Showing category "0.03% Wine Coolers" (Show all posts)

REVIEW: From TWA in Baton Rouge to the CIA in Mena, American Made Independent Aviation Consultant Barry Seal Transforms Into the Gringo Who Always Delivers

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 30, 2017, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

American Made

Directed By: Doug Liman

Starring: Tom Cruise, Sarah Wright, Domhnall Gleeson, Alejandro Edda, Mauicio Mejia, Jesse Plemons, Lola Kirke, and Caleb Landry Jones

Tom Cruise gets no love from moviegoers these days. This is abundantly clear to me. While I’ve been fairly excited about this weekend’s American Made, I can’t say the same for all the folks with whom I’ve discussed the crime film. I get it. I really do. Some see Tom Cruise as a man with Scientology baggage and to...

REVIEW: Battle of the Sexes Pits Lobber Sugar Daddy Bobby Riggs Up Against Libber Women's Tennis Superstar Billie Jean King

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 30, 2017, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Battle of the Sexes

Directed By: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Starring: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue, Austin Stowell, Eric Christian Olsen, and Andrea Riseborough

I've been away from STMR for quite a while now, and the reason has primarily been that I've had nothing to say. It's nice to have been on the sidelines as the summer box office tanked and as the masses ignored their local cineplexes. Quality wasn't there on the big screen...

REVIEW: Molded Out of Clay, Amazon Godkiller Wonder Woman Is the Heroine We Deserve and Believe

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, June 4, 2017, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Wonder Woman

Directed By: Patty Jenkins

Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen, and Elena Anaya

In the game of superhero adaptations, Marvel is running circles around DC Comics. With a decade of hits and an army of live action heroes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is well on its way up the mountaintop to its Infinity War next year. Meanwhile, the missteps with Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice demonstrate that the DC Extended...

REVIEW: Making His Way to Eden by Way of North Dakota, Daddy Logan Becomes the Wolverine One Last Time & Finds His Sunseeker Boat

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, March 9, 2017, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Logan

Directed By: James Mangold

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, and Dafne Keen

Hugh Jackman has had a long run as Wolverine. The only actor with a comparable run of movies as a comics character that's just as fabled on the big screen is Robert Downey, Jr. in his portrayals of Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Starting with Bryan Singer's X-Men some seventeen years ago, Jackman has appeared on camera as the grumpy ageless mut...

REVIEW: Behind the Coagula of Get Out, TSA Agent Rodney Williams Handles the Situation of the Sunken Place

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, February 28, 2017, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Get Out

Directed By: Jordan Peele

Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Lil Rel Howery, and Keith Stanfield

I know people have been flocking to theaters as a distraction from the outrage of the day from the Trump White House. Every single day, something frustrating, maddening, or downright disgusting takes place in this new era, and moviegoers need a break. For the first time in a while, I'm happy to report that there is a great new...

REVIEW: When NASA Faces A Go / No Go Decision for John Glenn & the Friendship 7, Hidden Figures Working As Colored Computers Save the Day

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, January 21, 2017, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Hidden Figures

Directed By: Theodore Melfi

Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, and Aldis Hodge

History is told by those who wield the pen or the mic. What we often remember is what we're told to remember over and over again by those in a position to tell it. This is particularly true when it comes to the contributions made by African-Americans that have been vital to the success of the United States. From the free slave labor...

REVIEW: Embracing the Vanity of Camelot, Jackie Gives a Beautiful Tour of White House History

Posted by James Brown on Monday, December 19, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Jackie

Directed By: Pablo Larraín

Starring: Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, and John Hurt

"Don’t ever let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was Camelot. There will be great presidents again, but there will never be another Camelot.”

-Jackie Kennedy

I've been pretty political in many of my recent reviews. With all that's happening just a dozen or so miles away from me downtown that's tearing the moral fabric of these Uni...

REVIEW: Exploring Newt Scamander's Suitcase, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Is All About Second Salemers, MACUSA & the Obscurian Child

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 19, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Directed By: David Yates

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Carmen Ejogo, and Colin Farrell

I have sorely missed the magical world of witchcraft and wizardry for the last five years. Since everyone's favorite trio of Hogwarts students graduated from the big screen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 way back in 2011, there's been a certain, unmistakable kind of mov...

REVIEW: A Nonzero Sum Game, Arrival Is All About Using the Weapon Language, the Cornerstone of Civilization

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, November 13, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Arrival

Directed By: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Tzi Ma

It's been one hell of a week. For the better part of it, I've been sleepless and sick to my stomach as I reflect on bizarre, hateful turn of political events. It truly pains me to accept that Donald J. Trump will be moving into the White House toward the end of January. It's absolutely befuddling. America is speaking two languages, one of love and respect for our fellow ma...

REVIEW: In Hacksaw Ridge, The Lord Helps Conscientious Objector Desmond "Corn Stalk" Doss Get One More

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, November 13, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Hacksaw Ridge

Directed By: Mel Gibson

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, and Vince Vaughn

"Lord, please help me get one more."

-Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield)

In my five years writing for STMR, there's one prominent filmmaker whose movies I've not had the chance to review — the one and only Mel Gibson. There's a good reason for it. The Passion of the Christ director has maintained a pretty low standing in the court of public ...

REVIEW: If It Bleeds, It Leads in the Sensational Television First Christine

Posted by James Brown on Friday, November 4, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Christine

Directed By: Antonio Campos

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts, Maria Dizzia, J. Smith-Cameron, John Cullum, and Timothy Simons

I had the distinct pleasure of voting this past weekend. As you can all probably guess, I'm voting to be able say Madam President by the time the next Commander-in-Chief is sworn into office in January. I recognize that with all the chaos that is unfolding, there is a pretty large possibility that we could turn back the clock on the idea th...

REVIEW: When the Bill Comes Due from the Dark Dimension's Dormammu, Doctor Strange's Technique to Save the Sanctums Goes Beyond Time & Death

Posted by James Brown on Friday, November 4, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Doctor Strange

Directed By: Scott Derrickson

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tilda Swinton

The world is truly topsy-turvy these days. Donald Trump has more than an outside shot at stealing the presidency next Tuesday from Hillary Clinton. The Chicago Cubs have broken a 108 years long losing streak by clinching the World Series earlier this week. To top things off, Doctor Stran...

REVIEW: Biblical Black Preacher Nat Turner Leads The Birth of a Nation on a Bloody Righteous Path

Posted by James Brown on Monday, October 10, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Birth of a Nation

Directed By: Nate Parker

Starring: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Penelope Ann Miller, and Gabrielle Union

With President Obama wrapping his historic tenure as the President of these United States and the recent unveiling of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, there are plenty of historic milestones around which I could open up this review. With the enduring scars of racial injustices that are most prevalent in an ep...

REVIEW: Bridget Jones’s Baby - The Mary Magdalene Of London Faces A Geriatric Pregnancy In This Hilarious Rom Com

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Monday, October 10, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Bridget Jones's Baby
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Sharon Macguire

Starring: Renee Zellwegger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey, Emma Thompson, Jim Broadbent, and Gemma Jones

Initially, I was underwhelmed at the prospect of a new Bridget Jones film. To be frank, I did not think a sequel would resonate so many years later, and I would be left with the same “meh” feeling I had after watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Much to my surprise and delight, Bridget Jones’s Baby delivers laughs and warm...

REVIEW: With Chocolate Ice Cream & Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, Southside With You Is One Stark Reminder of the Good Times with the Obamas

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 27, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Southside With You

Directed By: Richard Tanne

Starring: Parker Sawyers, Tika Sumpter, and Vanessa Bell Calloway

2016 has been one wild election year. One thing that has come of the political tumult is that Americans are reminded just how good we have it with our current Commander-in-Chief. While Secretary Clinton tries to dance away from the perceptions of impropriety during her tenure at the State Department courtesy of the Clinton Foundation and Donald Trump talks about black people and flip...

REVIEW: Playing Carnegie Hall for True Music Lovers Despite Syphilis, Florence Foster Jenkins Sings Though She Can't Sing

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, August 21, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Florence Foster Jenkins

Directed By: Stephen Frears

Starring: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Nina Arianda

Director Stephen Frears has chosen some interesting stories to tell over the years, and he's worked with some great leading ladies over the years. He directed Helen Mirren in her triumphant portrayal of living royalty in The Queen. He guided Dame Judi Dench in her journey as an elderly mother retracing her long lost son's steps in Philomena. This year, he g...

REVIEW: Touching Tips & Jeopardizing the Great Beyond in Sausage Party, Frank & Brenda Go Down the Comedy Aisle at Shopwell

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 13, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Sausage Party

Directed By: Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon

Starring: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, and Salma Hayek

There's been an onslaught of animated fare at the box office. Zootopia, Finding Dory, and The Secret Life of Pets are just a few of the films that have dominated the cinemas over the course of the year. This is without even considering the multitude ...

REVIEW: Riding Steve On Noam Chomsky Day, Captain Fantastic Succeeds at Mission Rescue Moviegoers & Sticks It to the Man

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 6, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Captain Fantastic

Directed By: Matt Ross

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Frank Langella, Kathryn Hahn, Ann Dowd, and Steve Zahn

I'll admit it. I've been quiet on the indie front this summer. With the exception of A Bigger Splash —which I just so happen to be overdue on reviewing— and perhaps The Lobster (if it can be loved), I haven't fallen in love with too many movies. I also don't think our more artistic filmmakers have been speaking to the times in recent months. With a pun intended given...

REVIEW: With the Fourth Cataclysm At Hand, The Ghost Girls Become Ghostbusters

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, July 16, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Ghostbusters

Directed By: Paul Feig

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Charles Dance, Michael Kenneth Williams, and Chris Hemsworth

There's been one tragedy after another as of late. It seems that there is a terrorist attack, a mass shooting, or police killings on an all too frequent basis these days. Orlando. Istanbul. Nice. Baton Rouge. Dallas. The Twin Cities. The list sadly goes on and on and on. All our prayers at STMR are certainly with those de...

REVIEW: Finding Dory – Sigourney Weaver and Ed O’Neill Dominate This Heartfelt Sequel

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, June 19, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Finding Dory
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Andrew Stanton

Starring: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Idris Elba, Ty Burrell, Sigourney Weaver, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Kate McKinnon, Dominic West, and Bill Hader

In 2003, Finding Nemo debuted to critical acclaim and international box office success. Finding Nemo was an innovative film in which Pixar took animation to new heights. This week, Finding Dory hits theaters and picks up the tale six months after the original film.

Lovable D...

REVIEW: Lovingly Short Sighted With Its Rabbit Bouquets, The Lobster Is One Horrific Sci-Fi Romance

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, May 31, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Lobster

Directed By: Yorgos Lanthimos

Starring: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Jessica Barden, Olivia Colman, Ashley Jensen, Ariane Labed, Angeliki Papoulia, John C. Reilly, Léa Seydoux, Michael Smiley, and Ben Whishaw

Dystopian science fiction thrillers have been dominating the mainstream for the last several years. The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner all serve as pertinent examples. This hasn't held true to the same extent at the independent box office. There are hidden gems...

REVIEW: With Sorority Kappa Nu Rising & Mac and Kelly's Home in Escrow, Everyone is Chasing Five Buckets of Money in Neighbors 2

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, May 22, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

Directed By: Nicholas Stoller

Starring: Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloë Grace Moretz, Dave Franco, Kiersey Clemons, and Ike Barinholtz

It wouldn't be the summer movie season without a mindless comedy. I'm talking about the kind of comedy where logic does not rule and crude is far from rude. Between the prospect of the Donald hearing "Hail to the Chief" everywhere he goes and planes dropping out of the sky like raindrops, we could all use a laugh or two ri...

REVIEW: Despite Bird Protesters, Misty Mountains & Nixon's Angel of Death, The Nice Guys Will Be Happy

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, May 22, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Nice Guys

Directed By: Shane Black

Starring: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, Keith David, and Kim Basinger

There are some folks in the industry who may not be widely known despite a well-documented history of commercial success. Shane Black is most definitely one of these individuals. He's the man who played a pivotal role in shaping mainstream action flicks into what they are today with his screenplays for Lethal Weapon and Lethal Weapon 2. He's ...

REVIEW: With Black Shoes & Duran Duran, Sing Street Lead Cosmo Solves The Happy Sad Riddle of the Model Raphina

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 24, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Sing Street

Directed By: John Carney

Starring: Lucy Boynton, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Aidan Gillen, Jack Reynor, Kelly Thornton, and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo

2016 has been a hard year for music aficionados of all genres. We've lost a lot of legends this year. The names are iconic to say the least. David Bowie, Natalie Cole, Phife Dawg, Glenn Frey, Maurice White, and many others have transitioned to the next life in the last several months leaving legacies that will endure for years to come. This weeke...

REVIEW: An Otherworldly Movie With Plenty of Daylight, Midnight Special Might Just Make You Believe

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 10, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Midnight Special

Directed By: Jeff Nichols

Starring: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Sam Shepard, and Jaeden Lieberher

Shotgun Stories. Take Shelter. Mud. These films are all the product of a singular director-actor combination, that of visionary Jeff Nichols and his muse Michael Shannon. The third time apparently wasn't the charm as the dynamic duo is back together again on the big screen with this weekend's Midnight Special. For his fourth collaboration with Sh...

REVIEW: From the Sound Machine to Dorm Room 307, Everybody Wants Some of Richard Linklater's Baseball F*ckwithery

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, April 2, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Everybody Wants Some!!

Directed By: Richard Linklater

Starring: Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, Will Brittain, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Glen Powell, Wyatt Russell, and J. Quinton Johnson

It must be April Fool's Day because I really can't write this stuff. Oscar-winning director of Birdman Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu starts a winning streak by rolling out The Revenant. Meanwhile, his biggest competition (and last year's more deserving winner), Boyhood director Richard Linklater goes back to di...

REVIEW: When Lilith Primrose Thinks I'm Possible, She Says Hello My Name Is Doris

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, April 2, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Hello My Name Is Doris

Directed By: Michael Showalter

Starring: Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Beth Behrs, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Stephen Root, Elizabeth Reaser, Natasha Lyonne, and Tyne Daly

Unless you're Meryl Streep, good roles don't often come for leading ladies of a certain age. That's how Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, and Angela Bassett end up on FX in American Horror Story. That's how Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin end up on Netflix in Grace & Frankie. That's how Sally Field ends up on ABC in B...

