If the films about casinos have taught us anything, it's that they and their surroundings provide a place where you can slip off to and get lost for a while, in whatever mischief, mayhem or simple fun-loving you fancy. No film better portrays this than 2009’s The Hangover, where a bunch of dudes descend for a stag-weekend on Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, prepared for one last big one before one of their group walks up the aisle. While in real life you might struggle, as they do in the fil... Continue reading...
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... Continue reading...
Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 4, 2012 In : 0.09% Cocktails
Total Recall
Directed By: Len Wiseman
Starring: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho, and Bill Nighy
Remakes are a dime a dozen in Hollywood. To an extent, it's understandable. After more than a century of making movies, there are only so many ways you can make a film with a happy ending. However, we should never stop trying to make fresh, innovative movies. Sadly, Hollywood has gone and done just the opposite. Studios aren't really creative anymore. They ... Continue reading...
Starring: Diane Kruger, Léa Seydoux, and Virginie Ledoyen
I can't lie. When I first heard of Farewell, My Queen, I thought it would be a rather steamy film that highlighted an alleged lesbian romance between Marie-Antoinette and the Duchess of Polignac with the French Revolution as the backdrop for the film. As it turns out, it's just the opposite. This lesbian romance is emphasized in the film but takes a backseat to the French Revolution and ... Continue reading...
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. ... Continue reading...
Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, July 29, 2012 In : 0.09% Cocktails
Step Up Revolution SoberFilmChick
Directed By: Scott Speer
Starring: Kathryn McCormick, Ryan Guzman, Adam G. Sevani, and Peter Gallagher
Despite Soberfilmcritic’s blistering reviews of the Step Up series, we here at STMR love dance movies. Correction-I love dance movies. How could I not? As a child of the 1980’s, I grew up in the Flashdance, Footloose, Staying Alive, Dirty Dancing era. Cheesy dance movies are my forte. So I gladly volunteered to see Step Up Revolution and save my fellow ... Continue reading...
Posted by James Brown on Saturday, July 28, 2012 In : 0.09% Cocktails
The Watch
Directed By: Akiva Schaffer
Starring: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, and Rosemarie DeWitt
This final weekend in July feels like déjà vu. Around this time last year, I was talking about the film Cowboys & Aliens and how it failed to live up to its hype. Despite all its talent in front of and behind the camera, the film couldn't deal with the complicated task of being a sci-fi western. Aliens don't fit too well in a world of cops and robbers. As it turns out... Continue reading...
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... Continue reading...
Posted by James Brown on Friday, July 20, 2012 In : 0.00% Water
The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR)
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Morgan Freeman
During a summer blockbuster season that's offered moviegoers ass-kicking Avengers, web-slinging heroes, time-traveling secret agents, and weed-smoking teddy bears, the Dark Knight has finally arrived! It's been four years since Christopher Nolan's landmark film The Dark Knight, and not much has chan... Continue reading...
Posted by James Brown on Saturday, July 14, 2012 In : 0.06% Beer or Wine
Ice Age: Continental Drift
Directed By: Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier
Starring: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Keke Palmer, Chris Wedge, Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Lopez, Wanda Sykes, Drake, and Nicki Minaj
If Paramount hadn't chickened out with G.I. Joe: Retaliation last month, this could have been a more interesting weekend at the movies. If the studio didn’t push the film out to March 2013 to "convert it to 3D", we would have had so... Continue reading...