Inherent Vice Film Movie Revie

Inherent Vice is packed with a big name cast. Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Josh Brolin,Owen Wilson to name a few, but not one inspired performance. Each actor gives there role a very dull performance that never once transforms there lines into something memorable.

In addition this is a very talky film, each scene uses an enormous amount of forgettable lines half of which never advances the plot, and I'm still not sure what the plot is.

Joaquin Phoenix plays I guess somewhat of a flawed lady's-man private investigator. personally I don't see the appeal (fortunately, some of the other characters seem to feel the same way.

Wordy, inspired, uneven plot with a "WTF, did I just watch that?" movie that makes all viewers that feel dumber after watching. 

Movie Review Fury Starring Brad Pitt

The first twenty minutes of "Fury" I really thought we were going to get a unique war film that skips over all the cliche. The opening moments of Fury were all filth and misery. A world where the shattered souls of grizzled soldiers just live a moment at a time and ruled by their own laws and moral ambiguity. I felt we'd get  war film where all of the "Hey Joe where in this together" heroics of right versus wrong are absent.

300 Rise of An Empire Movie Review

So for those of you who saw the Zak Snyder written and directed “300” the fantasy war film about the famous Spartan last stand at Thermopylae, I can say for sure if you’ll enjoy “300 Rise of an Empire” or not. Zak Snyder leaves the directing to Noam Morrow and instead produces (and does the screenplay) to “300 Rise of an Empire” but the result is pretty much the same…

I’ve Loved You So Long Film Review

Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) picks up her older sister Juliette (Kirstin Scott Thomas) from prison. She has been serving a prison sentence for 15 years.  Juliette moves in with Lea, Lea’s husband and children where she wrestles with trying to acclimate to a family she has never truly known,overcome her own personal demons and find a comfortable place in society.

This is actually a hard movie to describe and still have it sound interesting, and, believe me, it is an interesting film. Hopefully my description above does it some justice.  I could have described it as after 15 years in prison, a woman moves in with her sister and absolutely nothing happens that involves action, retribution, suspense, criminal activity, falling from grace or just about anything that typically jazzes up an ex-con film.  In fact, this film needs absolutely none of this and finds its way just fine.

The Impossible – Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts in Tsunami

If you have seen the film “Passion of the Christ” , think of  “The Impossible” as  “Passion of the Christ” meets Tsunami.  The film is that much fun to watch.   Basically, McGregor and Watts star as husband and wife vacationing with their three young children in Southeast Asia when a tsunami hits the island.

All Quiet on The Western Front Movie Review

“All Quiet on the Western Front” was released in 1930, it is completely in black and white.  For some of you who think this makes for a poor film, you are really missing out.  ,  All Quiet on The Western Front is one of the great war films.  Based on the novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, it follows the day to day suffering of young infantrymen during World War One.

Lincoln Starring Daniel Day Lewis Review

I watched Lincoln last night for the first time on DVD .  I enjoyed it so much that I actually watched the film twice, which is a rare feat to watch the same movie two times consecutively with no other movies watched in between.

World War Z Movie Review - Nothing Like The Book

I'm not sure if it is fair to judge a film based on the book from which it was adapted but I'm going to give it a shot.  I read Max Brooks book "World War Z" and really loved it.  It is set years after a global war against a zombie apocalypse.  The book is a series of flashbacks by scientists, military personnel, civilian survivors, politicians, etc. describing their experience during the war.  By the end of the book you have a really good idea, what happened, why it happened, where it happened, the strength of humanity, the flaws of humanity, why some survived, why many didn't, how the war was resolved, etc.  Pretty fun stuff and fairly plausible in a, well, zombie kinda way. 

Stake Land Vampire Movie Apocalypse Review

I admit, I’m hooked on the whole Zombie Apocalypse thing and “Stake Land” is pretty much the exact same style end-of-world film except in this case it is a vampire apocalypse. I’ll be honest, I liked the film even though I could tear up each cliché implausible scenario, one piece at a time.  I’ll mercifully brief though.

Drive - Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan Movie Review

A man with no name (Ryan Gosling) works during the day as a Los Angeles  movie stuntman driver and at night he works as a getaway driver for various thieves.  A loner, he befriends his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son (Kaden Leos). Irene’s troubled husband (Oscar Isaac) returns from a stint in prison and this triggers a series of events that dramatically change the routine of their lives.

Goon - Pro Hockey Enforcer Fight Movie

Doug Glatt (Shawn William Scott) is hired into an unlikely hockey career because he can fight.  A "Goon" in hockey is a player whose main job is to intimidate, and beat up, other teams.  Doug is hired as a goon.


Shawn William Scott plays a dead-pan dopey yet likable brute in Glatt.  This might not be a break out role for Scott but he does well in a comic-violent role that can be hard to pull off.

The Hunter - Tazmanina Tiger Movie Review

If you believe the movies, it seems there are dozens of shadowy organizations looking to destroy someone or something for a price. Along the way, these organizations always manage to betray their veteran assassin in the field leading to some cat and mouse betrayal and revenge. Think of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in "Mr and Mrs Smith", George Clooney in "The American", heck even John Cusack in "Grosse Point Blank".