REVIEW: Referring Up, Eye in the Sky Brings Down the Hellfire In Spite of the Rules of Engagement

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 19, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Eye in the Sky

Directed By: Gavin Hood

Starring: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, and Barkhad Abdi

There may never be another like the late great Alan Rickman. He truly was a distinguished thespian whose every word was delivered in a savory, captivating manner on the big screen. Whether you remember him as Hans Gruber, Sheriff George, Severus Snape, or any of the many other characters he's portrayed over the years, I pray you don't remember him for his final role as Blue Caterpillar in ...

REVIEW: In 10 Cloverfield Lane, You Don't Build the Ark After the Flood Starts or If Paris et ' J'aime

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 13, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

10 Cloverfield Lane

Directed By: Dan Trachtenberg

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, and John Gallagher, Jr.

After the massive hit Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the next thing on the radar of J. J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions was supposed to be Star Trek Beyond, or so we thought. As it turns out, Bad Robot got us with the quickness when it dropped the trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane earlier this year. It literally came out of nowhere when it landed online. The prospect of a se...

REVIEW: Up Back Forward Down! With Bo Derek, Milk, & Broken Glasses in Blake's Biscuits, Eddie the Eagle Has Landed In His Moment

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 27, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Eddie the Eagle

Directed By: Dexter Fletcher

Starring: Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Jim Broadbent, and Christopher Walken

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well."

-Pierre de Coubertin

There's nothing better than a surprise treat at the box office. I typically don't have too many of these, especially this time of year. In the last three weeks, however, I've had three rather enjoyable cinematic ...

REVIEW: The Witch Crackles With Old School Horror & One Dysfunctional Puritan Family

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 27, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Witch

Directed By: Robert Eggers

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, and Lucas Dawson

Having the benefit of having reviewed hundreds and hundreds of films, I generally can size up a film in its first fifteen minutes or so. My ego lets me think I can do it in only five minutes sometimes. In the case of Robert Eggers's The Witch, I thought I had it pegged after the first few moments. I thought it was going to be a dry, fright-less affair. ...

REVIEW: With Four Gold Medals, Jesse Owens Runs His Race Regardless of Jim Crow or the Third Reich

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, February 21, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Race

Directed By: Stephen Hopkins

Starring: Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, Shanice Banton, and William Hurt

Simplicity can be elegance, especially when it comes to movie titles. One-syllable titles are especially potent because they say everything and hardly anything at all. Heat. Ray. Up. These titles are short and sweet but convey so much. There's no better example this weekend than the Jesse Owens biopic Race. In the case of the period biographical pict...

REVIEW: Wham! Deadpool & His X-Men Make It Big With Their Bloody, Hilarious Answer to Francis's What's My Name

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 13, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Deadpool

Directed By: Tim Miller

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand, and Stefan Kapicic

2016 is the year of the comic book movie. The release schedule is all the proof you need. Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Captain America: Civil War. X-Men: Apocalypse. Suicide Squad. Gambit. Doctor Strange. This year is unlike any other in terms of the sheer number of Marvel and DC properties arriving on the big screen, and it may ...

REVIEW: A Sick Woman, Possibly Dying, The Lady in the Van Mary Shepherd Has the Last Laugh

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, February 7, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Lady in the Van

Directed By: Nicholas Hytner

Starring: Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Jim Broadbent, Frances de la Tour, and Roger Allam

In her golden years, Maggie Smith has really cornered the market for playing tough old dames on the big screen. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Quartet, and My Old Lady have all proven this in the last several years. With each return to the big screen, Smith doesn't just play on her persona as the actress with perhaps the most sarcastic tongue. She tackles...

REVIEW: When Girls Just Wanna Have Fun & Apple Mojitos, Anomalisa Chooses A Belvedere Martini Straight Up With a Twist

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, January 16, 2016, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Anomalisa

Directed By: Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson

Starring: David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tom Noonan

This awards season is shaping up to be pretty intriguing with regard to animated fare. The two films going head to head are Inside Out and Anomalisa. In one corner, you have an innocent but brilliant exploration of the inner workings of a child's mind and the competing emotions within it. The fifteenth film from Pixar is no doubt a landmark achievement. In the other corner, w...
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REVIEW: Hail Tyrant Macbeth, AKA Michael Fassbender in the Next Great Shakespeare Adaptation

Posted by James Brown on Monday, December 21, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Macbeth

Directed By: Justin Kurzel

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Jack Reynor, Elizabeth Debicki, and David Thewlis

Here we are again with yet another Shakespearean adaptation at the box office. The fun thing about reviewing these films is that the narrative hardly ever factors into my review. It's all about the execution and the overarching creative vision driving each big screen take on the famed playwright’s theatrical works (if he wrote them)...

REVIEW: For the Simple Song of His Youth, Composer Fred Ballinger Lives Life's Last Day with a Little Levity

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, December 20, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Youth

Directed By: Paolo Sorrentino

Starring: Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, and Jane Fonda

The Great Beauty was a high mark for Paolo Sorrentino two years ago, and I've got nothing but respect for Sorrentino's Oscar-winning artistic achievement, which just happens to be one of my favorite movies featuring the Eternal City. With this in mind, I came into his latest endeavor Youth with a certain curiosity. When you factor in the incredible cast of beloved thespians he's ...

REVIEW: Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Rebooting A New Hope

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Friday, December 18, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: J.J. Abrams

Starring: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Max von Sydow

It is impossible to overstate the world's enthusiasm for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The original Star Wars trilogy is arguably the most influential franchise in cinematic history and is permanently cemented in popular cultur...

REVIEW: The Boston Globe's Spotlight Team Nimbly Tackles Systematic Child Abuse in the Catholic Church

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, November 17, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Spotlight

Directed By: Tom McCarthy

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, and Stanley Tucci

“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.”

-Mitchell Garabedian (Stanley Tucci)

As we’ve seen one adaptation after another arrive at the box office throughout the fall movie season, I’ve been highly critical of many of the films in terms of scope. Movies like Steve Jobs and Trumbo have failed to convey the grandness...

REVIEW: With Roman Holiday, The Brave One & Spartacus, Trumbo & the Blacklisted Hollywood Ten Fight the Motion Picture Alliance

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 14, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Trumbo

Directed By: Jay Roach

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Louis C.K., Elle Fanning, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Helen Mirren, Alan Tudyk, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Hollywood loves films about itself. The proof is in the awards-filled pudding. Movies about the movies have gotten lots of awards love over the last several years. The Artist and Argo added Best Picture Oscars under their belts, while Hugo cleaned up in the technical awards categories across the board. Films such...

REVIEW: For the Nine Eyes Data Ghost, Spectre Tries to Stop A Deal Between The Pale King & One Cuckoo Mickey Mouse for L'Americain

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 7, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Spectre

Directed By: Sam Mendes

Starring: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott, Monica Bellucci, and Ralph Fiennes

Is Daniel Craig out of bullets? Many have been considering this weekend's Spectre to be Craig's final outing as beloved British Secret Service agent James Bond. Yes, Daniel Craig has been around the block as 007 a few times. Yes, he had a tantrum saying he would rather kill himself than suit up again. However, he al...

REVIEW: With Deeds Not Words, Foot Soldier & Suffragette Maud Watts Never Surrenders & Never Gives Up the Fight for the Vote for Women

Posted by James Brown on Monday, November 2, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Suffragette

Directed By: Sarah Gavron

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Whishaw, and Meryl Streep

The best cinematic experiences are often the ones from which moviegoers take away something, the ones from which they learn something. Entertainment and education aren't mutually exclusive objectives in filmmaking. With all the adaptations we're seeing during this particular awards season, it's safe to say that we as a movie-going public ought to...

REVIEW: For A Monstrous Love, Many Women Have Sipped the Poisonous Tea at Allerdale Hall in Crimson Peak

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, October 25, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Crimson Peak

Directed By: Guillermo del Toro

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, and Jim Beaver

I've been highly critical of the horror genre since I began STMR (and long before that as well). There are few films I've given high marks in recent years including slasher flick You're Next and supernatural horror flick It Follows. Still, the genre's been languishing in my eyes for quite some time. The proof is in the mockumentary-flavored pudding Hollywood ...

REVIEW: Playing the Orchestra But Not TIME's Man of the Year, Steve Jobs Is All About Clouds, Love & Life

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, October 17, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Steve Jobs

Directed By: Danny Boyle

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels

The adaptations keep on coming. I obsess over the unusually large wave of films based on books, public figures, and other source materials as this fall movie season rolls onward. As I look at the slate of films on hand this weekend, I've come to realize that there's a smaller trend in recent years as well, one focused on technology. Recognizing the role technology plays in our lives, H...

REVIEW: Just Saying, Johnny Depp Is Psychotic & Cerebral As Top Echelon FBI Informant Whitey Bulger In Black Mass

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 19, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Black Mass

Directed By: Scott Cooper

Starring: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Jesse Plemons, Corey Stoll, Peter Sarsgaard, and Dakota Johnson

Johnny Depp's career has hit a trough in recent years. Despite the billion dollar successes of Alice in Wonderland and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides several years ago, film duds such as The Tourist, Dark Shadows, Transcendence, and The Lone Ranger loom large on his recent filmography. Believe me, these duds a...

REVIEW: Straight Outta Compton – One Time, Suge Knight And Jerry Don’t Fare Too Well In This Hip Hop Epic

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Monday, August 17, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Straight Outta Compton
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: F. Gary Gray

Starring: O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, Paul Giamatti, Neil Brown, Jr., and Aldis Hodge

The Black Lives Matter movement, along with cell phone cameras, has recently shined a light on the tense relationship between people of color and law enforcement. But in the mid-1980’s, a rap group by the name of N.W.A. (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) shined a light on police brutality in their infamous song “F*ck the Police.�...

REVIEW: With Solomon Lane, the Bone Doctor & Ilsa Faust, Rogue Nation the Syndicate Gives IMF's Finest Gambler Ethan Hunt One More Impossible Mission

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 1, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin, and Simon McBurney

"I can neither confirm nor deny any details without the secretary's approval."

-Agent William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Impossible Mission Force

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get to the box office this weekend. The Impossible Mission Force (IMF) is back on the scene. Agent Ethan Hunt...

REVIEW: Despite the Mets, The Dog Walker & Billy Joel's Uptown Girl, Monogamy Isn't Realistic for Trainwreck's Amy Schumer Until It Is

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, July 19, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Trainwreck

Directed By: Judd Apatow

Starring: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, John Cena, LeBron James, Mike Birbiglia, Vanessa Bayer, Ezra Miller, and Tilda Swinton

Romantic comedies are dying a slow death at the mainstream box office. With just About Time, That Awkward Moment, and About Last Night joining the ranks in the last couple of years, it's clear that tales of blissful romance have gone by the wayside. Every once in a while, we're reminded that this endangered speci...

REVIEW: Baskin Robbins Always Finds Out How Ant-Man Goes Subatomic On the Big Screen

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, July 18, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Ant-Man

Directed By: Peyton Reed

Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip "T.I." Harris, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, and Michael Douglas

The trailers for Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad may be all the rage right now as Warner Bros. seeks to lay the foundations of its DC Comics universe on the big screen. Still, Marvel Studios is the dominant player, even without some of its flagship heroes such as the X-Men a...

REVIEW: Testament of Youth Is A Beautiful, Tragic Testament for Pacifism from WWI Nurse, Oxford Scholar, & Writer Vera Brittain

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, July 12, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Testament of Youth

Directed By: James Kent

Starring: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Colin Morgan, Emily Watson, Hayley Atwell, Dominic West, and Miranda Richardson

I recently had the distinct displeasure of watching Kit Harington die twice in the same weekend on the big and small screens. As you all may be aware, there was a mutiny against Jon Snow (Harington) on Game of Thrones for his love of the Wildlings, for the Watch. With the perception of Snow as breaking bread with their enemy, the i...
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REVIEW: Theoretically, Pops & the Exiles of Time in Terminator Genisys Are Old, Not Obsolete

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, July 2, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Terminator Genisys

Directed By: Alan Taylor

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Lee Byung-hun, and J. K. Simmons

"Follow a straight line and don't look back.”
-Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke)

I recently read an article on Entertainment Weekly's website about the decline of the American actor. The article espouses that, after generations of heavyweights like Brando, Nicholson, Streep, and Pacino, there's no one picking up the mantle. The problem is pretty a...
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REVIEW: Help Me Home Because Ted 2 Offers Plenty of Fresh Cakes of Comedy

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, June 28, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Ted 2

Directed By: Seth MacFarlane

Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, Amanda Seyfried, Morgan Freeman, Jessica Barth, Giovanni Ribisi, and John Slattery

The thunder buddies for life are back, and they seem to be ready-made for 2015. From Deflate Gate's Tom Brady to Taken 3's Liam Neeson, the flood of perfectly timed pop culture references says it all. With The Breakfast Club turning 30 back in February, Ted's library dance moves certainly pay homage to the signature John Hughes coming-o...
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REVIEW: Love & Mercy Is All About the Beach Boys' Paranoid Schizophrenic Brian Wilson

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, June 14, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Love & Mercy

Directed By: Bill Pohlad

Starring: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, and Paul Giamatti

I would be lying if I were to say that am a huge fan of the Beach Boys. I'm familiar with their discography, and I respect what they accomplished in their day. However, I'm not exactly rocking to their tunes on Amazon Prime. That being said, this doesn't mean that I can't appreciate Brian Wilson's tale. After all, there's a rich story to be told here. A musical heavyweight whose career...
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REVIEW: The Personal Trainers at Austin's Power4Life Deliver Humorous Results Because No Fear Excuses Surrender

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 13, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Results

Directed By: Andrew Bujalski

Starring: Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Brooklyn Decker, Anthony Michael Hall, Tishuan Scott, Zoe Graham, David Bernon, and Constance Zimmer

You may have noticed that I've been quiet on the independent film front lately. The reason for this is that I have a day job, and my personal life has kept me fairly busy lately. With this, I've slowed down my pace a bit. All that being said, I haven't forgotten about STMR or my love of ...
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REVIEW: Whether Penny Morgan or Amber Valentine, Spy Susan Cooper Finds Her Calling Chasing Rayna, De Luca, & Renaldo

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 6, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Spy

Directed By: Paul Feig

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Nargis Fakhri, Allison Janney, and Jude Law

