Archive for the 'Movie Reviews' Category
March 7th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
There can be a lot of fun had when you put together two different genres of film. In the case of The Adjustment Bureau, a romance story is mixed with sci-fi fundamentals. I put romance before sci-fi, because this film is very much a love story that happens to have a sci-fi twist and not the other way around. I have a feeling many will be expecting more of a thriller, based on the marketing, but this film is a story about two people trying to overcome their odds to be together. Continue reading ‘You’d Be Lucky To Cross Paths With ‘The Adjustment Bureau’’
March 5th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
I’m gonna start off big with this one partner – Rango is the best film I have seen so far this year. I absolutely loved watching this movie. It is incredibly well crafted, scored, gorgeously animated, funny, and handled wonderfully in its action. It is also quite weird, in a good way. For a major studio release, which will mostly be seen by kids, there is a lot of weird and satirical humor layered throughout this film, yet it all works so well. Rango is a fantastic western adventure comedy that will hopefully be enjoyed by many. Continue reading ‘A Fistful of ‘Rango’’
March 3rd, 2011 by Jim Kulko
Is Ed Helms the nerdiest guy in Hollywood right now? I mean he’s the nerd-in-residence on The Office, he played the nerdy dentist in the hit comedy The Hangover, and now we get Tim Lippe, insurance salesman and nerd extraordinaire in Cedar Rapids. Tim Lippe is an innocent, wide-eyed, naïve, sappy guy, who LOVES the idea of providing people with their perfect insurance package. He lives for this stuff. Anyway, the premise of this movie is that Tim gets the chance to go to the annual insurance convention in Cedar Rapids, and he’s really never even been out of his hometown. Continue reading ‘Cedar Rapids is the Place to Be…’
February 26th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
This is a movie about dorks. The characters here are a couple of nice guys, who act like nice guys caught saying inappropriate things on many occasions. There is a lot of raunchiness and gag related humor mixed with some sentiment and a touch of heart. Unfortunately, the film does not hit the humor marks very hard. Continue reading ‘A ‘Hall Pass’ May Excuse You From This’
February 26th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
This is strange, but I am going to have to both judge this movie, while defending Piranha 3D. I think Piranha was the kind of film where I could have written the exact same review and assign it either a 1 star or a 4 star rating (which is what I ended up doing). That film knew exactly what it was and it did it well. Drive Angry also knows exactly what it is, but unfortunately, what it is as not as much fun as it should be. Continue reading ‘‘Drive Angry’ Made Me Aggravated That There Wasn’t More Angry Driving’
February 21st, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Sometimes you can tell a lot from how good a comedy can be simply by the names of your main characters. Standard, ho-hum comedies may go for simplicity with names like John or Jane without mention of a last name. Other comedies like to have fun with all of the details, like this film for example. It is not enough that Cedar Rapids has people named Tim Lippe and Dean Ziegler; it has to go farther and make sure we know all the nicknames their friends give to them and repeat them enough that we find them to be memorable. Continue reading ‘‘Cedar Rapids’ Is Charming and “Super Awesome!”’
February 19th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
I have an embarrassing confession to make: I have not seen Twilight. I know, I know, but hey, I can’t catch everything right? So keep your laughter down for a second. While I may not have seen those movies, I am familiar with the details, so see if this sounds familiar; a desirable, teenage male with angst issues and supernatural powers risks his very existence in order to be with a girl he sees as his true love. As this story has already been told successfully, there is only one obvious way to make it better – add Michael Bay as a producer. Continue reading ‘Hi, ‘I Am Number Four’ and I Have Problems’
February 18th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Unknown is the type of film that works very easily as a source of entertainment…when you try not to apply much logic to it. It is perfectly serviceable, mainly due to Liam Neeson, who has a screen presence that can elevate any B-movie (Taken, Darkman), and because of the film’s solid production values. However, once the things that are unknown in this movie become “known,” I found the film to be less interesting and the plot became sillier as it went along. Continue reading ‘Only Mildly Better Knowing The ‘Unknown’’
February 17th, 2011 by Brian White
Up until recently I didn’t know anything about Unknown, but when I saw the movie’s trailer on television, a few weeks back, I instantly took notice. Why? Because… A) Liam Neeson stars in it… and B) Liam Neeson is shown in a bada$$ role much like he portrayed in Taken. And so, with only one short viewing of the trailer I was like where do I sign up for this trip at. Continue reading ‘Don’t Be Afraid of the ‘Unknown’’
February 13th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Right off the bat, I am going to say that I will be surprised with how much I have to say about this movie by the time I reach the end of this review. For whatever reason, Disney has not only decided to produce an animated comedy about lawn gnomes (which is not a bad idea), but has for some reason decided to base it on the plot of one of the most famous romantic tragedies of all time and release it during Valentine’s Day weekend. I dare you to guess how far the studio wanted to take these characters by the time it got to the end. Continue reading ‘‘Gnomeo & Juliet’ Brings Childish Joy For Few’
February 12th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
