Archive
THEATRICAL REVIEW: Guardians of the Galaxy
Directed by: James Gunn
Produced by: Kevin Feige
Written by: James Gunn, Nicole Perlman
Edited by: Craig Wood, Fred Raskin, Hughes Winborne
Cinematography by: Ben Davis
Music by: Tyler Bates
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, Djimon Honsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Peter Serafinowicz, Laura Haddock
Based on the comic book by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Year: 2014
I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no stopping the superhero hype train, and, to be honest, I’m quite happy with what’s come about ever since the X-Men and Blade franchises revived the concept and The Dark Knight Trilogy raised the bar and made these movies into this prestige thing (no pun intended) that seemingly everyone from B-list has-beens to A-list Oscar winners were hyped to be a part of, these types of films have really come along way, and despite some embarrassing lows (Green Lantern, X-Men Origins: Wolverine), most of what has come out has been mightily enjoyable – particularly from Marvel Studios, who has managed to turn several B-list superheroes into some of the most engaging and entertaining action heroes of all time. Now, apparently, it’s time for the C-listers to have their chance in the spotlight, as Marvel has gone deep for their latest film, Guardians of the Galaxy. Read more…
REVIEW: Albert Nobbs
Directed by: Rodrigo García
Produced by: Glenn Close, Bonnie Curtis, John Goff
Written by: Glenn Close, John Banville, Gabriella Prekop (screenplay), István Szabó (story)
Edited by: Steven Weisberg
Cinematography by: Michael McDonough
Music by: Brian Byrne
Starring: Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Janet McTeer, Pauline Collins, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Brendan Gleeson, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Mark Williams
Based on the novella The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs by George Moore
Year: 2011
Every now and then, I find myself feeling as though I get myself into a rut and keep watching one type of movie over and over again, possibly even without realizing it but still getting fatigued by my usual tendencies, and so I poll my friends for their recommendations. Usually I get some fairly common movies, but every now and then, I’ll get an oddball recommendation that makes me think, “Yeah, sure, that’s pretty different!” It’s resulted in unlikely reviews such as K-PAX, Ballet Shoes, Macross II, and Oscar – all movies I wouldn’t have been likely to review had they not been recommended by friends. And so, after tiring of writing about big sci-fi epics from my seven-film review stint of the theatrically released Star Wars films, I sought out some more out of left field recommendations – this time from the friend who recommended Oscar. As far as films that aren’t big sci-fi epics go, Albert Nobbs, a film about a 19th century woman who lives as a man and works as a waiter at a luxury hotel which had just so happened to have recently been added to Netflix’s streaming library, certainly fit the bill. Read more…
2011 in Review: Notable Films I Managed to Avoid, For Better or For Worse, January – April 2011
A lot of people will say that 2011 was a dull year for film. Unlike previous years, there haven’t been very many huge Oscar-worthy films this year that I, personally can think of. Though The King’s Speech saw its wide release in 2011 (and I even saw it in theatres this past year), it was ultimately a film from 2010 and had, by this year’s Oscars, already won several Oscars and other accolades in the year prior, so it was no longer a contender for this spot.
Of course, 2011 had its share of noteworthy films, such as Moneyball and The Tree of Life, both fo which I still have yet to see but hear fantastic things about. And there’s Hugo, which is a wonderful family film from Martin Scorsese and my top pick for the year. But 2011 was largely a year of recycling. Sequels aplenty, some great, some good, and some completely awful, with plenty of expected and unexpected revivals of old franchises, many of which were completely unnecessary and, yes, unwanted. (Yes, I’m thinking of The Smurfs.)
2011 also saw the end of a few eras in film history, as well. The final Harry Potter released this year to high critical acclaim. For the time being, we’ve also gotten what is intended to be the final film in the Transformers trilogy (until Michael Bay decides he wants to have more money and toss in Jason Statham, who has been rumored to be taking over the lead human role for quite a while now). And we also saw Pixar release their first widely derided film ever in the admittedly-watchable-but-ultimately-thoroughly-mediocre Cars 2.
I went to the theaters plenty of times this year. Most of the films I did see were quite good, if at least enjoyable. A couple were quite bad. But there were still plenty of notable films that were released throughout the year that I didn’t see, neither in theatres nor in my own home. Before I tell you what were my least and most favorite of the year, I thought I’d go through the daunting task of a quick rundown of each notable film released in 2011 that I, for one reason or another, for better or for worse, did not see in theatres or get around to watching on home release. Read more…
The Viewer's Commentary 