Showing Tag: "sci-fi" (Show all posts)

REVIEW: With Authentic Memories of Trees on 6/10/21, LAPD Officer K Witnesses His Own Personal Miracle Through a Wallace Emanator & A Wooden Toy Horse

Posted by James Brown on Monday, October 9, 2017, In : 0.00% Water

Blade Runner 2049

Directed By: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, Dave Bautista, and Jared Leto

Denis Villeneuve has been on a hot streak in recent years. He started with the visceral abduction thriller Prisoners. Then, he delivered a beast of a movie in the epic crime drama Sicario. After that, he crafted last year’s sci-fi and awards darling Arrival. As he’s been putting out one hi...

REVIEW: From A Celestial Ego to David Hasselhoff, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 Is All About the Unspoken Things

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, May 7, 2017, In : 0.00% Water

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Directed By: James Gunn

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Sylvester Stallone, and Kurt Russell

The summer blockbuster season is now upon us. With it, we have Marvel's first big time up at bat in 2017. We are on the road to Infinity War in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the board is almost set. The final pieces are moving, ...

REVIEW: Given Her Necklace of Kyber Crystals, Rogue One's Hopeful Stardust Jyn Erso Is One With the Force and the Force Is With Her

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, December 17, 2016, In : 0.00% Water

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Directed By: Gareth Edwards

Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker

"I am one with the force, and the force is with me."

-Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen)

There is no doubt that Disney has had a mighty year with hit after hit after hit. From The Jungle Book and Zootopia to Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange, the studio has had a banner year. With rumors swirling about...

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: Star Trek Beyond – Public Enemy And The Beastie Boys Set The Stage

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, July 30, 2016, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

Star Trek Beyond
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Justin Lin

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, and Idris Elba

The summer box office season hit a bit of a slump. While animated fare has been plentiful and dominant, there have not been enough “must see” movies this summer. Independence Day: Resurgence, Tarzan, etc. were not enough to get me excited about this summer season. Audiences were waiting for an event movie, and Star Trek B...

REVIEW: Down to the Earth's Magma Core, Independence Day: Resurgence Wants But Doesn't Quite Get One Happy Fourth of July

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, June 26, 2016, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Independence Day: Resurgence

Directed By: Roland Emmerich

Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Maika Monroe, Travis Tope, William Fichtner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Judd Hirsch, Jessie Usher, Brent Spiner, Vivica A. Fox, and Angelababy

LinkedIn has a way of reminding us all of certain milestones in our lives. This week for me, it's been the fact that my pride and joy Sobriety Test Movie Reviews has been around for five long years serving up film critiques and drink selections. I...

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: 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: 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: Real or Not Real, The Mockingjay's Nightmares Come to a Turbulent Conclusion in the 76th Hunger Games

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 21, 2015, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

Directed By: Francis Lawrence

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland

We're just two weeks out from having witnessed what may have been Daniel Craig's final outing as 007 in Spectre, and now we are witnessing Jennifer Lawrence's final outing as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games: Mo...

REVIEW: In The Martian, Ares Space Pirate Mark Watney Doubles As Iron Man to Pull Off Project Elrond & Survive More Than 500 Sols With Potatoes

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, October 3, 2015, In : 0.00% Water

The Martian

Directed By: Ridley Scott

Starring: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, and Mackenzie Davis

Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity may have hit a nerve in the human psyche and started a trend at the box office. Every year since Gravity's debut on the big screen back in 2013, we've had a space epic arrive. With each, we have interesting collective dialogue about the authentici...

REVIEW: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials – Flare Zombies, The Sun And W.C.K.D. Put Our Heroes Through The Fire

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, September 20, 2015, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Wes Ball

Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Ki Hong Lee, Kaye Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Giancarlo Esposito, Patricia Clarkson, Aidan Gillen

Ever since the success of the Twilight and Hunger Games series of films, studios have been trying to find the next big young adult book craze. Many attempts have failed, but in 2014, Divergent and The Maze Runner films met with some success and earned sequels. Based on the second novel in James Da...

