Archive
SPECIAL REVIEW: Son of Rambow
Directed by: Garth Jennings
Produced by: Nick Goldsmith
Written by: Garth Jennings
Edited by: Dominic Leung
Cinematography by: Jess Hall
Music by: Joby Talbot
Starring: Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jules Sitruk, Jessica Hynes, Neil Dudgeon, Anna Wing, Ed Westwick, Eric Sykes
Year: 2008
NOTE: I’ve been a bit hard pressed for time and energy lately, but I’m actually working on a new review at this moment for a certain big summer blockbuster superhero film that just released, so it’s coming but not quite ready yet. Looking back through my old notes on Facebook, however, I discovered that I’d written a couple of reviews there that I’d completely forgotten about, so I’m dusting one of them off and, apart from the images and my now standardized credits, I’m presenting it to you unedited. This review is being titled a “Special Review” as it was written quite a while ago, back in 2010, a few months after I graduated from college and almost exactly a year before I created this blog but was seriously considering it. This is a seemingly forgotten gem of a film that was among the first that I’d rented when I first got Netflix. The review here may not reflect my current opinion (though I have admittedly not seen it since), however, and I reserve the right to re-review it if I see it again and choose to do so. ‘Cause, you know, it’s my blog… That being said, I still have fond memories of this film and hope you’ll check it out, too! Read more…
2013 IN REVIEW: The Films I Didn’t See (May – August)
Blockbuster season. Typically the season where most of the most anticipated films of the year — the ones that were hyped perhaps years in advance — are released. Since 2012 was the year when The Avengers gave us the first superhero team-up film and the year when The Dark Knight Trilogy came to a close, 2013 looked like it was going to be rather underwhelming this time of year. I already mentioned that Iron Man 3 was released in April, starting the season early, but Thor: The Dark World wasn’t coming until October!
So that left us with two major superhero films to look forward to: Man of Steel, which divided audiences and critics alike in its more serious, violent portrayal of Superman, and The Wolverine, which made good on its promise to improve upon its abysmal predecessor and managed to be both coherent and quite entertaining. Pixar and DreamWorks continued their rivalries, however, with the release of Pixar’s first prequel, Monsters University, and DreamWorks’ first sequel to cash-cow Despicable Me. (The less said about Turbo, the better.) World War Z finally came out and, predictably, did very well for itself, what with people being starved for zombie entertainment until the next season of The Walking Dead started. Summer also saw the release of some fairly big “prestige” films, however, the likes of which you’d normally expect to come out during the fall and winter Oscar season: Fruitvale Station, The Spectacular Now, and Blue Jasmine each received widespread critical acclaim.
Perhaps my most anticipated films of the summer were Star Trek Into Darkness, Pacific Rim, and The World’s End, which were all released during this time, and I personally actually enjoyed each of them immensely, though to also varying degrees. This was the time period where I did get promoted at my job and also got a raise, so I was able to see a few more films that I just wanted to see during this time. Nevertheless, I couldn’t see them all, so, as with the last time, here are the films that, as of this writing, I did not see from May– August 2013, in order of release, as noted on Wikipedia. Please note that, as in the past, I still reserve the right to watch any film that is listed here and then re-remark on the film in one of the upcoming articles on films I did see from 2013. So, yes, again, you might see some of these films again, and soon… Read more…