Tag Archives: Movies

Trailer Tuesday: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

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Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be endlessly fascinating.

(Update: A new trailer has been released and you can read my thoughts on it here.)  Yes, I realize that Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not a movie and that this is not technically a trailer.  But too bad, because I could not be more excited about S.H.I.E.L.D., the expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe which continues the story from The Avengers and is being overseen by the incomparable Joss Whedon.  Take a look: Continue reading →

Review: The Great Gatsby

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I feel like most people’s ability to enjoy The Great Gatsby will depend on how they respond to Baz Luhrmann’s style as a director.  In the interest of full disclosure I should say that I’m a huge Luhrmann fan (I even loved Australia), and I think he was the perfect choice to direct the first truly great adaptation of The Great Gatsby.  He manages to capture the feeling of the book and to make the story compelling in a way that the last attempt at adapting the book, in 1974, failed to do, despite its stellar cast.

Most people are probably familiar with the story, from either high-school or middle-school English classes. Continue reading →

Analysis: My Dinner with Andre

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*Author’s Note:  This is a rather long essay about a movie most people have never seen.  It’s more my unfiltered and unedited stream-of-consciousness analysis than it is a well-researched piece of film criticism.  The movie has lots of interesting things to say, and it’s worth a watch.  You can also read a transcript of it here.

The first time I watched My Dinner with Andre, at the recommendation of my father, I fell asleep five minutes in and slept for the entire film.  The film is often known as “that movie where two guys sit and talk for two hours,” which is both 100% accurate and entirely misleading.  The second time I watched it, again with my father, I was completely spellbound, and it has since been one of my favorites.  My Dinner with Andre is one of those movies where you get out of it as much as you’re willing to put into it, much like any good conversation, and these are my thoughts on it.  (Spoiler alert for a 30 year old movie?) Continue reading →

Friday Favorites: Favorite Scene – Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

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Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.

In this week’s “Trailer Tuesday” for Star Trek Into Darkness I talked about how, as a Trekkie, I’m not a fan of 2009’s Star Trek.  In particular I hated its depiction of Kirk’s Kobayashi Maru test, so today I thought I’d highlight my favorite scene from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, where a middle-aged Kirk describes his solution to the test.

Wrath of Khan opens with Lt Saavik (Kirstie Alley) commanding the Enterprise when it receives a distress call from the Neutral Zone from the stranded freighter, Kobayashi Maru.  Saavik violates the Neutral Zone to rescue the ship, but the Enterprise is attacked and defeated by Klingon Battle Cruisers and Admiral Kirk emerges to tell Saavik she is dead.  He explains that the test is designed to be unwinnable in order to study how potential captains face death and a no-win scenario.

She repeatedly asks Kirk how he handled the test when he was in Starfleet, and each time he evades the question.  Eventually Kirk, McCoy, Saavik, Chekhov, Kirk’s son and his former lover are all trapped in an experimental cave deep within a moon, the Enterprise having abandoned them on Kirk’s orders.  Saavik asks Kirk again about his test, and here is his reply: Continue reading →

Review: Oblivion

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I wish Hollywood would make more movies like Oblivion.  That’s not to say that Oblivion is great, but just that it’s the sort of film that feels like it has been abandoned lately.  The current state of the science fiction film genre consists of either indie dramas like Moon or Another Earth, or big budget spectacles that turn out to be pretentious messes like Prometheus or Inception, with a special category set aside for superhero movies.  (One of the few exceptions is Super 8.)  However, Oblivion is the sort of sci-fi movie I love.  It’s got an interesting plot and setting, great effects, a good cast and stellar visuals.  It may fail somewhat on the execution, but I have to give them full credit for the attempt.

We’re told it’s 2077, approximately 60 years after Earth was attacked by aliens. Continue reading →

In Memoriam: Ray Harryhausen

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Every movie fan is sad today at the loss of Ray Harryhausen at age 92.  Born in 1920, his first job in Hollywood was working on Mighty Joe Young for Willis O’Brien, the pioneer of stop-motion animation whose work in King Kong inspired Harryhausen to follow in his footsteps.  That successful beginning launched a decades-long career as one of the leading visual effects masters in Hollywood.