REVIEW: When Captain Nemo Takes His Baxter Foundation Fellows Through the Quantum Gate to Planet Zero, The Fantastic Four Fail to Emerge

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, August 8, 2015, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Fantastic Four

Directed By: Josh Trank

Starring: Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey, and Tim Blake Nelson

On paper, the Fantastic Four reboot has everything going for it. It has the up-and-coming director of the superhero mockumentary Chronicle. It has the young stars of films like Whiplash, Fruitvale Station, and The Spectacular Now. It has low expectations to beat relative to the original entries some ten years ago. With all this in mind, I ...

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: 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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: With the Indominus Rex, Velociraptors That Can Take Orders & An Aging Tyrannosaurus Rex, Jurassic World Tries to Up the Wow Factor

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 13, 2015, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

Jurassic World

Directed By: Colin Trevorrow

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, B. D. Wong, and Irrfan Khan

Twenty two years ago this week, the perfect storm came together at the box office. Jurassic Park opened. As I reflect nostalgically upon this monumental moment in movie history, I realize that the stars had to align for Jurassic Park to be truly one of the greatest science fiction films of all time. The story had to be ther...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Tomorrowland Is Full of Dreamers Who Try to Feed the Right Wolf

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, May 23, 2015, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Tomorrowland

Directed By: Brad Bird

Starring: George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw, Kathryn Hahn, and Keegan-Michael Key

Summer 2015 has brought with it a strong run at the box office so far. Avengers: Age of Ultron, Pitch Perfect 2, and Mad Max: Fury Road have all made loads of cash at the box office. As we kick off Memorial Day weekend, I believe we've found our first duds of the summer movie season. Interestingly enough, one of them comes from Disney, on...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Ex Machina's Turing Test of Magician's Assistant Ava & Her Bluebook Software Boasts One Intriguing Chess Match With No Power Cuts

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 19, 2015, In : 0.00% Water

Ex Machina

Directed By: Alex Garland

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Oscar Isaac

There are many themes that have come to define the science fiction genre over the years. Space travel, time travel, and aliens are just a few that pervade the genre. One particular theme has stood out prominently in the last several decades, namely the battle of man versus machine. It's mankind against the artificially intelligent beings we've created. With films like The Terminator and The Matr...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Insurgent – Action-Packed, But Tris Is A Little Too Fast For Her Own Good

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, March 22, 2015, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

The Divergent Series: Insurgent
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Robert Schwentke

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Octavia Spencer, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet, and Ashley Judd

With the flood of young adult film adaptations in theaters, it has become increasingly difficult for popular book series to stand out. Last year’s Divergent, however, was a surprise success. While Divergent did not reach Hunger Games’ he...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: No Longer Tetravaal's Scout 22, Black Sheep Chappie Becomes the Conscious RoboCop Copycat of 2015

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, March 8, 2015, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

Chappie

Directed By: Neill Blomkamp

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Watkin Tudor Jones, Yolandi Visser, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Sigourney Weaver, and Hugh Jackman

There's a fine line between a director utilizing recurring stylistic flourishes throughout his or her filmography and a director doing the same thing over and over again expecting the same success time and time again. Neill Blomkamp is flirting with this line. His first film District 9 focused on aliens living in the slums of a fut...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: With Your Majesty Jupiter Ascending to Entitled Royalty, Aegis, Stinger & Splice Caine Wise Begin Hunting the Abrasax Siblings

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 7, 2015, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Jupiter Ascending

Directed By: Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski

Starring: Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw

I always look forward to films from Lana and Andy Wachowski. Whether they succeed or fail, they always put forth one hell of a production. All of their movies are intriguing, thought-provoking cinema consistently marked by ambition. No matter what, they go for it all in grand style each and every time they're up at bat. Cloud Atl...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Before the World Ends at Lollapalooza, Project Almanac's David Raskin Will Build a Halfway Decent Time Machine for MIT

Posted by James Brown on Friday, January 30, 2015, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

