I distinctly remember sitting in my college apartment in 2003 and reading the story of a hiker who cut his own arm off to free himself from a fallen boulder that had pinned it against a crevice wall. One can’t help but ask: What kind of mental state does a… Continue reading
Inception is a colossal piece of work, not only as a storytelling marvel, but also as a technical achievement. It’s so rare these days that we, the moviegoers, get to experience something wholly original. Much like he did with 2000’s Memento, writer/director Christopher Nolan has taken it upon himself to… Continue reading
Disclaimer: I don’t know the first thing about the source material. Not that it matters. I can imagine any fan of the series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, sitting in the theater, slack-jawed, at this dreary, joyless, and boring effort from M. Night Shyamalan. Where’s the fun? We’re talking about characters… Continue reading
Toy Story 3 is a masterpiece, not to mention probably the greatest movie ever made with a title that ends in “3.” This series has always stood for never losing the kid within us all, but here the Pixar team has outdone themselves with adventure, comedy, and a sentimentality that… Continue reading
The primary fear with a movie like Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time, other than the fact that it’s another film based on a video game, is that it will take itself too seriously. Nothing can sink a would-be summer diversion more than self-importance, and while Prince of Persia… Continue reading
Well, at least I know what setting $70 million ablaze looks like in 3D. That’s about all that’s to be gained from this 2010 version of Clash of the Titans, an ugly, joyless clunker that could only have been made better if it were an April Fool’s joke. No such… Continue reading
I thought I had seen absurd comedy. Until this week, I hadn’t seen Hot Tub Time Machine. I can only begin to imagine the pitch meetings for this movie. Or maybe it was just one meeting. “We have an idea for a movie: four guys will travel back to the… Continue reading
A quick search on IMDb reveals that no less than twenty-three adaptations, including this one, of Alice in Wonderland have been produced over the years. That would at least partially explain why Tim Burton’s big-budget refitting feels so familiar, but it doesn’t quite explain why it’s so bland. On paper… Continue reading
Water and Chap Stick may be difficult to come by in the post-apocalyptic world of The Book of Eli, but ammunition certainly is not. 2010’s first big-budget action film is all over the place in terms of emotions and intentions, but it’s still pretty entertaining and boasts some decent effects… Continue reading
Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes arrives with particular disappointment, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t have any unbreakable attachment to the character of Sherlock Holmes. Those that do: beware. You’re bound to be even more appalled by this over-written, over-edited, and only moderately entertaining “re-imagining” (oh, how that is… Continue reading