Archive for the 'Movie Reviews' Category
May 12th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
Remember what happened to action movies after Die Hard came out? A lot of action films were made that basically amounted to things like “It’s Die Hard on a boat” or “It’s Die Hard on a train” to varied levels of success, but one thing was for sure, Die Hard changed how a lot of people and studios wanted to make action films. That has somewhat subsided in favor of other types of action cinema, ranging from the slow-mo escapades of John Woo-like films to the bombastic extravaganzas of Michael Bay features, or the shakiness inspired by Paul Greengrass’s work on the Bourne series. Sleepless Night is a French thriller that feels like a call back to the Die Hard days, placing an ordinary man in incredibly tense, violent, and stressful situations within a nightclub. It is well made from an impressively complex level rather than a stylish one and features action bits that feel very natural. Some minor plot flaws aside, the film is solid.
Continue reading ‘‘Sleepless Night’ Rests For No One’
May 11th, 2012 by David Freedman
General Aladeen, ruthless dictator of Wadiya, travels to NY to speak at the UN. But after he escapes a kidnapping attempt, no one in the Big Apple believes who he really is. So he risks his life to ensure that democracy never comes to the country he so lovingly oppresses. This comedy stars Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley and John C. Reilly. Its directed by Larry Charles and written by Sacha Baron Cohen and Alec Berg. Sacha Baron Cohen, Alec Berg, Scott Rudin and Jeff Schaffer produced this broad comedy. Check out all our reviews at www.justseenit.com Continue reading ‘The Dictator – Just Seen It Movie Review’
May 11th, 2012 by Sean Ferguson
Director Tim Burton brings the cult classic series “Dark Shadows” to the big screen in a film featuring an all-star cast, led by Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter. In the year 1750, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from England to start a new life in America, where they build a fishing empire in the coastal Maine town that comes to carry their name: Collinsport. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of falling in love with a beauty named Josette DuPres (Bella Heathcote) and breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death—turning him into a vampire, and then burying him…alive. Continue reading ‘Dark Shadows – A Comedy With Bite’
May 10th, 2012 by David Freedman
Mallory is a freelance, covert operative and very good at what she does. But when a mission goes seriously wrong and her partner tries to kill her, Mallory must run for her life. Discovering that she was used as a pawn, Mallory hunts down her betrayer in Haywire. The action, spy thriller is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas and Michael Fassbender. Sound interesting? Well then check out our Just Seen It movie review below. Continue reading ‘Haywire – Just Seen It Movie Review’
May 10th, 2012 by Mary Welms
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are back together again for their 8th collaboration, a reinterpretation of Dark Shadows, a very popular soap opera that aired from 1966 – 1971. I think it goes without saying that I have been very excited ever since I heard Burton and Depp were working on this project together. As a child I would watch the soap opera wishing that I would grow up to be a vampire. Now Burton and Depp have brought back a cult classic for the younger generation to enjoy, but with a different twist on it. Being a fan of the original series I have to admit I wasn’t too sure how I would like the humor in it, but once again the dynamic duo did not disappoint me. I know I have said this before but one of the greatest enjoyments I get out of Johnny Depp’s acting is his facial expressions. I love that he puts his heart and soul into each character he becomes. You will find Barnabas drawing you in, sinking his fangs into your neck and holding you there. In my opinion, Johnny owned this movie. He took command of every scene he was in. He’s not only very captivating as a vampire, but he has also renewed my dream of becoming a vampire when I grow up. Continue reading ‘My I’m In Love With Johnny Depp ‘Dark Shadows’ Movie Review’
May 5th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
Wrapping up my work at 2012’s Newport Beach Film Festival, the last film I was able to attend was the romantic-themed comedy-drama, Save the Date. Having just watched Lola Versus the previous night, I felt like I found myself more or less in familiar territory, except that Lola Versus took place amongst a hip bunch of New Yorkers, whereas Save the Date revolves around some of the exploits of a hip bunch of Los Angelinos. It is another independent film that deals with a woman coming out of one relationship and finding her way into another, despite the fact that everyone still hangs around with each other, occasionally. I can’t hold the film back for timing on my part, though I can be put off by the drastic tonal changes that take hold over the course of the film. I appreciated the performances, as it starred people I liked seeing, but a lot of the warmth this film has is brought down by the required drama of a film of this type. Regardless, it is the kind of film that I generally like when it comes to this familiar story and the film had enough in it for me to enjoy it overall. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Save The Date’
May 5th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
I kicked off the last night of the Newport Beach Film Festival with a really offbeat piece of work. Doppelganger Paul (Or a Film about How Much I Hate Myself), to borrow a descriptor from one of my favorite NBFF programmers, is a sardonic, strange, occasionally humorous, and fairly introspective film that plays like an alternative type of buddy movie. It revolves around events that bring two very different people together in an effort to confront some of the issues they have and share, given that they would appear to despise themselves. Very much fitting the bill of an independent feature, it is the way the film’s moody sense of humor carries over with the players involved, which makes this somewhat slow film worthy of an open-minded viewing. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Doppelganger Paul (Or A Film About How Much I Hate Myself)’
