tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14083237409705783662024-08-29T09:02:55.542-04:00Movies, Life, And Other QuestionsThe Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-40908141185992880712013-07-22T23:47:00.001-04:002013-07-22T23:47:10.651-04:00

There were all kinds of nerd-bombs unloaded upon a frothing populace of fanboys (and fangirls) last weekend, but the two biggest, megaton revelations came via Marvel/Disney, and DC/Warner Bros. On the DC end, it was revealed that the follow-up to this year's mega-hit, MAN OF STEEL, will be a crossover film between Batman and Superman.  It was also heavily implied that they may have a

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-9067324267942105452013-07-19T19:29:00.002-04:002013-07-19T21:26:07.275-04:00

ONLY GOD FORGIVES (2013) Director: Nicholas Winding Refn Stars: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm SYNOPSIS - Julian (Gosling) is an American expat, living in exile with his brother, with whom he manages a Muay Thai Boxing ring.  When said brother gets himself killed after doing something very, very, bad, Julian is visited by his terrifying gangster mother (Thomas)

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-60845230686972875492011-07-08T21:34:00.001-04:002011-07-08T21:43:29.865-04:00

Michael Bay's films are much like the actresses he gets to star in them;  beautiful, yet completely vapid.  As such, as if on a date, I often find myself torn between lust and boredom.  Which feeling won out this round? It's a lusty movie, if ever there was one.  Shit blows up, people get thrown, and chaos reigns.  "Chaotic" is what Mr. Bay does best, and when he's

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-59317909048996852842011-07-04T17:41:00.000-04:002011-07-04T17:41:42.319-04:00

My planned reading material for summer vacation this year was early Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E Howard - I like my beach material to be pulpy, sweaty, and uber-testosteroned (Just like I take my coffee).  Instead, I found myself sidetracked by an old friend - the comic series 100 BULLETS, which I had started years ago, but never got around to finishing after making it halfway

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-31191825361332064982011-06-25T10:50:00.001-04:002011-06-26T02:00:26.824-04:00

It's all about the music. Sure, you have your usual David Simon (The Wire, Generation Kill) elements:  A diverse cast of colorful characters; an exploration of social injustices being perpetrated on the "lower classes"; and a city that serves not only as setting, but as a protagonist/antagonist in its own right.  But what you'll find yourself doing after watching any individual

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-82886663344472957202011-06-24T23:24:00.002-04:002011-06-24T23:42:52.825-04:00

I'm an American male of Irish ancestry. Knowing only that, what could you tell about me? Grasping at straws in the dark, you might guess that I'm a drinker, a fighter, and a person prone to melancholy (Socially; Occasionally; and who isn't?).  What you wouldn't be able to guess from just knowing my tribal heritage is that I'm a film nerd, I hate coleslaw, and that I possess a bright

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-40160483560853215012011-06-23T12:27:00.000-04:002011-06-23T12:27:18.772-04:00

If you had told me that there was a new film directed by Woody Allen, starring Owen Wilson, that was actually really good, I would've said you were crazy.  Yet. . .  here we are, the roles reversed, with myself as the crier and you, dear reader, as the disbelieving consumer. It's not a movie for everyone, to be certain - I would hope, at this point, you wouldn't be expecting

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-88829063015963208372011-06-23T00:05:00.000-04:002011-06-23T00:05:08.027-04:00

The enigmatic Terrence Malick strikes again.  I watched this last weekend at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, amidst a decently populated house.  The majority of the audience came to see a new Brad Pitt and/or Sean Penn film, and were wholly unprepared for what was in store.  Well, really, we all were.  Even with my knowledge and experience of Malick's previous works, I

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-14346812726762642222011-06-20T18:03:00.002-04:002011-06-20T18:14:06.549-04:00

Longtime readers (all twelve of you, minus the ones who refuse to think of a year as "long") may be wondering why my output has decreased so significantly in the past month or so.  The simple answer to that question is this:  I was getting bored with it.  Now, on to the more complex answer. . . You may notice a couple of changes that I've made to the site.  First off, I'm no

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-90839282684369006892011-06-07T21:54:00.000-04:002011-06-07T21:54:13.763-04:00

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Director - Matthew Vaughn Stars - Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence This is the fifth film in the X-Men movie franchise, and the second prequel (The previous film in the series, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, was set before the first three but after this.  Stay with me here!).  In case you're unfamiliar with the premise of the series, its this:  

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-39649304669191397682011-05-25T00:41:00.001-04:002011-05-25T00:45:17.653-04:00

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (2011) Director:  Rob Marshall Stars:  Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane, Penelope Cruz Everyone seems to like the first film (if one is inclined to enjoy that type of story), but opinions on Pirates 2 and 3 vary from lukewarm to abysmal.  Being a fan of the original trilogy in total, I do agree with arguments that the second and

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-81636563890106198462011-05-10T15:12:00.001-04:002011-05-10T15:17:58.890-04:00

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (2011) Director:  Werner Herzog Starring:  Werner Herzog, Some Scientists, and Cave Paintings Cave of Forgotten Dreams is the latest documentary from director Werner Herzog, the mad German who brought us such films as Rescue Dawn, Aguirre the Wrath of God, and Encounters at the End of the World.  Here he takes a 3D camera to France's Chauvet Cave - a place

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-90473650823150768622011-05-05T17:25:00.001-04:002011-05-05T17:31:31.972-04:00

FAST FIVE (2011) Director:  Justin Lin Stars:  Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson When last we left our heroes, in Fast & Furious (2009), Brian (Walker) and Mia (Brewster) were about to bust Dom (Diesel) out of a prison bus, as he was being transported to serve out his life sentence in Chino.  They succeed - miraculously managing to not kill anyone after

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-77972817534061284932011-04-27T16:35:00.001-04:002011-04-27T16:39:54.994-04:00

Terminator 5 is being shopped around, with Fast Five director Justin Lin and the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, attached.  Depending on the cost, this is a smart buy for any studio - the Terminator is a recognizable brand, and, much more importantly, so is Arnold.  People would come out to see this for curiosity's sake, even if it were the sequel to Jingle All The Way.

