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. Continue reading
[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 Continue reading
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. Continue reading
A dystopian tale of 24 kids from 12 separate districts forced to fight to the death, The Hunger Games is breaking box office records and driving up Lionsgate’s stock. Now, Adam and I discuss whether the adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling book is any good? Continue reading
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the newest film from Tomas Alfredson director of the new vampire classic Let the Right One In. It’s a thinking man’s spy film based on the book of the same name by author John le Carré. Gary Oldman stars as retired spy George Smiley. He’s brought out of retirement to suss out a supposed mole at the top of “the circus.” Besides Oldman, the film sports an all-star British cast and some impressive below-the-line craftwork. One of our Portland brethren, Nate, had a chance to watch the film about the same time as I did, so we thought what better time to pop his quibble cherry.
*THERE BE YON SPOILERS*
Now that The Artist has won the Golden Globe for best comedy/musical, it seems like a good time to chime in with what we thought about the film. Directed by Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist tells the tale of silent movie superstar George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) and bit player Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), whose paths seem intertwined. As Valentin’s career is thrust to edge of obscurity by the advent of talking pictures, Miller seems destined for stardom. Continue reading
Young Adult is the second collaboration between director Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody. And though Young Adult is somewhat similar to Juno in its quirkiness, it is a much different film. Darker. Richer. Both Cody and Reitman’s work has matured in the time since Juno.
Young Adult follows Mavis (Charlize Theron), an egocentric writer who’s achieved mild success ghost-writing a popular young adult series. Upon learning that her former high school flame, Buddy (Patrick Wilson), is happily married and has recently become a father, Mavis decides to win him back and rescue him from his boring small-town life. Once she returns home she forms an unlikely bond with once-and-future-geek Matt (Patton Oswalt), who advises her against pursuing her former beau. But Mavis knows best, she and Buddy belong together. Continue reading
Posted in The Trouble with Quibbles
Tagged Charlize Theron, Diablo Cody, Jason Reitman, Movie, Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt, review, Young Adult
Two new Steven Spielberg films were recently released. War Horse was one, and Rosko has decided to join me in discussing the other, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. Based on one of the most popular comics in the world, Tintin marks Spielberg’s first animated film as well as his first 3D film. Tintin is well-known in all parts of the world but is very much like soccer or the metric system to us Americans. That being said, Rosko and I are lifelong Spielberg fans and I couldn’t think of a better film for us to discuss. Continue reading
Say what you will about Lars von Trier, but the man makes some interesting films. His latest film, Melancholia, is a complex intermingling of genres and ideas that is sure to intrigue. Imagine if Chekhov or Ibsen wrote a sci-fi story and you’ve got an idea of what to expect (think: The Last Three Sisters on Earth or The Cosmic Cherry Orchard or A Doll’s House on the Moon).
The film follows the back and forth between two sisters who struggle to maintain their relationship in the wake of opposing worldviews. Justine (Kirsten Dunst) is a pragmatic realist/pessimist who suffers from severe depression and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is the long-suffering older sister who perpetually hopes for the best. Oh, and there’s also a newly discovered rogue planet named Melancholia that may or may not be on a collision course for Earth. Hijinks ensue. Continue reading
An interesting change of pace from some of his grittier films, Hugo is Martin Scorsese’s 3D celebration of cinema/magical mystery tour through 1930s France. The film, an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, follows the eponymous young protagonist, an orphan who secretly lives in the walls of a Paris railway station, as he attempts to unlock the mystery of a clockwork automaton, which he believes holds a message from his deceased father. Continue reading
If you’ve been paying attention, then you know that we here at Shooting the Script have been anxiously awaiting Moneyball. The film, based on the book of the same name, tells the true story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), general manager of the Oakland Athletics, and his attempt to put together a winning baseball club by the numbers… literally. With the help of Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), Beane sets out to change the game of baseball, using statistics instead of scouts to draft his players. Continue reading
Posted in The Trouble with Quibbles
Tagged Brad Pitt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Aaron Sorkin, Movie, review, moneyball, Jonah Hill, Billy Beane, Bennett Miller, Peter Brand
Today’s Quibble takes a look at Monsters and Valhalla Rising, two films about lost travelers… strangers in strange lands, finding their way. Monsters is a neo-realistic sci-fi movie about a future where aliens have crash landed near the border creating an “infected zone” between Mexico and the U.S, which two stranded Americans must cross in order to get home. Valhalla Rising is about an escaped slave-warrior and a band of Vikings trying to get to Jerusalem when their ship is thrown off course by a violent storm. Continue reading
Today we take a look at two films that examine a basic driving force, the will to live, in very different ways. Never Let Me Go is a sci-fi drama about human clones looking for meaning, starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield. And Buried is a psychological thriller starring Ryan Reynolds as a man taken hostage and buried alive. Continue reading
It all ends . . . or so we’re told by the multitude of posters for Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. The final chapter of Harry Potter opens this week and it will mean a lot of different things to a great many people. I was recently voicing my concerns about how the films will be remembered now that the end is nigh, and it spawned an interesting discussion. Continue reading
To me, Terrence Malick seems to be an uncompromising filmmaker. And I mean that as a compliment. I respect him for sticking to his guns. The notoriously elusive director seems interested in nothing more than expressing his ideas, crafting films that are beholden to nothing (and no one) beyond his intentions. He has a clear vision, everything he commits to film is in service of that vision. This holds true with Malick’s latest film, The Tree of Life. The film–starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, and Sean Penn—is a sort of “portrait of the artist as a young man,” questioning the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, wandering through a “story” centered around a suburban family in the 1950s. Continue reading
