Geek For E!

Geek For E!

Creators of the TwitView! Reviews in 140 characters or less.

Movie Review: Alex Cross (2012)

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This is the thrilling prequel to introduce us to the character Alex Cross we’ve known so well from the filmmakers earlier work like 2001’s ‘Along Came A Spider,’ and 1997’s ‘Kiss The Girls.’ Played by Morgan Freeman then, now it’s Tyler Perry’s turn to show us how it translates in the characters younger years.  Sadly, Perry fails miserably but Matthew Fox as his nemesis Picasso shoots for the moon.  Stealing your breath and your beliefs that a character could be so believable and eerily sadistic, he makes the film.  C+

Picasso the psycho
Matthew Fox as Picasso ‘Alex Cross’

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Q&A: Paranormal Activity 4

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Sometimes a film gets released to the press the day before it opens.  And during those times, I feel like I’m doing a disservice by simply cranking out a review at 11:59 (what?  That’s a good Blondie song.  Check yourself.)  And yes, I understand that most folks consider all of my reviews a disservice, but roll with me for a sec.

Tonight I’ve decided to do something a little different.  A question and answer session about the newest film in the Paranormal Activity franchise — wait for it — Paranormal Activity 4.  I’ll be asking the questions the typical moviegoer may ask (at least the typical moviegoer I always end up sitting in front of in the multiplex), and I’ll answer with just as much respect.  Onward!

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Movie Review: ARGO

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I can say this much: where Ben Affleck lacks in acting chops, he more than makes up for it in his efforts behind the camera. Starting with Good Will Hunting, we discovered that Affleck’s contributions to screenplay writing were strong (he and Matt Damon took the Academy Award home to prove it). With Gone, Baby, Gone, he managed to further his reputation as a talented screenwriter, and also establish himself as a director who takes an honest, gritty, and of course, humorous approach to getting to the heart of the matter. Affleck chooses poignant stories that invariably tug at the heart strings—even if he is tackling subjects like children who get abducted for cash from their drug-addicted mothers or pathological bank robbers—and creates characters that you will feel empathy for, whether you like it or not. He makes you rethink what you believe to be right or wrong, and takes you on a twisted ride while doing it. Though this month’s ARGO didn’t follow his M.O. to a tee, like his other off camera credits, it did not disappoint.

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Movie Review: Sinister

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When I first saw this film, I hated it.  Couldn’t stand it.  Pissed me off, even.  Then I realized; I’d been scared through the whole thing.  It’s a feeling I hadn’t experienced in the movies in quite some time.  It was such a strange feeling I couldn’t recognize it.  Okay, there’s a little bit of pissed off still left in me, but that’s for a good reason; Sinister is non-stop horror that whips together the best of ghost stories, urban legends, mythology and lowdown slasher tropes.  It also gives no quarter to the characters in the story, and as such gives relief to the audience.  Forget jokes that break up the tension, because Sinister is here to do one thing and one thing only: scare the [Radio Edit] out of you.

Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke, doing a masterful job) is a true-crime novelist that believes his calling is A Great Important Thing that can have nothing else get in the way.  So obviously, he’s broke.  Hey looky; a house where some wicked horrible murders occurred is on the market.  For cheap!  A place to live and research a new book; what could go wrong?  Um, have you seen the poster for this movie, dude?

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Movie Review – “Seven Psychopaths”

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Brilliant! That’s how I felt about Martin McDonagh’s written and directed movie Seven Psychopaths when it was over and the credits were rolling. This intelligent, dark-comedy was just damn brilliant. From the overall story to the story-within-a-story, Seven Psychopaths delivered an interesting look at Hollywood and managed to deliver a solid heist/revenge flick.

Marty (Colin Farrell) is a struggling Hollywood screen writer, has a mixed relationship with his alcoholism and his girlfriend Kaya (Abbie Cornish), and is trying to balance both along with his career and friendship with Billy. His best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) is a struggling actor. Billy has another friend names Hans (Christopher Walken) and the two of them have a con-game where they “borrow” (really steal but they call it borrowing) a dog from their target and then return the dog to the owner in hopes of collecting the cash reward. It’s a means to an end as Billy hopes to make it big in Hollywood and Hans is doing this to help pay for his wife’s cancer treatments. However, when Billy steals a small Shih Tzu that belongs to Charlie (Woody Harrelson), one of the biggest mob bosses in Los Angeles, things start to unravel for Marty, Billy, and Hans.