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-37809860096087863882011-04-18T15:33:00.001-04:002011-04-18T15:36:19.814-04:00

One fairly common criticism that I saw of Quentin Tarantino's most recent film, Inglourious Basterds, is how it is so willfully inaccurate to history - the Basterds significantly altering the events of WWII in a very grandiose fashion.  I don't want this to smack of elitism, but this criticism came almost solely from blog commenters, and not from "legitimate" critics - ones who would be

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-72849676927054322832011-04-08T15:51:00.004-04:002011-04-08T17:36:10.762-04:00

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) Director:  Stanley Kubrick Stars:  Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Warren Clarke, Godfrey Quigley, Anthony Sharp In the near future (or, perhaps, an alternate past/present), young Alex (McDowell) and his gang of "Droogs" raise hell in London; everything from property destruction, to rape. . .  even murder.  But the entrenched government has a

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-49281564679738599762011-04-07T13:34:00.000-04:002011-04-07T13:34:50.131-04:00

Doing some organizing and dusting after rifling through our DVD collection.  We don't need all this shit, so obviously it's time to sell some of it.  I love Fritz Lang's "M", but do I watch it often enough to warrant having it on my shelf? (Almost) everything must go!!! I've been doing a good job of not watching crap this year, but haven't been too active in seeking out the classics.

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-4539326880664434682011-04-06T01:38:00.000-04:002011-04-06T01:38:45.472-04:00

TASTE OF CHERRY (1997) Director:  Abbas Kiarostami Stars:  Homayoun Ershadi, Abdolrahman Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari After introducing Anna to Kathryn Bigelow's war drama The Hurt Locker (she dug it, and I continue to), she suggested that it might play well as an intro to one of the films that I'm required to watch before our wedding day - the Palme d'Or winning film

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-10063271388102766112011-04-01T16:36:00.003-04:002011-04-01T16:46:08.374-04:00

STALKER At first glance, the two films I picked for my latest double feature have very little in common:  STALKER (1979), an artsy sci-fi allegory from the mind of revered Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky;  and FROM PARIS WITH LOVE (2010), a semi-mindless, politically backwards shoot-'em-up from French director Pierre Morel (Taken, District 13).  But, with a little digging,

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-36210152061576457622011-03-31T11:48:00.000-04:002011-03-31T11:48:05.595-04:00

Alright;  I've got my script concept, some preliminary research done, and a basic outline:  Bring it on, Script Frenzy.  I'll have to write an average of three-and-a-third pages per day to reach my goal by the end of April.  No sweat. Anna seems mostly recovered from her ordeal, and has thrown herself into preparation for the upcoming wedding.  We've been slipping this

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-57900287202643301612011-03-28T10:39:00.000-04:002011-03-28T10:39:08.309-04:00

Calamity Anna had a bit of "minor" surgery on Friday, and I've been taking care of her since.  Simple procedure or not, I was a nervous pervous, in contrast to her complete, zen-like calm.  Everything went very well, and she should be back to her old self in a day or two.  She's pretty much the same as usual - just slightly more demanding.  :-) Anna participated in National

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-79172141768086575542011-03-27T13:10:00.001-04:002011-03-27T13:18:01.206-04:00

I've been having a fairly lively, and fairly civil, debate with the readers and writers of the website Racebending over the last few days.  The website, which was formed initially in protest of what they viewed as the "whitewashing" of the cast of the Last Airbender movie, has gone on to function as a somewhat big time watchdog of Hollywood, with it's tendency to cast white actors in

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-80090023639134246372011-03-22T22:37:00.000-04:002011-03-22T22:37:18.300-04:00

In addition to thinking about the future (Wedding, Moving, etc), I've also been looking at the past, in a most tangible sense.  Comic books that I have not read in over a decade have been cluttering up my storage space for some time now.  With the help of my buddy A-Man, a sometimes comic book dealer, I was able to reduce the size of my collection from ten boxes to three.  I have

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-28353374818867914442011-03-21T01:07:00.000-04:002011-03-21T01:07:28.622-04:00

YOUR HIGHNESS (2011) Director:  David Gordon Green Stars:  Danny McBride, James Franco, Justin Theroux, Natalie Portman Earlier tonight, Michigan State University hosted a sneak screening of Your Highness; David Gordon Green's comedic tip of the hat to such 80's "classics" as Krull and The Sword And The Sorcerer.  With, y'know, pot jokes.  Director Green and star/writer

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1408323740970578366.post-56827547868964516192011-03-19T18:12:00.001-04:002011-03-19T18:29:25.478-04:00

The big internet debate right now is over a british film that was shown at SXSW (South By Southwest, y'all), entitled Attack The Block.  The film was a big hit with audiences, and very mainstream, but no studio picked it up for distribution.  The problem being that the punk british kids accents are too think for an American audience.  So, the question is - Should the film be

The Reverendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17686852745306565216noreply@blogger.com0