Project Almanac

Directed By: Dean Israelite

Starring: Jonny Weston, Sofia Black-D'Elia, Sam Lerner, Allen Evangelista, and Virginia Gardner

It's Super Bowl weekend! That means it's time for me to win some money on the big game. That also means that no one cares about the movies this weekend with the possible exception of diehard aficionados such as myself. As fate would have it on one of the quietest weekends at the box office historically, 2015 is a bit of déjà vu. Three years ago, we had...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: In The Hunger Games, Mockingjay Katniss Gets the Burning Districts to Come to the Tree Singing So That the Capitol Burns With Us

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 22, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1

Directed By: Francis Lawrence

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland

"Miss Everdeen, it is the things we love most that destroy us."
-President Snow (Donald Sutherland)

The consequences of Warner Bros. decision to split Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two theatrical installments still echo today as ot...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Interstellar Travel & Newton's Third Law Help Cooper, Brand, & TARS Find the 5th Dimension & Murphy's Ghost in a Gargantuan Wormhole

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 8, 2014, In : 0.00% Water

Interstellar

Directed By: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Casey Affleck, John Lithgow, Topher Grace, David Gyasi, Josh Stewart, and Matt Damon

"Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
-Dylan Thomas

Ambition is the cornerstone of truly great filmmaking. If a filmmaker is not taking creative risks and is being overly ca...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Guardians Of The Galaxy – Star-Lord Takes Us On A Fun Action-Packed Ride To The Tunes of the Awesome Mix-Vol. 1

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, August 2, 2014, In : 0.00% Water

Guardians of the Galaxy

SoberFilmChick

Directed by: James Gunn

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Benicio del Toro

Marvel has done it again. In a summer filled with lackluster movies, audiences finally have something to smile about: Guardians of the Galaxy. While films based on Marvel comics have always had an element of humor, Guardians of the Galaxy is a superh...

REVIEW: Lucy – A Somewhat Confusing Tale About What Happens When A Woman Uses 100% Of Her Brain

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, July 27, 2014, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Lucy

SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Luc Besson

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked and Analeigh Tipton

As the credits flickered on the screen at the end of Lucy, the patrons in my theater sat stunned by the film’s abrupt end. They murmured in confusion trying to ascertain what had just happened. I share their confusion.

In the film, Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is studying abroad in Taiwan. In the midst of her studies, she takes in the city’s nightlife. She meet...

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...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Biking Through the Nevada Desert in Earth to Echo, Tuck, Alex & Munch Beep a Bit Too Much

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, July 5, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

Earth to Echo

Directed By: Dave Green

Starring: Teo Halm, Brian "Astro" Bradley, Reese C. Hartwig, and Ella Wahlestedt

This Fourth of July has brought us all sorts of movies at the mainstream box office, just not particularly great ones. While Deliver Us From Evil offers a rather routine possession flick, Melissa McCarthy's Tammy offers a waste of money we all can loathe. The remaining film I've yet to review is Earth to Echo. Now admittedly, I've held off on writing this review. The film is ...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Giving Kronoles for No More Protein Bars, the Snowpiercer Train's Tail Bucks Balance & Preordained Position to Take Wilford's Sacred Engine

Posted by James Brown on Friday, July 4, 2014, In : 0.00% Water

Snowpiercer

Directed By: Bong Joon-ho

Starring: Chris Evans, Kang-ho Song, Go Ah-sung, Jamie Bell, Alison Pill, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, and Ed Harris

For a guy who supposedly would like to retire from acting in a few years, Chris Evans of Captain America fame seems to be a consistent presence at the box office. He reprised his role as the elder Avenger in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He's got two other comedies on the horizon later in the year in A Many Splintered Th...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Transformers: Age of Extinction – In This Seemingly Endless Film, KSI, Lockdown, Yaeger, and Optimus Mix It Up

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, June 28, 2014, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Transformers: Age of Extinction
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Michael Bay

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe, Nicola Peltz, and Peter Cullen

Harold Attinger: “We have a saying here on Earth: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Lockdown: “I too have a saying: I don’t care”

