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.

“Polisse” Review

This is one of the most frustrating movies I can recall seeing. Everything about it should be terrible, and at times it is really bad. Yet most of the movie is compelling in spite of itself. It’s almost worth a recommendation just to see how messy it is. Some of the formless style steers the film toward gripping drama, other times the lack of structure will create a moment of pure idiocy. It’s not a see-saw of good and bad rather an amorphous blob pop-marked with one too many unseemly blemishes.

Beast of Burden – “Tyrannosaur” Review

Tyrannosaur is the debut film from actor turned writer/director Paddy Considine. You might remember him in things like In America, Cinderella Man, or even Hot Fuzz. I’ve always enjoyed his on-screen presence, but I was ill prepared for his electric debut behind the scenes. Paddy made his debut in a Shane Meadows movie, and has collaborated with the director many times. Although I’ve yet to see a Meadows picture, from all accounts it would seem Paddy has picked up a few things from the indie-British stalwart.

Crash and Burn – “Rampart” Review

Woody Harrelson stars as “the most corrupt cop you’ve ever seen on screen” in writer/director Oren Moverman’s follow-up to The Messenger. Rampart was the original title of FX’s The Shield. The show and Rampart the movie traverse similar terrain. I think having seen and loved the show does affect how I view this movie.

“I Wish” Review

The opening moments of writer/director Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s new film involve a volcano. A young boy, Koichi, happens to live right next to an active one. It doesn’t pose any real threat, but it spews ash over the city daily, to Koichi’s chagrin. I Wish doesn’t announce its intentions up front, but after delicately spooling out important character elements, bit by bit, it becomes clear what a significant metaphor Kore-Eda has introduced. In typical Kore-Eda fashion (Still Walking, Nobody Knows), what begins as something simple and unassuming eventually becomes powerful and poignant.

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.

The Trouble with Quibbles: The Avengers

[Editor's note: Unlike Nate & Rosko, I have yet so see The Avengers. As such, in an effort to avoid ginormous spoilers, they've used the codename "Swayze" to refer to major plot point without actually giving it away. Beyond that, I would hardly call anything in this Quibble an actual spoiler, but they have highlighted a couple of points where they feel some might complain.]

As we wrap up our Earth’s Mightiest Decade series, Rosko and I finally sit down to discuss what we see as ten years worth of work.  Is The Avengers truly the culmination of everything that has come before it? In the film, Nick Fury finally gathers earth’s mightiest heroes together to form the Avengers and fight Loki’s army. Is it the apex of an era or the next stage in the evolution of comic book adaptation? Rosko and I will try to breakdown the future of Joss Whedon, Walt Disney Pictures, and the ending that will have every geek talking for the next two years

“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” Review

Known in the UK as The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists, based on the Gideon Defoe book of the same name, The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a delightful stop-motion adventure/comedy from Aardman Animations (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run). Pirates! isn’t quite as inventive or hilarious as some of the studio’s best work, but that’s not for lack of trying.

“Headhunters” Review

Headhunters is a slick and twisted new thriller based on Jo Nesbo’s best-selling novel. It’s nothing more than surface pleasures, but director Morten Tyldum keeps the surprises and the perverse fun coming at a breathless pace. There really is a minimal amount of time to stop and consider how ridiculous the whole film is while you’re hurtling off a cliff at 60-mph.

Everyone’s Doing It – “Goodbye First Love” Review

There’s something universal about being in love for the first time. Everyone experiences it, but it is also something very personal. The new film, Goodbye First Love, from writer/director Mia Hansen-Love strives to recreate these complicated emotions usually reserved for youth. The way memory can recall random minutia like clothing and room details or the overwhelming intensity of an exact moment are all conveyed here. Some scenes are so specific that they must have been drawn from private moments of the filmmaker’s own life. And even though the film is focused on the truth and cuts to the heart of it, at times it feels a little too simple. As if these truths, while indeed recognized and important, are perhaps too obvious to sustain dramatic power for two full hours.

The Trouble with Quibbles: The Cabin in the Woods

Finally, after years stuck in distribution limbo, The Cabin in the Woods gets a theatrical release, and it was worth the wait. Drew Goddard’s directorial debut, which he co-wrote with Joss Whedon, is everything a horror fan could want in a movie and more. Using the standard “group of friends visit a remote cabin and get more than they bargained for” setup, Goddard and Whedon deliver a brilliant ode to horror movies. Bryan and I could barely contain our geek-gasms.

“Mission:Impossible – Ghost Protocol” Review

[Editor's note: This review was finished while the movie was still in theaters, but it got lost in the fray. So, all the IMAX talk probably doesn't mean much to you now, but it's still a fun movie.]

You might have seen the footage of mega-star Tom Cruise climbing the outside of the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. Or you’ve seen any bit of marketing that has the Burj front and center. But nothing can prepare you for the awesomeness of the final product on a real IMAX screen. It’s a show-stopping moment, skillfully executed and it takes a funny fast-paced action movie and turns it into a must-see event of the highest order.

Teach the Children Well – “Monsieur Lazhar” Review

[Editor's note: This is a re-post. This review was part of Bryan's Oscar coverage, but the film just came out in limited release today.]

Monsieur Lazhar is one of those films that are so simple, if you’re not careful it will sneak up on you and knock you on your ass. This effortlessness conceals heaps of emotion. It’s not that the movie pulls the rug out from under you or deceives you, but rather gracefully brings you into its orbit. I did not find myself bowled over at the end, but I can certainly appreciate the refinement in the film’s endeavor.