[Image via Awards Daily] We hear it all the time: “The book was so much better than the movie.” It’s usually true. Filmmakers have so many storytelling devices at their disposal: beautifully composed moving images, the gift of sound, dynamic actors and clever editing, to name a few. Yet, the sum of those parts struggles to compete […]
Directed and adapted by Gary Ross, The Hunger Games deviates from its literary counterpart penned by Suzanne Collins. The difference is not so much in the events of the story. Those stay, for the most part, the same. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) sacrifices herself to save her sister, Prue, whose name is unluckily called as the girl […]
This week brings us Cusack as Poe and a number of literary references. It also portends the dangers of long term engagements in the presence of sickly relatives. On the lighter side, there are claymated pirates looking to pillory foes and wreak gentle havoc on the high seas. Payback: Just in case you weren’t aware how much […]
Question 1: One trope that recurs rather often in movies — and sometimes justifies the perpetuation of a franchise — is the car chase. Overall, what is the mass appeal of the car chase? Tim Adkins: I’ll borrow a line from the late great Fresh Prince of Bel Air: “Drive fast. Speed turns me on.” It’s just […]
On April 15, 1912, The Titanic sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. In those fateful hours, and amidst the fifteen-hundred casualties, the ship sparked a century’s worth of intrigue and became one of the most versatile metaphors in history. In and of itself, the ship was a small island, containing twenty-two hundred people, all separated […]
If Titanic is re-released in 3D under the guise of marking its 100-year anniversary, why should movies like Refer Madness, Dazed and Confused, or Cheech and Chong be re-released each April 20th? Perhaps a movie could be alternated every year. Just something to think about Hollywood. Either way, this week, you can watch Steve Harvey self-promote, a tale of a […]
The Cabin in the Woods opens in a sterile environment, white walls ascend to high ceilings, and two scientist-looking types discuss child-proofing homes as they climb into a golf cart. Some of the tertiary conversation is vague: a young woman dressed in a white coat mentions that other countries have failed and only the Japan and the […]
Based on the series of comic albums by Belgian artist Georges Remi (Herge), the 2011 movie The Adventures of Tintin has clever moments and stunning visual effects, but, at times, it falls victim to its release as a 3D film. The gyroscopic cinematography is stellar, particularly when Tintin, our intrepid adventurer / reporter, chases after a pickpocket […]
Welcome to Friday the 13th, and if you’re not up for a marathon of slasher flicks, there’s a new horror film looking to parody its genre. For the kids, there’s also a new Farrelly Brothers film that reimagines the Three Stooges. Could be fun if you’re under ten, but don’t expect a threesome version of Harry and […]
Despite its title and premise, Drive is not a film about speed and Bullit-like car chases. Rather, Nicolas Winding Refn’s film is about fragmented identity. The primary example of this is the unnamed Driver (Ryan Gosling), whose occupation overtakes any given name. Throughout the film, we learn little about him, other than he “can do anything in […]