Geek For E!

Geek For E!

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

Movie Review: Rise of the Guardians

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“The boogeyman is gonna getcha if you don’t watch out!” Well, he may also win the day if you don’t believe in the warm happy mythologies of childhood, so you’d better get with the happy Easter, Christmas, dreamtime and tooth-under-pillowness of it all Right Now.

Rise of the Guardians isn’t exactly a fits-all kind of film; there’s no Hanukkah Harry , no Kwanzaa Pimp or any other religious stuff that doesn’t deal with the Big J-Dog.  Then again, with Santa large and in charge on the posters, there’s no doubt what you’ll be getting in the theater, so just roll with it.  And who doesn’t love a badass Santa that sports tats and a thumb ring?

There are three other Guardians who “bring wonder, hope and dreams” to the kids of the world; the Easter Bunny, the Sandman and the Tooth Fairy.  They too get their own unique spin; EB is a boomerang-toting badass who just happens to paint eggs, the Tooth Fairy is a beautiful half-human/half-hummingbird with an ability to multitask, and Sandman is a rolly-polly ball of adorable that could be the most powerful of them all.  But when Pitch — otherwise known as The Boogeyman — threatens the world with his own brand of darkness, another Guardian is tapped to rise up and lend a hand.  And so it comes to be that the new Guardian is…Jack Frost?  He’s just as baffled as the other Guardians as to why he was chosen.  Don’t worry though, all will be revealed in good time.  And it’s definitely a good time.

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Movie Review: Skyfall

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Bond is back, baby.

Have you been missing the ol’ motifs from earlier Bond films?  Oh then honey, Skyfall is the film for you.  Not that that’s surprising; there had been hints at the start of 2006’s Casino Royale that this new interpretation of Bond would come with a bit of character origin story.  Now with three films in, you’ll see plenty of what Bond fans know and love; the groovy acid-trip opening credits montage, the Shirley Bassey-esque “Skyfall” sung by Bassey heir apparent Adele (who knocks it out of the park, btw), and the iconic in-the-barrel-of-a-gun view of Bond.  And hey, is that a DB5 over there?  An added bonus is the “50 Years Of Bond” logo at the end credits, a wonderful nod to the history of the series.

But Skyfall doesn’t require those motifs to fit it in with films that have gone before, however much fun they are to see.  Gorgeous cinematography and camerawork echo the exotic locale shots of earlier films.  The scene where Bond heads into a floating casino is breathtaking with it’s use of lanterns, huge illuminated paper dragons and ripples on the water that are a lovely counterpoint to all that candlelight.  There’s also a birds-eye-view of a Firefly-like Shanghai that zooms in to Bond swimming in a pool at the top of a building that is simply perfect.  What?  I’m an angle nerd, it’s true. Skyfall is a perfect mix of old and new that takes the “Craig Bond” down a path that is comfortably familiar, yet thrillingly new.

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Movie Review: The Sessions

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The Sessions is a film about Mark O’Brien, a man who lived the better part of his life in an iron lung. I say better part for two reasons. One, he’s spent much more than half his life in the thing, and two, he has continued to live life in a spectacular fashion by creating poetry and basically living his life in an honest and (almost) pitiless fashion. John Hawkes’ (Winter’s Bone) unflinching portrayal makes us forget that he’s handicapped, something that can be celebrated all on it’s own. However, Helen Hunt’s portrayal of Cheryl (the sex surrogate Mark visits in order to lose his virginity) is a how-to in the art of understated characterization. This kind of performance pulls you in with it’s believability, and makes The Sessions not only film we’ll definitely hear more about come Oscar season, but an ensemble piece that celebrates life and the individual’s ability to live it to the fullest.

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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: 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: Hotel Transylvania

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Hotel Transylvania is one of several animated horror shows for the kiddies hitting the multiplex..  With ParaNorman out earlier this year and Frankenweenie coming soon, it may feel like overkill.  But Hotel Transylvania has a sweet heart wrapped in it’s scary trappings, and is a film even the youngest of monster lovers can enjoy without getting the boo scared out of ‘em.  This movie is more fun than fright, a perfect way to get you (and/or your kids) geared up for Halloween.