Director Paul Feig seems to have a comedic muse, and her name is Melissa McCarthy. In 2011, she was a supporting but integral contributor to the genius comedy Bridesmaids. Alongside Sandra Bullock, McCarthy then headlined Feig's next feature in 2013, the buddy action comedy The Heat. Some two years later, Feig and McCarthy are reuniting on...
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REVIEW: With Jarvis As Co-Pilot During Its Lullaby, The Monster Avengers Certainly Don't Watch Their Language in the Age of Ultron

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, May 2, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Directed By: Joss Whedon

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, and Samuel L. Jackson

"When the Earth starts to settle, God throws a stone at it. And believe me. He's winding up."
-Ultron (James Spader)

It's time to initiate the Theta Protocol. It...
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REVIEW: With Darby's Ice Cream & Arthritis Arthritis, While We're Young Has No Process in Finding the Beautiful Truth of Life

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 5, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

While We're Young

Directed By: Noah Baumbach

Starring: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried, Charles Grodin, Adam Horovitz, and Maria Dizzia

I've still got a few good years left in my twenties, but I do realize that time is ticking away. Thankfully, I'm not at the beginning of some long monologue about getting older. I am, however, at the beginning of a rather interesting realization about how the generational gap widens with each passing generation. We live longer than ever...
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REVIEW: Hey, Baby Doll! As Danny Collins, Al Pacino Gets His Patter Back With the Camera Thanks to a Letter from John Lennon

Posted by James Brown on Monday, March 30, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Danny Collins

Directed By: Dan Fogelman

Starring: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner, Bobby Cannavale, Christopher Plummer, Melissa Benoist, and Josh Peck

A couple of years ago, I heard of this challenge for film aficionados called Mount Rushmore. It essentially entails naming one's four favorite actors who would be on their cinematic Rushmore, figuratively speaking. Without a shadow of a doubt, the one person who has a guaranteed spot on mine is the iconic Al Pacino. In my humble opi...
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REVIEW: Sex Can Kill You When It Follows, Especially for Jay

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 22, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

It Follows

Directed By: David Robert Mitchell

Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, and Lili Sepe

If you've followed this site for any extended period of time, I'm sure you've discovered the fact that I have no love lost for the horror movies of today. These days, we get the millionth unwarranted entry in a long-running franchise, a supernatural horror flick that is stylistically akin to every other horror movie that's come out in the last twenty y...
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REVIEW: Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem Showcases One Wife’s Incompatibility With Her Stubborn Jewish Husband Shimon Amsalem

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 21, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

Directed By: Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz

Starring: Ronit Elkabetz, Menashe Noy, Sasson Gabai, and Simon Abkarian

Some people just aren't meant to be together. The blinding nature of love can have disastrous consequences. Still, the divorce rate isn't exactly sky high in the United States, or most other countries around the globe for that matter. As of 2011, the divorce rate stateside sits at a respectable 6.8%, but I'm certain the percentage of unsucc...
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REVIEW: With the Toledo Panic Button & the Little Blind Mouse, Focus Is All Con Artists Nicky & Jess Really Need

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 28, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Focus

Directed By: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, Adrian Martinez, and Gerald McRaney

Will Smith used to be the king of the box office. Between his 1996 breakout blockbuster Independence Day and his 2008 hit Hancock, Smith reigned supreme with 12 out of 14 of his films crossing the $100 million mark domestically. So what the hell happened in the last seven years to change this? Smith took a four-year hiatus from the box office and came back ...
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REVIEW: Manners Maketh Man in The Secret Service While Kingsman & Gentleman Eggsy Finds His Valentine With Oxfords, Not Brogues

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 14, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Directed By: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Taron Egerton, and Michael Caine

"We had to destroy the myth because [the Austin Powers movies] f*cked us. I am a huge Mike Myers fan, so don't get me wrong, but he kind of f*cked us, made it impossible to do the gags."
-Daniel Craig, MI6

If the quote above proves anything, it's that spy movies have changed tremendously over the years. The days of Sean Connery facing off with Goldfinge...
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REVIEW: Struggling With Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease, Linguist & Butterfly Still Alice Lives in the Moment & Masters the Art of Losing

Posted by James Brown on Monday, January 26, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Still Alice

Directed By: Richard Glatzer

Starring: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth, and Hunter Parrish

I'm baaack! I am slowly but surely resuming my normal activities and getting back to my beloved big screen. As I've returned, one obvious reality finally smacked me in the face about this awards season. It's a very dark one in which films like Birdman and Whiplash have been integral players. Yes, there is the coming-of-age awards mammoth Boyhood, which is on the...
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REVIEW: American Sniper – A Gripping Tale Of Sheepdogs, Sheep and Wolves

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, January 17, 2015, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

American Sniper
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Sammy Sheik, and Cory Hardrict

The recent shootings at Charlie Hebdo and the subsequent anti-terrorist operations have brought terrorism and the conflict in the Middle East to the forefront. A film about the deadliest sniper in U.S. history and his service in Iraq is either ill-timed or perfectly timed, depending on one’s perspective.

Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) was raised in Texas. His father ...
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REVIEW: Unbroken – Zamperini Triumphs Over The Bird In This Inspiring True Story

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Tuesday, December 30, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Unbroken
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Angelina Jolie

Starring: Jack O’Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund, Takamasa Ishihara, Finn Witrock, and Jai Courtney

Written by Joel and Ethan Coen, Unbroken chronicles the amazing life of Olympian Louis Zamperini. I approached Unbroken with extreme reluctance. The film interrupted my traditional A Christmas Story, Elf and Home Alone Christmas marathon. Moreover, a film about survival, resilience and redemption did not fit in with my festive hol...
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REVIEW: Into the Woods With Some Magic Beans During A Blue Moon, Rob Marshall Grants Moviegoers a Musical Christmas Wish

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, December 25, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Into the Woods

Directed By: Rob Marshall

Starring: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, and Johnny Depp

Merry Christmas STMR readers! As happy as I am that the holidays have arrived, I'm pretty disappointed by the offering at the box office this week. For the most part, it's gloom and doom. Just look at this week's releases. We've got a self-hating blackjack addict throwing away tons of money in The Gambler. We've got an Olym...
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REVIEW: There and Back Again, The Battle of the Five Armies Takes The Hobbit Full Circle to The Fellowship of the Ring

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, December 18, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Directed By: Peter Jackson

Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian Mckellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, and Orlando Bloom

There and back again. This hobbit's tale has been a tumultuous journey that has never quite taken us back there to that place of movie magic called Middle Earth in a way that The Lord of the Rings trilogy did ...
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REVIEW: In The Imitation Game of Christopher Vs. Enigma at Bletchley, Alan Turing Solves the Biggest Crossword Puzzle of Them All

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, December 14, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Imitation Game

Directed By: Morten Tyldum

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Charles Dance, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, and Rory Kinnear

"Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."
-Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley)

Some of the best movies are the ones in which moviegoers learn something new about how someone did something amazing that changed the world. I know that sounds like a cliché, but that's...
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REVIEW: With Hammy the Bear, Hot Sauce, & Fry or Die Comedy, Top Five's Andre Allen and James Nielson Put Some Stank On It

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, December 13, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Top Five

Directed By: Chris Rock

Starring: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, Gabrielle Union, Hayley Marie Norman, Karlie Redd, Rachel Feinstein, Kevin Hart, Sherri Shepherd, J.B. Smoove, Dan Naturman, Tracy Morgan, Cedric the Entertainer, and Whoopi Goldberg

Rigorous honesty is the best way to start out my review of Chris Rock's latest film. I loved it. I enjoyed the film so much that I'm going to reveal my own top five, which tells a lot about me. I'm just going on gut instincts here. My number ...
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REVIEW: Beyond the Lights, Noni Jean's Black Bird Is Freed At Last From Her Musical Cage By Officer Hero Kaz Nicol Despite His Fear of Flying

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, November 23, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Beyond the Lights

Directed By: Gina Prince-Bythewood

Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Minnie Driver, Nate Parker, Danny Glover, and Machine Gun Kelly

You all are familiar with my less than positive sentiments on the state of the music industry today. It's all about sex appeal, club playability, and the bottom line. It's not about the music anymore. It's not about showmanship. It's not about the artistry. Because of this, the industry is a shell of its former self. While I could elaborate on the ...
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REVIEW: Despite Motor Neuron Disease, Intelligent Atheist Stephen Hawking Masters Time to Give Us The Physicist's Theory of Everything

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 15, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Theory of Everything

Directed By: James Marsh

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, and David Thewlis

Performances marked by darkness and conflict are the ones typically rewarded during awards season. Just look at last year's Oscar winners for Best Actor and Best Actress in leading roles. On one hand, we have a self-destructive homophobic AIDS patient with Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club. On the other, we have a crazy widow who has ...
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REVIEW: Thanks to Baymax & the Big Hero 6 Nerds Looking at Comics From a Different Angle, I Am Satisfied With My Care in San Fransokyo

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, November 9, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Big Hero 6

Directed By: Don Hall and Chris Williams

Starring: Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans, Jr., Génesis Rodríguez, T. J. Miller, Daniel Henney, James Cromwell, and Maya Rudolph

Disney has had one hell of a year, particularly when it comes to live action films. Just look to the critical and commercial successes of films like Captain America: Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and to a lesser extent Maleficent. The studio has found its groove and is on a roll. Wi...
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REVIEW: As the Grumpy St. Vincent McKenna of Sheepshead Bay Says, It Is What It Is, A Good Old Fashioned Comedy-Drama

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, October 25, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

St. Vincent

Directed By: Theodore Melfi

Starring: Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd, Scott Adsit, Naomi Watts, and Terrence Howard

Many folks of older generations with whom I've interacted have frequently claimed that the world has gotten worse since their heyday. Maybe I'm cold-hearted. Maybe I'm callous. In my humble opinion, the world has not gotten any better or worse. We just know more about what's happening in it. In this digital age, every violent crime, every scandalous af...
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REVIEW: Fury – Ideals Are Peaceful, History Is Violent

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Monday, October 20, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Fury
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: David Ayer

Starring: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena, Jon Bernthal, Scott Eastwood

World War II has been depicted in countless films, most famously in Saving Private Ryan. With the war on ISIL raging, the conflict in the Ukraine, and the never ending turmoil in the Middle East, a World War II film feels oddly timely. David Ayer’s Fury is a compelling drama that depicts the savagery and the emotional and physical trauma that war inflicts on ...

REVIEW: In Men, Women & Children, the Voyager Satellite Shows the Unimportant Yet Important Connections We Make On Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot

Posted by James Brown on Monday, October 13, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Men, Women & Children

Directed By: Jason Reitman

Starring: Rosemarie DeWitt, Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer, Dean Norris, Adam Sandler, Ansel Elgort, Kaitlyn Dever, J.K. Simmons, and Emma Thompson

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, ev...
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REVIEW: Watching the Media Kill the Messenger Gary Webb Over the CIA's Dark Alliance With Nicaraguan Druglords Is One Good History Lesson

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, October 12, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Kill the Messenger

Directed By: Michael Cuesta

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Ray Liotta, Barry Pepper, Michael Sheen, Andy Garcia, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosemarie DeWitt, Paz Vega, Oliver Platt, Richard Schiff, Robert Patrick, and Michael K. Williams

History is often the best way to validate an opinion. We could all debate our friends and loved ones in perpetuity based on opinions alone, but facts are facts. Regardless of who’s writing history, there are always certain irrefutable facts. When...
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REVIEW: Despite Her Viager, My Old Lady Mathilde Teaches Her Alcoholic Buyer Mathias That There Is No Greater Wealth Than Life

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, September 21, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

My Old Lady

Directed By: Israel Horovitz

Starring: Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Dominique Pinon

"If you do not love me, I shall not be loved."
-Samuel Beckett

This is going to sound completely nerdy, but I'm going to put these words out on the web anyway. I love to learn at the movies. Some of my most treasured cinematic memories are those where filmmakers have expanded my boundaries, exposed me to different cultures and ways of life, and enlightened me with new perspecti...
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REVIEW: Practicing the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, Private Detective Matt Scudder Takes A Bloody Good Walk Among the Tombstones

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 20, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

A Walk Among the Tombstones

Directed By: Scott Frank

Starring: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, Eric Nelsen, Brian "Astro" Bradley, Sebastian Roché, and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson

It's been a rough year at the movies, but the fall is finally here and in full swing. We've gotten through the hurdles of a rather dismal summer box office season full of duds. With the fall, we can say goodbye to being inundated with explosions, wild nonsense masquerading as humor, and unwanted sequels or reboots (i.e. Trans...
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REVIEW: According to Starship, Nothing's Gonna Stop Depressed, Suicidal Skeleton Twins Milo & Maggie Now, Even Saying See You Later

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, September 14, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Skeleton Twins

Directed By: Craig Johnson

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, Bill Hader, and Ty Burrell

Suicide can have long-lasting consequences that reach far beyond the individual taking his or her own life. If that person has family, friends, or other loved ones left behind in this world, there's a good chance that those persons will be scarred for life. The emotional toll of someone doing something this unnatural is extremely heavy and can last a lifetime. Just ask all those unnam...
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REVIEW: Despite Dealing With Cousin Marv, Eric Deeds, & Rocco the Pit Bull, Bartender Bob Handles The Drop For the Chechens

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, September 14, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Drop

Directed By: Michaël R. Roskam

Starring: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini, Matthias Schoenaerts, John Ortiz, Elizabeth Rodriguez, and Ann Dowd

We've lost a lot of cherished figures in the world of entertainment in the last couple of years. For those actors who were still in the game at the time of their passing, I'm always impressed by how many completed projects they have in the pipeline. Take Philip Seymour Hoffman for instance. We've already seen him in God's Pocket and ...
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REVIEW: From SXSW to Bluff City, Kansas, Frank & His Band SORONPRFBS Push Chinchilla Guy Jon to His Furthest Corners

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 23, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Frank

Directed By: Lenny Abrahamson

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy, and Michael Fassbender

This isn't the first time I've said this, but 2014 has been a tame year at the movies. It's not just the fact that we've had fewer high quality movies, but we just haven't had the same level of weird inventiveness. We don't have filmmakers this year going for it all regardless of how strangely their final product may appear to moviegoers. We haven't had the next Seven Psych...
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REVIEW: Using My Precise Language, Thank You to The Giver & Jonas The Receiver of Memories For Your Childhood & Lack of Sameness

Posted by James Brown on Wednesday, August 13, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Giver

Directed By: Phillip Noyce

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Brenton Thwaites, Alexander Skarsgård, Odeya Rush, Katie Holmes, Taylor Swift, Cameron Monaghan, Jordan Nicholas Smal, and Saige Fernandes

Though the Chief Elder is preparing to thank the members of the Community for their childhood when The Giver arrives in theaters later this week, I want to take a moment to thank a special someone for my childhood. I will forever remember that I was at a screening of The Giver when I...
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REVIEW: In Born Dead Biopic Get On Up, James Brown Does Right by Himself & Pays the Cost to Be the Boss

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 2, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Get On Up

Directed By: Tate Taylor

Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Dan Aykroyd, Viola Davis, Keith Robinson, Octavia Spencer, Brandon Mychal Smith, Jill Scott, Tika Sumpter, and Craig Robinson

As you all know, I share a name with the subject of the recently released musical biopic Get On Up. Having the name James Brown comes with a certain responsibility — to endure a lifetime of singing, shouting, and dancing at the most unexpected times in the most unexpected places. For instance...
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REVIEW: In I Origins, White Peacocks, Strawberry Mentos, & Blind Eisenia Fetida Worms Open the Doors to the Reincarnated Soul Behind the Iris

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, July 27, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

I Origins

Directed By: Mike Cahill

Starring: Michael Pitt, Brit Marling, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Steven Yeun, Archie Panjabi, William Mapother, and Cara Seymour

Faith seems to be on the minds of indie filmmakers this weekend. We've got two movies where the central characters find themselves questioning their beliefs, or a lack thereof. In Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight, Colin Firth's Wei Ling Soo finds himself questioning whether there's something more than just the physical human experie...
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REVIEW: In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Koba Lives by a Code Other Than Caesar's Ape Not Kill Ape — War

Posted by James Brown on Friday, July 11, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Directed By: Matt Reeves

Starring: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, Judy Greer, Kodi Smit-McPhee

"Ape not kill ape. Ape together strong."