May 5th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
To go a completely different direction from Detention of the Dead, the first film I saw at the Newport Beach Film Festival on Wednesday night, May 2, 2012, the follow up screening was an offbeat romantic comedy, starring an actress who is currently a fixture of independent and art house features, Greta Gerwig. Lola Versus may play out in its own sort of way, but it very much follows a lot of the same patterns that these types of films tend to have. That does not make it bad, as I liked a lot of the film, save for some issues I had with the third act. Despite the disastrous nature of some of the romantic follies Gerwig’s character becomes involved with, the film had enough going for it to make it work for me. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Lola Versus’
May 4th, 2012 by Sean Ferguson
After seeing The Avengers twice, it seems like the entire concept of combining the Iron Man, Thor, and the Captain America franchises along with all of their supporting characters into one massive movie seems like a kick-ass idea with no chance of failure. But back in the late nineties that concept represented some pretty audacious thinking considering that Marvel had up to that point only licensed their characters such as Spiderman, Daredevil, Punisher, and the Fantastic Four to other studios with mixed results. While I’m sure that they regret that decision now, it was a necessary one for them to raise the capital to make their own movies which they did starting with Iron Man to great success. The first Iron Man movie showed that Marvel meant to do business differently with their surprising and yet inspired choices, as they hired Jon Favreau to direct the film and in their most brilliant bit of casting to date, hired Robert Downey Jr. to play Tony Stark/Iron Man. That tradition continued through hiring Kenneth Branagh to direct Thor and Joe Johnston for Captain America. Marvel continued to surprise fans by casting Chris Evans as Captain America even though he was already playing another Marvel hero – Johnny Storm. All of those unpredictable and brilliant choices have led up to The Avengers, which represents the biggest roll of the dice for Marvel and yet it’s also the one most guaranteed to succeed. Can all of these disparate universes and characters fuse together to become the biggest superhero movie of all time? Two words…Hell yes!!! Continue reading ‘The Avengers – The Sum Is Greater Than The Parts’
May 4th, 2012 by Jami Ferguson
As a non-comic book reader, my history and knowledge about The Avengers and its characters isn’t that great and often consists of only one viewing of each of their individual movies. On the way to the theater my husband was quizzing me about the other movies so he could make sure I understood what had happened before so I would understand what was going on in The Avengers. My recollection was hit and miss as I really liked Iron Man, but didn’t really recall much of Iron Man 2 at all. As he explained the plot of Captain America I wondered if I fell asleep at the end since the only thing I could really remember about the movie was his suit and that Chris Evans is a very cute guy. I never cared much for The Hulk movies but I did enjoy Thor. The more my husband talked about the history of these characters, the more I thought that I don’t care who did what and when since I just wanted to be entertained for two hours. Continue reading ‘The Avengers (Movie Review)’
May 4th, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
I love it when a plan comes together. In one of the most ambitious film proposals in recent memory, The Avengers has finally arrived and paid off greatly. Setting itself up back in 2008 with Iron Man and adding on layers through the other four Marvel Comic films that have come since, the massive gamble of bringing in multiple actors, directors, studios, and comic properties has led to what is basically the ultimate Marvel superhero film. Frankly, this film should not even exist. It seems unwieldy to think about combining so many elements into one feature and not have it topple due to the lack of fair balance or the lack of a cohesive and unifying story, but writer/director/comic geek Joss Whedon has managed to pull it off and deliver a ridiculously satisfying experience. Continue reading ‘‘The Avengers’ Assemble For A Comic Book Fever Dream Of Fun’
May 3rd, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
Wednesday night, May 2, 2012, at the Newport Beach Film Festival gave me the chance to see something different for a change. As opposed to another independent comedy/drama (which was the type of film I saw at the next screening), the film I was able to catch a showing of was Detention of the Dead, a horror-comedy about high school students caught up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The film is very lighthearted, playing out as a riff on both The Breakfast Club and Shaun of the Dead, even though it never quite reaches those levels. Still, the film is a fun enough watch that is very cute overall, in a gore-filled, dumb comedy sort of way. It does not really add much to the genre, but it’s a fun little ode to the joy of seeing zombie movies. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Detention Of The Dead’
May 3rd, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
After seeing Supporting Characters at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the next film I saw that Tuesday night was Le Skylab, written and directed by Julie Delpy. The film is a French comedy/drama that features Delpy, among many other well cast individuals, all playing the members of a large family, gathering for a reunion of sorts, as they honor a grandmother’s birthday at her country home. The film plays around with the various dynamics seen between all of the different family members and has many moments of humor, emotion, and depth in understanding where everyone is coming from. It is more aimless than plot driven, but it is an enjoyable film that brings a lot out of its ensemble cast. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Le Skylab’
