Film Criticism, Movie Reviews & Film Blog |

Battleship

Aaron Weiss — 2012-05-25T14:00:00Z

Studios are aggressively utilizing the franchises and intellectual property their parent companies and conglomerates control to reintroduce into mainstream consciousness. By doing so, these companies target families and children in order to retain interest in their products. The game Battleship had incredibly catchy television commercial in the 1990s and today Battleship is one of the most recent and most egregious examples of this abuse towards beloved franchises. Instead of attempting to capture the one-on-one competition of the pen and paper game, this film chooses instead to create an alien invasion narrative and places the Navy on a high pedestal.

After discovering a distant planet with similar habitable conditions, NASA builds a satellite in order to send signals to the planet. During RIMPAC naval exercises, Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) gets into a brawl with Captain Nagata (Tadanobu Asano) which leads to Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson) and Commander Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgard) to choosing to discharge Hopper after the exercises. The signal sent out into space has been returned by five spaceships that land on earth, and take no time delivering devastation to Hong Kong and Oahu, Hawaii.

The Dictator

Aaron Weiss — 2012-05-23T14:00:01Z

Loosely based off the novel Zabibah and the King by Saddam Hussein, satirist Sacha Baron Cohen has re-teamed with Larry Charles to produce The Dictator. Chucking the impromptu interviews with unsuspecting private citizens, celebrities, and politicians, this film is tightly composed and utilizes a massive ensemble cast of supporting characters and cameos to reveal the failures of tyrannical dictatorships and even capitalism.

Admiral General Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) is the supreme dictator of Wadiya and is close to enriching weapons grade uranium. The U.N. has threatened to impose sanctions, giving Aladeen the idea to state his case in New York City. Aladeen's Uncle Tamir (Sir Ben Kingsley) and his closest confidant is responsible for hiring doubles to deter assassins from attacking Aladeen directly. Once in New York, Secret Security agent Clayton (John C. Reilly) is hired to kidnap Aladeen and assassinate him in order for Tamir to assist in the democratization of Wadiya. After being stripped of his beard, his most distinguishable feature, he befriends Zoey (Anna Faris) and starts working at her feminist food co-op.

Damsels in Distress

Aaron Weiss — 2012-05-21T14:00:00Z

Auteur Whit Stillman returns for his fourth film after over a decade with a new commedy of manners. Damsels in Distress shows how Stillman's style and topics of choice have retained consistency along with the evolution from his previous projects. Quirky, sensible, and certianly high brow, this film aims its scope directly at the pretentious as much as it does the low brow characters Stillman wishes to chide.

Violet Wister (Greta Gerwig) and her roommates Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and Heather (Carrie MacLemore) romanticize the days of decadence at Seven Oaks College. They adopt the newly transfered Lily (Analeigh Tipton) as a new roommate and to preach their stand on changing the campus from a undereducated, brut cesspool to a campus where the most delightful smells linger in each hallway and each fraternity uses soap in the shower. The four women fall in and out of love with a variety of men that bring the women closer and sometimes apart.

The Hunter

Aaron Weiss — 2012-05-18T14:00:00Z

Forests are a goldmine for a variety of institutions, and the wars between them are heated. Loggers depend on them for employment and preservationists actively protest to keep them lush and untouched. Then there are private corporations who insist on obtaining something deep inside them. The Hunter portrays a mercenary's attempt to find an capture an elusive and supposedly extinct Tasmania Tiger and his struggle to navigate through a variety of external party interest, as well as the vicious forest.

Martin (Willem Dafoe) is hired to capture and obtain hair, blood, organ samples of the Tanzanian Tiger, an extinct species. He arrives in Tasmania and is provided accommodations at a home where the mother (Frances O'Connor) is addicted to sleeping pills, a talkative daughter, a non-talkative son, and a missing husband. The corporation has also enlisted the help of Jack (Sam Neill), of which, Martin rejects. Martin finds himself between the warring loggers and environmentalists even though his mission is different from both parties.

Corman's World

Aaron Weiss — 2012-05-16T14:00:00Z

Roger Corman is responsible for the careers for dozens upon dozens of filmmakers, actors, and producers, and his influence on horror and exploitation films have set trends through five decades. The 2011 documentary Corman's World chronicles Corman's career from stars that he formed, the lives he touched, and the hundreds of films that have been produced under his control.

After earning a degree in engineering, Corman quit his first job after four days. He quickly took a job as a story analyst for 20th Century Fox, where after being uncredited for ideas used in The Gunfighter, he left to produce and direct films on his own. He slowly built a fanbase and employee loyalty making low-budget exploitation films that filled grindhouses and drive-ins across the country. Martin Scorsese, William Shatner, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hoppper, are among a minute few who got their start under Corman's direction and production.

Links for 2010-08-06 [Digg]

2010-08-07T00:00:00-07:00

The Ghost Writer
[caption align=right] The Ghost Writer Ain't 'fraid of no ghost.[/caption] It rare for a major motion picture to be released while the director remains in custody; this custody may have added to the political strife that is featured in The Ghost Writer.

Links for 2010-07-12 [Digg]

2010-07-13T00:00:00-07:00

Pandorum
Can great acting keep a film from being an ultimate failure? With a inspiration-less plot, Pandorum is a sci-fi thriller that is able to overcome predictable plot twists to be an effective science fiction film.