This summer seems to have climaxed pretty early. I'd make the case that we peaked with Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past a couple of months ago. I know that there are a few mindless moviegoers who will stand by Michael Bay's recently released Transformers: Age of Extinction, but most h...
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REVIEW: How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Hiccup And Toothless Take On The Alpha In This Action-Packed Sequel

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Monday, June 16, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

How to Train Your Dragon 2

SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Dean DeBlois

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Djimon Hounsou, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig, and Jonah Hill

This past weekend was more than just Jonah Hill’s one-two punch in theaters with 22 Jump Street and How to Train Your Dragon 2. In a world flooded with computer animated films, it is rare to see something new and fresh. How to Train Your Dragon 2 not only exceeds the original film, but it stand...

REVIEW: Thanks to the Pee Farter, Pregnant Standup Comic & Obvious Child Donna Stern Has an Abortion on the Worst/Best Valentine's Day Ever

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 14, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Obvious Child

Directed By: Gillian Robespierre

Starring: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffman, David Cross, Polly Draper, and Richard Kind

In the midst of Obvious Child, Gaby Hoffman has a scene-stealing moment during which she takes it to the judicial branch of government for legislating from the bench, particularly as it relates to the matters of a woman's body and abortion. While I concur with Hoffman's character, there's a larger systemic issue at play here. Judicial activism is a product ...
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REVIEW: In the War of Words and Pictures, the Love Between Honors English Teacher Jack Marcus & Honors Art Instructor Dina Delsanto Wins

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 7, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Words and Pictures

Directed By: Fred Schepisi

Starring: Clive Owen, Juliette Binoche, Amy Brenneman, and Keegan Connor Tracy

Movie critics can be so snarky and judgmental. I know I'm saying this in the strangest of places — a movie review — but sometimes my fellow critics just hate a film to hate it. As I was wrapping up my review of this weekend's Words and Pictures, I took a look at Rotten Tomatoes and saw that a film that I actually quite enjoyed sits at a lowly 40%. I saw comments ess...
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REVIEW: In Edge of Tomorrow, Major William Cage & Angel of Verdun Rita Vrataski Lead UDF's Operation Downfall Against Omega & Its Mimics #LiveDieRepeat

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 7, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Edge of Tomorrow

Directed By: Doug Liman

Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, and Brendan Gleeson

"Battle’s the great redeemer. A fiery crucible in which the only true heroes are forged."
-Master Sergeant Farrell Bartolome (Bill Paxton)

The age of movie stardom may be long dead, but Tom Cruise's career on the big screen is quite far from it. After a career full of ups and downs in this risky business, the timeless actor still remains willing to take a gamble at the box office. Whil...
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REVIEW: When Operation Monarch Goes Awry in Janjira, Godzilla Takes On the 2 MUTOs & Restores Balance in Magnificent Fashion

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, May 17, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Godzilla

Directed By: Gareth Edwards

Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, and Bryan Cranston

"The arrogance of man is thinking nature is in our control... and not the other way around. Let them fight."
-Ichiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe)

It's sometimes amazing to watch how cinema has evolved with technology, and I'm not talking about elaborate, expensive special effects. What I'm talking about is how our technological prog...
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REVIEW: Evaluating the Racial & Gender Constructs of Colonial England, Belle Does Anything But Take a Diminished Position with the Mansfield Clan

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, May 10, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Belle

Directed By: Amma Asante

Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Sarah Gadon, and Tom Felton

2013 was a year full of movies about the plight of the black man. We saw Solomon Northrup endure hell until freedom was opportunity in 12 Years a Slave. We saw Cecil Gaines quietly smile as history marched onward for better or worse right in front of him at the White House in Lee Daniels' The Butler. We even saw Oscar Grant have...
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REVIEW: With Airbags, Robert De Niro Parties, & Assjuice, the Brothers of Fraternity Delta Psi Beta Make Some Damn Good Neighbors

Posted by James Brown on Friday, May 9, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Neighbors

Directed By: Nicholas Stoller

Starring: Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lisa Kudrow, and Craig Robinson

We haven't had a good raunchy mainstream comedy in quite some time. The Frat Pack is aging, and films like Anchorman 2 aren't exactly laugh factories anymore. Stuck on party films like Project X and 21 & Over, my generation isn't exactly stepping up to the plate either on a consistent basis. Sure, we can point to films like 21 Jump Street ...
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REVIEW: Given the Contaminated O Negative Zombie Blood in Detroit & Tangier, Only Vampire Lovers Adam & Eve Are Left Alive

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 20, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Only Lovers Left Alive

Directed By: Jim Jarmusch

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, John Hurt, and Jeffrey Wright

When it comes to movies, I love to be proven wrong. I'm happy when a movie exceeds my expectations (provided that it's good). I'm happy when a movie is not what I envisioned and is something different (better) altogether. One thing I've noticed is that this happens far more often in independent cinema than mainstream. I guess that shouldn't be...
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REVIEW: Unlucky S.O.B. Dom Hemingway, a Man With No Options, Suddenly Has All the Options in the World When the Pendulum of Luck Swings His Way

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 13, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Dom Hemingway

Directed By: Richard Shepard

Starring: Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, Demián Bichir, Emilia Clarke, Kerry Condon, Jumayn Hunter, and Mãdãlina Diana Ghenea

"Oh. I'll tell you who I am. I'm the f*cker who'll tear your nose off with my teeth. I'm the f*cker who will gut you with a dull cheese knife and sing Gilbert and Sullivan while I do it. I'm the f*cker who'll dump your dead body in a freezing cold lake and watch you sink to the bottom like so much shit. I am that f*cker. Th...
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REVIEW: Despite Baseball Bats, Hammers, & Uco's Fiery Ambition, It's Rama's Time to Rage in The Raid 2: Berandal

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, April 5, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Raid: Berandal

Directed By: Gareth Evans

Starring: Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara, Tio Pakusadewo, Alex Abbad, Julie Estelle, Ryuhei Matsuda, Kenichi Endo, and Kazuki Kitamura

Applause is a memorable thing in a movie theater. In a place where silence is golden, it's the rarest of signs of utter amazement and respect for what an audience has just witnessed on the big screen. I reflect on films like The Dark Knight, The Avengers, and Moonrise Kingdom and remember the applause that came ...
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REVIEW: Despite the Wicked Tubul-cain, Noah & Fallen Angels Known as the Watchers Brace for Some Watery Climate Change from the Creator

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 29, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Noah

Directed By: Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, and Anthony Hopkins

In my reviews of Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac films, I wrote at length about how more socially conservative moviegoers bashed the film without having seen it. In the case of Darren Aronofsky's Noah, the studio enabled this portion of the moviegoing public to take some shots at the movie long before it arrived in theaters. Holding test scree...
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REVIEW: For the Painting Boy With Apple, Grand Budapest Hotel Concierge M. Gustave & Lobby Boy Zero Find Glimmers of Humanity at Checkpoint 19

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 15, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Directed By: Wes Anderson

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Léa Seydoux, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, and Tony Revolori

Wes Anderson is back! Indie film lovers everywhere will have some good laughs this weekend. In his follow-up to his mega hit Moonrise Kingdom, the acclaimed director has assembled o...
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REVIEW: With the Empty Lunchbox, the Wrong Train Gets Saajan & Ila to the Right Station — Bhutan

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 9, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Lunchbox (Dabba)

Directed By: Ritesh Batra

Starring: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui

"Sometimes the wrong train will get you to the right station."
-Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui)

2014 marks another year in which the Academy got it wrong, particularly for Best Foreign Language Film. Sure, The Great Beauty rightfully was nominated and won the award. The problem is that it didn't face off with the other great foreign language films of the year like The Past and Blue Is the Warm...
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REVIEW: With Fly Fishing, Ash Trees, Fibonacci Numbers, & Polyphony, Nymphomaniac: Volume 1 Makes Love the Metaphorical Cantus Firmus of Sex

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 9, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Nymphomaniac: Volume I

Directed By: Lars von Trier

Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Uma Thurman, and Connie Nielsen

"When the ash tree was created, it made all the other trees in the forest jealous. It was the most beautiful tree. You couldn't say anything bad about it. Then, in the winter, when the ash tree lost all of its leaves, all the trees noticed the black buds and started laughing. 'Oh look! The a...
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REVIEW: Everything Is Awesome in The Lego Movie When the Special Master Builder Emmet Finds the Piece of Resistance to Stop the Kragle Before Taco Tuesday

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 8, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Lego Movie

Directed By: Phil Lord and Chris Miller

Starring: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman

Wonder Woman has finally arrived on the big screen. No, Gal Gadot hasn't picked up her lasso and gotten an early start before Batman Vs. Superman arrives in 2016. No, there isn't some new animated Justice League film. Voiced by How I Met Your Mother's Cobie Smulders, the Amazonian warrior princess arr...
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REVIEW: The Hunt A.K.A. Jagten – A Modern Day Scarlet Letter

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, February 8, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Hunt
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg

Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Alexandra Rapaport, Annika Wedderkopp, and Lasse Fogelstrom

Within the last week, Hollywood has been rocked as the molestation allegations against Woody Allen resurfaced. Allen’s stepdaughter Dylan Farrow wrote an open letter chastising Hollywood for honoring the man who allegedly molested her as a child. Battles have been waged on daytime talk shows disputing the issue, and articles have be...

REVIEW: That Awkward Moment "The So" Is Exactly What These Boys Need to Fill Their Rosters, Plus Some Ice Cream & A 40 Oz. Malt Liquor

Posted by James Brown on Friday, January 24, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

That Awkward Moment

Directed By: Tom Gormican

Starring: Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Imogen Poots, Mackenzie Davis, and Jessica Lucas

Many, including myself, have said in recent years that the romantic comedy is dead. I have to retract my statement. I'm more likely today to argue that it's an endangered species. The sappy, formulaic rom com is indeed dead. However, fresh takes on the genre do pop into movie theaters every now and then. For 2013, that fresh take was Enough Sai...
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REVIEW: With a Blood-Stained Dress, Love Letter Emails & Suicide by Detergent, The Past Is Steeped in One Rich Mystery

Posted by James Brown on Monday, January 13, 2014, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Past (Le Passé)

Directed By: Asghar Farhadi

Starring: Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, and Ali Mosaffa

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has gotten it wrong on many, many occasions. With this year's Oscar nominations to be announced later this week, let's talk about a film the Academy won't even consider nominating. When the Academy announced its short list of foreign language film contenders — an all-inclusive list of potential nominees — several films were noticeably abse...
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REVIEW: From Prisoner to President, Mandela Wears Some Long Trousers on His Long Walk to Freedom

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, December 26, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Directed By: Justin Chadwick

Starring: Idris Elba and Naomie Harris

We lost a global icon this year. With the passing of Nelson Mandela several weeks ago, we should celebrate this legendary leader's accomplishments and honor his legacy. As it turns out, Hollywood is doing just that in their own way this awards season. Though not the means to combat poverty or eradicate social injustice, the biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is the means by which another genera...
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REVIEW: In Her, Operating System 1 Samantha Learns to Love Letter Writer Theodore Twombly

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, December 26, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Her

Directed By: Spike Jonze

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Scarlett Johannson, Chris Pratt, and Kristen Wiig

Man falls in love with his personal assistant. Stranger things have happened in human history. When that personal assistant is digital and can take no physical form whatsoever, things get a little more interesting. This is exactly the situation with which we're presented in Spike Jonze's Her. With the advent of Siri and other technologies in recent y...
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REVIEW: In the Rotten & Delicious American Hustle, Irving Rosenfeld Survives Ice Fishing in Atlantic City With the FBI Thanks to Sydney's London Banking Connections

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, December 12, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

American Hustle

Directed By: David O. Russell

Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., Michael Peña, and Robert De Niro

Director David O. Russell has a way of making authentically American films that's undeniable. Just look at his two most recent films, The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook. What could be more American than boxing or the Philadelphia Eagles? Russell's answer to that was apparently getting over on people. In his lat...
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REVIEW: Seeing The Great Beauty of Roma as a Vanishing Trick, Jep Gambardello, King of the High Life, Does Know Why He Never Wrote Another Novel

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, December 8, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza)

Directed By: Paolo Sorrentino

Starring: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, and Pamela Villoresi

It's been a week to remember. On Wednesday, President Obama gave a potent speech advocating for the poor that might just indicate the direction for the rest of his second term. On Thursday, we lost a giant of the twentieth century in former South African President Nelson Mandela, a fierce opponent of not just against apa...
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REVIEW: For a New Truck & Compressor, Woody Grant Endures the Circling Vultures in Hawthorne on His Way to Lincoln, Nebraska for His Million Dollars

