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This Month's Featured Equipment Reviews |
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10 Most Recent Theatrical Reviews |
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Theatrical Movie Reviews
Categories in section: Theatrical Movie Reviews
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Editor's rating:
0.5
Thursday, 27 August 2009
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Written by
Daniel Hirshleifer
I've spent a lot of time defending Rob Zombie. His first picture, House of 1,000 Corpses, while not entirely original, showed a man who was passionate and stuck to his guns, crafting a horror flick that didn't shy away from gore, nudity, and the things that make the more extreme genre exercises fun. Its follow-up, The Devil's Rejects, refined the ideas of the first, and was buoyed by sharper storytelling and bleak, pitch-black humor. However, Zombie's movies are very divisive, with just as many people (if not more) hating his work as those that love it. When Zombie was tapped to remake John Carpenter's 1978 genre-defining classic Halloween, the horror community rose a deafening clamor. Everyone was worried he'd turn the masterpiece of suspense and mood into a cheap thrill ride, with nothing to distinguish it from the forgettable everyday ...
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Editor's rating:
5.0
Friday, 21 August 2009
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Written by
Daniel Hirshleifer
How does he do it? How does Quentin Tarantino continually and consistently create film after exhilarating film, each with its own unique style, but a voice that is undeniably Tarantino's? And how is it that he can make a single scene with two characters talking be so absolutely riveting? What is the secret? If I knew, I wouldn't be writing this review. I'd be busy getting my own film career off the ground. But I don't, so here we are. And while I may not know what makes Tarantino tick, he sure does, and he brings all of his considerable talents to bear with the thrilling and unforgettable Inglourious Basterds.Despite sharing a title (but not the spelling) with an obscure 1978 Italian war film, Inglourious Basterds is not a remake. It follows Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) as he and ...
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Editor's rating:
2.5
Friday, 14 August 2009
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Written by
Daniel Hirshleifer
While Jeremy Piven was a decent character actor running around Hollywood starting in the 90's, he's gained almost all of his notoriety by playing skillful super talent agent Ari Gold on the hit HBO series Entourage. As Ari, Piven is a man driven to get everything he can for his clients, wrestling deals with studios and telling the stars what they need to hear. This sort of high-powered sales pitch seems like it's ready-made for Piven's first big leading role--Don Ready in The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. However, despite Piven giving it the old college try, and even with a decent team of comedic actors running behind him, the movie still falls flat.Piven is Don Ready, and he's got the goods. Don is the kind of man who will sell you the car you came to trade in. Always ...
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Editor's rating:
5.0
Thursday, 13 August 2009
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Written by
Daniel Hirshleifer
What wonderful bookends. While it wasn't the first big movie of the summer, Star Trek opened in early May, and became a blockbuster success, eventually grossing over $250 million and becoming the highest grossing entry in the series, even adjusted for inflation. Aside from its massive ticket sales, the movie was also a critical smash, earning top marks from many critics, myself included. And while it's not the last movie of the summer, District 9 feels like the last great entry of this summer's cinema. It's also the first movie I've seen since Star Trek that has made me feel as deeply or as effectively.District 9 is based on director Neill Blomkamp's short Alive in Joburg (a short that impressed Peter Jackson so thoroughly that he offered Blomkamp the directing gig on the halted Halo feature film). The short detailed ...
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Editor's rating:
3.5
Thursday, 13 August 2009
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Written by
Daniel Hirshleifer
Out of all of Japan's cinematic exports, Hayao Miyazaki may be the most recognizable since Akira Kurosawa. Having directed feature length animated films since the late 70's, Miyazaki has risen to prominence in the United States on a wave of acclaim from other filmmakers, most notably John Lassiter or Pixar and Disney fame. In fact, Lassiter convinced Disney to buy the rights to the vast majority of Miyazaki's output (released in Japan by Miyazaki's own company, Studio Ghibli). And while Miyazaki has been known in America since 1997's Princess Mononoke, he became most famous after the release of his 2001 masterpiece Spirited Away, the first anime film to win an American Academy Award. Since then, the release of any Miyazaki film in the States is something of an event for animation enthusiasts, which brings us to his latest film, Ponyo.Ponyo ...
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