Transformers, both the toys and the cartoon, mean something to those of us who grew up in the 1980’s. So I was delighted to hear that the movie franchise was being rebo...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: 2.3.5.41...The Signal at Area 51 is What MIT Student Nick Eastman Finds When He Goes Looking for the Hacker Nomad

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, June 14, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

The Signal

Directed By: William Eubank

Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke, Beau Knapp, and Lin Shaye

Alien movies are a dime a dozen. Just think about it. In the last couple of months, we've had the likes of Under the Skin and Edge of Tomorrow. We have the likes of Earth to Echo, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and Guardians of the Galaxy in the coming weeks. This makes it especially difficult to craft an exceptional alien flick. After all, what can top E.T. phoni...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Mystique's DNA Unlocks the Key for Charles Xavier to Bear Mutants' Pain Without Breaking & Dare to Hope Again

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, May 24, 2014, In : 0.00% Water

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Directed By: Bryan Singer

Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart

"So many battles waged over the years... and yet, none like this. Are we destined to destroy each other, or can we change each other and unite? Is the future truly set?"
-Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart)

This year has offered a glut of ambitious comic book...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Creating a R.I.F.T. in Academia with the Artificial Intelligence Pinn, Will & Evelyn Caster Don’t Take Transcendence to the Next Level at Brightwood

Posted by James Brown on Friday, April 18, 2014, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Transcendence

Directed By: Wally Pfister

Starring: Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Cole Hauser, and Paul Bettany

The last couple of years haven't been terribly awesome for iconic movie star Johnny Depp. Dark Shadows and The Lone Ranger weren't exactly box office successes beloved by audiences worldwide. In fact, they were duds that cost their respective studios hundreds of millions of dollars. With this in mind, I wouldn't exactly have high box office hop...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: In Under the Skin, Hot Alien Scarlett Johansson Seduces the Men of Scotland Into Her Pool of Black Tar-Like Liquid

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, April 13, 2014, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Under the Skin

Directed By: Jonathan Glazer

Starring: Scarlett Johansson

It's been quite a while since we've had a weird one at the indie box office. There was no movie like Holy Motors or The Paperboy in 2013 to leave me utterly baffled by what transpired on the big screen. Thus far, I can mostly say the same thing about 2014. No filmmaker has tested the limits of moviegoers' tolerance for the bizarre or disgusting this year. One movie this spring comes close to doing so, however. That's J...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Divergent – There Is A Certain Beauty In Dauntless Stiff Tris’s Resistance to the Principle of Faction Over Blood

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, March 22, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

Divergent

SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Neil Burger

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoe Kravitz, Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn, Maggie Q, and Kate Winslet

Another young adult book series has been given the big screen treatment. With the success of The Hunger Games, the Twilight series and Harry Potter, studios are constantly searching for the next big thing. Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and Beautiful Creatures are two recent unsuccessful adaptat...

REVIEW: In the Matter of OmniCorp Vs. the Dreyfuss Act, RoboCop Alex Murphy Wins With an Assist from The Novak Element

Posted by James Brown on Friday, February 14, 2014, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

RoboCop

Directed By: José Padilha

Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley, Michael K. Williams, Jennifer Ehle, and Jay Baruchel

I'm very much looking forward to many of the blockbusters in 2014. It's not that Hollywood is breaking new ground, but they are revisiting many of the franchises that have brought us movie magic for generations. Who can turn down a showdown between Godzilla, the King of the Monsters, and Heisenberg, a...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Tick Tock, Tick Tock... Remember Who the Real Enemy Is in Catching Fire Despite All the Moves and Countermoves in the 75th Hunger Games

Posted by James Brown on Friday, November 22, 2013, In : 0.00% Water

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Directed By: Francis Lawrence

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

May the odds be ever in Jennifer Lawrence's favor. Her rise to stardom has been meteoric to say the least. Just three short years ago in 2010, Hollywood's new golden girl was debuting in the indie Winter's Bone. In 2011, she had a couple of suppo...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Ender’s Game – Wiggin Battles With Salamanders And Dragons Before Entering The Formic Wars

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, November 3, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

Ender’s Game
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Gavin Hood

Starring: Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin, Hailee Steinfeld, and Ben Kingsley

“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him." – A.E. Wiggin

Ender’s Game is the latest science fiction book series to be converted into a movie. Written by Orson Scott Card, the book was first published in the 1980s. For many years, filmmake...