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, December 1, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Nebraska

Directed By: Alexander Payne

Starring: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Stacy Keach, and Bob Odenkirk

Bruce Dern was not a lock for the role of Woody Grant in Nebraska. Director Alexander Payne sought out several other talents prior to casting Dern in the role. He reportedly went after his About Schmidt star Jack Nicholson. Rumor has it that the notoriously picky screen legend turned him down. Payne also sought out actor Gene Hackman. The retired star called it a wrap after Wel...
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REVIEW: In Philomena, the Evil Nuns at Roscrea Abbey Ease Martin Sixsmith's Choice Between Russian History & Human Interest Stories

Posted by James Brown on Wednesday, November 27, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Philomena

Directed By: Stephen Frears

Starring: Judi Dench and Steve Coogan

At the start of the Thanksgiving weekend, the last thing I thought I needed was a movie about some old lady trying to find her long-lost son. Even with Dame Judi Dench, Philomena sounded like a made-for-television movie you'd find on Lifetime or the Hallmark channel in the wee hours of the night. Nonetheless, I've now seen it, and I must admit that I was quite wrong. Stephen Frears's Philomena packs a surprising punch...
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REVIEW: In Great Expectations, the Spider and a Mysterious Benefactor Are at Play with Pip

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, November 10, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Great Expectations

Directed By: Mike Newell

Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Helena Bonham Carter, Holliday Grainger, Ralph Fiennes, and Robbie Coltrane

We all know there's been a growing trend in which movie stars are headlining cable TV shows. While it's been a great way for us to get a weekly dose of actors with immense talents, it's also been a way for lesser known talents to make a splash into the industry and gain recognition. For every Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) or Laura Linney (The Big C), t...
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REVIEW: Battling Against the FDA & AZT, AIDS-Stricken Bull Rider Ron Woodroof Launches the Dallas Buyers Club

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 9, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Dallas Buyers Club

Directed By: Jean-Marc Vailée

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, and Jared Leto

I recently discovered Breaking Bad. For the last three weeks, I've been inhaling the saga of Walter White day and night. I've been so addicted to the series that I actually completed it in its entirety as of two nights ago. The circumstances under which this high school chemistry teacher stricken with lung cancer becomes a drug kingpin are unbelievable. Walter "Heisenberg" White d...
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REVIEW: For Adèle, Emma's Blue is the Warmest, Sexiest Color

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, November 3, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Blue is the Warmest Color

Directed By: Abdellatif Kechiche

Starring: Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux

Since founding STMR, I've been to more movies than I care to count. Because of this, I've seen and interacted with all kinds of audiences. Until last night, I thought I had seen it all. When I attended a screening of Blue is the Warmest Color, however, I checked off one more thing I never could have anticipated, especially at an independent theater. As you may know, Palme d'Or winner Bl...
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REVIEW: Yankee Irish Captain Phillips Grabs Seat 15 for Dear Life When Somali Pirates Board the Cargo Ship the Maersk Alabama as Fishermen

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, October 6, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Captain Phillips

Directed By: Paul Greengrass

Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Keener, and Barkhad Abdi

The fall movie season undoubtedly had a rocky start. We had a rough first few weeks with duds like Getaway, Riddick, and The Family. With movies like these, I was beginning to get a little disillusioned with Hollywood. Once the awards contenders began landing at the box office in rapid succession, however, things kicked into gear. Over the last several weeks, we've had great films like Priso...
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REVIEW: For Spunky Little Girl Wadjda, Memorizing and Reciting the Koran is the Key to Riding Her Own Bike

Posted by James Brown on Monday, September 30, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Wadjda

Directed By: Haifaa al-Monsour

Starring: Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah, and Abdullrahman Al Gohani

Cinema is at its absolute best when it exposes us to different ways of thinking, different belief systems, and different ways of life. A movie is a way of transporting one's culture all across the globe to viewers of all backgrounds. With the homogeneity of blockbuster filmmaking in Hollywood, you're often not going to find this in mainstream cinema. You have to set your sights on independ...
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REVIEW: Don Jon Loses Himself in the Hilarious Moment When Deciding Between One-Sided Internet Porn & Real Sex with Barbara Sugarman

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 28, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Don Jon

Directed By: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Rob Brown, Glenn Headly, and Brie Larson

Over the last couple of decades, the Internet has revolutionized the way we do things. It's changed the way we communicate, the way we shop, and even the way that some of us satisfy ourselves. Yes, the Internet has made porn more widely available and has helped meet many men's needs when the women in their lives apparently aren't doi...
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REVIEW: In Formula One Racing Movie Rush, the Intense Rivalry Between Superstar James Hunt & Asshole Niki Lauda Blazes Like No Other

Posted by James Brown on Friday, September 27, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Rush

Directed By: Ron Howard

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara, Pierfrancesco Favino, David Calder, and Natalie Dormer

It would be an understatement to say that I had low expectations for Rush. Let's be real. Did anyone really expect a serious awards contender out of a racing movie led by Thor? I sure as hell did not. I knew the film had Ron Howard in the director's chair. I knew that there was a rich, intriguing story for Howard to tell based on t...
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REVIEW: Given Her Unwanted Pregnancy, Her Abusive Dad's Parole, and Her New Mini-Me Jayden at Short Term 12, Grace May Just Be Going Crazy

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, September 1, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Short Term 12

Directed By: Destin Daniel Cretton

Starring: Brie Larson, John Gallagher, Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek, and Keith Stanfield

There aren't that many films that tackle the issues of troubled youths, so I must always commend those filmmakers who opt to address these often unaddressed issues on the big screen. The latest film to do so is Destin Daniel Cretton's Short Term 12. It's a potent little indie centered by the talented young actress Brie Larson, who you may have just seen se...
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REVIEW: When Ip Man's Wing Chun Meets Gong Er's 64 Hands in The Grandmaster, Everybody Wins the Chess Match

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, September 1, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Grandmaster

Directed By: Wong Kar-wai

Starring: Tony Leung, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Zhao Benshan, Song Hye-kyo, and Wang Qingxiang

I've been in need of a good martial arts flick for some time now. 2012 gave us such good films as The Raid: Redemption and The Man With the Iron Fists. So far in 2013, we've had nothing to match these movies. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's taken notice of this void throughout the year. Well, things are finally looking up for those moviegoers who love the...
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REVIEW: The World’s End – The King And His Pals Tackle The Glorious Golden Mile Pub Crawl In This Ridiculously Fun Sci-Fi Comedy

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, August 25, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The World's End
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Edgar Wright

Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, Paddy Considine, Rosamund Pike, and Pierce Brosnan

The World’s End is upon us, and I could not be more delighted. As a huge fan of 2004’s Shaun of the Dead and 2007’s Hot Fuzz, I was incredibly excited when I discovered that Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright had teamed together once again for a final film in their Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. The films are not connected...
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REVIEW: With Machetes, Axes & Crossbows, the Lamb, Fox & Tiger Unleash Hell in You're Next

Posted by James Brown on Friday, August 23, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

You're Next

Directed By: Adam Wingard

Starring: Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Barbara Crampton, and Rob Moran

Hollywood has been on a mission to reinvigorate the horror genre this year. With movies like The Purge and The Conjuring serving up plenty of original terror, studios have given me some semblance of hope that future films will do just the same, if not more. Given that I had lost all hope in the genre for the better part of a decade, this is quite n...
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REVIEW: In a World Without the Legendary Don LaFontaine...Let the Amazon Games Begin Because a Voice is a Choice

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, August 18, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

In a World...

Directed By: Lake Bell

Starring: Lake Bell, Fred Melamed, Demetri Martin, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, Rob Corddry, Nick Offerman, and Tig Notaro

As one who frequents the movies on a regular basis, I'm one who's seen one too many trailers. For each movie I go see, there are fifteen to twenty minutes worth of leading advertisements for other films. If they're good trailers, I'm typically fine. If they're bad, however, they're just an annoying pit stop on the way to my movie. As...
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REVIEW: Jobs – Steve Jobs As An Innovative Jerk

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, August 18, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Jobs
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Joshua Michael Stern

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, J.K. Simmons, Lesley Ann Warren, Ron Eldard, Ahna O’Reilly, John Getz, James Woods, and Matthew Modine

Believe it or not, I did not have any interest in seeing a film about Steve Jobs. While I respect his legacy and the impact he has had on my life, I was not exactly doing cartwheels when I was tasked with reviewing the film. Sure, I have seen Toy Story, used an iPod, an iPad...
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REVIEW: The Butler Is the Tale of Two Faces Needed to Survive — the Subversive Black Domestic Cecil Gaines and Freedom Rider Louis Gaines

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 17, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Lee Daniels' The Butler

Directed By: Lee Daniels

Starring: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard, David Oyelowo, Vanessa Redgrave, Mariah Carey, Robin Williams, Melissa Leo, James Marsden, Minka Kelly, Liev Schreiber, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda, Alex Pettyfer, Yaya DaCosta, Colman Domingo, Aml Ameen, Orlando Eric Street, Nelsan Ellis, Alex Manette, Lenny Kravitz, and Jesse Williams

Filmmakers are taking us to school, and black history is front and center t...
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REVIEW: Meerkat Frey Forever Grabs All the Fruit She Can From Elysium While Standing on Hippo Max

Posted by James Brown on Friday, August 9, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Elysium

Directed By: Neill Blomkamp

Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, and William Fichtner

2013 has been a pretty good year for sci-fi lovers. We've had plenty of fun with movies like Oblivion, Star Trek Into Darkness, and even Pacific Rim. If District 9 director Neil Blomkamp has anything to say about it, we're not done quite yet. Hitting theaters this weekend, his latest film Elysium is the last big science fiction film until the like...
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REVIEW: Popping Xanax Pills and Talking to Herself, Blue Jasmine Can't Get Past Her Past With Hal and That Fateful Song Blue Moon

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 3, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Blue Jasmine

Directed By: Woody Allen

Starring: Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Sally Hawkins, Peter Sarsgaard, and Michael Stuhlbarg

"Anxiety, nightmares, and a nervous breakdown. There's only so many traumas a person can take ‘til they take to the streets and start screaming."
-Jasmine (Cate Blanchett)

It's that time of the year again. Woody Allen has another film out. However, that shouldn't come as a shock since the beloved director has been pu...
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REVIEW: In The To Do List, Newbie Brandy Clark Does the Back Door But Not for Lifeguard Rusty Waters

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, July 27, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The To Do List

Directed By: Maggie Carey

Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Bill Hader, Scott Porter, Alia Shawkat, Rachel Bilson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Andy Samberg, Connie Britton, and Clark Gregg

When I first heard of The To Do List, I was pretty skeptical. After all, the 29 year-old Aubrey Plaza isn't the youngest actress in the world, and her time to portray 17 year-old teenage girls has mostly passed. Before you shoot the messenger for daring to talk about a woman's age, I'm not...
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REVIEW: With a Wikileaks Cable on Project Nightshade & Bailey's Red Mercury, Frank, Marvin, and Sarah Hit Paris, Moscow, & London in Red 2

Posted by James Brown on Friday, July 19, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Red 2

Directed By: Dean Parisot

Starring: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lee Byung-hun, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, David Thewlis, and Neal McDonough

Thursday July 18th marked some interesting anniversaries in movie history earlier this week. It marked the 25th anniversary of John McTiernan's Die Hard, a movie that redefined the action genre and put Bruce Willis on the map in Hollywood. It also marked the 5th anniversary of Christopher Nol...
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REVIEW: Female Suicide Bomber Siham Leaves a Big Mess for Her Doctor Husband Amin in The Attack

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, June 23, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Attack

Directed By: Ziad Doueiri

Starring: Ali Suliman, Evgenia Dodena, Reymond Amsalem, Dvir Benedek, Uri Gavriel, Ruba Salameh, Karim Saleh, and Ramzi Makdessi

Because it's the summer season, we haven't been reviewing too many serious films, and I wouldn't have it any other way at this time of year. That being said, I do recognize that some moviegoers would prefer some more serious material at the box office. Well, those moviegoers are getting exactly what they've been craving this weeke...
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REVIEW: In World War Z, the Number 12 Train Helps the World's Best Serial Killer Mother Nature Infect Everyone Except the 10th Man

Posted by James Brown on Friday, June 21, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

World War Z

Directed By: Marc Forster

Starring: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox, and David Morse

I've rarely seen a film more plagued with production issues than World War Z. There have been twenty million rewrites to the screenplay, an adaptation of the 2006 novel by Max Brooks. The movie, which has been in the works for six years, had a really hard time getting financing. To cap off this movie's woes, casting changes took place throughout filming. With all of this, ...
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REVIEW: The Kings Of Summer – Joe, Patrick And Biaggio Brave The Forest And Boston Market In This Endearing Coming Of Age Story

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, June 8, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Kings Of Summer
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Starring: Nick Offerman, Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Megan Mullally, and Alison Brie

When I saw the trailer for The Kings of Summer, I was sold. Not because I was excited about another suburban coming of age story, but because Nick Offerman is in the film. I love Offerman as Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation and I even enjoy when he reads tweets from young female celebrities on Conan. With his dry delive...