May 2nd, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
Tuesday night, May 1, 2012, at the Newport Beach Film Festival proved to be a pretty entertaining one. I managed to see a couple films, which were both very enjoyable. The first was Supporting Characters, a film about two young film editors in New York, who are in the middle of working on a film project that has lasted for months, while also sorting out their romantic relationships. Despite being set in modern times, the tone and handling of the characters and various scenes of dialogue definitely calls back to 70s Woody Allen, regardless of how successful it is in truly matching up. The film may be a little too loose and all over the place as a whole, but there was a charming quality to all that was occurring and I enjoyed the core friendship in this story. It is too well scripted to be described as breezy, but it certainly fits the type of being a film that gets by with ease. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Supporting Characters’
May 2nd, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
On April 26th, 2012, the opening night of the Newport Beach Film Festival saw the world premiere of Jewtopia. Based on one of the longest running off-Broadway plays, Jewtopia is the film adaptation, which revolves around two friends dealing with the prospect of finding love with Jewish women. Unfortunately, while billed as a “comedy”, I can’t recall ever even smiling during this terrible feature. Jewtopia turned out to be one of the worst films I have seen in recent time, managing to leave me so unsettled that I could not honestly write up a review immediately after I saw it, choosing to let my emotions simmer down instead. Now, even after having calmed down, I still have nothing very positive to say. The cast and crew may have had a good time, but the bad jokes, bad story, poorly established comedic style, among other factors, all proved to sum up to a bad time at the movies for me. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Jewtopia’
May 1st, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
Modern action stars are rare to come by these days. There are plenty of past action stars who occasionally star in action movies still and there are younger actors that have done a few action movies, but a true action star is not as big a commodity these days. One of the few still consistently putting out work is Jason Statham. It is unfortunate that Statham’s films continue to only pick up moderate success, as he has a cool, steely charisma and knows how to deliver a whoopin’, but at least the man is fairly consistent. Safe delivers a fairly conventional action film experience, which is made better in spurts do to the early work done to really establish the characters, before settling into crazy action mode. It helps that Statham adds some shades to his performance here, that distinguishes his character a bit more, this time around, but mainly, Safe delivers what fans would want in their standard Statham action film. Continue reading ‘You’re Generally ‘Safe’ In The Hands Of Statham’
May 1st, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
Chemistry can certainly make up for a film that is way too relaxed. The Five-Year Engagement is a film that follows a pretty standard formula, despite the few tweaks and R-rated sensibilities, but ultimately never rises above average at best, given effort to shove so much into a film that runs far too long. It is fortunate that the film has a large, funny, and mostly likable cast. The leads, in particular, have a strong chemistry together, which makes the film work better than it could have been, were it to be handled differently. Still, the over-reliance on various tangents and lack of a stronger core makes the film uneven overall, despite being quite funny when it shines best. The fact that drama plays heavily into the film also reflects on the tonal issues I had, but there is still enough here that I found nice enough to ease into a very mild recommendation for an easy rental. Continue reading ‘Some Laughs And Unevenness Throughout This ‘Five-Year Engagement’’
May 1st, 2012 by Aaron Neuwirth
Monday night, April 30, 2012, at the Newport Beach Film Festival proved to be fairly worthwhile, as I was able to see a fairly entertaining thriller. This was the Norwegian film Headhunters, which felt, in a lot of ways, like a nice follow up to other recent trashy thrillers such as Limitless or even The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (when referring the basic plot of that film). Headhunters is not so much a film that has deeper meanings as it is a film that simply sets up some key characters and lets various amounts of suspense and action follow suit. The film has some tonal issue, as the thrilling nature of the film is counterbalanced by some over-the-top elements, but for the most part, Headhunters is a pretty entertaining (and violent) way to spend a couple hours. Continue reading ‘NBFF Review: Headhunters’
Remember what happened to action movies after Die Hard came out? A lot of action films were made that basically amounted to things like “It’s Die Hard on a boat” or “It’s Die Hard on a train” to varied levels of success, but one thing was for sure, Die Hard changed how a lot of people and studios wanted to make action films. That has somewhat subsided in favor of other types of action cinema, ranging from the slow-mo escapades of John Woo-like films to the bombastic extravaganzas of Michael Bay features, or the shakiness inspired by Paul Greengrass’s work on the Bourne series. Sleepless Night is a French thriller that feels like a call back to the Die Hard days, placing an ordinary man in incredibly tense, violent, and stressful situations within a nightclub. It is well made from an impressively complex level rather than a stylish one and features action bits that feel very natural. Some minor plot flaws aside, the film is solid.
