REVIEW: Rabbit Hole [2010]

“Why didn’t he just make another angel?” Everyone copes with tragedy differently. Some may go to group therapy sessions and slowly peel away at their grief while others do the same around them; some bottle it all up as though they are going through the pain alone, eventually seeing the pent up anger released all at once to an undeserved receipt of whomever is in the crossfire; and others might even attempt to talk with those involved in the event, whether victims or killers, to reconcile guilt, revenge, or give…

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DESIGN: 2010 In Music

Tracklisting:Disc 11. “Sins of My Youth” — Neon Trees 3:39 | from Habits; Mercury Records2. “The High Road” — Broken Bells 3:51 | from Broken Bells; Columbia Records3. “I Won’t Kneel” — Groove Armada 4:35 | from Black Light; Cooking Vinyl4. “Breathe” — Ryan Star 3:49 | from 11:59; Atlantic5. “ILU” — School of Seven Bells 4:40 | from Disconnect From Desire; Ghostly International/Vagrant Records6. “Madder Red” — Yeasayer 4:06 | from Odd Blood; Secretly Canadian7. “Conversation 16” — The National 4:19 | from High Violet; 4AD8. “Lights” — Interpol…

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REVIEW: The King’s Speech [2010]

“There’s a ‘bob’ in it for you; you’ll go home a rich man” Here is a film about the making of a king through speech, both as a wartime oration to the public and as rudimentary elocution, aptly named The King’s Speech. With Hitler’s rise at the cusp of WWII, the stability of the throne in England needed a strong figure. King George V (Michael Gambon) had grown ill and his heirs included an eldest son (Guy Pearce’s David) in love with a twice-married woman and the stately, yet horribly…

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REVIEW: Somewhere [2010]

“Hey Johnny. You’re having a party.” Ever since her debut film—a favorite of mine—The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola has spiraled into a mode of minimalist storytelling. Receiving raves from critics and a Best Screenplay Oscar for her sophomore effort Lost in Translation, I began to wonder what I was missing. It was a good film, but a transcendent piece of cinema introducing us to a new master of the medium? I didn’t even think it was her best film, let alone all that. Perhaps it is in the simplicity where…

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REVIEW: The Fighter [2010]

“I thought you were my mother too” It’s been a rough decade for director David O. Russell between highly publicized blow-ups with George Clooney and Lily Tomlin and his latest, Nailed, being shelved after financing fell through to the point he couldn’t finish filming. So, it is almost a miracle he was given the opportunity to even fathom helming Scott Silver’s scripted The Fighter once Darren Aronofsky backed away after having completed his own ‘fighting’ film with The Wrestler. And with the rave reviews from critics and audiences both, you…

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REVIEW: TRON: Legacy [2010]

“Like bio-digital jazz, man” It’s twenty years later and I’m still not quite sure how anyone would think a big budget blockbuster taking place inside a computer mainframe could feasibly be seen as profitable, yet Disney has done it once more. 1982 saw TRON unleashed upon the world with an aesthetic way ahead of its time and confounding language for anyone not a computer programmer. Somehow it gained a huge cult following and the studio held tight, always rumoring a sequel, until they could blow audience minds again. TRON: Legacy…

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REVIEW: True Grit [2010]

“A saucy line will not get you very far with me” The Coen Brothers have been on such a roll the past four years. While they’ve gone serious for the most part, the trademark wit has not disappeared from the dramatic entries to their oeuvre. Still able to hit the funny bone full bore—see Burn After Reading—the comedies have gone subtler with a more dire tone, (A Serious Man), and the dramas have gone grimmer themselves, right into consistent Oscar contention, (No Country for Old Men). Going back to Charles…

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REVIEW: The Green Hornet [2011]

“Don’t thank him. He did nothing.” Don’t be surprised when you find that the new incarnation of The Green Hornet has taken a very different path from its predecessors. The trailer should address this issue, but the simple fact Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are the duo tackling the escapades of George W. Trendle’s characters will if not. The two had great success with their semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale of high school angst in Superbad and took a well-orchestrated shot at making action funny with Pineapple Express. It’s not hard to…

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DESIGN: MyFavorites.com [spec]

Having a seven degrees of Kevin Bacon moment connecting me to a design contest online for a new website called MyFavorites.com, I decided to throw my hat into the ring with an entry. By following the design brief copied below, I looked to create a brandable, unique star/heart hybrid as requested, incorporating the ‘MY’ from the name as its basis. The design was unfortunately not picked amongst the 800+ entries, but I still believe it’s something worth keeping on file and adds a bit more professionalism to the goofy entries…

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REVIEW: Black Swan [2010]

“Get ready to give me more of that bite” The line from Darren Aronofsky’s debut feature Pi, ‘When I was a little kid, my mother told me not to stare into the sun. So when I was six, I did.’ wouldn’t get out of my head throughout his newest, Black Swan. After tackling a pretty straightforward tale in The Wrestler, the auteur went back to his roots, embracing the psychological terrors of humanity. Similar to Pi’s Maximillian Cohen—a reclusive genius driven mad by his work—Nina Sayers is a closeted young…

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REVIEW: Little Fockers [2010]

“Stay calm, Mr. Jinx. I’m going to defibrillate myself.” Par for the course. Is that diplomatic enough? It’s a statement that could go both ways depending on what came first, but for those who know me, and my comedy sensibilities, it is not good here. Meet the Parents was harmless enough and semi-worthwhile to see Ben Stiller squirm, Robert De Niro use his brooding persona for humor, (although give me Analyze This any day), and Owen Wilson’s other-worldly transcendence. Meet the Fockers then took a marginal film, added two kooks…

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