminable GOP debates that have recently plagued American television. Read More »
By Shane
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Also posted in Simply Read
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Tagged Boardwalk Empire, Coriolanus, Film, Jeff Nichols, Jessica Chastain, Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road, Shea Wigham, Simply Read, Simply Syndicated, Take Shelter, The Debt, The Help, The Tree of Life, Tova Stewart
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Posted by
Shane -
November 15, 2011 – 9:24 pm
Yesterday the Internet was ablaze with news that a potential big-screen version of Doctor Who is in its early developmental stages. The reaction was febrile and divisive, but also puzzled those who aren’t fans of the popular television series. After all, it’s an iconic part of the now lucrative speculative-fiction oeuvre, it would bring a ready-made audience to the cinema – particularly in the UK. A large part of the promotion would also be less of a worry for BBC Worldwide.
So why does such a prospect fill me, and many other “Whovians” with dread:
Read More »
By Shane
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Also posted in Simply Read, Television
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Tagged Adaptation, BBC, BBC Worldwide, daredevil, David Tennant, David Yates, Doctor Who, Dorian Gray, Film, Jane Tranter, Miracle Day, Russell T Davies, sherlock holmes, Steven Moffat, Superman, television, terminator, Torchwood, watchmen
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Posted by
Jonathan -
November 8, 2011 – 12:33 am
The Leeds film festival opened last night with a showing of Andrea Arnold’s (Fish Tank) Wuthering Heights. Her adaptation forgoes the stereotypes of the period drama to deliver a minimalist take on Emily Brontë’s classic novel. Instead of frilly dresses and posh accents we get mud, blood and thick Yorkshire accents. Not that you will not have to worry much about the accents as the dialogue is kept to an absolute minimum. The mood is set with some stunning cinematography, although one could argue that it is hard to mess up shots of the Yorkshire Moors.
Read More »
Posted by
Shane -
October 23, 2011 – 5:07 pm
4 1/2 out of 5 *****
The following post is by Mark Perez (eldiablito on our forums & eldiablito_72 on Twitter)
Weekend is a film directed by Andrew Haigh. This is his second feature film. Before that he worked as an editor on Black Hawk Down, Hannibal Rising, and Gladiator. It stars a cast of unknowns, and takes place in Nottingham. I wasn’t aware of this going into the movie, so I was taken aback once the actors began speaking. It was a pleasant surprise to the ears of this anglophile.
This is one of the best “gay” movies I’ve ever seen. There, I’ve said it, and there’s no turning back. I also feel that I’m doing it an injustice by even labeling it in that fashion. It’s a fantastic film, period. That being said, it’s very much an important part of new gay cinema, much in the same way Gus Van Sant’s Milk is. Read More »
By Shane
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Also posted in Simply Read
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Tagged Andrew Haigh, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Black Hawk Down, Chris New, Film, Gladiator, hannibal rising, Homosexuality.Gay Cinema, milk, Nottingham, Sexual Orientation, Simply Read, Simply Syndicated, Tom Cullen, Weekend
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