REVIEW: Before Midnight, Take a Time Machine Back to Six Lovely Weeks in the Peloponnesian Islands

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, June 2, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Before Midnight

Directed By: Richard Linklater

Starring: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

Unlike Hollywood movies, it's very rare that an indie film gets a sequel. With the exception of some sick horror films, this just doesn't happen too often. You won't see Midnight in Paris Deux, 1000 Days of Summer, or Moonrise Kingdom 2. Even when they generate big profits, they're not coming back to theaters again. The exception to this rule is the Before series from Richard Linklater. First, there was Bef...
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REVIEW: Stuck in a Blender But Now Saving Lives, Billy and Nick Get Us Psyched for One Hilarious Google Internship and a Vicious Quidditch Match

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, June 2, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Internship

Directed By: Shawn Levy

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne, Max Minghella, JoAnna Garcia, John Goodman, Josh Brener, Tobit Raphael, Dylan O'Brien, Tiya Sircar, Aasif Mandvi, and Will Ferrell

If The Hangover Part III proved anything, it proved that it's time for the Wolfpack to step aside. With this in mind, I have some good news. The Frat Pack is back! Later this year, Vince Vaughn will be starring in The Delivery Man, an English language remake of the Canadian com...
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REVIEW: Ahoy Sexy! Frances Ha is Definitely Undateable With All Her Wild Antics That Aren't Really Antics

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, May 25, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Frances Ha

Directed By: Noah Baumbach

Starring: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver, and Grace Gummer

Greta Gerwig has had a long, hard road to success on the big screen. Frances Ha doesn't mark her first leading role. We've seen her lead the pack for somewhat underwhelming films like Damsels in Distress and Lola Versus. She hasn't had that breakout role yet, that performance that leaves an indelible mark on movie-goers. Frances Ha might just be that role. We'll just have to wait and s...
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REVIEW: From a Porn Lab to the Mob, The Iceman is One Cold-Blooded Contract Killer

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, May 19, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Iceman

Directed By: Ariel Vromen

Starring: Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder, Chris Evans, Ray Liotta, James Franco, David Schwimmer, Stephen Dorff, and Erin Cummings

Michael Shannon might just be the most underrated actor of his generation. Despite a very impressive filmography and a long list of memorable characters on screen, Shannon has never attained mainstream popularity and is still relatively unknown to the movie-going public at large. It's unfortunate because he's a really prolific ac...
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REVIEW: In the House Is All About Math Tutor Claude Peeping Through the Keyhole at Middle Class Woman Esther and Her Watercolors

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, May 12, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

In the House

Directed By: François Ozon

Starring: Fabrice Luchini, Ernst Umhauer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Yolande Moreau, and Denis Ménochet

I write so many reviews that I find myself struggling sometimes to get a review started. Writing my fifth review this weekend, I've once again found myself in this very familiar place, stuck on the introduction. I don't have a damn clue what to write to get this review on In the House going. Fittingly, this indie is a film that's all ...
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REVIEW: Blue Da Ba Dee Da Ba Die...Mechanic Tony Stark's Avengers Demons & Aldrich Killian's Extremis Are Giving Him Anxiety Attacks in Iron Man 3

Posted by James Brown on Friday, May 3, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Iron Man 3

Directed By: Shane Black

Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley, and William Sadler

The summer movie season is upon us! As usual, superhero flicks will dominate this summer’s blockbusters. Interestingly enough, we're seeing a changing of the guard this year. With the end of Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy, the Man of Steel will be substituting for the Dark Knight. For...
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REVIEW: Blancanieves - A Silent Film Turns Snow White Into A Bullfighter And Brings New Tragedy To The Fairytale

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, April 28, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Blancanieves
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Pablo Berger

Starring: Maribel Verdú, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Ángela Molina, Pere Ponce, Macarena García, and Sofía Oria

As of late we have been inundated with reinvented fairytales. Snow White’s story has been of particular interest to filmmakers, and two movies tackled the legendary tale last year: Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman. Mirror Mirror was colorful, but ultimately unimaginative and a little too sweet. The Huntsman was ...

REVIEW: In Oblivion, Jack Harper and Julia Make Quite an Effective Team Despite Scavengers, Drones, and Even Victoria

Posted by James Brown on Friday, April 19, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Oblivion

Directed By: Joseph Kosinski

Starring: Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

"And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods."
-Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Horatius", Lays of Ancient Rome

The summer movie season is almost upon us! In a couple of weeks, Iron Man 3 will roll into theaters, and we'll be getting down to some real business. Until then, we have a littl...
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REVIEW: In the Bloody Hypnosis Thriller Trance, Strawberry is the Word You Can't Forget

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, April 13, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Trance

Directed By: Danny Boyle

Starring: James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, and Vincent Cassel

I rarely find myself in a guessing game while at the movies. You've got to be a really great director to keep me on my toes wondering what's real and who's got what agenda. There's no film in recent cinema history that does this better than Inception, but this doesn't mean that I shouldn't welcome worthy imitators. Once again, I find myself in a guessing game of sorts while watching Danny Boyle's latest...
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REVIEW: In The Sapphires, Bridesmaids' Chris O'Dowd and the Songbirds Take Some Aboriginal Soul on the Road to Vietnam

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 30, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Sapphires

Directed By: Wayne Blair

Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens, and Miranda Tapsell

The music of today is some real crap. We all know it. We all hear it. Some of us even do something about it. Personally, I've found that I spend very little time listening to Top 40 radio anymore. It genuinely sucks. What passes for music today is truly a sin and a shame. Consequently, I stay in the past and tend to go for the oldies. I listen to the likes of...
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REVIEW: In Like Someone in Love, Millipedes Akiko and Noriaki Quarrel All the Time

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 24, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Like Someone in Love

Directed By: Abbas Kiarostami

Starring: Rin Takanashi, Tadashi Okuno, and Ryo Kase

Love might just be the most dangerous force on Earth. Some people really can't handle it when they're rejected by the one they love. It devastates them to the point that they just snap. They become a danger to any and every person around them. That being said, this is something we've seen depicted on the big screen many times before with countless angry husbands, wives, boyfriends, and gir...
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REVIEW: Spring Break Forever Bitches! These Four Little Chickies' Trip to Florida Seems Like a Dream

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 23, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Spring Breakers

Directed By: Harmony Korine

Starring: James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, and Gucci Mane

I came into Spring Breakers with some pretty low expectations. The trailer simply didn't make the sale for me. A gangster party movie with some all grown up, scantily clad teen princesses and a thugged up James Franco didn't leave me expecting much. There are so many ways that a movie like this could go wrong. In my mind, there was no way this thing ...
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REVIEW: With the Help of China Girl, the Sour Puss Nook, and One Funny Flying Monkey Named Finley, the Con Man Oz is Indeed Great and Powerful

Posted by James Brown on Friday, March 8, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Oz: The Great and Powerful

Directed By: Sam Raimi

Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Bill Cobbs, and Joey King

Anything is possible. If you had asked me a few years ago whether we'd ever go back to Oz on the big screen, I would have laughed in your face. I would have thought that no filmmaker would have the guts to deal with their work being forever in the shadow of Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz, an untouchable classic. As this weekend demonst...
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REVIEW: Voting NO Against Pinochet Means Happiness is Coming for Our Comrades in Chile; YES Means a Better Sex Life With the Same Old Dictator

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 3, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

NO

Directed By: Pablo Larrain

Starring: Gael García Bernal, Néstor Cantillana, Amparo Noguera, Antonia Zegers, Marcial Tagle, and Luis Gnecco

"No me gusta, no. No lo quiero, no... (I don't like him, no. I don't want him, no...)"
-Chilean Singers

The Academy Awards have come and gone. That means that the awards season is finally done. The golden statuettes handed out this year are now collecting dust on the trophy-laden shelves of the winners. Slowly but surely, films like Amour, Beasts of t...
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REVIEW: With Murder, Insider Trading, & Conspiracy, Sleepwalking is One of the Milder Side Effects of Depression Drug Ablixa

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 9, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Side Effects

Directed By: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum, Ann Dowd, Vinessa Shaw, Polly Draper, and David Costabile

In this first full week of February, I'm going to go ahead and declare it. Our January slump is over! We've been plagued with junk movies for weeks now, but that rough patch has finally come to an end. Some good movies are hitting theaters once again. The director up at bat this weekend is Steven Soderbergh, and he kn...

REVIEW: Django Unchained – A Western, Slavery-Themed Revenge Flick

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Wednesday, December 26, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Django Unchained
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson

I started off this morning playing Santa Claus for my three year old daughter. Suffice it to say that watching a western set during slavery with a significant body count was not exactly how I thought my Christmas night would end. However, Quentin Tarantino films are always worth the effort.

Django Unchained is set in 1858, shortly ...

REVIEW: Rust and Bone is OPé (Operational)

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, December 22, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Rust and Bone (De rouille et d'os)

Directed By: Jacques Audiard

Starring: Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts

At the indie box office, it seems to be the weekend for depressing movies. After revisiting one of the worst natural disasters in human history, I now get the distinct pleasure of watching Rust and Bone, a movie about a killer whale trainer who loses her legs in a tragic accident with the very orcas she trained. What happened to putting out happy movies around the holiday sea...

REVIEW: This Is 40 – Sex, Weed, Kids and Lost

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, December 22, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

This Is 40
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Judd Apatow

Starring: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, John Lithgow, Megan Fox, Albert Brooks, and Melissa McCarthy

“F*ck 40. 40 can suck a d*ck.”
– Debbie (Leslie Mann)

I hear you sister! After I saw the trailer for This is 40, I begged the SoberFilmCritic to let me review the film. It includes some of my favorite comedic actors and was written by Judd Apatow who brought us gems like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Bridesmaids, Stepbrothers, and Anchorman: The ...

REVIEW: Like James Barr's Crime Scene, Jack Reacher is Too Good to Be True

Posted by James Brown on Friday, December 21, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Jack Reacher

Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Robert Duvall, Werner Herzog, and Richard Jenkins

"There's this guy. He's a kind of cop, at least he used to be. He doesn't care about proof, he doesn't care about the law, he only cares about what's right. He knows what I did. You can't protect me. No one can."
-James Barr (Joseph Sikora)

Last year around this time, I was raving about Tom Cruise in his fourth outing as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible...

REVIEW: Though Not a Burglar, Hobbit Bilbo Baggins Goes on an Unexpectedly Funny Adventure Through the Misty Mountains

Posted by James Brown on Friday, December 14, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Directed By: Peter Jackson

Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, and Andy Serkis

There's something that's so right about visiting Middle Earth in December. Since The Lord of the Rings trilogy came out a decade ago, I have made it an annual ritual to revisit director Peter Jackson's adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy literature dur...

REVIEW: Like America, Killing Them Softly is All About the Almighty Dollar

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, December 1, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Killing Them Softly

Directed By: Andrew Dominik

Starring: Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, and Sam Shepard

In recent years, a lot of people have begun to think that America has lost its way, that we're on a downward trajectory as a people, and that the highest offices in government go to the highest bidders. While we can certainly debate the first two points, there's no debating the final one. After all, we live in an America where th...

REVIEW: Hitchcock is a Fiendishly Entertaining Look at the Man Hiding in the Corner with a Camera Watching

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 24, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Hitchcock

Directed By: Sacha Gervasi

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Toni Collette, Danny Huston, Jessica Biel, and James D'Arcy

Last year, the awards season was dominated by movies about making movies. All the buzz was about films like The Artist, Hugo, and My Week with Marilyn. Hollywood apparently missed one because they've decided to do a biopic on the legendary Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock and the making of Psycho, one of the defining films of his ca...

REVIEW: Life of Pi – Ang Lee Brings Yann Martel’s Novel, And One Amazing Tiger, To Life

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Thursday, November 22, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Life of Pi
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Ang Lee

Starring: Suraj Sharma, Tabu, Adil Hussain, Irrfan Khan, Gerard Depardieu

Many years ago, I read Yann Martel’s coming of age tale Life of Pi. When I first learned that the novel was being turned into a film, I was a little skeptical. I found it difficult to believe that the true emotional weight of the tale could be translated to film. However, when I discovered that Ang Lee was at the helm, I actually began to get excited about the adaptation. ...
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REVIEW: With Steven Spielberg's Compass, Lincoln Finds Its True North

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 10, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Lincoln

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones, Jackie Earle Haley, Jared Harris, John Hawkes, and David Oyelowo

"We must cure ourselves of slavery. This amendment is that cure. We’re stepped out upon the world stage now with the fate of human dignity in our hands. Blood's been spilled to afford us this moment. Now! Now! Now!"
-President Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis)

REVIEW: The Fugue Unleashes Their Passion in A Late Quartet

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, November 4, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

A Late Quartet

Directed By: Yaron Zilberman

Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener, Mark Ivanir, Imogen Poots, and Wallace Shawn

Harmony is a difficult thing to achieve. In musical groups, it's all about having one's instrument in tune and being in sync with other group members. In life, it's about navigating multiple views, competing agendas, and human imperfection. In Yaron Zilberman's A Late Quartet, harmony is even harder to achieve amongst the musician...

REVIEW: With Bottles, Cans, & Even Minis, Whip Keeps the Drinks Flowing in Flight

Posted by James Brown on Friday, November 2, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Flight

Directed By: Robert Zemeckis

Starring: Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, and Melissa Leo

The age of movie stars is over. Can you think of larger-than-life actors or actresses in their 20s and 30s? I certainly can't. There's nobody with that X factor. The glory days of mega stars like Will Smith, Tom Cruise, and Brad Pitt are in the rear view mirror. While they're all still active and making good movies, the next generation has not steppe...

REVIEW: Abraham's Sons Isaac & Ishmael Find a Common Bond in The Other Son

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, October 30, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Other Son

Directed By: Lorraine Lévy

Starring: Emmanuelle Devos, Pascal Elbé, Jules Sitruk, Mehdi Dehbi, Areen Omari, Khalifa Natour, and Mahmud Shalaby

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a touchy subject to say the least, and there have probably been a thousand movies bringing this controversial subject to light. Most probably think of Steven Spielberg's Munich as the most prominent film on the topic. Others probably think of the documentary Waltz With Bashir. None are more creati...

REVIEW: Kate May Have a Boring New Life in Smashed, But There's Always Some Moist Cake Around

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, October 20, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Smashed

Directed By: James Ponsoldt

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman, and Megan Mullally

Each and every member of the STMR team can hold his or her liquor, so we have no problem whatsoever knocking back some drinks when a film calls for it. Alcohol can help overcome any bad movie. However, I do realize that everyone who frequents the site may not be so responsible in their drinking, and I've discovered just the right flick for them. James Ponso...

REVIEW: A Sex Surrogate. A Wild Priest. An Iron Lung. The Sessions Will Touch You with Its Kinky Words

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, October 18, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Sessions

Directed By: Ben Lewin

Starring: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, and William H. Macy

Sometimes, I wonder what makes a screenwriter tick. I wonder how they come up with some of the crazy stuff they put in screenplays. With all I've seen in recent months (e.g., For a Good Time, Call..., Cosmopolis, The Paperboy, etc.), I've really been pondering this lately. Every once in a while, it's sheer creativity. More often than not though, they simply got the idea from somebody else. In the ...