Links for 2010-07-06 [Digg]

2010-07-07T00:00:00-07:00

Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements
Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements is a BBC4 documentary that chronicles the rise and fall of progressive rock in the early 1970s.
The Parallax View
The Parallax View directed by Alan J. Pakula is a forgotten conspiracy thriller from the mid-1970s.

Links for 2010-07-05 [Digg]

2010-07-06T00:00:00-07:00

Demains – Mute Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½ ProgSnobs
Review of the sophomore effort from Demians.

Links for 2010-06-28 [Digg]

2010-06-29T00:00:00-07:00

The Most Basic Form of Mind Control is Repetition
The Most Basic Form of Mind Control is Repetition is a short video that includes a multi-layered narrative essay.

Links for 2010-06-25 [Digg]

2010-06-26T00:00:00-07:00

The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones is a film adaptation of the 2002 novel directed by Peter Jackson. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, and Michael Imperioli.
Film Criticism Is Not Dead. Primitive Media Outlets are Dyin
The decrease in paid film critic positions and increase in amateur bloggers was unmistakeably predictable. Once again, few are willing to adapt, holding on to their days of glory as a famous film critics.

Being Flynn

Aaron Weiss — 2012-05-11T14:00:00Z

Genetics pass both the flaws and talent down from parent to child. Being Flynn reunites an estranged father and son who learn that they still share many similarities that hinder their progress in their lives. This 2012 independent film chronicles the disruption in a son's life when the father that left him shows up unexpectedly.

Nick Flynn (Paul Dano) is dumped by his live-in girlfriend who returns home to find a joint sitting on an ash tray, she rages against his insistence on being a writer. After finding new digs with a drug dealer and a gay male in an abandoned strip club, a mutual friend, and soon to be lover Denise (Olivia Thirlby) invites Nick to work at a homeless shelter for income. Nick receives a random call from his estranged father Jonathan (Robert De Niro) that he is being evicted and needs help moving out of his apartment. Weeks later, Jonathan shows up at the homeless shelter.

The Avengers

Aaron Weiss — 2012-05-07T14:00:00Z

As one of the most anticipated films of the year, The Avengers does not disappoint. Using the momentum built up from Thor, the two Iron Man films, The Hulk films, and Captain America, the ensemble super-hero film exceeds them all. Directed by Joss Whedon, The Avengers is a relentless epic that has cultural context existing beneath the dominate action structure.

Leaving off from the Thor story line, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., arrives at a secret facility to witness the Tesseract giving off a strange amount of energy. The Tesseract opens a portal in which Loki (Tom Hiddleston) appears, confiscates the Tesseract, and also brainwashes Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to join him in waging war on Earth. Fury, with the help of Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), assemble a reluctant group including Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), and with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) arriving later, to find the Tesseract and stop Loki.

The Innkeepers

Aaron Weiss — 2012-05-04T14:00:00Z

Using tropes of classic horror films, and even taking a few cues from The Shining, The Innkeepers is a incredibly familiar story with only a handful original twists and turns.

Hotel concierge Claire (Sara Paxton) and amatuer ghost hunter Luke (Pat Healy) decide to work the very last weekend the Yankee Pedlar Inn is open. Luke believes that the hotel is haunted and is determined to obtain proof. Guests for the last weekend include actress-turned-healer Leanne (Kelly McGillis), an elderly gentleman who had his honeymoon at the inn dozens of years earlier, and a mother with her son who are separated from her husband. Claire, as a favor to Luke, has begun to record each of the rooms in hopes to capture something other than silence.

Margaret

Aaron Weiss — 2012-05-02T14:00:00Z

Originally shot in 2006, Margaret is a beast of a film that walks the thin line between masterpiece and utter failure. The film is filled with literary allusions that coincide with the political and cultural strife in post-9/11 Manhattan. Finally released in a form that is well over 150 minutes, the film is a tough journey for a young woman who attempts to gain control her hormones, her guilt, and her education.

Lisa Cohen (Anna Paquin) is shopping for a cowboy hat for her trip to visit her father. With no luck, she turns around and sees Jason (Mark Ruffalo) a bus driver wearing one. Lisa attempts to grab Jason's attention while hes drives the bus, which eventually distracts him enough to run a red light and run over Monica Patterson (Allison Janney), who dies in Lisa's arms. Lisa collaborates up with Emily (Jeannie Berlin), Monica's only friend, to sue to have Jason removed as a bus driver.

The Five Year Engagement

Aaron Weiss — 2012-04-30T21:15:00Z

Romantic comedies are a dime-a-dozen and Judd Apatow films are starting to follow suit. Yet, Apatow does employ filmmakers who can merge his gross-out comedies with their own specific style, and none have done better job than the team of Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller. Fresh off their fantastic reboot of The Muppets, and returning to their adult-oriented Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the two have returned with The Five Year Engagement, a romantic comedy that explores role reversals while capitalizing on the predictable rom-com format with the Stoller-Segel wit and charm.

After Tom Solomon (Jason Segel) proposes to Violet Barnes (Emily Blunt), Violet is accepted to a doctoral position at the University of Michigan and the two decide to post-pone their wedding. Tom quits his high-end sous chef job in San Francisco and the two move to the mitt-shaped state. While Violet enjoys her work at the university under the tutelage of Winton Childs (Rhys Ifans), Tom has difficulty assimilating into the new surroundings and taking a back seat in the relationship. As two have different experiences with the change, the looming wedding continues to be out of reach.