REVIEW: With Its Secret Formula for Happiness, About Time Takes Us on a Remarkably Fun Ride Through Tim's Extraordinary Ordinary Life

Posted by James Brown on Friday, November 1, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

About Time

Directed By: Richard Curtis

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, and Margot Robbie

A couple of months ago, I said that the age of romantic comedies was over. As the fall season has demonstrated, I might have to retract my statement. Since then, we've seen British rom com I Give It a Year. We came back stateside last month with the charming indie Enough Said starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the late James Gandolfini. Now, we're headed back across t...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Given Clear Skies with a Chance of Satellite Debris, All Eyes Are on Dr. Ryan Stone and Her Journey Over that Big Blue Earth with No Gravity

Posted by James Brown on Friday, October 4, 2013, In : 0.00% Water

Gravity

Directed By: Alfonso Cuarón

Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and Ed Harris

When it comes to technically impressive films, Avatar has long been my gold standard. There's nothing quite like being immersed in James Cameron's daring vision of Pandora. While I've got tremendous respect for the movie from a special effects standpoint, I've always thought that the story lacked substance. When I initially heard of Gravity, I had similar concerns. The trailer looked incredible, but ...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Despite a Triple Threat Match Amongst Box Boy Santana, Big Daddy Johns & Riddick on Not Furya, This Sci-Fi Flick Lacks a Spine

Posted by James Brown on Friday, September 6, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Riddick

Directed By: David Twohy

Starring: Vin Diesel, Jordi Mollá, Matt Nable, Katee Sackho, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, and Karl Urban

The fall movie season is officially underway, which means I should think about taking a break for a few weeks from the box office. I genuinely wouldn't miss much. We've got The Family, another action movie penned by writer-director Luc Besson who I've yet to forgive for the abysmal Taken 2 last year. We've got Battle of the Year, a Step ...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: According to Yashida, The Wolverine is a Ronin, a Samurai Without a Master

Posted by James Brown on Friday, July 26, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

The Wolverine

Directed By: James Mangold

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Haruhiko Yamanouchi, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, and Famke Janssen

I feel like Marvel and DC Comics have largely taken the year off at the box office. Though Iron Man 3 was thoroughly entertaining, it couldn't hold a candle to 2012's The Avengers. Despite all the pre-release hype, Man of Steel didn't live up to its potential. While Thor 2 is on the way this fall, ...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: R.I.P.D. – Men In Black With Dead-ohs

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, July 21, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails

R.I.P.D.
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Robert Schwentke

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker, and Stephanie Szostak

When the trailer for R.I.P.D. debuted, I immediately thought that it looked like Men in Black with dead people instead of aliens. Good-looking rookie cop a la Will Smith? Check. Grumpy old Tommy Lee Jones type veteran? Check. Secret agents who secretly save the world from destruction? Check. Check. Check. Unfortunately, that is where the similari...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Pacific Rim – Jaegers Battle Kaijus In This Godzilla Meets Voltron Meets War Of The Worlds Flick

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, July 14, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

Pacific Rim
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro

Starring: Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Rob Kazinsky, and Max Martini

Pacific Rim is an interesting entry into the summer 2013 blockbuster season. It is not a sequel, it does not contain an A-list cast, and the title is a little bland. Moreover, there was even controversy before its release as Michael Bay seemingly took potshots at Pacific Rim as a Transformers rip-off. Pacific Rim however delivers ...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: In Man of Steel, A Modern Superman Proves That Evolution Wins Most of the Time

Posted by James Brown on Friday, June 14, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