REVIEW: Seven Psychopaths-An Eye For An Eye Leaves The Whole World Blind, Except For The Last Guy Standing

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, October 13, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Seven Psychopaths
SoberFilmChick

Directed By: Martin McDonagh

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson

Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell and Woody Harrelson are in Seven Psychopaths. Frankly, that sentence alone should be enough to make you run, not walk to theaters to see the film. I personally could not wait to see some of my favorite character actors unleashed in a comedic, murderous romp. I must say, the film and most importantly, the actors,...
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REVIEW: Argo is No Longer a Fake Movie or a Fake Hit

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, October 13, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Argo

Directed By: Ben Affleck

Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman

Argo couldn't have come to theaters in a more timely fashion. Just several weeks after the attack in Benghazi that left the US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens to Libya and three other Americans dead, we revisit a similar situation, the Iran Hostage Crisis during which the lives of 52 embassy employees were put in grave danger for a total of 444 days. While the film was put into production lo...

REVIEW: Butter - Jennifer Garner Versus An African Iowan

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, September 30, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Butter
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Jim Field Smith

Starring: Jennifer Garner, Ty Burrell, Olivia Wilde, Yara Shahidi, Hugh Jackman, Alicia Silverstone

When I saw the trailer for Butter, I was incredibly excited. The premise looked interesting; and the cast boasted movie stars, as well as television actors from Modern Family, The Office and 30 Rock. Moreover, it is a Weinstein Company production. How could it go wrong? Having just viewed Butter, I must say that the film did not disappoint.

Butte...
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REVIEW: Dear Friend, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is Infinitely Entertaining

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 29, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Directed By: Stephen Chbosky

Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd, Kate Walsh, and Dylan McDermott

It's been a long time since we've had a good teen movie. These days, Hollywood spews crap at us like Prom and I Love You, Beth Cooper. It's rare that we actually get a worthwhile flick that deals with growing up, surviving high school, and finding the right group of friends. It's been a long time since the heyday of John Hughes when we w...

REVIEW: For the Love of Ludo, Little White Lies Reveals His Real Friends and the Weasels

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, September 16, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Little White Lies

Directed By: Guillaume Canet

Starring: François Cluzet, Marion Cotillard, Benoît Magimel, Gilles Lellouche, Jean Dujardin, Laurent Lafitte, Valérie Bonetton, and Pascale Arbillot

Lies almost always catch up with you, especially the small ones. The worst lies are those that you tell yourself. You can't evade the truth forever. Sometimes it just comes crashing down on you, and you're absolutely helpless when it does. This is definitely the case for a group of longtime friends ...
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REVIEW: With Fraud & Involuntary Manslaughter on His Résumé, Robert Miller Has No Problem Playing the Devilish Role of the Patriarch in Arbitrage

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 15, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Arbitrage

Directed By: Nicholas Jarecki

Starring: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Nate Parker, and Laetitia Casta

Well, I'm back. While I've been gallivanting around Spain and Portugal, I didn't miss much based on what I've been reading. The Words and The Cold Light of Day tanked from the start, and the box office suffered its worst weekend in nearly four years. It sounds like I picked the right time to go on vacation. Now that I'm back on the movie scene, the first ite...
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REVIEW: With Memory Problems, Gardening, and Theft, Robot & Frank Showcases How Old People are Sharper Than You Think

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 25, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Robot & Frank

Directed By: Jake Schreier

Starring: Frank Langella, Peter Sarsgaard, James Marsden, Liv Tyler, and Susan Sarandon

Indie cinema is all about the future this weekend. With David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis and Jake Schreier's Robot & Frank, we've got two different movies at the indie box office that look ahead to what’s next for mankind. While I'll talk about Cosmopolis later this weekend, I'd like to take a little time to talk about the futuristic comedy-drama Robot & Frank and how...
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REVIEW: Norman May Be a Freak, But ParaNorman Freakin' Rocks

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 18, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

ParaNorman

Directed By: Sam Fell and Chris Butler

Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, John Goodman, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Elaine Stritch

In recent years, animated films have been walking a fine line. They keep the kiddies entertained with the silly stuff, but they incorporate nuggets of humor for the adults that should fly right over the kids' heads. If mom and dad are forced to go see a cartoon about an ogre in a world o...
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REVIEW: Celeste and Jesse Keep Fighting for Love Forever, But It Becomes More About Being Right Than Happy

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 11, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Celeste and Jesse Forever

Directed By: Lee Toland Krieger

Starring: Andy Samberg, Rashida Jones, Elijah Wood, Emma Roberts, Eric Christian Olsen, Ari Graynor, and Chris Messina

Romantic comedies typically have this nice smooth formula that generally leads to a happy ending. It's rare that we get a break-up movie hitting theaters. It goes against everything rom coms are about. It's even rarer that we get a divorce movie. Celeste and Jesse Forever is just that though. It's refreshing to get s...
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REVIEW: Killer Joe Actually Made KFC Disgusting. No More Chicken for Me.

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, August 5, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Killer Joe

Directed By: William Friedkin

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Gina Gershon, and Thomas Haden Church

The feared NC-17 rating is a label few studios and filmmakers willingly embrace. These bold few often take sex and violence to new heights. They defy the MPAA and do what they need to do to get their message across in an artistic way. It's been nine months since an NC-17 film has graced even a handful of theaters around the country. While Steve McQueen's Sh...
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REVIEW: In Trishna, Freida Pinto Blossoms Like a Jasmine Flower & Then Shows Us the Sad Truth Love Has Taught Her

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, July 29, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Trishna

Directed By: Michael Winterbottom

Starring: Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed

I love movies about Indians. There's something special about getting exposure to Indian culture on the big screen—their music, their dance, their arts. These movies are often uniquely enjoyable experiences. To some extent, it's like traveling without actually going anywhere. With the British drama Trishna, we get just that, a healthy dose of Indian culture.

Jay (Riz Ahmed) and his friends are traveling in India. ...
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REVIEW: When Calvin Makes Ruby Sparks Real, She Becomes a Dream Come True for Moviegoers

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, July 26, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Ruby Sparks

Directed By: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Starring: Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Antonio Banderas, Annette Bening, Steve Coogan, Elliott Gould, and Chris Messina

With The Dark Knight Rises rocking the mainstream box office right now, I've been waiting to see what indie cinema would provide as counter-programming to the year's most anticipated summer blockbuster. It seems they've decided upon Ruby Sparks this week. As opposed to a dark superhero tale full of pain and struggles, we hav...
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REVIEW: Take This Waltz — Playful Flirtation, Lust, Marriage and The “A” Word

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, July 8, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Take This Waltz
SoberFilmChick

Directed By: Sarah Polley

Starring: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman, and Luke Kirby

It is incredibly difficult to tell an original story about love and marriage. Let’s face it, romance has been stirred, beaten and cooked to death by books, television and movies. But with Take This Waltz, Director Sarah Polley offers a fresh and real perspective on marriage and relationships between men and women.

Margot (Michelle Williams) is a young married writer...
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REVIEW: For the Love of Strong Weed, Savages Gets Down to Bloody Business

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, July 8, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Savages

Directed By: Oliver Stone

Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Blake Lively, Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro, Emile Hirsch, and John Travolta

We're at the peak of the summer movie season. There is something for everybody right now. We've got a lot in theaters, but we really hadn't had a movie that gets down and dirty in a bloody, brutal way until now. This weekend Oliver Stone comes to fill this void with his new movie Savages. With all the sex, drugs, and guns in this flick, you'll...
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REVIEW: As the Fabric of Her Universe Unravels, Hushpuppy Learns How to Survive in the Bathtub in Beasts of the Southern Wild

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, July 7, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Directed By: Benh Zeitlin

Starring: Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry

"The whole universe depends on everything fitting together just right. If one piece busts, even the smallest piece... the whole universe will get busted."
-Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis)

The SoberFilmCritic has the inside scoop for you today. I just checked out Beasts of the Southern Wild, an indie based on Lucy Alibar's play Juicy and Delicious. The moviegoers in my screening got a special treat....
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REVIEW: In a World Without Weakness, The Amazing Spider-Man Nearly Succeeds at Becoming Amazing

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, July 3, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Amazing Spider-Man

Directed By: Marc Webb

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Irrfan Khan, and Chris Zylka

Ten years ago, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man changed the landscape of comic book movies. The film is considered one of the greatest comic book flicks of all time. Fast forward five years, and you'll get the regrettable Spider-Man 3. The film tried to do too much. Now that another five years have passed, we've arrived at the inevitable reboot, perha...
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REVIEW: In People Like Us, Sam Leans Into It Despite the Fact That He Has a Certain Talent for Running Away From His Family's Drama

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 30, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

People Like Us

Directed By: Alex Kurtzman

Starring: Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Duplass, and Jon Favreau

You don't see too many mainstream family dramas coming out at this time of year. With films like Ted, Magic Mike, and The Amazing Spider-Man getting all the buzz, a good family drama is likely to be a flop at the box office. People Like Us is an interesting choice for release on 4th of July weekend. It's a great movie. Sadly, it's also a film that's ...
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REVIEW: In To Rome With Love, Woody Allen Gives Us Inexplicable Fame, Passionate Romance, and Impeccable Singing in the Shower

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 30, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

To Rome With Love

Directed By: Woody Allen

Starring: Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penélope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig, and Ellen Page

I need to get on Woody Allen's travel tip. This man is getting everywhere. I am so jealous. I look at his "work" locations and feel like a bum. I need to step my travel game up a few notches. This guy has taken us to the count city in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. He's taken us to the city of light in Midnight in Paris. Now,...
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REVIEW: God Bless America — A Vicious Indictment of American Culture

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Monday, June 25, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

God Bless America
SoberFilmChick

Directed By: Bobcat Goldthwait

Starring: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr, Mackenzie Brooke Smith, and Melinda Page Hamilton

In the opening scene of God Bless America, the antihero dreams of going next door and shooting his incredibly obnoxious neighbors. He shoots the father and then shoots the baby as blood splatters all over the mother. As a viewer, at that point, I had to decide whether to follow my instinct and recoil from the sight or momentarily suspend my ho...
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REVIEW: Getting Drunk, Going Down, & Getting Weird. Jack and Hannah Clearly Have a Good Time in Your Sister's Sister

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 16, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Your Sister's Sister

Directed By: Lynn Shelton

Starring: Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Mark Duplass

If a guy and a girl are best friends for a long period of time, chances are that they're going to fall in love some time down the road if they haven't done so already. It's been proven time and time again in life. It's even been proven on the big screen. From When Harry Met Sally... to Zack and Miri Make a Porno, there are tons of examples on film. The latest movie about best friends fall...
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REVIEW: Prometheus Has Some Big Questions For the Engineers & the Real Engineer Ridley Scott Gives Some Damn Good Answers

Posted by James Brown on Friday, June 8, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Prometheus

Directed By: Ridley Scott

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, and Charlize Theron

It's been 33 years since Ridley Scott took us to LV-426. After all this time, he's come back to the Alien universe to tell another epic sci-fi story. Now, he takes us to LV-223 in his latest film Prometheus. We've all seen the awesome marketing campaign for the film. We've all been waiting for it and wondering what he'll bring to the table this ti...
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REVIEW: Snow White and the Huntsman — Not Your Mother’s Fairytale

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, June 2, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Snow White and the Huntsman
SoberFilmChick

Directed By: Rupert Sanders

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, and Ian McShane

Finally! Something has come along to erase the memory of Julia Roberts’ lackluster Snow White tale Mirror, Mirror from earlier this year. If we had to ask the mirror on the wall which was the fairest film of all based on Snow White, The Huntsman would win by a landslide. With sweeping cinematography, interesting characters, and a heft...
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REVIEW: Men in Black 3 — Will Smith Is In The Building

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, May 26, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Men in Black 3
SoberFilmChick

Directed By: Barry Sonnenfeld

Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Emma Thompson

I have a confession to make: I love Will Smith. Whether I’m watching him on reruns of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, watching him play a down on his luck homeless man in The Pursuit of Happyness, or seeing him backhand a rude reporter attempting to kiss him, I’m a fan. Thus his hiatus for the last few years has been disappointing...
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REVIEW: Monsieur Lazhar is the King of the Hill with a Classroom Full of Trees and Chrysalises

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 29, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Monsieur Lazhar
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Directed By: Philippe Falardeau

Starring: Mohamed Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Émilien Néron, Danielle Proulx, Brigitte Poupart, and Jules Philip

A child's innocence is a one-time deal. Once it's gone, it's gone for good. That's why we as a society value it so much. When a child is robbed of this innocence, it's a true tragedy. That's why it's so incomprehensible that a suicidal teacher would hang herself in a classroom for all the school to see. That's the proble...
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REVIEW: Goon — Opens Up A Seriously Funny Can of Whoopass

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, April 28, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Goon
SoberFilmChick

Directed By: Michael Dowse

Starring: Seann William Scott, Liev Schreiber, and Jay Baruchel

“This is not f**king baseball.” This statement was hurled out by an angry coach in Goon, and truer words were never spoken. Goon tells the story of Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott), a bouncer at a local bar in Massachusetts. Doug has the honor of being the not so bright black sheep in a family of doctors. While his brother is a surgeon, Doug is skilled in fighting and “bouncing,...
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REVIEW: If the American Educational System is Dead, Detachment is the Eulogy

Posted by James Brown on Friday, April 6, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Detachment

Directed By: Tony Kaye

Starring: Adrien Brody, James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Lucy Liu, Marcia Gay Harden, Tim Blake Nelson, Bryan Cranston, Sami Gayle, and William Petersen

Teaching is a tough vocation, particularly in public schools. Aside from being underpaid and overstressed in a thankless job, teachers have to deal with the most dangerous force on Earth, ignorance. They have to deal with ignorant parents who don't equip their kids with the tools or the mindset to thrive in th...
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REVIEW: The Kid with a Bike Is a Scrappy Little Pitbull

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 1, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Kid with a Bike

Directed By: Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne

Starring: Cécile de France and Thomas Doret

If you recall from my review of Delicacy last week, I was hoping that the saccharine romantic comedy was a hidden gem among a slate of great films from or involving France. I was wrong then, and have some leftover Merlot to prove it. I'm happy to say that I've found a gem in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's French (and Belgian) film The Kid with a Bike.

