REVIEW: In Stoker, Both India and Charlie Put Dad's Belt to Bloody Good Use

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 17, 2013 In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Stoker





Directed By: Park Chan-wook

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman, Dermot Mulroney, Jacki Weaver, and Phyllis Somerville

"He used to say, sometimes you need to do something bad to stop you from doing something worse."
-India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska)

With the indie box office back in full swing post awards season, all I've heard about is Oldboy director Park Chan-wook's latest thriller Stoker.  With good will for Chan-wook and his strong cast, the film has had lots of buzz.  ...
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REVIEW: In Upside Down, Pink Bees and TransWorld's Inverse Matter Are the Cure to All Adam and Eden's Double Gravity Woes

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 17, 2013 In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Upside Down





Directed By: Juan Diego Solanas

Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kirsten Dunst, and Timothy Spall

Originality is something that's desperately missing from movies these days.  Everything is a sequel, a remake, an adaptation, or a true story.  This is a sad state of affairs for cinema today, but the blame cannot be totally hoisted upon the shoulders of studio execs in Hollywood.  We as moviegoers share a good chunk of that blame as well.  We buy into it.  Of the highest-grossing movies of 2012,...
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REVIEW: In Beyond the Hills, No Confession or Exorcism Can Cure Alina's Evil Spirit or the Movie

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 16, 2013 In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Beyond the Hills





Directed By: Cristian Mungiu

Starring: Cristina Flutur, Cosmina Stratan, Valeriu Andriutâ, Dana Tapalagâ, Catalina Harabagiu, Gina Tandura, Vica Agache, Nora Covali, Dionisie Vitcu, Ionut Ghinea, Liliana Mocanu, Doru Ana, and Costache Babii

Exorcism movies are frequent, but intelligent ones are a rare gem.  Like the horror genre as a whole, teen-oriented mindless exorcism movies are the norm.  We're plagued with films like The Devil Inside and The Last Exorcism Part II as oppo...
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REVIEW: The Brain Rapist, Rance Holloway, and the Astonishing Jane Can't Save the Magical Friendship of Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 16, 2013 In : 0.09% Cocktails 
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone





Directed By: Don Scardino

Starring: Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin, James Gandolfini, and Jim Carrey

American culture today is bereft of any real values or meaningful qualities.  Sadly, this is the product of my generation, the Millennials.  The plague of reality television and an ever-growing, ever-popular online library of senseless YouTube videos are symptomatic of these problems.  I'm not going to go on a full rant about everything that'...
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REVIEW: The Call Packs Plenty Of Suspense And Emotional Pull, But Veers Off Course When Berry Leaves The Hive

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, March 16, 2013 In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 

The Call
SoberFilmChick




Directed by: Brad Anderson

Starring:  Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, Michael Eklund, and David Otunga

Going in to see Halle Berry’s new suspense thriller, I had low expectations.  WWE films are not usually known for their high quality.  I assumed with David Otunga, WWE Wrestler and former contestant on I Love New York as part of the cast, The Call would be more mindless “entertainment.”  Given that the movie's trailer was incredibly revealing, I assum...


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REVIEW: Heaven or Hell, Lore Will Do What She Must to Get to Her Omi in Hamburg

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 10, 2013 In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Lore





Directed By: Cate Shortland

Starring: Saskia Rosendahl, Kai-Peter Malina, Nele Trebs, and Ursina Lardi

In my review of Emperor, I wrote that I was tired of movies about World War II. I said that filmmakers had covered every aspect of the second Great War and that there was nothing more that could be done.  Honestly, I'm going to have to retract the second part of that statement.  There was one thing I had never fathomed I would see in a World War II movie, but it's here with Australian war ...
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REVIEW: Emperor — The Fate of This Living God Is Not the Spark That Keeps This Movie Alive

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 9, 2013 In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Emperor





Directed By: Peter Webber

Starring: Matthew Fox, Tommy Lee Jones, Eriko Hatsune, Toshiyuki Nishida, Kaori Momoi, and Colin Moy

World War II has been done to death on the big screen.  If there's some aspect of WWII that's not been brought back to life on film, I would be genuinely stunned.  Over the last 20 years alone, we've had films like Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor, and many more.  That's why another WWII movie is the last thing we need right now, but that's exa...
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REVIEW: In Revenge Flick Dead Man Down, 719 Is All About Killing the Devil Slowly, Not When You Find Him

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, March 9, 2013 In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Dead Man Down





Directed By: Niels Arden Oplev

Starring: Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Terrence Howard, Dominic Cooper, Isabelle Huppert, and Wade Barrett

Noomi Rapace's career has been on the rise for quite some time now, and it's well-deserved given her raw acting talent.  In the last couple of years, the original girl with the dragon tattoo has gotten some major exposure on the big screen.  Rapace had a supporting role alongside Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shado...
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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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