The Eagle presents a story about a soldier trying to redeem his family’s honor by retrieving a lost treasure of the Roman nation. It is also a buddy film that unites two unlikely friends. I would have liked to enjoy these two aspects of the film more if this film tried to make it more interesting. While I appreciated the practical aspect of this film when it came to the action sequences, there really isn’t much else to grab onto here. The film goes through its predictable motions without developing any aspect that is particularly unique. Continue reading ‘‘The Eagle’ Soars At About Mid Altitude’
February 7th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
While watching the 2004 Academy Awards, I recall the award for Best Original Song. After sitting through a set of nominated songs that brought little excitement, the final entry came on. It was for “Belleville Rendez-vous” from the animated French comedy, The Triplets of Belleville, directed by Sylvain Chomet. This song was a burst of jazzy fun and I felt I immediately needed to see that movie. After having done so, I immediately fell in love with it and would be anticipating whatever Chomet had to offer next. Continue reading ‘‘The Illusionist’ Creates Animated and Heartfelt Wonder’
February 5th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Making an underwater, 3D cave-diving thriller, with producer James Cameron in your back corner, seems like an exciting idea for a film. Using today’s technology, there are certainly a lot of ways to come up with a well made film that can pit people up against elements such as air, darkness, and tight spaces, as they struggle to survive. Unfortunately, nothing really helps the cause when that film is glued together by a pretty horribly written script and poor work by some of the actors involved. Such is the case with Sanctum. There are moments, especially towards the end, that are quite involving, but the film as a whole cannot support its nice photography and moments of actual tension with the story and characters that it provides. Continue reading ‘‘Sanctum’ Apparently Threw All Its Good Dialogue Down A Hole’
January 29th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Those in need of a new, quick action fix from Jason Statham should be pleased enough with The Mechanic. I would give it a barely passing rating. However, this recommendation is not really due to the movie being that good (it’s not really), nor because of the presence of modern action hero Jason Statham (although that helps). No, I would recommend this movie mainly because the ending is ridiculous enough that I want others to see it so I can talk to them about it, since I don’t want to spoil it here. The film, itself, is a straight-forward action movie, with a hitman at the center of the story and the added bonus of a “buddy film” element. It’s fairly generic, but also silly fun, and fills the quota for brutal violence. Do with that what you will. Continue reading ‘‘The Mechanic’ Provides A Few Spare Parts For A Quick Time Killer’
January 28th, 2011 by Jim Kulko
Anthony Hopkins looks tired and old in this “Is it psychological, or is it possession?” movie. The Rite, dealing with demonic possession and exorcism, has a couple of jump moments and some out-of-place funny dialogue (the audience actually laughed at some of the silly statements made), but basically covers in true PG-13 fashion, the same old familiar ground we’ve seen in many recent possession movie The fact that this movie was “…inspired by actual events…” doesn’t make it any more real or creepy. Continue reading ‘Has Hannibal Lector Earned ‘The Rite’ to Make this Movie?’
January 27th, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
When it comes to scary movies, or at least movies that attempt to scare people, the demonic possession/exorcism sub-genre of horror films does little to get me stirring in my seat. For example, I think the 1973 horror classic, The Exorcist, is a brilliantly made film, but it is not a film that really gets under my skin. That being said, what these sort of films generally have going for them is the acting on display, particularly on the part of those under some sort of possession, who must be willing to put on both an effective emotional and physical performance. This aspect may be the one of few things that The Rite does right, but because there are so many other aspects that The Rite does wrong, I can’t really recommend this film. Continue reading ‘‘The Rite’ Does Right With Its Actors, But Wrong With Its Story’
January 23rd, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Given that The Way Back has had practically no marketing going for it, despite opening in several hundred theaters this weekend, I should probably explain what it is pretty quickly. This is a film, based on a true story, about a group of men escaping a Siberian prison, during World War II, and walking a 4,000 mile journey over mountains, through Mongolia, and across the Gobi Desert, in an effort to reach India and, in essence, freedom. Filmed on location, the movie is incredibly well shot and features two particularly great performances. While watching the film can sometimes be arduous, just as the circumstances were for these men, it certainly offers enough to be seen from a story that is fairly simple. Continue reading ‘Find ‘The Way Back’ To An Old Fashioned Adventure Story’
January 23rd, 2011 by Aaron Neuwirth
Another bogus premise for a rom-com that manages to be awkward, long, and poorly handled in the laugh department, despite having a number of talented supporting stars. To say that this is Ashton Kutcher’s best movie, is like saying, “this is Ashton Kutcher’s best movie.” While I can understand that formula in films can still work, as long as it is handled well enough, that is not the case here. You know where the film is going, and the journey getting there is kinda boring and fairly laugh free. It is nice that the film has some likable people in it, but having warm faces guide me through a bland movie still makes it a bad movie. Continue reading ‘‘No Strings Attached’ Or Much Else’