Cyril (Thomas Doret) is a 12 ...
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REVIEW: The Deep Blue Sea Is Lethally Romantic

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 31, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Deep Blue Sea

Directed By: Terence Davies

Starring: Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston, and Simon Russell Beale

"Sometimes, it's tough to judge when you're caught between the devil and the deep blue sea."
-Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz)

Love is the most powerful force on Earth. It can be the best and worst part of life. It can give you a euphoria you've never known, or it can just as easily put you through a hell that clouds your judgment. This is the case for Hester Collyer when she tries to comm...
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REVIEW: The Raid: Redemption Is a Bloodbath That Just Fits

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 24, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Raid: Redemption

Directed By: Gareth Evans

Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Donny Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno, Tegar Setrya, and Ray Sahetapy

The world of movies has turned on its head this weekend. For once, the big blockbuster of the weekend is one for the ladies, while the indie is more so for the guys. As I mentioned in my review of The Hunger Games, the film is a rich story with limited action. Though it's a great movie, The Hunger Games has inherently more appeal to women. ...
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REVIEW: The Girl on Fire Has a Promising Start in The Hunger Games

Posted by James Brown on Friday, March 23, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Hunger Games

Directed By: Gary Ross

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland

There's been a lot of hype around The Hunger Games over the last couple of months. In no small way, that's due to some strong marketing. Lionsgate's tagline for the film is "The World Will Be Watching". That's big talk for the first installment in a series even if it's based on a bestselling book. It's been...
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REVIEW: 21 Jump Street Ain't What It Used To Be

Posted by James Brown on Friday, March 16, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

21 Jump Street

Directed By: Phil Lord and Chris Miller

Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Ellie Kemper, Rob Riggle, and Ice Cube

With the lack of creativity that's been raging in Hollywood in recent years, studios have been bringing many classic television shows to the big screen. Just look at films like Bewitched, Charlie's Angels, and Get Smart. All of these movies are attempts to replicate the magic of the past, and this rarely works. In actuality, the studios ...
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REVIEW: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Has a Little Bit of Something for Everyone

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 11, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Directed By: Lasse Holström

Starring: Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Amr Waked

Running a site like STMR means I have to go see movies that don't necessarily appeal to me. In the last few weeks alone, I've seen the crappy party movie Project X, the absolutely humorless film Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie, and the less than impactful romance The Vow. Now, I'm relegating myself to going to see movies about fishing with the British romantic...
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REVIEW: Friends with Kids- The Bridesmaids Cast Grows Up In This Sexy Rom Com

Posted by Mary Dieng on Sunday, March 11, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Friends with Kids
SoberFilmChick

Directed By: Jennifer Westfeldt

Starring: Adam Scott, Jennifer Westfeldt, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd, Megan Fox, and Edward Burns

I cannot write this review without a nod to Bridesmaids. After all, a good portion of the cast of Friends with Kids consists of Bridesmaids alumni: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Jon Hamm and Chris O’Dowd. But aside from the fact that both films are funny as hell, that is pretty much where the similarities end. ...
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REVIEW: Being Flynn Is All About Being Homeless on the Cold, Hard Streets

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 11, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Being Flynn

Directed By: Paul Weitz

Starring: Robert De Niro, Paul Dano, Olivia Thirlby, and Julianne Moore

Every single one of us has some homeless person we encounter on a regular basis. He may be that guy you see on the subway or bus on your way to school. He could be someone you regularly pass on the streets while walking to work. He could even be the guy you see in the mirror when you wake up in the morning. My point is that homelessness is an all too common phenomenon, and you never kn...
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REVIEW: John Carter of Mars, Welcome to the Big Screen. What Took You So Long?

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 10, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

John Carter

Directed By: Andrew Stanton

Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, and Willem Dafoe

John Carter is a movie that's destined to be a flop. With a hefty $250 million dollar production budget and a lot of negative pre-release buzz, Disney stands to lose some big bucks. With all this negative attention surrounding the movie, it should be hard to watch and critique John Carter objectively. I don't give a damn abou...
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REVIEW: The Forgiveness of Blood - The Kanun And Blood Feuds

Posted by Mary Dieng on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Forgiveness of Blood
Mary Dieng

Directed By: Joshua Marston

Starring: Tristan Halilaj, Sindi Lacej, Refet Abazi, and Ilire Vinca Celaj

There are some films that make you surf the Internet and do a little research upon viewing them. You feel compelled to find out whether the subject matter is real or whether the filmmakers were pulling your leg. Joshua Marston's The Forgiveness of Blood is that kind of film and I found myself googling Albania and the Kanun as soon as the credits started rol...
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REVIEW: I'm Not a Racist, But I Know Somebody Who Is — Dave Brown in Rampart

Posted by James Brown on Monday, February 20, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Rampart

Directed By: Oren Moverman

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Ned Beatty, Anne Heche, Steve Buscemi, and Sigourney Weaver

It's good to see a movie about a hardcore racist. Hollywood has been obsessed in recent years with sugary dramas about overcoming racial barriers. They show harmonious relationships where an upstanding white member of the community helps out some downtrodden, oppressed blacks. Just look at films like The Blind Side and The Help. They're movies that make you feel good abou...
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REVIEW: Chronicle Rocks!

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 4, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Chronicle

Directed By: Josh Trank

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Dane DeHaan, Michael Kelly, and Alex Russell

It's hard to go to the movies and find something fresh and new. Hollywood is not a place where there's a great deal of innovation anymore. There's still some hope though. Some filmmakers have dared to turn traditional filmmaking on its head by making mockumentaries. These documentary-like flicks are the next big thing in cinema. Just think about movies like Paranormal Activity and Dis...
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REVIEW: Angelina Jolie's In the Land of Blood and Honey Is Quite Savage But Very Rarely Sweet

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, January 15, 2012, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

In the Land of Blood and Honey

Directed By: Angelina Jolie

Starring: Goran Kostić, Zana Marjanović, and Rade Šerbedžija

I don't ever go into a war movie expecting to come out a happy camper. With a wartime romance though, I wasn't quite sure how I'd come out feeling. After seeing Angelina Jolie's directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey though, I can tell you that they're just as depressing. With all the rape, torture, and murder I've witnessed during this film, I need a drink wit...
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REVIEW: Steven Spielberg’s War Horse Is Gritty and Glorious

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, December 27, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

War Horse

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Hiddleston

When I first about Steven Spielberg's War Horse, I thought I was going to be in for a bunch of sentimental crap. Come on. It's a movie about a horse. When I heard the movie was two and a half hours, only one word came to mind — damn. I had to watch a movie about a horse for that long. When I finally saw War Horse, I was pleasantly surprised. ...
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REVIEW: With Silent Movie The Artist, Hazanavicius Makes A Loud Declaration of His Love For The Films of the Past

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, December 25, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Artist

Directed By: Michel Hazanavicius

Starring: Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo

Fall 2011 seems like the season for filmmakers to put out movies about making movies. First, we had Martin Scorsese's Hugo. Then, we had Simon Curtis' My Week with Marilyn. Now, we have French director Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist. With all these films, I'm now just waiting on some bold director to tackle the current period in movie history. I wonder how they're going to glorify the crap that studios ...
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REVIEW: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Is Scarred, Strong And Bloody Brilliant

Posted by Mary Dieng, Esq. on Wednesday, December 21, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Mary Dieng

Directed By: David Fincher

Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Yorick van Wageningen, and Joely Richardson

Hello movie lovers! Your regular sober critic is busy reviewing other films in this jam-packed Christmas movie season, and I am humbly filling in the shoes of the great one. Rest assured, to stay true to the site motto, I am writing this review while sipping a little Sangria. ...
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REVIEW: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a Good Old Fashioned Espionage Flick

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, December 18, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Directed By: Tomas Alfredson

Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Ciarán Hinds

The Cold War is the perfect backdrop for any spy thriller. There was so much palpable tension and corruption back then that it just makes things easy for filmmakers. The only problem is that these films are always about the feud between the United States and the Soviet Union. Other countries had interests in what ha...
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REVIEW: A Dangerous Method Is a Dangerously Long Conversation About The Importance of Sex

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, December 18, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

A Dangerous Method

Directed By: David Cronenberg

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, and Vincent Cassel

Michael Fassbender has a bit of a penchant for making movies about sex. This year alone he's made Shame and A Dangerous Method. While Shame portrays a sex addict at his worst, A Dangerous Method deals with sex in a more intellectual manner. David Cronenberg's latest film tackles the importance of sex with regard to psychology and whether it should have been the c...
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REVIEW: For Ethan Hunt, Mission: Impossible is a Hard Knock Life. For Us, It's One Great Ride.

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, December 17, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Directed By: Brad Bird

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, and Anil Kapoor

It's hard to believe that it's been five years since our last outing with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the Impossible Mission Force (IMF). Having seen the latest installment in this famed action series, I have only one thing to say. Tom Cruise has still got it!

Agent Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) break Agent Hunt (Cruise) out of priso...
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REVIEW: Michelle Williams Brings the Beloved Sex Symbol Marilyn Monroe Back To Life in My Week With Marilyn

Posted by James Brown on Friday, December 2, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

My Week With Marilyn

Directed By: Simon Curtis

Starring: Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne, Emma Watson, and Judi Dench

When I think of Marilyn Monroe, I think of an iconic actress of the twentieth century, an eternal sex symbol, and a perpetual pill popper. Monroe will forever be remembered as a star who was gone too soon, but people have forgotten that she was also a woman with immense influence. She was very powerful in the sense that she could get the attention of any man ...
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REVIEW: Melancholia Delves Into Depression in Grand Style

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 26, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Melancholia

Directed By: Lars von Trier

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgard, Cameron Spurr, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Jesper Christensen, Stellan Skarsgard, Brady Corbet, and Udo Kuer

A good title can go a long way in filmmaking. With an informative name, viewers know exactly what to expect and are ready to go when the theater goes dark and the movie begins. For example, Midnight in Paris tells you that there's something special taking pla...
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REVIEW: Hugo Is An Ode to the Movie Magic of Yesteryear

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, November 24, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Hugo

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Sir Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, and Jude Law

We don't often think of filmmakers as fans, but that's all they really are. They're the cinephiles who took the torch from a previous generation. Whether actor or director, cast or crew, all filmmakers started somewhere as movie aficionados. Even the great Martin Scorsese has a love of film that predates his career as a director. I...
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REVIEW: The Descendants Is One Big Beautiful, Somber Take on Hawaiian Life

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, November 20, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Descendants

Directed By: Alexander Payne

Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Judy Greer, and Beau Bridges

George Clooney has been a busy man this year. He's directed and starred in The Ides of March. Now he's starring in Alexander Payne's The Descendants. In both films, he's been at his absolute best. On the other hand, Alexander Payne, who's known for his films About Schmidt and Sideways, has been just the opposite. We haven't seen him behind the camera in seven years. In The D...
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REVIEW: Martha Marcy May Marlene Lives Up to Its Insane Title

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Directed By: Sean Durkin

Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, and Hugh Dancy

Martha Marcy May Marlene. That's definitely a tongue twister for a title. It's actually a pretty good name for a film. When I first heard it, I instantly thought I was in for a good psycho thriller, and I always enjoy watching films about crazy people. A peek inside the mind of a neurotic can never let you down on the big screen. Sean Durkin's first feature film in the dire...
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REVIEW: Puss Is a Player in Boots

Posted by James Brown on Friday, October 28, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Puss in Boots

Directed By: Chris Miller

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris, Zeus Mendoza, and Constance Marie

Animated films were made to make parents happy by making their kids happy and docile. A couple of hours of harmless, distracting entertainment helps mommy and daddy get a buzz without the headache of kids running around the house looking to get into something. Any decent animated film can do this flawlessly. A great animated fil...
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REVIEW: In The Ides of March, Clooney Shows How Politics Kills Souls

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, October 9, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

The Ides of March

Directed By: George Clooney

Starring: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, and Philip Seymour Hoffman

The Ides of March may have some really bad timing for its release. At a time when citizens are fed up with every aspect of the political system in America, the last thing we probably want to see is another thriller about political corruption. At the same time, one could argue that George Clooney's The Ides of March has some great timing...
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REVIEW: Real Steel is the Real Deal

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, October 9, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Real Steel

Directed By: Shawn Levy

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangelline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, and Kevin Durand

After four starring roles in X-Men films and a cameo in this year's X-Men: First Class, I was starting to get worried that Hugh Jackman would get pigeonholed into playing a metal-bearing mutant with anger management issues and amnesia. His latest outing in Shawn Levy's Real Steel gives me hope however. Though Jackman still portrays a dude with an attitude problem, his lov...
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REVIEW: 50/50 Beats the Odds and Strikes Cinematic Gold

Posted by James Brown on Monday, October 3, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

50/50

Directed By: Jonathan Levine

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Anjelica Huston

Generally, dealing with the subject of cancer is a touchy subject, even on the big screen. When the powers that be decided to tackle the life of screenwriter Will Reiser and the nearly insurmountable challenges posed by his cancer and the notion of dying young, they knew that they needed a few jokes to cut the tension of such depressing subjects. In the dramedy...
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REVIEW: Ryan Gosling Puts the Pedal to the Metal in Drive

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, September 18, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Drive

Directed By: Nicolas Winding Refn

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Albert Brooks, and Ron Perlman

Every once in a while, a movie comes along, and you don't quite know what to make of it. You know you enjoyed it, but you feel that something is missing that's keeping you from running to the mountaintops shouting how great the movie is. You wonder if it could have been just a little better. Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive is one of those films. Do...
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REVIEW: Germ Freaks, All Your Fears Come True in Contagion

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, September 11, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Contagion

Directed By: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Kate Winslet

Utter disgust and fear. They're those feelings you get when the guy next to you on a plane or train starts coughing uncontrollably and has the nerve to not cover his mouth. You're both outraged at him and concerned for your own well-being. You're focused on protecting yourself from a massive onslaught of germs. You don't want to be the one disgustin...
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REVIEW: Midnight in Paris is the Vacation You Never Want to End

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, August 23, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Midnight in Paris

Directed By: Woody Allen

Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, and Michael Sheen

Once in a while, a film comes along that makes you lose all sense of reality. You lose track of time and how long you've been in the theater. You forget what else is going on in your life. You become fully immersed in an engaging fictional tale that takes you to another world. That's the magic of a truly great film. Woody Allen's Midnig...
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REVIEW: The Chimps Rise to the Challenge in Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, August 9, 2011, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Directed By: Rupert Wyatt

Starring: James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, and Tom Felton

I can't lie. I never was a big fan of the Planet of the Apes series. We didn't have the technology to make it enjoyable in the past. The apes always looked fake, and I was pretty critical of that. Even in the 2001 flick Planet of the Apes, the monkeys were just humans in ape costumes. In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the reboot to the well-kno...
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