Man of Steel

Directed By: Zack Snyder

Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, and Russell Crowe

"You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders."
-Jor-El (Russell Crowe)

Every movie lover has that one film each year they can't wait to see above all else. F...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Father-Son Sci-Fi Flick After Earth Does a Little Too Much Ghosting Because of the Fear Factor Named Ursa

Posted by James Brown on Friday, May 31, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails

After Earth

Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Isabelle Fuhrman, Sophie Okonedo, Zoë Isabella Kravitz, and David Denman

"Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create…Now do not misunderstand me, danger is very real. But fear is a choice."
-General Cypher Raige, Prime Commander (Will Smith)

In all the advertisements for After Earth over the course of 2013, one major credit has been noticeably missing, the director. The marketing efforts heavily focuse...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Star Trek Into Darkness – Captain Kirk, The Mysterious John Harrison, and Robocop Mix It Up Aboard The NCC-1701 In This Phenomenal Sci-Fi Flick

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Thursday, May 16, 2013, In : 0.00% Water

Star Trek Into Darkness
SoberFilmChick

Directed By: J.J. Abrams

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch, Karl Urban, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Peter Weller, Alice Eve, Bruce Greenwood, and Anton Yelchin

Director J.J. Abrams appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart this week and revealed that he was not originally a fan of the Star Trek television series. After becoming involved with developing a new Star Trek movie series, he did revisit the television show and gre...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: The Host - The Wanderer, Wanda and Melanie Battle The Seeker In Stephenie Meyer’s New Film

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, March 30, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails

The Host
SoberFilmChick

Directed by: Andrew Niccol

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, Jake Abel, Max Irons, and William Hurt

With the end of the wildly successful, but critically panned Twilight series last year, teenagers are looking for the next Stephenie Meyer series to fall in love with. Enter The Host. I must say, that as I sat in the theater and a horde of giggly teenagers came pouring in, I could not help but roll my eyes and curse my luck at drawing the short stick on movie revie...

REVIEW: In G.I. Joe, Project Zeus Offers Cobra Commander Some Fitting Retaliation, But Roadblock is Here

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, March 28, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Directed By: John M. Chu

Starring: Bruce Willis, Dwayne Johnson, D.J. Cotrona, Lee Byung-hun, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Ray Stevenson, and Channing Tatum

Up until now, all indicators pointed to the foregone conclusion that G.I. Joe: Retaliation would suck. It's not just the fact that its predecessor G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra sucked. Afraid of competing with The Amazing Spider-Man, Paramount pushed its release date back from Fourth of July last year (to...
Continue reading ...

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,...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: In Dark Skies, the Sandman and the Grays Do Nothing But Let Us Down

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, February 23, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Dark Skies

Directed By: Scott Stewart

Starring: Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, and Dakota Goyo

It's Oscar weekend. I'm happy to say that we're at the end of another lengthy awards season. While it means that awards shows are thankfully at an end, it also means that we're almost through the worst part of the year for moviegoers. The key word there is almost. Unfortunately, snoozers are still crowding movie theaters. This weekend, the new snoozer at the box office goes by the name of Dark Skies...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Full of Flashbacks & Flash-Forwards, the Cloud Atlas Sextet is an Ambitious, Brilliant, & Beautiful Composition

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, October 27, 2012, In : 0.00% Water

Cloud Atlas

Directed By: Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, and Andy Wachowski

Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D'Arcy, Zhou Xun, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant

"Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime, and every kindness, we birth our future."
-Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae) / Abbess (Susan Sarandon)

Ambition is the word of the day thanks to...

REVIEW: Looper Closes the Loop. Bruce Willis is Killing It!

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 29, 2012, In : 0.00% Water

Looper

Directed By: Rian Johnson

Starring: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Piper Perabo, and Jeff Daniels

Time travel is quintessentially sci-fi. Some of the greatest sci-fi flicks have turned the time and space continuum on its head. What would cinema be like today if Marty McFly never went back to 1955 or if the Terminator never went back in time to kill John Connor? Time travel is a cornerstone of the science fiction genre, and Rian Johnson decid...

