The Trouble with Quibbles: Evil Dead

Fede Alvarez’s directorial debut is a smorgasbord of gore. A darker, bleaker, bloodier Evil Dead, Alvarez’s melodramatic interpretation of Sam Raimi’s classic has a group of friends holed up in a cabin in the woods for an intervention when they accidentally unleash an ancient evil after discovering the Book of the Dead.

MoviePass Review: “The Collection”

Writer/director Marcus Dunstan and co-writer Patrick Melton stick to familiar horror sequel territory with The Collection. And while it’s bigger and bloodier than 2009’s The Collector, in the realm of the horror sequel, wherein the survivor of the first film is somehow coerced into revisiting the source of their trauma, The Collection is a middling addition, not quite as disappointing as The Descent: Part 2, but still a far cry from the adrenaline-amplifying Aliens. If its muddled plot and flat characters were half as interesting as the the elaborate death scenes, then The Collection might be a bit more than mildly entertaining and bit less of a bloody mess. Continue reading at blog.moviepass.com →

The Trouble with Quibbles: Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is inescapably epic. The nearly three-hour-long film has three directors–Lana Wachowski, Tom Tywker, and Andy Wachowski–includes 6 different stories spanning over a thousand years, chronicling the karmic ripple effect as the ramifications of several characters’ actions “echo through eternity.” The cast includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Weaving, Keith David, Hugh Grant, and Susan Sarandon, all of whom play multiple characters. There’s no arguing whether or not the film is epic. And the only thing that surpasses the filmmakers’ ambition is their zeal. Bryan drank the Kool-Aid. Having little interest in its saccharine mix of schmaltzy spiritualism, morality tale clichés, and overblown take on the Golden Rule, I did not.

Psychopaths Are People Too – “Seven Psychopaths” Review

It should come as no surprise that writer/director Martin McDonagh’s follow-up to In Bruges is a complex, funny and emotional trek to the heart of darkness. At times twisted, at times touching, Seven Psychopaths is a deliciously deceptive character study brimming with all the shock and awe of the very violent action films it deconstructs. McDonagh continues to create well-rounded characters, and with a cast including: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, and Tom Waits, they burst off the screen.

The Trouble with Quibbles: Looper

Writer/director Rian Johnson’s Looper has one of the most interesting and intelligent sci-fi premises to grace the big screen in a long while. In the future, once time travel has been invented and summarily outlawed, it will be used by the mob to send targets 30 years into the past to be disposed of by hitmen called “loopers.” Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a young looper named Joe, who seems to be on the up and up, until the new boss in the future decides to “close his loop” by sending him his last target: his future self, played by Bruce Willis. But, does the film live up to its great premise? Spoiler alert: Bryan and I disagree. Seriously though, we may tip-toe into SPOILER country.

2012 Fall Preview: 16 That Got Away

It’s that time again. Time to publicly chime in on Bryan’s list of fall releases he can’t wait to see, and to remind him when the Autumnal Equinox and Winter Solstice fall–September 22nd and December 21st, respectively. It’s also time for me to offer my own list of fall releases I’m interested in seeing.

MoviePass Review: Lawless

Set in “the wettest county in the world,” it should come as no surprise when Lawless comes off as a bit wishy-washy. But blood is thicker than moonshine, and though the story is a bit thin in some sections, the bloody violence takes center stage along with a handful of strong performances. Director John HIllcoat and writer Nick Cave are a bit less focused here than they were in their previous collaboration, The Proposition. The immediacy and urgency of The Proposition is nowhere to be seen in Lawless. Perhaps it’s something to do with the difference in setting. Perhaps the harsh Australian desert lends itself to that sense of urgency, while the lush rolling hills of Franklin County, Virginia invite one to wander. Continue reading at blog.moviepass.com →

Road to Ruin – “Cosmopolis” Review

David Cronenberg’s adaptation of Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis plays less like a dramatic thriller and more like a 108-minute long panel lecture on the decline of Western capitalism. Led by Robert Pattinson’s stoic evocation of a post-Botox James Dean, the film offers a cold, calculated reflection of the cold and calculating. Unfortunately, much like the subject, I found the film frigid and uninviting–too, too solid.

MoviePass Review: Total Recall

Like most remakes and reboots, director Len Wiseman’s Total Recall brings to mind Oscar Goldman’s lines from the opening of The Six Million Dollar Man: “We can rebuild him. We have the technology…” Now, I don’t know about better or stronger, but this new Total Recall is certainly sleeker, sexier, and faster. Continue reading at blog.moviepass.com→

The Trouble with Quibbles: The Dark Knight Rises – Part 2

The quibbling continues as Bryan and I discuss our feelings about The Dark Knight Rises. If you haven’t already, be sure to read part 1 of this Quibble.

The Trouble with Quibbles: The Dark Knight Rises – Part 1

I’ve been wrestling with the anticipation for The Dark Knight Rises on an ever-increasing level over the last few years. Until a few weeks ago, it was a gradual thing, nothing too grand, but then we got to July and with the film only weeks away, I kinda lost it. I went batty. Prepping for Shooting the Script’s Batman coverage only exacerbated things. I gave in and have been on a Bat-binge for the last three weeks. This exponential increase in eagerness to see the film combined with the events surrounding the release of The Dark Knight Rises has been overwhelming. When I finally saw the film it was less like entertainment and more like treatment… like getting my fix… like something I had to do… like a release… of all this pent up eagerness mixed with anxiety. It was a very bizarre movie-going experience. It’s strange how ridiculous the simple act of going to see a movie became. It’s only a movie. Still, something about Christopher Nolan’s trilogy–and Batman in general–has given us a lot to talk about.

MoviePass Review: Battleship

If you can ignore the fact that Battleship is a movie based on a Hasbro board game, then you might be able to appreciate it as nothing more than a silly Michael Bay-style action adventure. In actuality, the movie has almost nothing to do with the game, which is probably for the best since I don’t recall anything about aliens in the somewhat boring combination of Bingo and Risk. (Seriously, did anyone ever actually finish a game of Battleship?) In the midst of an extremely misguided script, director Peter Berg somehow manages to deliver bits and pieces of a surprisingly entertaining action extravaganza.

Show Your Work – “The Dictator” Review

I was never a fan of showing my work in math class. I knew how I got the solution, so why’d it matter? Well, The Dictator has me sympathizing with every math teacher who ever told me to show my work. In The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen delivers a somewhat diluted dose of the racy, raunchy humor from his previous films. Forgoing the pseudo-documentary approach of Brüno and Borat, The Dictator is a much more traditional narrative feature… well, it’s as “traditional” as a feature directed by Larry Charles and starring Baron Cohen can be. But without seeing Baron Cohen’s revealing interactions with real people, the end result just isn’t the same.

MoviePass Review: The Raven

I’m no Edgar Allan Poe expert. I know I like Poe, at least, I know I like what little of his work I’ve actually read. Ever since the “Tree House of Horror” episode of The Simpsons featuring “The Raven” as re-enacted by Bart and Homer, I’ve considered myself a fan. Still, though I wouldn’t call myself a Poe devotee, I have little doubt in my mind that were he alive to see James McTeigue’s The Raven, afterward Poe would rise nevermore.

The Trouble with Quibbles: The Five-Year Engagement

For their follow-up to The Muppets, writing team Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel return the realm of the raunchy romantic comedy with The Five-Year Engagement. With Stoller back in the directors chair, they deliver the story of Tom (Segel) and Violet (Emily Blunt), a pair of star-crossed lovers who just can’t seem to make it down the aisle.