Choking on Popcorn

Mrs Dalloway (1997)

Helen — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:19:45 +0000

Mrs Dalloway is based on the famous Virginia Woolf novel of the same name. The novel is mostly the thoughts and feelings of a respectable married lady named Mrs Clarissa Dalloway, and there’s not a great deal of action. Therefore, transferring this to film must have been a difficult task, as what makes for compelling reading does not necessarily make compelling viewing. Director Marleen Gorris did a good job here though, and the film manages to express a lot of Mrs Dalloway’s most complex thoughts and feelings. (more…)

Vantage Point (2008)

Darren Seeley — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:42:31 +0000

Vantage Point is the kind of film where the viewer can admire the idea behind it. It involves an assassination attempt on the President Of The United States (William Hurt) while on some sort of anti-terrorist summit in Spain, followed up by a series of explosions and chaos, and a hunt for the terrorists responsible. Who the bad guys are, and how they pulled off the elaborate scheme is chronicled through eight different eyewitnesses. Each point of view, which begins around noon to up to, and then just after, the assassination attempt, gives off a small piece of the puzzle. The Rashomon like structure is well done-too much for it’s own good. (more…)

Drillbit Taylor (2008)

Darren Seeley — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:48:40 +0000

The pop culture jokes and high school woes of terror come fast and furious in Drillbit Taylor, a very funny and amusing film, that suffers from poor casting and another return to the well for Seth Rogen, who co-wrote the script, also wrote last year’s comedy classic Superbad. While the teens in Superbad are a few years older than the teens in Drillbit they might as well be related. That’s not a bad thing; the real question is why would John Hughes use a pseudonym (Edmond Dantes, a reference to The Count Of Monte Christo) to cover up that he co-worked with Rogen on the story-or did Hughes have anything to do with it at all, if he was rewritten and re-invented? I’m pretty sure he wasn’t party to the casting. (more…)

Street Kings (2008)

Darren Seeley — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:46:09 +0000

On the surface, it feels nothing is wrong: the combination of novelist James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential) and David Ayer, who directed Harsh Times and is most known for writing the scripts for Training Day and adapting Ellroy’s Dark Blue to the screen. Yes, the pair up seems like a good combination-at first. See, there is only so many corrupt and “bend-the-rules to get the bad guys off the street” police officer stories one can see without saying “I’ve seen all that in other films before”. That’s regardless if anyone watches TV’s The Shield or loved…well… L.A. Confidential or Training Day and for that matter, The Recruit, the latter which was written by Kurt Wimmer, who rewrote Ellroy on this film. (more…)

Smart People (2008)

Jose — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:39:14 +0000

If you appreciated the tragically underrated Wonderboys, chances are that you will find pleasure in watching Smart People. The central character, Lawrence Wetherhold is played by Dennis Quaid–in perhaps his best performance in years. He is an obnoxious, smug college professor of English literature. Along with a great supporting cast (with one exception), Smart People wows its audience with wit but it’s hardly destined for greatness. (more…)

The Bucket List (2007)

Darren Seeley — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:01:40 +0000

Oh, the good old days, how we miss them. Once upon a time there was this wonderful talented actor turned director who went by the name of Rob Reiner. When his name was on a picture, the picture cried out quality entertainment. Then it seems some time after The Ghosts Of Mississippi the director of those terrific films The Princess Bride and A Few Good Men among others just made a streak of clunkers. I’m still crossing my fingers that the jinx will end one of these days. The Bucket List confirms I’ll still be waiting. (more…)

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008)

Darren Seeley — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:49:48 +0000

The Bug War wages on in the third Starship Troopers outing, and like the previous sequel, straight to video. However, unlike Hero of the Federation,the low budget is well hidden, giving off an impressive step forward, and an actual cast member from the first film returns- although getting Casper Van Dien back as Johnny Rico most likely wasn’t hard to do, seeing how Dien has carved a notch in the DVD market anyway. But the real promise of this installment is that there is now a little more in common with the film series inspired by the Robert A. Heinlein novel. (more…)

Never Back Down (2008)

Darren Seeley — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:50:22 +0000

I have to hand it to screenwriter Chris Hauty and director Jeff Wadlow: Never Back Down is a well cast, good looking, slick action-drama with some decent fight and training scenes lifted from the first Karate Kid only without the grounding in any sort of reality. Yes, Never Back Down is watchable, and while the film is one of the dumbest films to ever hit the screens in recent years, and it is one shy hair of being annoying, but at least it is fairly well acted and entertaining. (more…)

Doomsday (2008)

Darren Seeley — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:34:55 +0000

After a promising start with the wonderful horror action of Dog Soldiers and The Descent, there was little surprise that writer-director Neil Marshall would soon get a picture that would have a bigger budgeted film. His love of action, sci-fi and horror films was evident in the previous pictures, but they are nowhere as much in quanity in his third film Doomsday, which works well up to a point. (more…)

The Good German (2006)

Helen — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:21:27 +0000

The Good German is shot in Black and White in 1940’s film noir style, giving the film an original old-style charm. The novelty of this soon wore off for me though, and I found myself getting quite bored with the slow pace the movie seemed to be going. The characters spoke quite monotonously and it was hard to maintain interest. I persevered however and things did pick up slightly. I became intrigued in the main character’s (George Clooney) discoveries about his past lover and her acquaintances. It becomes apparent that people in high places are keeping secrets from him and I was anxious to find out what these secrets were and how they related to his lover, as well as to post-war Berlin. (more…)