REVIEW: As Judge, Jury, and Executioner, the Sentence is Always Death with Dredd

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, September 22, 2012, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Dredd

Directed By: Pete Travis

Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Wood Harris, and Lena Headey

The fall movie season is officially under way. In other words, it's a sad time for me. We're no longer getting those awesome blockbusters with big stars like The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises, and we're waiting on the awards season to really get started (though the release of The Master is duly noted). It's most evident this weekend with Dredd, a film based on the futuristic British comic...

REVIEW: While the Fall Enslaves Us All, Bad Filmmaking Enslaves Total Recall

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 ...

REVIEW: With Orgies, Magnum Condoms, & Green Semen, The Watch Keeps Its Eye on All Kinds of Sex But Not Another Damn Thing

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 ...

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...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: With Chicken Burritos, Mighty Mo, & the Art of War, Hasbro's Battleship is a Transformers Wannabe

Posted by James Brown on Friday, May 18, 2012, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Battleship

Directed By: Peter Berg

Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgård, Rihanna, Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson

When I first heard of the movie Battleship, I laughed uncontrollably. First of all, Hollywood is so desperate for money that they’re trying to turn a board game into a film. Second, the film's got plenty of potential to have some terrible acting from a cast that includes the likes of Rihanna and Brooklyn Decker. Finally, the awful trailers made it clear to me that Battlesh...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Lockout Takes Crappy Movies to the Next Frontier—Space

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, April 14, 2012, In : 0.12% Hard Liquor

Lockout

Directed By: James Mather and Stephen St. Leger

Starring: Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Vincent Regan, Joseph Gilgun, Lennie James, and Peter Stormare

April is really a filler month in the box office schedule that's hit-or-miss for moviegoers. More often than not, the release schedule is filled with crap. The heavy hitters released in March are still hanging around in theaters, and the new stuff is just the preamble to the summer blockbuster season. The futuristic thriller Lockout is just...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Puppet Masters Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon Bring Blood and Brutality to Reality TV with The Cabin in the Woods

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, April 14, 2012, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine

The Cabin in the Woods

Directed By: Drew Goddard

Starring: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford

It's Friday the 13th, and I'm here to talk about a newly released horror flick. There is a catch though. It doesn't involve the undead, machete-wielding menace Jason Voorhees. I'm talking about the new horror movie The Cabin in the Woods by Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon. While this new horror flick does pay homage to Ja...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: For The Darkest Hour, Take Ben's Advice. Drink Religiously.

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, December 27, 2011, In : 0.12% Hard Liquor

The Darkest Hour

Directed By: Chris Gorak

Starring: Olivia Thirlby, Emile Hirsch, Rachael Taylor, Max Minghella, and Joel Kinnaman

The movie industry has been pretty bipolar this year. 2011 has had some really great films, but there have been plenty of horrible flicks that have driven up my bar tab. It just so happens that Summit Entertainment has been at the forefront of half-assed filmmaking over the past twelve months. They've given us crap like The Three Musketeers and The Twilight Saga: ...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

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...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Cowboys & Aliens Has the Right Talent But Not the Right Act

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, August 7, 2011, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Cowboys & Aliens

Directed By: Jon Favreau

Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde

The idea of combining the Wild West and outer space in a film is just so crazy that it could have worked. With names like Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Jon Favreau behind Cowboys & Aliens, we should have expected great things from the film. An even better case could be made for the movie given that it's starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Unfortunately, the film does not live up to its h...
Continue reading ...

REVIEW: Transformers Fails to Transform the Hype into Greatness

Posted by James Brown on Tuesday, August 2, 2011, In : 0.09% Cocktails

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Directed by: Michael Bay

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, and John Turturro

Like any moviegoer, I went into Transformers expecting lots of action and lots of laughs. I certainly got all the guns, stunts, and special effects that an action junkie like myself could ever want. I certainly got the laughs too, but I was still disappointed at the end of the film. A lot is missing from the film that keeps it from becoming ...
Continue reading ...