REVIEW: Live Free or Die Hard [2007]

“Is the circus in town?” Since I don’t consider watching movies on edited tv as really watching the movie, I have never seen an installment of the Die Hard series. As a result, the fourth film, Live Free or Die Hard has been my first foray into John McClane’s one man against the world antics. Now this is actually somewhat ironic because in order to get the PG-13 rating that the producers wanted, there has been a lot of overdubbing of lines, and it’s noticeable. So in effect, my first…

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REVIEW: 1408 [2007]

“Let’s ‘Encyclopedia Brown’ this” It seems that the best Stephen King films are culled from his short stories (Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me among them). However, those also tend to be the dramatic films with little supernatural scares. So, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the new film 1408. It is a short story, so it would hopefully be concise and to the point, but it was also a thriller/horror which never quite make the jump from book to screen successfully. What works in words at creating…

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REVIEW: A Mighty Heart [2007]

“Don’t hold it in” The story of Daniel Pearl is a tragic one. I remember following it all on the news until the fateful day of his horrific beheading. Just imagining what his family and friends could have been thinking during the whole ordeal is tough to fathom, but when his wife is there with him in Pakistan, pregnant with his first child, your heart must go out to them. Pearl’s widow, Mariane, used her journalistic skills to write a novel on what transpired from his kidnapping to eventual murder.…

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REVIEW: Frida [2002]

“Alone in pain” I’ve said it many times; I am not a fan of biopics. They always overextend themselves to the point of unbelievability because of the same actors playing everyone from 20-80 years old. The ones that work are those that take a slice of life rather than the entirety of it, like The Queen and Capote. Let’s say I was very surprised to find out how much I enjoyed Frida. From her college years until her death, this film never feels like we are learning about her life—it…

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REVIEW: The Assassination of Richard Nixon [2004]

“Zebras” The Assassination of Richard Nixon has been a film that I have been trying to catch up to after the brilliant turns by Sean Penn in Mystic River and 21 Grams. This film was the one that completed the trifecta of critically acclaimed performances. While from what I remember of the trailer and the buzz made me think he was a guy who knew what he was doing and figuring out a way to commit the act of the title, this is not the case at all. Penn plays…

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REVIEW: Hostel: Part II [2007]

“I’m not that guy” The original Hostel was a film that allowed the viewers to sympathize with the victims of an underground Eastern European killing club. With Eli Roth’s newest entry into the “torture porn” genre, he has subverted his protagonists. Hostel: Part II is very much a film about the killers, the men who have come to Slovakia in order to gain the power and knowledge of having killed another human being. I am a huge fan of the first film and thought that it was both stylish and…

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REVIEW: Ocean’s 13 [2007]

“Are you watching Oprah?” Many people I have heard from plain despised Ocean’s 12 when they saw it. They complained of its weak plot and unreal goofiness. However, I found it to be very entertaining despite all of that. What the first film had as far as intelligence and wit, the second had in cool and fun. Sure the story was far-fetched and convoluted, but I’d pay to see these guys having fun onscreen anytime. I don’t go to a film like this to be intellectually stimulated, I go to…

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REVIEW: Jindabyne [2007]

“Your granddaughter had her first murder” Guilt and how it affects the lives of those it surrounds seems to be a big factor in the writings of Raymond Carver. A few of his short stories were interweaved together a while back by Robert Altman in his masterpiece Short Cuts. One of those stories caught the attention of Australian filmmaker Ray Lawrence who’s very Aussie Lantana was an enjoyable film that came out six years ago. With this new entry, Jindabyne, Lawrence has taken this tale, about a group of fisherman…

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REVIEW: Once [2007]

“Just play” Wow. That’s it, one word review…Wow. This is the movie of the year for me right now, and quite possibly will stay that way until next January. With what has to be the simplest story I’ve seen onscreen in a long time, it gets everything right. Once is a perfect little gem, both concise and powerful in a small but infinitely memorable package. Literally, a guy and a girl meet on a street corner in Dublin while he plays guitar for loose change. This chance encounter sets into…

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REVIEW: Firewall [2006]

“I’m going to find my dog” It’s almost comforting to know that when trailers for action thrillers are in paint by numbers structure their film counterparts are as well. The Harrison Ford actioner Firewall seemed like a redundant, rehashed plot regurgitated for the umpteenth time and that is exactly what it ended up being, minus any real action. Sure the plot tried to be high-tech, utilizing the firewall protection systems that battle against hackers and computer viruses, taking pace away from the story to show us that Ford really knows…

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REVIEW: The Day the Earth Stood Still [1951]

“Klaatu Barada Nikto” When one thinks of classic films from an age long gone, The Day the Earth Stood Still is one to be included. Just the fact that the movie was made in 1951 and has some nice special effects and intellectual underlying themes, which are still relevant today, makes it something of a phenomenon. Here is a story about worldwide paranoia and a deep-seeded fear of anything not human or of Earth. It is a very important question of how we would react to beings from another world…

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