Despite never winning, or even being nominated for, a competitive Oscar, Harryhausen left a lasting mark on the visual effects industry.  His style and creativity helped inspire a generation of filmmakers, including legends like Spielberg, Lucas, Burton and Cameron.  Harryhausen’s ability started to truly blossom with The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and its two sequels in the 50s and 60s, but continued all the way until his last movie in 1981, Clash of the Titans.  By that point, fantasy films were dying out (until Lord of the Rings revived them in the 2000’s), replaced by science fiction as the popular spectacle movie genre.

Harryhausen’s last film was released before I was born, and I grew up as a member of the Jurassic Park generation of special effects, but his films are still impressive today, especially my favorite, Jason and the Argonauts. Continue reading →

Review/Analysis: Iron Man 3

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Iron Man 3 opens with a flashback to 1999, narrated by Tony Stark.  It’s the eve of the new millennium, and Tony is partying with an attractive scientist who is interested in DNA modification as it relates to regeneration.  They have an elevator encounter with an enthusiastic scientist interested in recruiting Tony (and the woman) to his new company.  We’re told via Tony’s voice over that this is where it all started.

We then jump to modern day Tony Stark, struggling to deal with recent events.  Christmas is approaching, and Tony has been spending all of his time in the lab, hardly ever sleeping, working on perfecting a new suit of Iron Man armor that will fly to his body in pieces at just a thought.  He’s currently living with Pepper Potts, who is still running his company.  Tony hasn’t been sleeping because he’s still haunted by his near-suicide in the wormhole in New York during the events of The Avengers.

Continue reading →

Friday Favorites: Favorite Location – Dogma

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Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.  It could be a favorite character or casting choice, a favorite song or score, a favorite scene, line of dialogue, shot or simply a moment.  Anything is possible (costumes, sets, etc) and I’d love to hear your suggestions.  Note: Just because something appears here does not make it my absolute #1 favorite thing in that category, but it is simply “one of my favorites”.

Dogma is an interesting movie.  In fact, it’s a movie that feels like several different movies that don’t belong together wrapped into one.  One part tells the story of two familiar stoners who get caught up with the forces of heaven and hell, and is filled with sex and poop jokes of the lowest common denominator.  Another part is the ensemble comedy about a band of holy misfits trying to prevent the end of the world.  And the third part, the part that keeps me coming back to the film after 14 years, is an interesting drama about faith in the modern world, featuring two angels who were kicked out of heaven for showing mercy towards humanity, and their quest to get back to the place they belong without regard for the consequences.

My favorite scene in the film comes as these angels, Bartleby and Loki (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon), have encountered a setback.  They’ve been challenged by a heavenly host of misfits, including the 13th Apostle, the voice of God, the last descendent of Jesus’s family and the two stoners.  Take a look below and then read on for my thoughts (and turn your sound up to get the full effect):

Continue reading →

Review: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – from the heart of an obsessive fan

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Hogwarts at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I recently visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, FL for the first time.  I’d been to Islands of Adventure many many times before, but the WWoHP was still under construction the last time I was there.  I had read a lot about the WWoHP and I was very curious as to what my reaction would be, considering I’m a hugely obsessive Harry Potter fan.  Unlike some other fans, however, I’ve never shown much of an outward expression of this obsession.

I don’t own boatloads of Harry Potter merchandise, I’ve never dressed as a wizard or drawn a scar on my forehead, I’ve never been to a Wizard Rock concert or to a convention.  Other than the ring I wear every day that has the sign of the Deathly Hallows on it, my HP obsession has always been inward.  I have a deeply personal connection to the books, and while I’ve occasionally written about it, it’s not something I share or talk about much.  Of all of the things I love, it’s the one that I have the most trouble finding the right words to express the depth of my feelings, and I’ve so often been antagonized for it that I’ve mostly given up.  (I’ve written about it a bit on my blog, but I’ve never been very satisfied with how it turned out.)

It was with a mixture of excitement and nerves, therefore, that I first entered The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Continue reading →

Trailer Tuesday: The Philosophers

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Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found trailers to be endlessly fascinating.

Today I’m bringing you a trailer you probably haven’t seen before.  It’s for The Philosophers (Note: title changed to After the Dark), and it caught my eye a while back for being something different and original.  It’s set to come out sometime this year, but doesn’t yet have a firm release date.  Check it out below, and then read on for some of my thoughts:

The Philosophers initially came to my attention when I read that it was Bonnie Wright’s (Ginny Weasley in Harry Potter) next film. Continue reading →