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Movie Review: Pitch Perfect

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Beca is a big-town girl being led to carry out the life of a small-town college freshman. She is angst-ridden because her father (who she has a cordial relationship with at best) does not support her aspirations to become a DJ/music producer, and he has forced her to enroll at the university where he teaches. On her first day, as she makes her way about the quad touring the school’s activities fair, she is stopped by two very perky co-eds who encourage her to try out for their singing group The Bellas. The leaders of The Bellas go on to explain to Beca that these singing groups are the biggest thing on campus, and that this year, they plan to crush their rivals the Treble Makers. Though she initially declines the audition, she quickly changes her mind when her father makes her an offer she cannot refuse: if Beca makes a real effort to get the college experience for a year, he will let her drop out and move to Los Angeles to pursue her dream. And thus begins Beca’s exposure to the world of competitive acapella.

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Movie Review – Taken 2

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There is a rule that should always be followed when making a sequel….make it better then the first. Most times this happens and in some instances we’ve had sequels that were even better then the original. We’ve also had sequels that have fallen flat to the point you wonder why it was even produced for the public to view. So where does Taken 2 fall into this hierarchy of sequeldom? Is it better then the first, much about the same, or so bad that you wonder why it was even created?

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Movie Review: Won’t Back Down

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Welcome to John Adams Elementary, where kids play video games on their phone while the “teacher” texts friends and surfs Zappos during class.  Hooray for tenure?  Is it any wonder that desperate mom Jamie (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is pissed, or that fellow teacher Nona (Viola Davis) is fed up?  Won’t Back Down is inspired by true events and revolves around the controversial “Parent Trigger Law” (called the “Failing Schools Law” in the film) that allows parents to reform or close under-performing schools.  Cliches like “you change the school, you change the neighborhood” and “you must keep fighting” are trotted out so you can tell exactly what side this film is on from the get-go.  It’s a cliche-fest, sure, but with powerhouse acting and a look at all sides of the debate, damn if Won’t Back Down didn’t get under my skin.

When hard-working blue collar gal Jamie has to pull her daughter Malia (Emily Alyn Lind) out of private school because the tuition is too much to bear, the local elementary school is her only option.  But when Jamie sees that Adams elementary is doing more harm than good, she’s desperate to do whatever it takes to see that Malia gets a decent education.  Seeing Nona — an Adams teacher that’s better than Malia’s teacher by about 300%, but who has her own problems with quality schooling — at a lottery at the local charter school, Jamie begs Nona to help turn Adams around.  Meanwhile, the fictional PA teachers union TAP is a swarm of angry bees, furiously trying to shut down any threats to their hive.  Led by Arthur Gould (Ned Eisenberg), a bulldog unionist that is almost boo-hiss bad, and Evelyn Riske (Holly Hunter), a former teacher who is doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, they’re not going to make it easy.  Add to this mix a group of teachers that fear unemployment and a school system that is positively labyrinthian in it’s policy and procedure, Jamie and Nona have one hell of a fight on their hands.

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Movie Review: Chicken With Plums

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It’s a beautiful look at Iran years before the Shah was overthrown and the country went through it’s changes.  But the bittersweet loveliness doesn’t translate into an engrossing film.  Instead, Chicken With Plums is a film that looks tasty when it heads your way, has it’s tasty bits here and there, but ultimately leaves an unsatisfied aftertaste.

Nasser Ali Khan, a brilliant world-renown violinist, has suffered the ultimate heartbreak for a musician; the loss of his beloved violin.  He searches for a replacement, but can find nothing to compare.  So he decides that since life is no longer worth living, he will go ahead and die.  Taking to his bed, he settles in to wait for the inevitable.  As he waits, the story of his life and the lives of those around him are told in flashbacks, letting you see what happened in his life to make Khan the man he is.

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Movie Review: How To Survive A Plague

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Silence = Death.  “Health care is a right!  Act up!  Fight back!  Fight AIDS!”  You may have seen them demonstrating on the streets, but How To Survive A Plague is an honest, no-holds-barred peek into the world of ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Advisory Group), and their fight to find help for those with HIV and AIDS at a time when nobody seemed to care, or were too frightened of the disease to do anything.  This movie jumps right out of the gate, coming at you hard and fast with information and personal revelations that you can’t turn away from.  A mix of history class and raw energy, How To Survive A Plague is a look back at how people with no medical training, no experience with the workings of the government, and very little public support were able to change HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic, manageable illness.

Plague starts with archival footage, breaking the years down in chapter format, from 1987-1995.  This 1987 is very different from the one in Rock of Ages;  it’s year 6 of the AIDS epidemic in Greenwich Village.  “Even hospitals turn away the dying” — and if that doesn’t break your heart you’re made of stone. It feels like war footage, and that’s no coincidence: the fight for survival against HIV/AIDS was and is the war at home.  Plague has a down-n-dirty home movies feel that gives the film an intimacy that wouldn’t have been achieved with a brightly polished look.  The filmmakers let the archival footage they use speak for itself. It’s eloquence is heartbreaking and arresting.

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