In the 17th Century Count Dracula lost the love of his life to a pack of angry villagers, leaving him to raise their daughter Mavis all by himself.  Scared of what humans could do to little Mavis, he built Hotel Transylvania, a place where monsters could come out of hiding and relax.  Now it’s Mavis’ 118th birthday, and though daddy Drac had promised her she could see the world when she turned 118, he’s still not ready to let his little girl go.  To top it all off, her birthday party gets crashed by a hostel-hopping guy who isn’t the least bit monster-y.  What’s a vampire dad to do but try to keep things on the DL?  As always the truth comes out….Can the monsters learn to accept humans, or is Arnie what’s for dinner?

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Blu-Ray review: Titanic (1997)

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“Once more, you open the door….”  Will Titanic go on and on?  Well, it kind of does in the spiffy new Blu-Ray edition.  But for fans of the film and lovers of quality Blu-Ray it’s wonderful to see James Cameron use the tools he wielded so well in Avatar to spiff up this modern classic.

I have to admit that I had been burnt out on Titanic.  Not surprising, as I’d seen it 7 times or so in theaters, and innumerable times on VHS, DVD and TV.  (Yes, I watch movies I own on DVD when they pop up on television.  As the fellas from Guy Code say, #DontJudgeMe.)  I think it’s just that there’s only so many times anyone can see poor Jack slip into the icy black water before your heart will go plotz.  So, as much as I wanted to see the way this film had been dressed up for it’s new debut , there was a bit of trepidation hanging around as well.  But before I knew it I was sucked back into the story of Rose, Jack and the iceberg.  Not without a gasp or two though; the Blu-Ray tweaks and primps will take the breath away from anyone who has seen the movie as originally shown in theaters.  It’s so crystal-clear it’s almost freakish.

I wanted to raise my hand and touch the fuzzy-looking rust clinging to the sunken ship, count each sequins on Rose’s black-and-red gown.  I was gobsmacked at the visual clarity, and the detail the set, art and costuming crew that put Titanic together is quite literally in sharp focus.  Which makes the scene where all those lovely White Star Line plates come crashing down from the walls that much more heartbreaking.  The iceberg is clearer, with shades of color I’d never seen before (and I could aaaaaalmost get a bit of the prop-ness of it, as the ship grazes the ‘berg.)  The cast and crew commentary track says there was a small Godzilla embedded in the “ice”.  Now?  I feel like I could probably find it.

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Movie Review: The Possession

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Don’t Go In The Woods.  Don’t Go In The Basement.  Don’t Go In The House.  Don’t Go To Sleep.  “Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart”(do doo do doo dooby do!)  It seems like horror movies are forever telling us what we shouldn’t be doing, y’know, if we wanna live and stuff.  The Possession struck fear deep into my heart, because it tells me not to buy weird stuff at yard sales.  Nooooooo!

Since this film is produced by Sam Raimi, who I always equate with great horror (Evil Dead, Drag Me To Hell, 30 Days of Night) rather than so-so Spiderman, I had hight hopes for this film.  Luckily, The Possession is just as creepy as the real-world events it’s based on.  With an original The Amityville Horror vibe and effective performances by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Matisyahu, Grant Show, Kyra Sedgwick and young Natasha Calis as new Box owner Emily, The Possession is a great way to get spooked.

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Movie Review: Searching for Sugar Man

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A brilliant singer/songwriter releases an album that becomes huge, making him a legend.  Then he seemingly disappears from the face of the earth, amid rumors of violent suicide.  Years later a few fans try to figure out what happened.  No, it’s not Eddie and the Cruisers.  This is Searching for Sugar Man, and it’s a true story.  Oh yeah, and the music is even better.  That this film is an achievement in real-life storytelling is no surprise; producers John Battsek (Restrepo) and Simon Chinn (Man On Wire) know how to pull us heart and soul into a true story.  It’s no different here.

The 1970s.  Tons of amazing music, tons of different types of music.  In the crush of bands and genres enters Rodriguez, a man whose raw, insightful songs draw the attention of record industry folk.  He releases a record, then another…but never seems to break into the big time.  He shifts back into the day-to-day world and becomes just another guy in Detroit, working for a living.

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