Chopper Eric Bana Plays Famous Australian Criminal

Mark "Chopper" Read is a charismatic career criminal from Australia. His real-life criminal exploits as well has his penchant for telling terrific, if not embellished, stories about them has led to a series of books and some notoriety in pop culture.

In the movie "Chopper", Eric Bana plays Mark Read. Bana is almost unrecognizable in this film. He clearly bulks up for the role and transforms himself into an exceedingly violent, paranoid, yet bigger than life personality.

Brad Pitt The Assassination Of Jessie James Review

I love when I find a movie that I'm not all that enthusiastic to watch and I wind up completely enjoying it. "The Assassination of Jessie James by The Coward John Ford" is a huge film title to swallow. It is also a fitting name. This film is big on screen, runs a long time (160 minutes) and feels like a long but satisfying piece of literature.

In short this is the story of Jessie James gang and the man, Robert Ford, who eventually kills Jessie James. This is not a wild shoot out Western Movie actually there are no gunfights at all though there are a few, brief periods of gun violence.

Beasts of Southern Wild – Louisiana Bayou Folk Movie

 I have always been interested in films where people live on the fringe of society. Beasts of Southern Wild is a film about a society that lives on a small Louisiana Bayou island that the rest of the world seems to ignore. 

While the island I’ve heard is fictitious, I have no doubt there are modern-day communities just like this one. These people live off the land and seem to have a MacGyver-way of building all of their comforts largely from discarded junk from the nearby coast. It is a primitive lifestyle that is occasionally enhanced, or invaded, from the outside. 

The Descendents Film Review - George Clooney Shailene Woodley

Matt (George Clooney) lives in Hawaii with his wife and two daughters. He is rich and is deciding a real estate deal that could earn him and the rest of his family millions of dollars. It all sounds like paradise but this guy is having a rough time. His wife lies in a coma dying after a boating accident. His daughters don’t respect him and his big real estate deal is causes him public vilification. Oh yeah, while Matt’s wife lies in a coma, his eldest daughter (Shailene Woodley) tells him that his wife was having an affair with another man.

The Last Rites of Joe May - Dennis Farina Movie

Joe May (Dennis Farina) is an aging street hustler who has just left the hospital after a two month bout with pneumonia. He returns after his two month hiatus to discover his possessions are all gone, his friends are distant and his apartment has been rented out to a young woman and child after his landlord presumed him dead. He develops an unlikely and somewhat predictable bond with the young woman and child after discovering the mother is abused by her boyfriend, a local police officer.

Farina is wonderful in a rare lead part. This is not surprising as this man has been playing the role of street tough characters his whole life. Watch him in any of his mob movies or TV police series and you’ve seen him nail this performance before. The difference here is that Farina’s character, Joe, is broke down, broke and still struggling to be respected on the street. He is like an old professional football player trying to get in one more season, not just for the money (which he badly needs), but also for the pride of being a respected street thug.

The Iron Lady Streep as Margaret Thatcher - Film Review

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep) is now old with a failing mind. She hallucinates about her deceased husband and is rapidly losing her ability to take care of herself. In between hallucinations she reminisces about her life while the film flashes back on her lifelong career as a British Parliament member and reign as Prime Minister. 

Yes, “The Iron Lady” is a flashback film. I’m a bit indifferent to this style of storytelling. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In the case of The Iron Lady, it doesn’t help the film or even make sense. When the film is set in the present, Thatcher’s mind and body are slowly succumbing to old age. This is interesting stuff for the first five minutes or so when you learn all you need to know about her old age condition (weak body, hallucinations, forgetfulness, etc) but after that the rest of the present-time scenes are too long , look pretty much all the same, and add nothing to the story.

Honestly, I can’t figure out how Thatcher can reminisce with such detail while her mind is failing but I’ll suspend disbelieve for the sake of the movie.

Tron The Original Jeff Bridges David Warner Film

The year was 1982 and I was a video game addict. Atari 2600 and quarter operated video games were my mantra. Ah, those were the days. When “Tron” came out the film really dazzled me. I was a pre-teen back then and wondered if I saw Tron again now, as a grown-up, would I still enjoy the film. 

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is a computer programmer that has created some of the world’s most popular video games only to have them stolen by Ed Dillinger (David Warner) in order to hasten Dillinger’s meteoric rise as an unscrupulous CEO.

Flynn continuously hacks into the corporate mainframe computer system that Dillinger controls in order find the proof that Dillinger stole his ideas. In this Sci-Fi world, Flynn does this by hacking programs into the mainframe where these programs take on a human form. The programs are much like soldiers in a video game. They search for clues on behalf of their programmers (or ‘users’) while fighting off similar anti-hacking programs (so to speak) in combat scenarios using various weapons and vehicles.

Melancholia Review – Lars Von Trier Kristen Durst

A family wedding is taking place and frail family bonds are exposed. Parent child resentment, personal issues, and depression all begin to weep out through a thin façade of a celebration of marriage.


During this time a giant planet is on a collision course with Earth. Scientists are skeptical it will hit Earth but some are not so sure.


Lars Von Tier directs “Melancholia” Lars Von Trier is no stranger to disturbing films. Anyone who has seen the film “AntiChrist” will know exactly what I mean. He mixes psychological torment with atmospheric visual bravado. Melancholia is no exception.